Yesterday, I discussed the basics of world building (here). Now I’d like to add a few things not usually discussed in college fiction courses.
As you are creating your world, you need to keep in mind several things.
1) Societal mores. This is more than just the laws of the land. This is little things, like covering your mouth when you yawn to keep evil spirits from possessing you, or covering your ankles lest someone think you’re a hussy. It’s about what society is willing to tolerate from people before declaring them unfit company.
2) The cultural base you are using for your world. What country / society informs the world you are playing in? Just a note: Having a wide-spread Asian culture in a medieval European setting is not nearly as believable as some people think it is.
3) Gender equality (or lack thereof). It’s all well and good to have strong female characters, but if you’re writing about a society where roles are defined by gender, your character will more problems to deal with than just the villain of the piece.
4) Funerals. How your society deals with death informs the culture. Death and funerals are a very ritualized part of most cultures, historical and current. Our views on death are brought out in how our religions treat the subjects of life and death. For example, some Eastern religions forbids organ donation because the body most be whole to transcend to the next life while many Western religions consider the body a mere shell for the more important soul.
5) Fables, folk tales, myths, and legends. How was your world created? What stories do the elders tell to explain the existence of fire? What folk tales inspire the children in your world? What boogieman is used to scare people into behaving?
6) Slang, common phrases. “A stitch in time saves nine,” “a watch pot never boils.” These are phrases used by Americans on a daily basis but they were both codified by Benjamin Franklin. A society that exists before the American colonies wouldn’t use these. But they might use other phrases. Think about where your characters have grown up, what they’re dealing with on a regular basis. “Benedict Arnold” wouldn’t make much sense as an insult in a far future society, but there may be someone else who serves as a similar example for your characters.
7) Identification. How do your characters know everyone is who they say they are? Do you have biometric sensors on everything or SINs (Shadowrun ID similiar to SSNs) for each character? What about letters of introduction or notarized papers? Or does your society depend on honesty for identification and the fact that it’s small enough that everyone knows each other?
8) Transport. Yes, transport matters. If you can get from point A to point B in a matter of hours, people are going to react differently to the suggestion of a trip to B than if the transport (and the time it takes that transport to travel) will take days, weeks, months, or light years to get to the destination.
9) What’s in a name… Does your society name people based off their caste, jobs, or birth village? Do they have one name or multiple names? Is multiple names a sign of rank?
10) Religion. Here’s the big one. Does your world have a monotheistic religion, a pantheon, or an atheistic view of the universe? Or, perhaps, your people worship the all mighty greenback and the corporation they are ruled by?
11) Climate & Clothes. Yes, clothing makes the man, or the woman. So does climate. Desert people wear different types of clothing than arctic dwellers. If you’ve got a lot of mud in your world, does it make sense for them to wear full-on boots when sandals are easier to clean and many people might just go barefoot? The climate also dictates what items people will use to make their clothing. What types of animals or plants are around? Where do people get their dyes? Indigo is a hard color to make if you don’t have the right snails. In fact, climate tends to dictate gender roles, religion, funerary practices, and laws also. The harsh the climate, the harsher the local culture tends to be, and the bigger parties they throw when they’re off the clock. (Vikings party hard but have little tolerance for cowards).
There are so many things to think about when building your world, and I promise you won’t think of everything. But you need to know as much about your world as you can. Not so that you can inflict it upon your reader, but so you can make your story as believable as possible. If you do it right, only 1% to 10% of your world building will actually make it into the story. The rest will languish as notes. But when your readers devour your work and beg for more, all your efforts will be worth it.
So go forth, young writer, and world build! And if you think I missed anything big that should be on my list, please let me know.
