Why You Should Worldbuild and How

By Lori Scharf

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Worldbuilding is perhaps one of the hardest parts of writing to master. New writers often leave this to the wayside in pursuit of more exciting things like plot or characters, but what good is a great plot or awesome characters if you don’t have a world to put them in?

I made the mistake of rushing into the story without taking the time to develop the world in many of my original projects, which I would live on to regret. You might think, like I did, that you can just worldbuild as you go; but that just had me frantically scrolling through the pages of my manuscript looking for a small detail I had added about some piece of culture back in Chapter 2.

As I outline and plan my next novel, I’m keeping track of my worldbuilding. In this draft, I have 5 distinct countries, all with different histories, cultures, religions, etc. I have notes about climate and terrain, different systems of government and politics, and Pinterest boards full of clothing and architectural styles for each.

Will all this development make it into the story? No! In fact I read somewhere that 90% of your world building will never been seen by your reader.

But that’s okay! Because you know it! And as long as you know how your world looks, acts, and feels, your story will seem much more natural.

So, how do you start?

Some people like to go at it from scratch, while others like to use a questionnaire or templates.

Personally, I like a mix of both. I started off just writing down everything I had planned/brainstormed, and now I’m working through some questionnaires to make sure I don’t miss something I’ll regret later.

Here’s what I think are the most important points when worldbuilding:

• Location, Terrain, and Climate

Is this a country, continent, world, or planet? Is it flat, mountainous, or a desolate rock full of craters? Is it forested or desert? Hot or cold? These are all important as they will affect everything from architecture, to clothing, to transportation.

• Culture and Religion

Is this culture modern, ancient, or advanced? What are their religious customs of beliefs?

• Politics

Is your country or world run by a monarchy, democracy, or dictatorship? Is the head of state a king, queen, president, prime minister, emperor, or something else altogether? Has your region been involved in a war recently? What is the state of the military? Even if you don’t think you’ll need it for the story, it’s good to know in case your characters decide to bring it up.

Of course, there is much, much more to worldbuilding, which is why there are so many resources out there to help you make your world unique! Here are some good questionnaires, worksheets and other resources:

Story Embers Worldbuilding Questionnaire

Reedsy Wouldbuilding Guide (+Template

Fantasy Name Generator (This is my favourite name generator and I use it all the time when I can’t think of names, even if it just ends up being a placeholder.)

Be sure to check back in on this post whenever you’re worldbuilding, as I will be adding new resources as I find them!

Until next time,

-Lori