World-building is an art form.

Immersing a reader into your imaginative world is a fantastic experience, but also a huge pain and frustration to deal with that often results in a pile of crumpled up paper by your bed as you ask yourself if it's all worth it.

The answer? It is.

Creating a fantasy world is a magnificent experience that is rewarding in the end. I am in the process of making a universe, and it's been a joy so far, so here are some tips to help you out as you do the same!

#1: What's important to the people?

What a person values influences their behavior, their actions, their lives. So, ask yourself: what matters to my protagonist? What matters to the mass population, to the country, to the region?

For example, many people in the cutthroat land that is Westeros value power over everything else. Power, to those men and women, bring about wealth, armies, and influence in a world riddled with violence, rape, and war. So, based on the high value of power and influence in Westeros, many characters go down a certain path to attain power, such as Cersei Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and Stannis Baratheon.

Now, what do your characters value? Is it money or family? How about security or spirituality? Love or sex?

Contemplate on what matters to your people and this will help you shape your universe.

#2: What's the size of your world?

Yes, size does matter.

All jokes aside, think about it for a second: does your fantastical world consist of one region like Panem? How about an entire region like in Avatar: The Last Airbender? Or how about an entire galaxy? The location of your story matters more than you may think—location is important enough to cause conflicts or, possibly, war. The size of your world determines these conflicts and can open up endless possibilities to your story or limit them.

For example, in my future book, I've decided that the entire story takes place on the last land on the planet—seven islands. Due to only seven islands being habitable, many, many things can go wrong. If one island falls or fails, the other six cannot live on. Also, my protagonist doesn't have anywhere to truly hide from her enemies for very long and land is of great value and importance to every person in my fictional world.

My advice to approach creating your physical world is to plan out the size of it—big or small—, then fill it up with villages, cities, caves, mountains, volcanoes, rivers and so on.

#3: What's the history and culture of your world?

History impacts both the present and the future.

So, what kind of past does your region have? Is it a rather peaceful one that has not really felt the brutal realities of war? Or has your country just recovered from a crooked queen or a long-winded war? 

What form of government do they follow—oligarchy? Democracy? Dictatorship? Were they once a democratic nation that fell? 

Do the people elect their leaders or do they have no say?

These questions help mold your world into an authentic, real universe.

Every village, every country, and every region has a history that influences its people, its culture and its values. This ties back in with #1 as well—based on the past of a character's hometown, how has it impacted him or her? Does the values of your nation and its people emerge from its past?

Usually, the history part of a fantasy world is covered very, very well—George R.R. Martin, for example—but the culture of a nation often gets overlooked. Typically, a fantasy world is based off of Medieval Europe with kings and queens, witches and knights, orcs and fairies. If you want any of those kind of characters in your stories, go for it—don't let me tell you what to write, but, I will say this: think outside of the box. We've seen this kind of medieval fantasy world done countless times, and they are often enjoyable, but try to approach another culture in a fantastical way.

Get inspired by not only Medieval Europe, but how about Feudal Japan? Ancient Egypt? The Caribbean? The Mayans? The Greeks?

Try to craft a unique culture that immerses your reader into a rich, diverse world—experiment with your story, tweak the characters here and there, but, most importantly, have fun!

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I hope these few short tips have helped! Below are some other questions that any writer who is world-building should answer to add more depth to their story.

What are some of your tips for world-building? What has helped you the most while creating your world?

Have a fantastic day and keep on writing!

--Lexie (@miss-gatsby)

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World-building Brainstorming Questions

• Does your world have different languages?

• How did the world come to be?

• Are there any childhood folklore or fairytales?

• What are some common jobs and professions of your people?

• What are people's attitudes towards gender roles? Other races?

• How do people dress?

• Does your place have four seasons? Two? One?

• What holidays do your people celebrate? Are they religious?

• What kind of technology exists? How is it powered? Who creates it?

• Are there any unique or region-specific animals?

• Are there different religions? What are people's beliefs based on these religions?

• Who is in power and why? How is power transferred?