Intro
Unless you’re writing something that takes place in the real world, with absolutely no made-up locations added to it, you’re going to have to do a bit of worldbuilding. Whether your story’s set in the modern world in a made-up town, or on a totally different planet, it’s important to have at least a basic understanding of what the place is like and how you want readers to perceive it.
To be entirely honest, I usually don’t plan my settings all that much; I have a basic idea of them in my mind and—sometimes—a name, but I come up with most of the details as I go. Which is a little odd, considering how I’m usually more of a planner, but it’s worked just fine for me so far.
But, whether I figure it out ahead of time or not, there are some basic things that I try to make sure I know about every location I make. Those things can change depending on what sort of location it is—the things that are important to know about a city, for example, are often non-existent in a wild forest or something—but there are always some. And those are what I’m going to be sharing with you today.
Biome
Is this place a forest? A mountain range? A desert? A tundra? A grassland? Some weird environment that I just made up? Or, if the place is a city or something built by people, which of those sorts of environments was it built in?
Figuring out the exact biome of a place tells you a lot about it. It can give you an idea of the general terrain, temperature, natural resources, plants, and animals that could be found there (or, in the case of a settlement, in the surrounding area). Another thing that the environment can do is kind of set the mood of the place, which can be great for setting the tone for any scenes that take place there. Take a woodland, for example; there are lots of different vibes that a forest can give you, whether it’s a sense of tranquility, mystery, or adventure. Which makes forests a great choice for any scenes that I want to have those sorts of feelings.
One thing that I try to keep in mind when I’m figuring out the biome of a location is where exactly the place would be located in the world as a whole, and where it would make sense for it to be located. Because, unless there’s an actual story reason for it, you probably aren’t going to find, say, a tundra right on the equator. Or a rainforest in the north pole. Where the place is located on the planet plays a vital role in determining what the climate is like, and I like to keep things as scientifically-plausible as I can. (You know, even if I’m writing about dragons and elves and magic and stuff.) Small details like that can drastically impact the believability—and thus the immersiveness—of the story as a whole.
History
I’ll admit that I usually don’t get around to figuring out what the history of a place is until I’m already in the thick of writing scenes in it. Some writers are great about figuring out that sort of thing ahead of time, but I tend to make it up as I go.
No matter how or when it’s done, the history of a location—whether it’s a single city or an entire world—does wonders for making it feel more real. And, when I say history, I don’t necessarily mean the full and complete story of what happened there since the place was founded or came into existence (because I’m never that thorough), but more just the major events that happened there, particularly if they could contribute to the main story in some way, whether it’s by adding depth to the main plot or by adding to a major character’s backstory. But, more often than not, the history of a location is more of a side thing meant to add flavor to the world and nothing more, with little to do with the overall plot. (It’s for the lore nerds out there.)
Although coming up with histories for settings is fun, I usually only bother coming up with stuff for the most important places in the story. Because I write primarily action/adventure stuff, my characters usually end up passing through —or at least mentioning—dozens of locations in one book, most of which are pretty minor in the greater scheme of the story. So, not only would it be a lot to try to incorporate, but it could also really bog down the pacing if I tried to pack in all of this backstory for, say, a place that the characters are only going to spend a couple scenes in before continuing on their way.
Locations that I generally consider important enough for a backstory are the ones that are, in some way, important to the story. They could be places like where the main character lives, major seats of power that are going to be important, or just any place that the characters are going to spend a lot of time in. This way, I know that the history I come up with will actually have enough time to show up in the story without it feeling forced or unnatural.
Culture
This one obviously only comes into play if the place is one where people live, like a city or town or something, or if it’s a site that has some sort of cultural significance to one or more groups of people.
Coming up with fictional cultures is probably one of my favorite parts of worldbuilding, but can also sometimes be among the most complicated—because, well, culture is complicated. It’s made up of traditions, art, and practices that have been being done for (in most cases) a very long time for different reasons. I have to come up with the traditions and what the reasons for them are, which can be a lot of work, depending on how deep into it I want to get in the story.
A lot of writers take inspiration from real-life cultures, which is a solid strategy, but one that I approach with a level of caution—mostly because it’s been done disrespectfully too many times. Too many monsters and aliens that are portrayed as being “lesser” or more “primal” have cultures and beliefs that are blatantly based on those of marginalized groups and peoples, which is something that I definitely do not want to repeat in my own work. (Because, plain and simple, I’m not a jerk.) So, whenever I do decide to base a fictional culture off of a real-life one, I’m always careful about making sure I’ve done my research and that I’m not applying it to something that could read as disrespectful.
That said, I rarely ever actually base a fictional culture completely off of a real-life one—mostly because I’ve found that it’s funner to get a little more creative with it. The vast majority of the time, I come up with my fictional cultures by looking at real-life ones and taking note of the trends between them, like what sorts of things frequently seem to be celebrated in different ways across cultures. For example, many real-world cultures throughout history have had different celebrations that involve the end of winter and the coming of spring. I could use that knowledge to come up with my own spring celebration in my fictional world.
And this doesn’t just apply to holidays, either. There are lots of things that everyone experiences, regardless of what their culture is, that almost always seem to have some sort of ritual or practice attached to them, like funerals and what people do with their dead, weddings, harvests, birthdays, and so on.
In the real world, a lot of these things are determined by religion, and that’s often what it is in fiction too. But they don’t always have to be; they could just be traditions that a group of people’s ancestors started for some totally different reason that I get to decide. The possibilities are pretty much endless.
Outro
So, those are the three basic things that I try to keep in mind when I’m coming up with a setting for my stories. They might seem complicated at first, but they really aren’t that bad once I figure out what the basic things I need to know are.
That’s it for today’s post! I hope you found this interesting. Be sure to check back later this month for the next book recommendation, and thank you for reading!
