Creating fantasy lands.

[Miles Lacey]

Back in the early years of pulp fiction writers would be given the front cover for a story and told to write a story based upon the image they had been given. The worldbuilding I do is based around a similar concept except that my inspiration comes from travel posters, colour photographs and photographic essays that date from the period between the two world wars.

I also let "What if...?" questions influence my worldbuilding. For my work in progress here are some of those "What if...?" questions and how they influence my world building:

What if bisexuality rather than heterosexuality was the prevailing sexual orientation? How would this impact upon the makeup of the traditional family? What would housing in such a society look like if the bisexual society's notions of the traditional family are very different from our own? How would a bisexual society view sex and sexuality? How would bisexuality shape religious beliefs and practices? How would men and women be treated in such a society? How would it impact upon the armed forces of a state? How would politics in a bisexual society operate?

What if magic existed in an industrialised society? Would there be conflicts between the practitioners of the magical arts and scientists and doctors or would they work together? How would people receive the gift of magic and how would they be trained in its use? Would magic be taught in much the same way as History, Geography or Medicine are taught or would magic be taught in institutions that specialised in magic? Would people fear magic and those who practised it? How would magic be portrayed in film, literature and political propaganda? How would the existence of magic impact upon the technology of that industrialised society?

(Battery on device about to die so I may continue this in a second post.)

 

[Redfrogcrab]

-first, I start with the vibe of a civilization/species, basically what their part of the world feels and looks like
-based on the vibe I've set, I make the species, base them around an animal found here on Earth or something else here on Earth, the looks and thoughts of this species, how they move, how they breathe, how they talk with one another, how do they make more of themselves, what they eat and how they eat, the biology and psychology so to say (this is also around the time I make the civ's homeland/world)
-now technology, how advanced is this world or at least this particular faction? I typically use some sci-fi properties or real-world historical civilizations as a comparison
-culture, government, and society come next, typically based on previous factors such as vibe and species, same with technology
-then the history
-now, how do the people in this world interact with each other? what happens when X group meets Y group?
-finally, extra bits of lore and conspiracy-esc connecting the dots, fun facts, and extra connections to the world that are not important but still neat to have

 

[Super Fantasy]

-first, I start with the vibe of a civilization/species, basically what their part of the world feels and looks like
-based on the vibe I've set, I make the species, base them around an animal found here on Earth or something else here on Earth, the looks and thoughts of this species, how they move, how they breathe, how they talk with one another, how do they make more of themselves, what they eat and how they eat, the biology and psychology so to say (this is also around the time I make the civ's homeland/world)
-now technology, how advanced is this world or at least this particular faction? I typically use some sci-fi properties or real-world historical civilizations as a comparison
-culture, government, and society come next, typically based on previous factors such as vibe and species, same with technology
-then the history
-now, how do the people in this world interact with each other? what happens when X group meets Y group?
-finally, extra bits of lore and conspiracy-esc connecting the dots, fun facts, and extra connections to the world that are not important but still neat to have

I also use this method, although I like to make the fantasy lands more realistic with ruins, forest types, and such,
Temples, abandoned castles, types of animals found in the fantasy lands, farms around cities and such

 

[Super Fantasy]

I think many of the fantasy novels dont really include realistic cities, such as city size, sustainability, areas around cities and such.

 

[Super Fantasy]

I try to make my fantasy land large enough for long adventures and such, as well as the cities.

 

[BunnyJen90]

Not sure how I started world building. Been doing it since I started school. I guess for some odd reason I always liked the idea of being alone in the woods. The idea still interest me to this day.

 

[pmmg]

Not sure how I started world building. Been doing it since I started school. I guess for some odd reason I always liked the idea of being alone in the woods. The idea still interest me to this day.

I dont mind being alone in the woods, but I would prefer it with the right person more.

 

[Aldarion]

I think many of the fantasy novels dont really include realistic cities, such as city size, sustainability, areas around cities and such.

Yeah, I really facepalm when description of a city implies absolutely no farmland around it...

 

[ThinkerX]

I think many of the fantasy novels dont really include realistic cities, such as city size, sustainability, areas around cities and such.

Those issues are a key part of the action in Corber Port, the setting for 'Empire: Metropolis' in the fourth book of my 'Empire' series.

Corber Port is a quasi-medieval city (actually more Roman-like) with a million inhabitants. As the name implies, it is a major port and also boasts the sole bridge over a narrow straight between the northern and southern portions of the Empire. In the normal course of events, grain, groceries, and fruit flow south along canals and a network of stone paved roads, while cloth and livestock come up from the south, and scores of ships reach port even on slow days. Basically, everything within about a hundred miles is geared towards keeping the city viable.

'Metropolis' is set a couple months after an earthquake and fire turned a fifth of the city into charred rubble, choking the canals and cause key avenues to collapse into the catacombs beneath the city, making it...unruly, to say the least.

 

[skip.knox]

You're never alone in the woods. It's just that the animals haven't attacked yet. <grin>

 

[pmmg]

I think many of the fantasy novels dont really include realistic cities, such as city size, sustainability, areas around cities and such.

I think, to some degree, I am willing to assume they are there even if they are not mentioned.

Though...I did question the big frozen prison tower in the new D&D movie. Way out in the middle of no where, and nothing but desolate land around. How could it get built? There would need to be roads, and such.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I may be the odd one out, because I like building worlds by first drawing a map.

Usually the map starts out as a continent. Islands here and there, bays here and there. Then I add the geography—mountains, rivers and lakes, forests and woods, swamps, deserts, usually in that general order.

Then I begin national borders. Some of the geography from the previous stage was already designed with this part in mind. I tend to create lands drawn from my memory and appreciation of historic places and events or other fictional places and events. These things stick around with me, as if waiting for me to eventually use them, so I do. I consider the broad history of each of these lands, the general culture, as I assign them to places around the map.

This sounds similar to my starting point, although I sometimes start with characters, too. From there, I add a timeline of important events, then start adding more stories in the antagonists' and protagonists' lives. Next, I like to write short stories set in the world.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I guess for some odd reason I always liked the idea of being alone in the woods. The idea still interest me to this day.

I've often wondered whether the persistent fantasy trope (and not only fantasy) of being alone or lost in the woods is because we spent so much of our prehistory and history living in and around forests.

 

[skip.knox]

Well, up until rather recently (19thc), forests were places most people feared. Not only did one find predator animals there, the forest also held bandits.

The neighborhood forest was a somewhat different story, for there one went to gather deadwood, acorns, and the like. Depending on time and place, a peasant might even be able to hunt there. The neighborhood forest was, in short, a known place. Still dangerous at night, but known.

Beyond that, though, forests were places where magic forces were at work, deadly animals prowled, and bandits preyed upon wanderers. If such travel was necessary, it was best to travel in groups. They were emphatically not romantic places. That's a later invention, and largely an urban and literary invention.

Even today, for anyone unfamiliar with forest, being there at night can be anywhere from unsettling to terrifying. One quickly learns the value and attraction of a fire. And in daylight, a forest is beautiful right up until one realizes one is lost.

 

[skip.knox]

Because I'm in the midst of writing, this business of creating fantasy lands is very much in the front of my mind (the back is terribly cluttered and should be gone through one day).

There's creating and then there's creating. I write in an alternate Earth, so arguably all my geography is ready-made. That's not quite right, since my stories are set at various points in the Middle Ages, so the geography isn't exactly the same (rivers, etc. do change), but that's a minor point. More to the point is that because this is an alternate Earth, I do change things around somewhat, which leaves me having to make stuff up here and there. Or to make major changes.

But that isn't quite the point either. It's that there's creation that happens at the micro level. There's creating the interior of a building. There's creating a town plaza. Outbuildings for a keep. Und so weiter. Tons and scads of creating. At least buildings have some generally accepted conventions to them, which can either be followed or wildly transformed. But ordinary geography needs attention as well.

Here. My WIP takes place entirely on a little peninsula jutting out into Lake Garda. There's a cool castle here called Sirmione. But I've made changes. I've stuck a tower out in the lake, not far out and connected by a land bridge. That's not real, so I have to make up all that. The topography from there back to the castle, which sits at the base of the peninsula, is also up for modification--flora, buildings, beaches. There's going to be some fighting there, so placement matters. It has to serve the story *and* has to be at least reasonably realistic.

For myself, I find this sort of creating much more interesting than creation at the level of mountain ranges and borders for kingdoms. Maybe it's because I get to inherit most of that, but there's a charm and a challenge to the close-focus creating. I think it comes from the interplay between geography and story. It feels good when some little bit of invention just snaps into its proper place in the story, or when the story drives me to come up with some cave or stream or stand of trees that is fun to describe.

tl;dr -- creating lands happens at many levels.

 

[Rexenm]

I love how my fantasy lands come together. There is always some kind of castle in the distance, then hues, ochre, pastel. There is always an element of my childhood in it. I have limited resources, so writing had always been a pastime of mine, since earning a scholarship, to what you may call an elite school. I had my worries in the past, having come to a deep understanding of the operating table, but I became involved with solving complex problems in mathematics and literature, which lead me to a deeper understanding of society and environment, from that peculiar angle. It was with glee that we ran off into the forests, so you could say that my fantasy understanding, was an effort of war rather than love, but it was not about being ill anymore, rather we were satisfied together.

 

[Rexenm]

What if bisexuality rather than heterosexuality was the prevailing sexual orientation? How would this impact upon the makeup of the traditional family? What would housing in such a society look like if the bisexual society's notions of the traditional family are very different from our own? How would a bisexual society view sex and sexuality? How would bisexuality shape religious beliefs and practices? How would men and women be treated in such a society? How would it impact upon the armed forces of a state? How would politics in a bisexual society operate?

Bisexuality, like emo kids and scene, not mods, right? Because if there ever was an argument, it was broken by the gays. You could say that bisexuality is more typically religious, but the target of heterosexuality is more reciprocal. Even if you think it is bad, you still might think that evil would prevail.

 

[pmmg]

Are you using an AI?

 

[Queshire]

I imagine it's either that or half a dozen trips through google translate.

 

[Ozonequeen]

Back in the early years of pulp fiction writers would be given the front cover for a story and told to write a story based upon the image they had been given. The worldbuilding I do is based around a similar concept except that my inspiration comes from travel posters, colour photographs and photographic essays that date from the period between the two world wars.

I also let "What if...?" questions influence my worldbuilding. For my work in progress here are some of those "What if...?" questions and how they influence my world building:

What if bisexuality rather than heterosexuality was the prevailing sexual orientation? How would this impact upon the makeup of the traditional family? What would housing in such a society look like if the bisexual society's notions of the traditional family are very different from our own? How would a bisexual society view sex and sexuality? How would bisexuality shape religious beliefs and practices? How would men and women be treated in such a society? How would it impact upon the armed forces of a state? How would politics in a bisexual society operate?

What if magic existed in an industrialised society? Would there be conflicts between the practitioners of the magical arts and scientists and doctors or would they work together? How would people receive the gift of magic and how would they be trained in its use? Would magic be taught in much the same way as History, Geography or Medicine are taught or would magic be taught in institutions that specialised in magic? Would people fear magic and those who practised it? How would magic be portrayed in film, literature and political propaganda? How would the existence of magic impact upon the technology of that industrialised society?

(Battery on device about to die so I may continue this in a second post.)

I really like this idea. It seems like a good way to conjure new notions for stories. Once I get my story written maybe I'll use this technique. I can't say I've ever used it because the story I am writing just comes to me. The world building, the rules, it just kind of comes into my mind as I write. Sometimes, I'll have dreams that I've added or like when trying to determine how one species in my story existed as a selectively binary being, I called upon my knowledge of electrons and quantum entanglement to understand it and put it into words.