In an article for Writer’s Digest, Nalini Singhuag offers 10 tips for building a realistic fictional world, regardless of your genre. Her tips include:
- Ask yourself how you wish to build your world. Some writers create the world first, other start writing and develop their setting as they go. There’s no single correct way, but Singhuag suggests setting a time limit if you start with your story world. If you start with story, leave time at the end of your process to check your writing for setting conflicts and continuity errors.
- Consider the big picture. In other words, consider the full tapestry of your story world. Is your setting a small town, a country, or a solar system? “Knowing the wider outline of your world will help you make decisions about more detailed aspects and give you a solid foundation on which to stand,” Singhuag says. You might consider making a map.
- Who lives in your world? “To be realistic, your world must reflect the necessities of its residents,” Singhuag writes.
- What are the inviolable rules of your world? Science fiction and fantasy stories should have rules based on the limits of technology and magic, as well as any political or social elements you create. But the real world also has rules, depending on geography, weather, social mores, politics, and more.
- Consider the weather in your world. Weather can help set the tone of your novel.
- Consider the flora and fauna of your world—but only what’s necessary to add meaning to the story. You don’t need to know every plant or animal – and you shouldn’t tell your reader about them if you do – but a few choice description elements can draw your reader into the story world.
- Continuity, continuity, continuity! “From simple things like ensuring that the physical structures in your world remain a constant (unless the change is explained), to big-world impacting events, strong continuity, in world-building and otherwise, is what makes a powerful book—and series,” Singhuag says.
- Timelines are critical to world-building and help with continuity. Time is another element of your story world. Seasons change, characters age, the world moves on after a death or major catastrophe. Singhuag suggests creating a timeline, especially if your book covers multiple years or if you are writing a series.
- Read widely in the genre you wish to write in. This should go without saying.
- Most important of all, love your world.
