I wanna create my own world , with creatures etc... Does anyone have tips how to start?
The way I like to do it is by asking questions to myself. If you have an idea, a character, a story you want to tell, thoughts of a place, or anything like that, try asking questions about it. Since that explanation probably wasn't helpful, lets go through an example.
Let's start pretty simple: Say you wanted a story of grand adventure and heroism and treasure hunting. I would ask myself "Do I want that to be something that's easy to do in the world, or more difficult?". For this one, let's make it so that this world isn't so adventure friendly. Well, why isn't it? I'd assume that means that there aren't many old trap-and-monster filled ruins or vast unexplored wildernesses around, and I guess not too many oppressive dictators or scheming villains either.
Okay, so that kinda suggests a fairly stable world or galactic civilization or whatever. I'm actually not going to figure out which one it is right now, though you can ask that question if you want. I just don't feel like I've built enough to really have evidence either way. If you chose to answer it, though, you can also ask questions about that to help yourself. I'm moving on for now, though.
Okay, so, it's pretty stable, but I still want to write an adventure! Okay, what would allow that? Maybe something hidden is happening. It seems stable, but maybe someone is planning some big clever scheme to take power, or maybe there's an anarchist uprising of people who have some arbitrary hatred. Maybe your nice stable world has a strong slave culture, and that's about to boil over. To keep things still kinda simple, let's go with that "Hidden Villain" idea. Who would be the ones to find it and help thwart it? Well, that where your heroes come in! If you have characters you want to use, use them! If not, it's time to build one based on that role. keep asking questions.
But there's more to the world than the story. So you have this villain, and some government organization. Where are they each based? You're starting to build your setting. Again, more questions, but since there are other aspects to explore, let's move on.
Let's say you've asked a bunch of question, and have filled out an entire continent with countries, and you've thought about the geography. Say you've come up with a nice mountainous region somewhere to the west, and decided it's got a couple big cities, but then mostly homesteads up in the foothills. Well, what are they doing up there? Maybe.... maybe they're herding something. Okay, so you've started coming up with a food animal. Let's say..... living in these steep mountains, it's a good-sized herbivore, and..... to make things easier, You might say that, as a fun twist, you want them to glide like a flying squirrel. This helps define your people more, too (How do they herd these big animals that run off of cliffs and glide away if scared?
Maybe wingsuits?), but you also get to ask questions like "What are their predators?" Maybe you want something like a mountain lion, but with a big tail that shoots out barbs to knock the glide-goats (Shush, my questions got silly) out of the sky.
Okay, what else do theses Needled Prassers (random name) eat? Time to develope more prey species! Also, do they have any competitors? Maybe a smaller carnivore? I ended up coming up with a big ferret like thing that scurries through the cracks in the mountain cliffs, and mosty eats small fuzzy lizards, but packs of them will try to scare the Prassers off to get the larger airborn meals. Always ask questions, and be creative with your answers! Have fun with them! I'm about to go work on the ecosystem in the sea around a fishing town just over the mountains. ~v^ The Prassers there have done a number on the population of the little wyvern-like things that catch fish over the bay. Very sad.
Again, maybe my way isn't how you do. I like asking questions, and coming up with logical (if sometimes silly) answers to them. If that's not for you, I'm sure someone else has an idea that works better for you. Oh! and don't be afraid to mix ideas that people give you. come up with your own way! ^v^
Let's start pretty simple: Say you wanted a story of grand adventure and heroism and treasure hunting. I would ask myself "Do I want that to be something that's easy to do in the world, or more difficult?". For this one, let's make it so that this world isn't so adventure friendly. Well, why isn't it? I'd assume that means that there aren't many old trap-and-monster filled ruins or vast unexplored wildernesses around, and I guess not too many oppressive dictators or scheming villains either.
Okay, so that kinda suggests a fairly stable world or galactic civilization or whatever. I'm actually not going to figure out which one it is right now, though you can ask that question if you want. I just don't feel like I've built enough to really have evidence either way. If you chose to answer it, though, you can also ask questions about that to help yourself. I'm moving on for now, though.
Okay, so, it's pretty stable, but I still want to write an adventure! Okay, what would allow that? Maybe something hidden is happening. It seems stable, but maybe someone is planning some big clever scheme to take power, or maybe there's an anarchist uprising of people who have some arbitrary hatred. Maybe your nice stable world has a strong slave culture, and that's about to boil over. To keep things still kinda simple, let's go with that "Hidden Villain" idea. Who would be the ones to find it and help thwart it? Well, that where your heroes come in! If you have characters you want to use, use them! If not, it's time to build one based on that role. keep asking questions.
But there's more to the world than the story. So you have this villain, and some government organization. Where are they each based? You're starting to build your setting. Again, more questions, but since there are other aspects to explore, let's move on.
Let's say you've asked a bunch of question, and have filled out an entire continent with countries, and you've thought about the geography. Say you've come up with a nice mountainous region somewhere to the west, and decided it's got a couple big cities, but then mostly homesteads up in the foothills. Well, what are they doing up there? Maybe.... maybe they're herding something. Okay, so you've started coming up with a food animal. Let's say..... living in these steep mountains, it's a good-sized herbivore, and..... to make things easier, You might say that, as a fun twist, you want them to glide like a flying squirrel. This helps define your people more, too (How do they herd these big animals that run off of cliffs and glide away if scared?
Maybe wingsuits?), but you also get to ask questions like "What are their predators?" Maybe you want something like a mountain lion, but with a big tail that shoots out barbs to knock the glide-goats (Shush, my questions got silly) out of the sky.Okay, what else do theses Needled Prassers (random name) eat? Time to develope more prey species! Also, do they have any competitors? Maybe a smaller carnivore? I ended up coming up with a big ferret like thing that scurries through the cracks in the mountain cliffs, and mosty eats small fuzzy lizards, but packs of them will try to scare the Prassers off to get the larger airborn meals. Always ask questions, and be creative with your answers! Have fun with them! I'm about to go work on the ecosystem in the sea around a fishing town just over the mountains. ~v^ The Prassers there have done a number on the population of the little wyvern-like things that catch fish over the bay. Very sad.
Again, maybe my way isn't how you do. I like asking questions, and coming up with logical (if sometimes silly) answers to them. If that's not for you, I'm sure someone else has an idea that works better for you. Oh! and don't be afraid to mix ideas that people give you. come up with your own way! ^v^
Avitrathephoenix wrote:
The way I like to do it is by asking questions to myself. If you have an idea, a character, a story you want to tell, thoughts of a place, or anything like that, try asking questions about it. Since that explanation probably wasn't helpful, lets go through an example.
Let's start pretty simple: Say you wanted a story of grand adventure and heroism and treasure hunting. I would ask myself "Do I want that to be something that's easy to do in the world, or more difficult?". For this one, let's make it so that this world isn't so adventure friendly. Well, why isn't it? I'd assume that means that there aren't many old trap-and-monster filled ruins or vast unexplored wildernesses around, and I guess not too many oppressive dictators or scheming villains either.
Okay, so that kinda suggests a fairly stable world or galactic civilization or whatever. I'm actually not going to figure out which one it is right now, though you can ask that question if you want. I just don't feel like I've built enough to really have evidence either way. If you chose to answer it, though, you can also ask questions about that to help yourself. I'm moving on for now, though.
Okay, so, it's pretty stable, but I still want to write an adventure! Okay, what would allow that? Maybe something hidden is happening. It seems stable, but maybe someone is planning some big clever scheme to take power, or maybe there's an anarchist uprising of people who have some arbitrary hatred. Maybe your nice stable world has a strong slave culture, and that's about to boil over. To keep things still kinda simple, let's go with that "Hidden Villain" idea. Who would be the ones to find it and help thwart it? Well, that where your heroes come in! If you have characters you want to use, use them! If not, it's time to build one based on that role. keep asking questions.
But there's more to the world than the story. So you have this villain, and some government organization. Where are they each based? You're starting to build your setting. Again, more questions, but since there are other aspects to explore, let's move on.
Let's say you've asked a bunch of question, and have filled out an entire continent with countries, and you've thought about the geography. Say you've come up with a nice mountainous region somewhere to the west, and decided it's got a couple big cities, but then mostly homesteads up in the foothills. Well, what are they doing up there? Maybe.... maybe they're herding something. Okay, so you've started coming up with a food animal. Let's say..... living in these steep mountains, it's a good-sized herbivore, and..... to make things easier, You might say that, as a fun twist, you want them to glide like a flying squirrel. This helps define your people more, too (How do they herd these big animals that run off of cliffs and glide away if scared? Maybe wingsuits?), but you also get to ask questions like "What are their predators?" Maybe you want something like a mountain lion, but with a big tail that shoots out barbs to knock the glide-goats (Shush, my questions got silly) out of the sky.
Okay, what else do theses Needled Prassers (random name) eat? Time to develope more prey species! Also, do they have any competitors? Maybe a smaller carnivore? I ended up coming up with a big ferret like thing that scurries through the cracks in the mountain cliffs, and mosty eats small fuzzy lizards, but packs of them will try to scare the Prassers off to get the larger airborn meals. Always ask questions, and be creative with your answers! Have fun with them! I'm about to go work on the ecosystem in the sea around a fishing town just over the mountains. ~v^ The Prassers there have done a number on the population of the little wyvern-like things that catch fish over the bay. Very sad.
Again, maybe my way isn't how you do. I like asking questions, and coming up with logical (if sometimes silly) answers to them. If that's not for you, I'm sure someone else has an idea that works better for you. Oh! and don't be afraid to mix ideas that people give you. come up with your own way! ^v^
Let's start pretty simple: Say you wanted a story of grand adventure and heroism and treasure hunting. I would ask myself "Do I want that to be something that's easy to do in the world, or more difficult?". For this one, let's make it so that this world isn't so adventure friendly. Well, why isn't it? I'd assume that means that there aren't many old trap-and-monster filled ruins or vast unexplored wildernesses around, and I guess not too many oppressive dictators or scheming villains either.
Okay, so that kinda suggests a fairly stable world or galactic civilization or whatever. I'm actually not going to figure out which one it is right now, though you can ask that question if you want. I just don't feel like I've built enough to really have evidence either way. If you chose to answer it, though, you can also ask questions about that to help yourself. I'm moving on for now, though.
Okay, so, it's pretty stable, but I still want to write an adventure! Okay, what would allow that? Maybe something hidden is happening. It seems stable, but maybe someone is planning some big clever scheme to take power, or maybe there's an anarchist uprising of people who have some arbitrary hatred. Maybe your nice stable world has a strong slave culture, and that's about to boil over. To keep things still kinda simple, let's go with that "Hidden Villain" idea. Who would be the ones to find it and help thwart it? Well, that where your heroes come in! If you have characters you want to use, use them! If not, it's time to build one based on that role. keep asking questions.
But there's more to the world than the story. So you have this villain, and some government organization. Where are they each based? You're starting to build your setting. Again, more questions, but since there are other aspects to explore, let's move on.
Let's say you've asked a bunch of question, and have filled out an entire continent with countries, and you've thought about the geography. Say you've come up with a nice mountainous region somewhere to the west, and decided it's got a couple big cities, but then mostly homesteads up in the foothills. Well, what are they doing up there? Maybe.... maybe they're herding something. Okay, so you've started coming up with a food animal. Let's say..... living in these steep mountains, it's a good-sized herbivore, and..... to make things easier, You might say that, as a fun twist, you want them to glide like a flying squirrel. This helps define your people more, too (How do they herd these big animals that run off of cliffs and glide away if scared?
Maybe wingsuits?), but you also get to ask questions like "What are their predators?" Maybe you want something like a mountain lion, but with a big tail that shoots out barbs to knock the glide-goats (Shush, my questions got silly) out of the sky.Okay, what else do theses Needled Prassers (random name) eat? Time to develope more prey species! Also, do they have any competitors? Maybe a smaller carnivore? I ended up coming up with a big ferret like thing that scurries through the cracks in the mountain cliffs, and mosty eats small fuzzy lizards, but packs of them will try to scare the Prassers off to get the larger airborn meals. Always ask questions, and be creative with your answers! Have fun with them! I'm about to go work on the ecosystem in the sea around a fishing town just over the mountains. ~v^ The Prassers there have done a number on the population of the little wyvern-like things that catch fish over the bay. Very sad.
Again, maybe my way isn't how you do. I like asking questions, and coming up with logical (if sometimes silly) answers to them. If that's not for you, I'm sure someone else has an idea that works better for you. Oh! and don't be afraid to mix ideas that people give you. come up with your own way! ^v^
Thanks for the tips , i am going to use those!
You're welcome! If she doesn't reply to this by herself today, I'll go poke Dazz to answer this topic, too. ~v^ Her worldbuilding is fantastic.
Oh, oh! I love worldbuilding! One really good way to start a world is by snowballing an idea. Ask yourself several really general "what if?" questions and when you come up with one you like, start asking yourself more questions to flesh it out. A good example comes from a YouTube video about this that I can link to you later. The author in the video starts with the question "what if unicorns were real?" and then asks questions about how the existence of unicorns would affect modern society. By the time she was done, she had a really strong starting point for a fictional world. I think that'd be a really good way to start if you want to take an organized approach to worldbuilding.
Another option (and my personal approach, for better or worse) is to throw stuff at a metaphorical wall and see what sticks. And when something sticks, I start playing with it, fleshing it out and connecting it to whatever else sticks. I've been building the Zeagnian Chronicles that way since middle school.
I love worldbuilding, so if you ever want to talk it with me, send me a note. I'm always happy to help you out.
Another option (and my personal approach, for better or worse) is to throw stuff at a metaphorical wall and see what sticks. And when something sticks, I start playing with it, fleshing it out and connecting it to whatever else sticks. I've been building the Zeagnian Chronicles that way since middle school.
I love worldbuilding, so if you ever want to talk it with me, send me a note. I'm always happy to help you out.
Avitrathephoenix wrote:
You're welcome! If she doesn't reply to this by herself today, I'll go poke Dazz to answer this topic, too. ~v^ Her worldbuilding is fantastic.
How dare you beat me to this. >~<
DazzlingDragon wrote:
Oh, oh! I love worldbuilding! One really good way to start a world is by snowballing an idea. Ask yourself several really general "what if?" questions and when you come up with one you like, start asking yourself more questions to flesh it out. A good example comes from a YouTube video about this that I can link to you later. The author in the video starts with the question "what if unicorns were real?" and then asks questions about how the existence of unicorns would affect modern society. By the time she was done, she had a really strong starting point for a fictional world. I think that'd be a really good way to start if you want to take an organized approach to worldbuilding.
Another option (and my personal approach, for better or worse) is to throw stuff at a metaphorical wall and see what sticks. And when something sticks, I start playing with it, fleshing it out and connecting it to whatever else sticks. I've been building the Zeagnian Chronicles that way since middle school.
yeah i will shoot you a pm defintly
yeah i will shoot you a pm defintley , thanks for the tips
I love worldbuilding, so if you ever want to talk it with me, send me a note. I'm always happy to help you out.
Another option (and my personal approach, for better or worse) is to throw stuff at a metaphorical wall and see what sticks. And when something sticks, I start playing with it, fleshing it out and connecting it to whatever else sticks. I've been building the Zeagnian Chronicles that way since middle school.
yeah i will shoot you a pm defintly
yeah i will shoot you a pm defintley , thanks for the tips
I love worldbuilding, so if you ever want to talk it with me, send me a note. I'm always happy to help you out.
i will shoot you a pm defintly
DazzlingDragon wrote:
Avitrathephoenix wrote:
You're welcome! If she doesn't reply to this by herself today, I'll go poke Dazz to answer this topic, too. ~v^ Her worldbuilding is fantastic.
How dare you beat me to this. >~<
Gotta be fast to outrace a Phoenix! ~v^
You might find the site World Anvil to be useful for organizing and a bit of prompting.
Novalyyn wrote:
You might find the site World Anvil to be useful for organizing and a bit of prompting.
Thank you for the tip!
If you want to spend money on a book, there is one that I've been tailoring lesson plans for called "The Imaginary World of __________" by Keri Smith
https://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-World-Keri-Smith/dp/0399165258
https://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-World-Keri-Smith/dp/0399165258
Novalyyn wrote:
You might find the site World Anvil to be useful for organizing and a bit of prompting.
I made an account on World Anvil and Novalyyn is 100% correct.
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