Every novel needs a setting, but in fantasy novels the backdrop becomes almost as

important as the plot and characters.

Would Game of Thrones be the same without the Wall or Winterfell? If White Walkers
descended from mountains or appeared mysteriously in snow storms, would the
impact be the same as keeping them barred to the north with a 700 foot, castle
fortified wall? Would a Stark act so different from a Lannister without the
responsibility of protecting the wall instead of living in the midst of plenty?

World building affects your characters too. To create an outstanding novel, the setting,
the characters, and the plot must twine together to create a seamless whole. The
easiest way to begin that process is with world building.

The good news is you don’t have to be a world-builder extraordinaire to achieve a

realistic and immersive setting for your story. But you do have to put in a bit of work.
This cheat sheet will step you through the most important aspects, save you hours of
time, and, most importantly, help you build an amazing world and characters for your
story.

Step 1 — Define the Era

You most likely have an idea for a story, some niggling of an idea for a character or
quest. It might be the faintest whiff but think about that nugget for a moment. Now
tell me if it were earth, what era would it be?

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Pinpointing the comparable era will come from a variety of clues. Are knights in armor
riding horses? Is your character a nomadic scout in the forest or grassy plains? Are
folks sailing, riding, or walking? Do they wield iron, bronze, or stone weapons? Do
guns exist?

Clarify in your mind the period that would equate to our world.

Why? Because this will give you an instant base of what is expected by the reader due
to years upon years of history lessons or immersion into similar fantasy stories. In
turn, this will provide a jumping point for deviating from those expectations.

Consider you want to create a society that relies heavily on the sea and warm weather,
something that if you set it on Earth would be based around the Mediterranean. But
the characters use glass or crystal weapons as well as magic. Is that beginning to sound
almost like Atlantis? What ideas now come to mind on architecture, clothing, and
food? Say you want to add in spacecraft to the same setting. Would you make them
crystal powered as well? How would you explain the advanced technology alongside
glass swords?

If you don’t have an idea for your story yet, take a look at the fantasy stories you love.
What is consistent about them? What sort of stories do you crave to read? Do they
have swords and knights or do you prefer elves and rangers? Do you love Tolkien with
sweeping landscapes?

Write down your favorite aspects of stories as well as the ones you wish had been
developed more. Is there a place characters didn’t go that you wanted to explore or did
venture and was nothing like what you thought it should be? If so, you have a great
starting point for your world.

This exercise is hardly the end because if you stop here, you are relying on history, our
history, as well as cultural myths. That is hardly the best you can do nor does it
guarantee a backdrop so riveting it is unforgettable. But it does give you fuel to start
filling in the missing details.

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 Step 2 — Create Magic and Rules

Magic is even more important to a fantasy novel than even the creation of a new world.
Harry Potter, after all, took place in a version of this world and not a new one. But how
much thought have you given to the type of magic in your story?

Can anyone use magic if she has the right tools? Or is it only accessible to those born
with the ability? Is magic elemental or telekinetic or something else? Where does it
come from? Can it be taken away? Does using magic make characters tired or is it like
a drug where they crave the next fix, slowly losing control?

Answering these questions is how you define the rules of magic, by outlining what is
possible creates what should not be possible in your story. As you write, you should
follow them or know why exceptions exist.

Why? Not having clear rules reduces tension in the novel. And tension is the primary
reason readers keep turning pages. Besides that, if you don't follow a set of rules, it can
lead to reader aggravation.

I was a big fan of Dr. Who until the range of what the Doctor was doing with a sonic
screwdriver, whose function is pretty clear cut in that two-word description, started
mimicking a magic wand and rescued him from every possible scrape. If there is no
risk to the character because magic can solve everything, the story falls flat.

Do define what sort of magic is possible, what the limits of use are, and what can be
done to defeat both your hero and villain. Even if you keep some of that information
in your pocket until the very end, knowing it will help elevate the stakes as you write.

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 Step 3 — Create Your Known World

The simplest way to create a world is to draw a map. It doesn’t have to be a work of art,
pencil on copy paper will do. But this the fastest way to develop a rough idea for a
story into an actual world full of hazards and side adventures you would not have
considered otherwise.

Without something as basic as a map, it is easy to forget how nuanced, and vast, the
world can be. If in your mind, you envision your heroine traveling through a forest to a
small woodland village and then onward through another forest to a castle. It sounds
simple enough and, honestly, a little boring.

But if you start sketching that journey, you might find the woodland village is the last
stop on the outskirts of a vast, forbidden valley. The trees before the village are open
and full of light and game. Afterward, as the heroine descends to deep rivers, the forest
is dark with thick undergrowth and a dense canopy that filters so little light it is always
dusk on the forest floor. The path to the castle is a road now more a footpath with
collapsed stone bridges, and the castle sits abandoned on the mountainous rim of the
far side of the valley.

Do you see how easy it is to create tension, setbacks, and dangers in the second
paragraph? The story begins to write itself. Without considering topography,
everything feels the same and still a little hazy. With it, the story is starting to come
alive.

Why create the magic first? Because if unusual ingredients are needed or if magic has
odd effects, different types of landforms can be added to the map. Can islands float? Is
there a city in the clouds? Are rare minerals used to create weapons? Build in what it
will take to allow your magical system to function so that it is integral to the world
rather than an afterthought.

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 Map Making in 6 Steps

Step 1 – Create Scale

Think about the setting you have so far. Is the climate tropical or is it temperate? What
are the seasons? If it were on earth, in what band of latitude would you place it?

Depending on how big of a world you are going to draw (are you making a globe or
just a localized area?), consider how far your characters will travel. Do you want them
to cross deserts, jungles, jagged mountains with snow and plummeting caves, rich
coastal cities, or endless forests? Or all of that? How expansive of an area are you
about to create and size your work space accordingly, even if you have to tape
together pages.

Step 2 – Water

The oldest and most productive cities are near water – either a coast or a river.
Access to water for drinking, as a power source (milling), irrigation, and movement of
goods is essential to the development of an area. Start with your first location/chosen
city and decide how close it is to a river, lake, or ocean. Now draw it in.

Whatever you choose, continue that line. If it is a river, follow it to the outlet and draw
along the coast. Where is the next river or sheltered bay? Are there islands? Outline
the major water features of your world to define the land, including peninsulas,
estuaries, lakes, and archipelagos. If you are not 100% certain, sketch it in roughly.
Add rivers, streams, or lakes to break up the landscape.

Step 3 – Locate towns

With the water resources created, or if you didn’t need to worry about this option, it is
time to locate the other towns. First, decide what is the major method of travel? If it is
by horse, small towns or outposts will be a day’s ride from each other. Large cities
might be several days away. Walking would be the same. If people travel on foot
through a thick forest, overnight shelters and woodland camping might be common.
But primary paths would host at least a cluster of houses at a day’s walk or where
ever a crossing stream makes a settle-able location.

If goods can be shipped by a river, towns will be located along safe sections
downstream and upstream, as long as the water is deep enough to be navigable.
Towns are often situated where rivers enter lakes and streams – these will control the
access to the entire river as well as profit from the switch of commerce from stream to
sea. For both lakes and seas, big towns will be located where there are safe, deep
harbors.

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 Map Making in 7 Steps (continued)

Step 4 – Food

Large cities are not adjacent to each other because everyone needs to eat. Which
means farmland, foraging, hunting, or fishing. Unless this is a city where everything
is brought in, food has to be grown even if it is moss and mushrooms or caught.

As you designate cities, leave land between the major towns for growing food. If this
is a hunting society, the space between large towns will be greater, because those
animals need room to live and graze. Plus foraging for woodland plants does not
have the same productivity as a planted field. If you are in a desert, make sure there
is an oasis.

Double check where you previously marked cities and towns. Is there enough space
between them to grow food? If not, is the city located on travel routes to have
sufficient trade to make up the difference? If yes. Good. Keep it. If not, move it
somewhere else or make it a ruin (or a city falling to ruin and chaos).

Step 5 – Consider weather

Agriculture depends on weather as well as water. Look at the climate and location
variables to be certain crops will grow. Does it rain enough? If not, is the river/lake
big enough for irrigation? Is it warm enough to grow plants at least seasonally? Many
domesticated animals are herbivores (or eat herbivores), so a meat-based society is
NOT an answer for a lack of growing plants.

Now is also the time to consider seasons be they winter/summer or monsoon/dry.

Would this alter any town locations or the ability to live there? It might make it more
favorable. It could mean you need to rethink locations, trade, and supplies.

You don’t have to build an entire food spreadsheet, but a quick run-through of
logistics will eliminate glaring errors that will have readers rolling their eyes.

Step 6 – Add typography

You now have a network of travel ways between towns, coastlines, rivers, and lakes.
You know where there are fields, forest, and desert. What about swamps?

Draw in the landscape beyond what you’d need to create mini-civilizations. You don’t
need to impact the cities and farmlands you just created, but add in the volcanoes,
bogs, plateau’s, and cliffs in the blank spaces between. Consider that large rivers,
mountains, and even lakes often divide territories. Are you creating barriers that
might designate new countries or kingdoms?

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 Step 4 — Develop Cultures

Even if you want to use traditional fantasy cultures like dwarves and elves, they should
feel like they belong in your world; that they originated there and evolved in the
landscape alongside every other race. And you do this by placing them in your newly
created map.

Pick a city and think about who lives there? If it is a small village in the forest, what
type of trades would the inhabitants have? Are they hunters, woodcarvers, or
herbalists? Are the houses made of wood or are they in the trees? What holidays and
traditions would have developed within a society living deep in woodlands? Would
they marry only at bud break or is that the biggest festival of the year? How is magic
used, or viewed, in this small village? How are people punished and by whom? What
are the government and religions?

Answer those questions and then move elsewhere and do it again. The large, sprawling
city along the big river with boats shipping foreign goods and food should have
different answers and an entirely different feel than the little forest village.

Questions to Help You Develop Cultures

• What type of environment are the people living in and how does it impact the
food and building materials available?
• What are the trades needed to make this society function (hunters,
merchants, blacksmiths…)?
• How is magic used and viewed?
• What are the main holidays and traditions? Is there a religion or are primary
celebrations environment based (worship the goddess or celebrate the
harvest)?
• What sort of government keeps order (King, Elders, an elected council…)?

If you don’t use traditional fantasy cultures, take inspiration from the myriad of
cultures found on Earth, both historical and modern. If you have villages in high
mountains, look at how people in Nepal and Tibet live. Would your forest hold an

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Amazonian-like tribe? Would the fishing village go to sea in small Japanese style
traditional boats?

There is a vast world beyond traditional Medieval-esque fantasy. Let it help you color
your world!

Step 5 — Put the World in Motion

Developing cultures is about creating the present while analyzing the map to consider
how the society developed in that area over time. This step is to start considering the
future.

Why the future?

Because there are several methods of developing tension in your story. One is
landscape based as the heroine conquers windswept mountains or deep swamps. The
other stems from the friction of people.

Neighboring kingdoms might not get along. But why? Does one have too many people
and need more farmland? Are they tired of paying high taxes for imports? Or does one
region have access to rich mines but not that many people, so the number of warriors
is small, even if highly skilled. A good wizard might be able to balance the odds…

You don’t have to spend a lot of time on this step, but it is important to consider what
groups may have grown up being told to hate the other, and not just because they are a
different race. Societal divisions are more nuanced than different heraldic devices on
shields. At least they should be.

Historical differences along with political maneuvering to secure future growth will
create subtle tensions in the novel and make the world feel that much more real with a
sense of history.


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 Step 6 — Revisit Your Characters

Now that you’ve outlined your world take another look at the characters you’ve
created for the novel. Where are they from? Who will they naturally dislike or trust
based on place of birth? How can you use that to build problems in the story?

You can use a hundred character building lists or interview sheets, but pulling from
the character’s cultural identity is the essence of creating a character that feels like she
is three dimensional as well as inherently part of the world. And it comes from
developing the world to understand what motivates the character beyond personality
flaws and strengths.

Touch on the beliefs the character learned as a child to how they develop or are
developing as an adult. A well rounded character will see through cultural prejudices,
but by doing so it might alienate them from family and friends. These subtle divisions
and changing tensions as characters evolve through their arc help lace your story with
tension and realistic, and relatable, problems, which will draw in your readers.

Advanced Character Development

• What culture is your character from?

• Are they full blooded or mixed? If mixed, is this accepted in the culture?
• Who are the allies or trading partners? What character(s) are from this culture
that he/she will assume are friends?
• Who are the enemies or butt of jokes (stereotyped as stupid or dirty) of this
culture? What character(s) are from this culture that she/he will assume are
more trouble than they are worth?
• Write a one-page story on a typical day in the life of this character as a child or
teenager. How did children spend their day (maintaining nets, planting fields,
practicing for war)? What stories were they told? What slurs were used to
tease and belittle? How does this shape your characters skills and world view
as the story begins?

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 Step 7 — Push it Further

Go over everything you’ve written and look at it again. If you keep lists of cities and
cultures, compare them side by side. Which are very similar? What can you change to
make one unique? Can they have a different type of magic, resource, or environment
that will make them different from the other?

Now consider what else could be enhanced. It may feel like you’ve developed your
would building already, but this final step will take it from strong to exceptional. If
nothing else, pick out a setting the characters visit and really delve into it. What are
the smells on the street? If it is a city with walls, are the main gates magical? Do they
have statues? Are they old with signs of ancient battle? What are the principal or tallest
buildings and temples?

Imagine or, better, write a story of walking into the town the first time (you or a
character) and experience it. What do people wear or sell? Where are the dangerous
sections? The markets? The elite mansions? What sort of problems will your characters
face if they are new to this place? How does it make them feel?

To save time, because you want to get to actually writing the story, you don’t have to go
into this level of detail for every area. But do enhance the locations where the
characters travel through. Having a firm grasp of what the setting is down to what the
streets consist of will make writing these sections of the story go faster.

And that is really what all this world building and character development is about. It
helps you write faster because it builds in tension through physical as well as
emotional and psychological hurdles. And if you already know the setting, then you
can concentrate on developing the narrative as you write, instead of wondering what
the city is like. More than that, it will help you create a really fantastic setting, better
than creating it on the fly which tends to be a continuous addition of new details and
means you need to go back to the beginning to fix all the nuances you’ve changed as
you wrote.

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I hope you've enjoyed and, more importantly, found this sheet helpful.

Worldbuilding is awesome, but it does take much more than that to create an engaging
fantasy novel.

This is where The Ultimate Fantasy Writers Guide comes in.

Keep your eyes on your inbox and in a few days we will email you further details.

All the best,

Autumn and Jesper

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