Have you ever daydreamed about a magical world, but never managed to put your thoughts in black and white? This article can help you take that step. Follow our tips and you will be able to create your own fantastic and wonderful world in no time!
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Define the Culture
Step 1. Decide on the nature of the locals
Begin to imagine what kind of world you want to create, and what forms of life it hosts. This will help you realize the world environment.
- Is it a peaceful world, without wars, anger or violence? Or a world adrift, where crime, battle and destruction are the order of the day?
- Based on this, you can begin to describe its inhabitants. Create them, with their history, culture, lifestyle, weapons, food, education, governments, transportation and everything in between. Are there more races? Like fish-men and centaurs? What conflicts exist between the races?
- Define the extensions of cultures. You can create a world where there is a single dominant culture, such as the Klingon Empire, or where different cultures and traditions coexist, such as Earth.
Step 2. Think of a name for your world
You can change it later if you want, but it's a good idea to start from here. One way to do this is to use your name as inspiration.
- Fiorellandia, for example, sounds good, especially if it is a wonderful world, full of meadows and greenery.
- You can use a made-up word that sounds good (Kaiu, Mikvar, etc.). Or a play on words.
- You can use city names of foreign countries. For example Ravonik or Turan, which are found in Albania.
- Try to choose a name that reflects the nature of the inhabitants. For example, if it is a war-torn world, calling it "Gaudio" may not be appropriate. Likewise, if your world is populated by elves and unicorns, calling it "Kzrakh" won't work.
- Create the different nations! Create a flag for each nation, give it a name, and create the culture and traditions that make it unique, as well as add the characters it shares with other cultures around the world.
Step 3. Create the landscape of your world
Where are the deserts found? The mountains? Forests?
Determine how your world is covered by the different biomes. For example, it could be a desert planet, a frozen asteroid, or a full moon of forests. Or it could be a temperate planet like Earth, but with different creatures and vegetation
Step 4. Create the fauna of your world
You can borrow many of Earth's animals, but if you feel like using your imagination, make them all up! Are they vertebrates (with backbones) or invertebrates? You can enrich them with teeth, claws, nails, scales, fur, wings, eyes, limbs and jelly.
- Search books for exotic insects and animals from the deep sea. There are very strange looking animals in our world.
- What kind of animals do your inhabitants ride? Create your planet's food chain!
- Building an ecosystem is a great way to learn about the world you are creating. Where do the creatures that inhabit the planet live? They can populate the skies, or the rivers of lava. They can be ice wurms digging up solid methane deposits, or pure energy entities composed of plasma.
Step 5. Create the story of your world
When you have an idea of the inhabitants and their lives, it is time to give them a past.
- Describe their evolution from another life form, or whether they were part of a galactic experiment.
- Who or what created life on planet Xyxyx? What were the main events that changed the history of the world?
- Are there divinities, is there evolution, or a combination of the two? Describe the events on the planet throughout history. Have there been wars (civil or international)? Conflicts? Anarchy? Rebellions? Is it a planet with a peaceful history?
Step 6. Decide the religion of your world
This is often a difficult subject for those who are very faithful to their true religion. Remember that you are in no way failing your faith by creating a fantasy world where religion is different from yours. Just as writing a detective novel doesn't make you a killer, writing about other gods doesn't make you a heretic.
- Is the dominant religion polytheistic, monotheistic, pantheistic or are the inhabitants atheists? You can decide the appearance of the gods to your liking.
- Are gods animals? Do they have specific powers? Do they have a spouse or multiple spouses? Do these deities exist or are they invented? Were there any previous deities?
Step 7. Establish or create the language used on the planet
Do the inhabitants speak Italian? French? Spanish? Or a completely new language? Remember, if you plan to write a book about your world, don't create a new language if you plan on letting your characters use it all the time. Most people will not be able to read the book, held back by the language barrier.
To learn from the master, read the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien created real languages so that the characters had a story, but he made use of these languages only rarely, for important elements. In this way, he gave his world an aura of authenticity that would otherwise have been lacking
Step 8. Create the folklore
What are the myths of each nation? Create stories to tell children to scare them, invent fairy tales, and picture legends "with a grain of truth", or important prophecies.
Step 9. Outline the life of each nation
What games do children play? Which are the poorest nations? The rich ones? Do you work hard or do people have a lot of time to have fun?
Method 2 of 3: Create a World Map
Step 1. Draw a map
First, draw the land masses, such as continents, and the great masses of water or other geographical features that your world possesses.
- Add geographic boundaries. As in the case of Europe and Asia, two continents separated only by natural borders.
- Add political borders: countries, states and cities. See how the borders between states are established on Google Maps, and use that as a guide.
Step 2. Start naming places
When you have defined the country boundaries, start adding the names. Start with the largest entities up to the small ones.
- First name the main features of the world: continents, oceans, deserts, forests, etc.
- Establish a capital for each nation. Place and name the most important cities, then the nations and provinces.
- It may seem like an impossible challenge, but relax and don't think, let the ideas come by themselves. There is no rush. You can keep the names in your head, or write them down on paper.
- Do a Google search for "random fantasy name generator" if you can't think of enough names.
Step 3. Draw a first draft of the map
Exclude small islands initially. Make sure land borders are jagged (like real coastlines), not soft and curvy (unless you have a good reason for doing so).
- A computer can be useful.
- Add the small islands. Remember that these islands can be very important, economically and strategically.
Step 4. Add a legend
Use simple symbols, such as triangles, for mountains and dots for cities, unless you are an artist and want to show off your skills.
- Enter the place names. Make sure you write continent names larger than nations, nations larger than cities, etc.
- Don't forget to adjust the size of the city symbols to reflect the population and to use different symbols for capitals, countries and provinces.
Step 5. Color the map
You can do it however you like, put the finishing touches on, and that's it! You have created your map.
Step 6. Create individual maps of individual countries
To do this, just leave the neighboring countries in black and white and color each province in different colors. Skip this step if there are no nations in your world.
Method 3 of 3: Make Your World Real
Step 1. Put everything in black and white and print a book
You can write the introduction as if you were a scholarly professor of this world, and write the rest as if it were a real topic. Publish your book on the internet if you want to share it with the world.
Study anthropological writings on indigenous peoples, plants and animals to learn that style of writing. Or read how National Geographic writes about the findings. Adapt that style to your personal tastes
Advice
- Be creative! Don't try to create a world that others will like, just listen to yourself.
- Don't hesitate to skip a step in this guide or not follow it to the letter. These are simple tips that you have to put at the service of your imagination.
- Try to avoid clichés like fairies and goblins, or an orphaned protagonist. The more unique your story is, the more interesting it will be.
- History is a surprising source of inspiration. Find a topic that interests you and research it thoroughly, to find ideas to insert into your world.
- You can find inspiration by reading other fantasy books or websites, but be sure not to plagiarize the ideas of other authors.
- Don't pretend to create the smallest details of your world right away. Start with a general idea and develop it over time.
