What does it mean to build a world? Can everyone build a world? Do even all writers build worlds? Actually, very few people have been true world-builders, and they have generally only worked in the fields of fantasy and science-fiction. So far.
J.R.R. Tolkien was not the first world-architect, but he is probably the best known, certainly in fantasy literature. Other authors, myself included, have followed his lead over the years. Gene Roddenberry, Frank Herbert and George Lucas have made big impressions with their star-spanning empires, but are they really any more impressive than Madeleine L’Engle’s Multiverse or Heinlein’s Future History? Hell, are they as well developed as A.A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood? You can probably come up with your own examples. But can just anyone build their own universe? The answer is a solid ‘maybe’.
It takes more than a map to design Middle-Earth. What it really takes is an assortment of tools in your mental toolbox, to include: a fertile imagination, a solid grounding in science (physics is especially helpful), personal experience with vastly different geologies and weather patterns, an understanding of cultures and histories other than your own and a dash of mysticism. From that position of readiness, you make a few important assumptions and then get to work.
You need more than a map, but it turns out that’s a good place to start. Getting a solid feel for the geography and the geology of your world gives you a solid base to work from. Follow that up with flora and fauna, a bit of the local astronomy if applicable, and a simple history (to start). A good idea of where your story begins and where you expect it to end up is good, but not sufficient. I find that I work best from small to large and then back again. To explain: every time I’ve started out to create a new world, I start with a single village or even a single idea. From there, I start to people the local area, setting up races and their interactions, local governments and local characters. When working from a single idea, I first try to see if it will fit in our own world, and if not, what kind of world it would fit in. But almost from the beginning, the world needs conflict.
A world without something to struggle against might make for a peaceful life, but it makes a lousy story. Whether it’s an Evil Empire (done to death!) or a nasty little money-grubbing man named Potter, it’s usually best to make your villain as scary and powerful as you can without overwhelming the story. If the villain is too powerful, only an all-powerful Hero can challenge him – and frankly, I have no interest in writing comic books. At least, not that type. Once you have the Boss, you can start designing the minions to suit. See where I work from large to small? Something else to remember – no evil person ever thinks of themselves as evil. Once in a great while they may consider themselves ruthless, but always in a good cause.
By this point, you may finally have a good idea of what sort of story you have, and what kind of world you’re building. There are so many different types of story setting now, that to try to talk of Fantasy or Science Fiction in anything like pure terms is nearly impossible. However, if you need a line of demarcation, here it is: if the plot depends on some sort of mystical force or magic, it’s Fantasy; if the plot revolves on some point of actual science, or even reasonably extrapolated science, then your story is Science Fiction. After that, things get seriously muddy. Then you just need to settle on one of the seven (some say nine) plots that make up all of fiction. Hold on, you say – surely there are more than just nine plots in all of literature! Nope. I’ll cover that little bit of wonderfulness in a later essay. But you need a narrative in order to breathe life into your precious, fragile, lethal little world. And that’s just the world-story – I haven’t even touched on characters, yet. Have fun with it.
This is just the start of the work you’ll do as an Apprentice World-Builder. Read the Masters, see how they do it, follow their lead. It will take many worlds and many years to become proficient in this admittedly grandiose skill, but the result is worth all the toil, I promise. As we go through this Primer, I will work in finer detail, but the Grand Scheme is what makes for a grand world. Never lose sight of the Big Picture. And welcome to the Drudge’s Guild.
bcd