What on Eldorath?

If you had told me, several years ago, that world building would become one of my favorite parts of writing, I probably would have thought you were some kind of crazy. I never world built. The most I did was draw a quick, simple map and slap some ridiculous sounding names onto it. If I needed a foreign language, I slapped together some random letters. Any other fantasy elements I wanted to add were just thrown into the story and, very likely, forgotten by the end of it.

As time went on, I could tell my worlds didn’t feel real. I knew I needed a little more depth. So I made more detailed maps, more thought out distances and places and terrains. But that was still just about it.

So what happened?

Not too long ago, a group of writing friends inspired me to delve deeper into world building. (Y’all. Writing with friends is one of the best things that could ever happen to you on your writing journey. There are so many ways that my writing friends have helped my writing grow.) We shared questions with each other to prompt thinking about different aspects of our worlds. I did my best to answer each question, deciding how things worked in my world.

And I loved it.

I kept going, deeper and deeper and deeper. I discovered things I never even dreamed of considering. I world built cultures, governments, terrains, how time worked, what history was like. I even started creating a language

Some of these things may never affect my story significantly. But already I can see how much more depth they give to the world. I once thought of it like this: you know those buildings they would have in the old days, like in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books? The ones that were one story but had a false front to make it look like they had two stories? World building is kind of like the difference between a one story building with a false front and an actual two story building. The one story building with a false front is a story, with enough world building that you can inhabit the story and explore it, the main story of the house, but it’s still pretty much just the story. The two story building is the story with deep world building, adding that extra support to the upper story. It may not appear in the main story, but it’s still there, deep and fleshed out, not just a front that can be seen, but a floor that can be explored.

Deep world building may seem like too much of an effort, a waste of time if it’s not going to affect your story. But not only have I found it to be immensely fun, I have seen that it connects all the pieces—even helps to solve plot holes!— giving the world a firm foundation that helps hold the story together. It's totally worth the effort, and if you've never tried it before I would encourage you to do so! I can almost guarantee you won't regret it.

If you’re new to world building, I’d suggest starting simple. A map, perhaps (because they are definitely not worthless), determining the countries, terrains, distances between places. Then go a little deeper. What animals, plants, resources are unique to this place? What countries are on good terms with each other or not? What are the different cultures like across the world? Each question you answer will likely bring up another, or several others. Use those to keep taking you deeper and deeper.

If you’ve been world building for a while, please feel free to leave your own suggestions and experiences in the comments! World building has been such a fun experience for me, but I definitely have much farther to go, and I’d love to hear from those who have already gone farther!

Blessings in your writing and world building endeavors!

- Auriel Martin

P.S. Don't forget to check out our poetry month! There's quite a collection of lovely poetry gathering over there!