What is World-building?

As an author, you learn to live in a world of your creation.

 Fantasy and science fiction writers often refer to world-building as an activity that helps them to create or build a whole new world. For example, suppose you are writing in a future world where humans colonise other planets. In that case, you’ll need to describe the future, the technology, habits and lifestyles of future humans. Plus, you’ll need to imagine the planet you are sending your characters to colonise.

However, all authors build the worlds in which their characters live. Whether you are writing in the modern world or as historical fiction, you need to envisage all the elements of where your characters live, work, play, and interact with each other.

Some authors will draw floor plans of their character’s houses, so they know how many steps the character needs to take to get to a bathroom or where the character could accidentally overhear a conversation between other protagonists. Other authors will picture a real place – a railway station or a street where the characters will be for a scene. If it is a real place, go there if you can. Take photos and note how it feels, smells, and sounds. If you are talking about what your character eats, describe the taste of the food.

Excellent authors build believable worlds that the readers can imagine or relate to when reading the story. Some of the details of the world-building exercises will never make it into the final story, but the better the author imagines the world, the more believable it is for the reader.

When thinking about world-building: details rule. Imagine not only the house but all the décor. Remember to consider all five senses; what does the character smell, hear, touch, see, and taste?

Happy writing!