In a post on DIY MFA, Angela Yeh offers advice on worldbuilding that doesn’t drive you nuts. As with research, worldbuilding can go on and on far past the time you have everything you need to get started writing. Yeh offers some basics to consider:
- Time and Technology. When does your story take place? What kind of tech do they have? How does magic work and does it interfere with technology?
- Setting. What are the geography and weather like?
- History. Who are history’s heroes, villains, and victims? What were your world’s greatest tragedies? What parts of history are misinterpreted or mistaken?
- Culture. Define your world’s music and arts.
- Folklore. What are your world’s myths, legends, and folklore?
