Creating places brings another great entry to the the art of world building. Mackayla lane has no idea theres more to life than her mundane existence, until her sister is murdered and she travels to ireland to find the killerand falls into the violent, intoxicating world of the fae. Chuck wendigs 25 things you should know about worldbuilding provides 25 great tips for building fantasy worlds. Nearly every fantasy world with magical abilities has some sort of mysterious magical accident in its history. The second, the obelisk gate, is a masterwork of worldbuilding, developing the history and culture of the stillness while setting up the clash. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers. A worldbuilding bible can help you to stay organized and to make sure your novel is consistent. Building a world can be a ton of fun, but it can also be quite the laborious process when you get into the nittygritty of it all. Over 800 pages of world building, jonathan strange and mr. To build a detailed world, one to rival westeros, hogwarts or dickens london, use these world building tips. Mackayla lane has no idea theres more to life than her mundane existence, until her sister is murdered and she travels. The tales cover more than 400 years of rich history across the 10 novels, three.
Building a physical representation of your created world brings it to a new level and helps you convey its sense of reality to your reader. While many of these questions may be helpful or crucial to certain stories, they will not all apply to every story. Didnt expect a science fiction world to lack any kind of stagnation. Writing fantasy a creative approach to world building. With an entire world to play with, you will never run out of stories. Aug 08, 2017 a worldbuilding bible can help you to stay organized and to make sure your novel is consistent. The little mermaid by hannah eliot, illustrated by nivea ortiz.
Here are six tips for understanding the importance of world building in your novel. Good world building lends an immersive richness to your writing, while also giving readers the information they need to understand characters and plot lines. To be honest stormlight archive was better than mistborn worldbuildingwise. I am taking part in a mindmeld post over at later this week. Worldbuilding is so much more than just a framing device. Orcs and humans hit the pc scene in 1994, the world of azeroth was hardly the most complex of fantasy creations. The planet construction kit is a great resource for worldbuilding, covering almost all aspects of society and general setting from cosmology to biology, history, culture, religion, technology, map making.
What are, in your opinion, the books that have the best crafted. The difference between good worldbuilding and great worldbuilding. Six of crows and crooked kingdom by leigh bardugo this. The best fantasy novels ever written prowritingaid. As a fantasy author, the subject of world building is near and dear to my heart. I havent looked through this in too much detail, but its on the sfwa website, which is a high recommendation, and seems useful from what i did read. Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe. Mar 08, 2017 fantasy books top 10 fantasy fiction universes. The subject is our favorite example of world building. Over 800 pages of worldbuilding, jonathan strange and mr.
I have 12 femaledriven scifi and fantasy novels youll love to read, so be sure to add these new and newish adventures to your tbr, a. Ive only relied on a couple resources while writing my new scifi books, and this is one of them the other being a book on physics by the great michio kaku. For a great example of worldbuilding, look at brandon sandersons way of kings books. Also sandersons reckoners trilogy is one of the best superhero fiction in that. Even if it isnt artistic or even good it helps you see it. Even though this is a worldbuilding pick, the plot is excellent in this series. Moning utilizes the tried and true urban fantasy method of worldbuilding by plunging a naive character an established fantasy world. I have spent many hours building my fantasy world, and agree that it has been as much fun as developing my plot and story. The 12 greatest fantasy books of the year buzzfeed. Fantasy worldbuilding questions a great list of questions to help you build a realistic fantasy world. Also, though it doesnt have the best worldbuilding, in my opinion halo has great worldbuilding too.
World building is so much more than just a framing device. To make this a much easier process i have made you a super handy little cheat sheet for fantasy world building. Once i dream about how to create its fantasy the world, write a large number of books about this world, and i hope that once on my books based the film. Roleplaying games and fantasy fiction are filled with rich and fascinating worlds. Science fiction and fantasy novels provide us with allegory, cautionary tales, and the human condition told through the lens of the fantastical and the cuttingedge. They also have their own list of resources, many of which are also included on this page. Sep 20, 2018 a avid fans opinion on how to build a fantasy world.
I realize the pern novels sort of straddle the line between fantasy and. Culturemaking checklist neitherworldstories fantasy worldbuilding questions. Worldbuilding is the bedrock of science fiction and fantasy. A avid fans opinion on how to build a fantasy world. Unique worlds, magical lands, books that should be talked about more, fantasy books with maps, what a wonderful world a cele. But then remember that magical accidents can be as environmentally damaging as a meteor. In the fantasy genre, a living, breathing world is as or more important than compelling characters. This article aims to provide you with a way to put some order into what can otherwise be a chaotic jumble of thoughts and ideas. World building tips often focus on fantastical genres such as fantasy and scifi, because they involve creating worlds different to our own. Theres a huge debate on whether world building is a valid use of your time.
The amazon editors got together and picked our very favorites, considering criteria such as vision, character creation, world building, and storytelling style. Some fantasy books do make up their own creatures, but most of the time, those creatures seem a bit underdeveloped. She pulled elements from classic mythology, such as a phoenix and centaurs, and invented myths of her own, like the story of the elder wand. Why not center your fantasy world around selkies, centaurs, dryads, naiads, or some other mythical creature. In necromancer awakening now available on amazon, i went through a painstaking process to build a unique magic system involving life and death. The resulting world may be called a constructed world or conworld. The 60 best scifi books all science fiction fans must read. In this video i go over the pros and cons of filling out the worldbuilding bible in advance vs. World building is an important component of fantasy writing because your fantasy world must be grounded in a history and abide by certain rules in order to persuade your readers to suspend their disbelief when you bring in magic, fantastical beasts and other implausible elements.
The following list of questions is meant to aid authors of fantasy fiction who are seeking to create believable imaginary settings for their stories. This name generator will give you 10 random names for realms, like magical forests, vile nether worlds, and heavenly cloud cities. The world and its story were little more than an excuse to lead armies in an epic clash for dominance. Gahoole from the fantasy book series guardians of gahoole by kathryn lasky. These are the best science fiction and fantasy books of the year. I fully realize that only the tiniest tip of this iceberg will actually show up in my story, it was important to me to have a fully developed world and a history so that. This book contains a variety of sections on different aspects of building a fictional world from scratch, and i think the original audience was very much diverse in regards to skill level. Fantasy books for babies and toddlers 03 my mom is magical by sabrina moyle, illustrated by eunice moyle my mom is magical, featuring a magical unicorn, and my dad is amazing, featuring a mythical yeti, are joyful tributes to just how amazing parents and their kids.
Its the very essence of any good fantasy or science fiction story, and the basis of a sense of place in other genres. On a related note, if youre drawing on reallife history, for your fantasy world or your future history, dont just read works by historians from the dominant culture, or works focusing on the. Why is world building important for fantasy novels. The ultimate list of 42 worldbuilding resources the dabbler. I set out to build a version of our world where clairvoyance was real and formed the basis of a magic system. Nov 14, 2016 moning utilizes the tried and true urban fantasy method of worldbuilding by plunging a naive character an established fantasy world. Do they think bad things are always a just punishment for some transgression, a characterbuilding exercise, the result of an evil antagonist satan, loki or just something the gods cant prevent. Its important to create immersive, interesting and believable settings, whatever your genre. Build the complete, living world behind your incredible novels, games and art using our inspirational toolset. Ten great examples of science fiction world building. As an aside, world building also leaves open the possibilities for sequels, which is always fun. So ive been obsessing about worldbuilding a lot lately, and trying to figure out what the difference is between good, decent, craftspersonlike worldbuilding and great worldbuilding. Jan 16, 2015 but, while it seems like urban fantasy would require a minimum of worldbuilding, there are actually a number of questions that i have to ask myself about the world, and that any urban fantasy writer has to answer, even if only by implication.
Gate, is a masterwork of worldbuilding, developing the history and culture of the stillness while setting up the clash. Showcase your worldbuilding, novels, characters, campaigns, maps and timelines to. Worldbuilding develops entire societies and cultures so there is plenty of room for social commentary. The ultimate in world building was probably lord of the rings, for which j. This is a partial list of fictional fantasy worlds, according to the medium they appear in. The first 5 names are randomized names, which will give you actual names for a realm. Good fantasy tales rely on world building, and glen cooks black company series has this in spades.
From my perspective, one of the most important elements of any fantasy is the world in which it takes place. Below are some of the important questions to ask yourself when creating a fantasy world. Top 10 fantasy fiction universes books the guardian. The best worldbuilding not only fully transports you to somewhere new, but also offers a sense of scope and possibility that extends far beyond. Abeirtoril planet on which the dungeons and dragons campaign settings and novels, forgotten realms, maztica, and al qadim are set. This can be one of the hardest aspects of creating a series.
Jul 20, 2018 building a world can be a ton of fun, but it can also be quite the laborious process when you get into the nittygritty of it all. The 10 best maps from fantasy books for readers who like to track heroes adventures. Ok, ive been waiting for a very long time to make something on books with good worldbuilding. If youre going to build a convincing fantasy world, you may be thinking about developing a magic system. The characteristics of world building you need to know to create a fully immersive world that your readers will fall in with. Heres screen rant s take on the 12 best fantasy worlds ever created. A lot of people find drawing a physical map of their world to help them in this process. Great news we have compiled the best scifi books that all fans should read, everything from scifi classics to up and coming indie authors. It is not necessary for an author to answer all, or even any, of the questions in order to start writing, or to finish writing. Worldbuilding guide for writers and world builders part 1. One of the great parts of scifi is that you can choose to explore aspects of society of people in more depth simply by changing the technology available or the challenges they face.
Which are some fantasy books with amazing worldbuilding. So, this means you have a big book with the scope of the classics such as the lord of the rings, or game of thrones but you also have a dominant central. The most powerful tool in your world building arsenal is, instead the question. Tips on how to build a fantasy world for your novel ny book. Jan 16, 2020 world building tips often focus on fantastical genres such as fantasy and scifi, because they involve creating worlds different to our own. The 10 best maps from fantasy books for readers who like. Building an imaginary world from nothing can be a daunting prospect, as much as it is an exciting one. Best scifi book series with society and people focus. I have lots more articles on writing fantasy here on writing short and snappy as it is, stephen kings on writing really contains two books. Most of the lore comes from ingame books and theres the infernal city book, so i guess it should count.
Dont describe every family crest, guild sigil, hairstyle, nipple clamp, or blade of grass in the world. When she isnt putting words on paper, she is using. The sword of truth series is 14 books, all of which are designed to be standalone stories, totally independent from the. Rowling created an entire magical world, set within our own, each with its own government and laws. Discworld is some of the best fantasy worldbuilding ive ever encountered. Less a fantasy series and more a complex dedication to worldbuilding. Building a fantasy world is just like building a science fiction world. Create your world, and then push yourself to go deeper. Mind you, if i have to choose world building or strong, passionate.