Worldbuilding in Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing

From journeys across dangerous terrain, to adventures off in galaxies far, far away, world building is present in every work of fiction we know and love. But how do you build worlds of your own? Today’s episode of Write On breaks down how to define your world from the bottom up, touching on everything from defining location and language to politics and religion for your Sci-Fi or Fantasy world in just a few questions. We discuss how to keep your worldbuilding organized and relevant to the plot of your story, as well as show you how to map out the continents of your world in a creative way. Follow along at home as Emma asks questions about your world, and you may find that with each answer you give your world will begin to come alive.

#amwriting #fantasy #scifi #writingcommunity #worldbuilding

00:00 Intro
01:02 Staying on Track
01:54 Building your Characters & World Together
02:26 Pick a Subgenre
03:27 Pick a Topic to Start Building
03:48 Find Real-Life Inspiration
05:02 Location
06:09 Making a Map (with beans!)
07:08 Religion
09:19 Politics
11:29 Language
12:23 Magic and Technology
14:14 Show, Don’t Tell
15:18 Retrospective

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[XanderDorn]

"the sky is the limit" <= there goes my space opera

[catscup]

"play with some beans, it might be fun" was not the sort of advice I was expecting, but I gladly obliged

[spectrazone]

This was super well-structured with lots of ideas for where to expand on these individual facets of worldbuilding. I've had world and story ideas bouncing around in my head for ages, and have always struggled with what ideas matter most to me, what to keep, but this definitely helps give a sense of what to prioritize (and what would be relevant to the type of story I want to tell.) Quality content, I've subscribed and hope more people find this channel!

[samanthakelley]

very informative and easy to follow, this is a great gem for writers who are new to world-building!

[nidohime]

You can also start your worldbuilding by the type of story you are writing. For example if you want to write about a dragonslayer you might need to think what kind of dragons are there, how they attack, how the protagonist protect themselves, how the townsfolk deals with dragon attacks, does the goverment get involve into with this issue or not, and much more.

[jurelkirklandfilms]

Where have you been all my life??? Easily the best video on world building I've seen. And the bean method!!?? HUGE!!!! I really hope you come back to making videos one day.

[ASteveSeeley]

I have watched many a video on this topic and none of them have come close to being this clear and concise. All the information you need to flesh out your fantasy world is here.

This is THE definitive worldbuilding video on YouTube. Spread the word!

[a.williamcook]

This is the best world building video I've seen so far! Really informative. I'm not writing a book, but I'm using it to help with world building for my D&D campaign, and everything in here applies to it too!

[youtubematt]

This is very helpful! Thanks! I think this is going to help me in my test!

[annejia]

Randomly saw this in my recommended ❤ another channel to fall in love to ❤

[kariduanimations]

I never thought of the bean continent method, that’s cool

[HeroToZero]

Thats epic and easy to follow .. easily one of my favourite guides I watched overall in any area .. Great job

[EpicGeopolitics]

This is super useful. Ima go back and begin answering each of these sections one at a time. Thanks again!

[rowe]

Thank you for this video. I have the urge to write my own fiction book and this had some great tips.

[Streety]

The Ursa system has a few planets like Cygnus a gas giant that has moons but one of the moons is an icy moon that is called Icarus with life underneath it's surface. The geothermal vents has reefs of sponge like filter feeders and many life evolved. A sapient species has evolved which are the Thalassians. The Thalassians have discovered agriculture long before the Thalassians gained intelligence these creatures for gone the need of hunting. Instead farming many forms of the sponge like filter feeders in fact this habit would lead them to sapience. When the Thalassians grew smarter their fields grew more plentiful. This selected for more intelligence until they reach human level sapience. The early Thalassian society consisted of a simple cast system at the top was the kookum (grandmother) these ancient leaders took the responsibility of having children exchanged for no questioned authority over the tribe. The second to the top is the Okihtcit (warriors) which protects and fights, Sama’Ali (farmers labourers). Is this a good story?

[evangelinapark]

Incredible and humorous video! Super helpful!

[kit]

About exposition, I think it is more important to reveal what immediately affects the characters, than hide it in a conversation, to avoid infodumping.

[BamaBucknasty]

This presentation was perfectly executed during my squirrel brain. Thanks.

[dronovbiotex]

Thanks! Your channel seems really cute and with a lot of easy-to-explore information. Keep going!

[salt-monkeymcgee]

This is an excellent vid thanks for throwing this up here.