We've learned about the methods of building worlds but what exactly are we building? In this article, we will be talking about the types of worlds in speculative fiction (SF) and how your current project relates to them.

To start, let's define the two main types of worlds: primary and secondary worlds.

Primary worlds are those that resemble our modern day life. These can range from modern settings with fantasy elements hidden inside them to worlds that have secondary worlds connected to them. Secondary worlds, meanwhile, are separate realms that consist of the societies centered around the SF elements or worlds where SF creatures exist. They can be a distinct universe which can stand on their own, or they can be connected to a primary world.

In The Chronicles of Fantasilia, Fantasilia, itself, is a secondary world, but it's connected to the primary world, World Beyond—the in-world name of something that closely resembles our modern-day reality.

As it was, primary and secondary worlds have a few sub-types and I'll be leaving it to you to interpret them as either.

Earth-Based Settings
In Earth-Based settings, we are dealing with worlds that are still loosely-based on real-life. It has several kinds such as the mundane world, where the usual SF elements just kind of yeets into it. These kinds of worlds can be found in urban fantasy, where the real world is just chilling and suddenly, these magical (or scientific or just out of the ordinary) things just kind of upend it. They can also be set in the contemporary times or in the recent past.

Wainscot worlds are those that resemble the real world, whether in the past or the present, and contain societies that have their own rules and order. They can be secret, unseen, or difficult to enter/exit. The name is derived from the wooden panels lining the interior of houses called wainscots. It gave birth to the statement "living behind the wainscots" because these worlds tend to do literally that.

Their main characteristics is that the members of the wainscot can intermingle with the contemporary society and, most of the time, their location and inhabitants overlap. Not everyone can move in and out these worlds, either because the wainscot is unknown or there are only a few types of beings that can switch between worlds, often with magic being the distinct trait. Another defining trait of wainscots is that these entry/exit of worlds should be quick and efficient, and they populate the story/ies at multiple instances.

A well-known example of wainscot worlds is J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

There are also worlds that are distant and inaccessible but have all these wonderful things. They are called far-off worlds. Examples of these are Liliput from Gulliver's Travels and Oz from The Wizard of Oz. These worlds are difficult to enter and exit, and they often require a bizarre method of to do so. Most of the time, these worlds also sport inhabitants whose culture/society is very distinct from ours.

Remote worlds are worlds that tackle the times that are either lost to time or too far-off into the future that anything kinda just goes with whatever you put into them. In J.R.R. Tolkien's works, they are talking about things that happened before human history as we know it is recorded. In Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, Earth has been drastically changed so that the existence of magic, advanced science, or even SF creatures and societies is totally plausible.

Alternative Earth Settings
The most common kind is the alternate history worlds that re-imagines a world should a well-known and impactful historical event never happened. In these worlds, Earth has taken a different route with various, inferred consequences popping up in the long run. An example of this is The Umbrella Academy's Dallas Arc and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.

There are also worlds that are involved in real-world settings even though they are completely fictional. An example of this is Frozen's Arendelle kingdom that is inspired by Norway but doesn't really exist in its history.

Lastly, there are also incorporated SF worlds where real-life history suddenly have SF elements inserted in them. An example can be putting dragons and the Roman empire conquest together or having the Tsarist Russia have access to some sort of magical (or scientific) stones or whatever.

Planets
These are more common in science fiction, but a 'why not?' for fantasy. The most important thing to remember is that they're entire planets and not just realms or worlds. These planets can either take the form of an author's imagination of existing planets in our solar system (or beyond), a fictional planet that is still connected to Earth as we know it, or an entirely fictional planet that can exist in our universe or in any other universes or not. Sometimes, even the universe can be entirely fictional.

Portal Worlds
The concept of portals and world-hopping is currently a fantasy staple. It features both primary and secondary worlds being entered/exited by the characters that they either discovered by accident or have unwittingly fallen into. An example of this is C.S. Lewis' The Narnia Chronicles and, ironically, my series, The Chronicles of Fantasilia.

Dream Worlds
A variant of portal worlds, these worlds are concerned with developing a world purely based on dreams. It can be fantasy or sci-fi, depending on how the dream-scape is executed. Prime examples of this are Lewis Caroll's Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and the recently-released feature film, Slumberland.

Earth-Type Worlds
These are worlds that exist separate from Earth but are very Earth-like. The distinctive trait they possess is the introduction of the SF elements and the re-imagination of what society looks like if that's the case. A well-known example is G.R.R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. My works, The White Thorns of Fire and Kolibrie, feature worlds like this.

Bizarre Worlds
Let's face it, almost all SF projects sport a degree of bizarreness, but the worlds that can be described as truly bizarre just take the bizarre into bizarre levels. Count how many times I said bizarre in that? Basically, these worlds push the limits of how much SF elements can be amplified, reduced, or layered together. Examples of these worlds are Chuck Wendig's Under the Empyrean Sky, where people are battling genetically engineered corn, and Martha Wells' Books of the Raksura series, where creatures with islands atop their backs swim in the sea and land masses hang from clouds.

Genre-based SF Worlds
These worlds are heavily based on the genre they follow. Fallen Kingdoms are worlds that tackle society or a world falling apart. These can span both fantasy and science fiction, and incorporate apocalyptic elements and corrupt political systems. Fairytale Lands are worlds that are based on the well-known fairy-tale logic, rules, and limits. They can be modern but still contain slivers of fairytale themes. Examples of these are Elizabeth Lim's works, Six, Crimson Cranes and Spin the Dawn.

Science fantasy worlds are distinct to science fiction because the former features futuristic technology but they often have magical elements or an alternate science (that often involves magic) mixed in. An example of these is Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series. Another branch of this sci-fi-ish worlds are arcane fantasy worlds. These differ from science fantasy by combining magic and science in their setting in order to build new kinds of science or processes. An example of these worlds is the one built in League of Legends' TV series, Arcane and Final Fantasy XV: Kingsglaive.

Anthropomorphic worlds are where there are talking animals and are based on the complexities of animal cultures and societies. These worlds can be fantasy, sci-fi, or both. They can be for children or for adults and everyone in between. Take for example, Disney's The Lion King.

Lastly, high seas worlds are those that feature the huge world of seas and ships, and will often involve pirates, mythical sea creatures like krakens and mermaids, and some magical elements like curses, siren songs, and witch spells. Examples of these are The Pirates of the Caribbean, and on Wattpad, tarishannon's Venture to Uncertainty and UnboundWings' Siren Song.

Discussion Questions
1. What type of world are you excited to try and build?
2. Do you know other types of SF worlds that are not mentioned/tackled here?
3. Tell us about your works that are already set in one of these worlds! Why do you think those worlds fall underneath the ones mentioned here?

References
[Nyki]. (2019, September). Types of worlds. [Online Forum Post]. fantasywriters.org. https://www.fantasy-writers.org/forum/types-worlds.

Braswell, R. (2023). Types of Fantasy Worlds. richellebraswell.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023, from https://www.richellebraswell.com/blog/types-of-fantasy-worlds.

TV Tropes. (2023, January). Wainscot Society . tvtropes.org. Retrieved February 1, 2023, from https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WainscotSociety

I hope you have had a fruitful learning moment with this article. I certainly enjoyed my time. Read on to the next article: Setting Rules and Limits: The Basics.

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