Worldbuilding Wednesday - Food Resources

Another intrinsic area to keep in mind in your worldbuilding is your food and water source. Something to keep in mind in your world is the more complex the infrastructure and the larger the settlement, the harder it is to feed the people of your realm. Keep in mind you will need a transportation system for taking needed supplies from the area where they are grown or raised to the area where the people will make use of them.

Agriculture refers to all manner of farming and ranching. Both of these areas are very much at the mercy of weather and the elements. The climate may be typically one way, but any adverse conditions will play havoc with the outcome of your food source – this may have some potential bearing on your story line. Think how late rains, flood, hurricane, droughts, hail storms, early freezes all can influence whether enough food has been produced for a family, local community or wherever the crops may be sold. This basic necessity may have some role influencing an element within your storyline.

The availability of a good transportation system may influence the process of feeding your community. Is it a small or large portion of the food supply brought in from other areas? In a setting where the community is totally dependant on the local crops feeding them, a couple of bad years could wipe out the entire community. If, for example, you have a sci-fi setting, a poor crop year could wipe out the population of the community or they may be saved by the timely visit of a transport vessel bringing food and medical supplies.

Crops are grown for two purposes -- to feed humans and to feed livestock which will, in turn, feed humans. Large scale farming (anything beyond subsistence of a single family or small village group) means the crops must have a way to get to market.

Livestock can be thought of us food for the community; however, in a time of drought will the community want to share the water supply on the animals? This may be a concern for the people of your realm.

Hybrids of crop types are not a modern day invention. The earliest farmers quickly saw the use for naturally occurring hybrids offering more lobes per plant for grains, and cultivated those. In fact, the first cultivated plants were carefully selected and grown for better food.

Be careful to double check the crops you intend to raise grow in the type of climate you've created. Also be aware that not all crops were planted in the spring. Winter wheat is planted in the fall, and harvested earlier in the next year. This allows for the growth of two crops in a normal season, but it is risky since a late frost, dry spring, or a number of other uncontrollable factors can ruin the crop.

Environment also dictates whether or not people will have herd animals. Jungle tribes do not. Even if there were some animal they could tame (say wild boars), it would be nearly impossible to keep track of them in the thick growth. At best, the people may have some half tame pigs and perhaps a few goats or sheep in the villages, but large scale herding of any native animal is unlikely to happen.

Horses are still work animals in any ranch setting as well as in places like traditional Amish communities. However, the closer you come to large cities, the more likely they are to make the transition to pets and luxury animals.

Pets are another matter. A group of people living at subsistence level is not going to have pets just to have little furry friends. However, remember that cats and dogs started as workmates, not just companions. Cats, though not in the same class as dogs for workers, were especially good at guarding the precious grain stores which might keep a village alive all winter. They hunted rodents and other small vermin. Dogs, of course, worked well as shepherds and guards.

How can you work something unusual into your worldbuilding? Are there certain foods only avalable to people of a certain class? Are there animals which can only be owned by certain types of people? This is often true in magic-based stories. In the real world, royalty often owned odd animals as a sign of their power. What will the types of pets a household may have tell you about the family? Where will these types of details lead your story and your reader's understandings of the ways of your world?

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Worldbuilding Wednesday - Celtic Heritage

There are powerful forces at work throughout nature, some powerful enough to change destiny.

Many people today have heard about the mysterious megalith Stonehenge, the legend of King Arthur and his magician Merlin. But few realize that this is part of the Celtic heritage.

The Celts inhabited a vast area of modern day Europe and the British isles. Their priests were called Druids, but they were not only priests but also judges, astronomers, healers, fortune-tellers and magicians. The word 'druid' itself is etymologically related to the trees, which were said to possess unusual power. The magic of the Druids is nature based, it includes the four elements, the power of trees and forests, the animals.

Using their millennial knowledge of nature, the Celtic magicians created complex magical structures, where the powers of trees, nature and space combined in one. The most unique part of their art skill is the Runic magic. The Runes are Scandinavian script characters, dating from the 2nd century A. D. and according to the legends god Odin gave them to the people. The Runes themselves, as well as the other symbols used in the Celtic magic, are projections of complex multi-dimensional structures. With their help corrections in time and space are made.

The rituals of the Celtic priests consisted mainly of spells, preparation of various magical amulets and attracting of the natural elements for battle victories or rich crops. Among the different methods for predicting the future, the Celts most often used the Runic fortune-telling, called Runemal. The Celtic idea of fortune was extraordinary, they thought that fortune is an endless, long, white linen, where Runes are embroidered and determine destiny. The fundamental changes of fortune were made with the supreme magic of the Druids, called Gold Celtic Magic.

The Gold Celtic Magic invoked the forces of nature and led to corrections of events, playing an important role in the individual's life path. A number of Runes and other symbols were written with the purpose of changing the destiny in the desired direction.

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Worldbuilding Wednesday - Politics in the Making

As authors we make many decisions. The story, setting, characters all lie in our imaginations and storytelling. In traditional novels we may choose to set the story in the real world as we know it - or perhaps an alternative history to our world, however, in fantasy and science fiction we create not only our story but the story of the world in which our story takes place. There are many things to consider when we build worlds.

Government is but one element. There are many types of government we have experienced in our world through various cultures throughout the world throughout the years. When you consider worldbuilding for your story, what type of government will rule your world? Here are some possibilities to consider:




• Absolute Monarchy -- kingdom in which monarch has complete power


• Anarchy -- absence of government


• Aristocracy -- government by a wealthy, privileged minority or hereditary ruling class


• Caliphate -- government by Islamic civil and religious leader


• Civil Government -- government established by laws made by citizens or their representatives; nonmilitary, nonreligious authority


• Coalition Government -- temporary alliance of members of two or more parties to form governing majority


• Collective -- group or institution organized and run by all members equally


• Commonwealth -- government in which ultimate authority lies with people


• Constitutionalism -- government based on written constitutional principles


• Constitutional Monarchy -- government headed by monarch and regulated by constitution


• Democracy -- government by the people with majority rule exercised in periodic, free election of representatives


• Despotism -- government in which ruler exercise absolute power


• Dictatorship -- government in which absolute power rest with one person or a few


• Duarchy or duumvirate -- government by two equally powerful rulers


• Dyarchy -- dual responsibility shared by colonial government and native ministers


• Empire -- several territories, nations or peoples governed by single sovereign authority


• Fascism -- government based on establishing oppressive, one-part, centralized national regime

• Federal Government -- system in which political units surrender individual sovereignty to central authority, but retain designated powers


• Feudalism -- political system in Europe from 9th to 15th century in which lord owned all property worked by vassals


• Gerontocarcy -- rule by elders


• Gynecocracy -- government by women


• Hagiocracy -- government by group of persons believed to be holy


• Hierocracy -- rule by priest or clergy


• Isocracy -- government in which all individuals have equal political power


• Matriarchy -- government or monarchy in which power rests with females or descends through female line


• Meritocracy -- government in which criterion for leadership is skill or intellectual achievement


• Monarchy -- government with absolute hereditary ruler who serves for life


• Ochlocracy -- rule by the multitude or mob


• Oligarchy -- government by small group of privileged individuals


• Pantisocracy -- utopia in which all members rule equally


• Parliamentary Government -- system in which executive (prime minister) is chosen by elected legislature (parliament) from among its members


• Patriarchy -- government or monarchy in which power rests with males or descends through male line


• Plutocracy -- government by the wealthy


• Principality -- state ruled by a prince, often part of larger state or empire


• Regency -- reign of non-monarch during youth or indisposition of monarch


• Republic -- government in which power is vested in elected representatives of citizenry


• Sovereignty -- political autonomy and freedom of state from outside authority


• Stratocracy -- government by the military


• Technocracy -- government run by experts and technicians


• Thearchy -- government based on divine sovereignty


• Theocracy -- government by church officials, who believe they have divine authority


• Timocracy -- government based on love of honor and military glory or on requisite ownership of property


• Totalitarianism -- authoritarian political system in which citizen is totally subject to will of state


• Triarchy -- government ruled jointly by three person; triumvirate


• Tyranny -- government by single absolute authority, especially one exercising oppressive power


• Unitary Government -- system in which power is held by single central source, and local governments are merely administrative agents, the opposite of federalism


• Welfare State -- system in which ultimate responsibility of government is well being of all citizens





Choosing how to run your country will have an obvious impact on every day life. Where will your imagination lead you and your story? Which system of government will you opt for in your world? Why? Think about the impact it will have one your storyline and how the storyline will depend on details such as this. It is mindboggling how much the change of one detail, such as government, can change your entire story.





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Worldbuilding Wednesday Thoughts on the Worldbuilding Process

Don't be afraid to play around with worldbuilding ideas. It may take a bit of tweaking and reworking to make an idea work the way you would like. If something you try doesn’t work out…so what? Scrap it and try something else. There really are no worldbuilding police to force you to use an idea in your story that doesn’t work for you. This is the time to experiment and see if anything grows from letting your mind wander down unusual paths.

Don't let this stress you. In this series we have talked about a lot of things you may (or may not) want to consider for your world. Remember, an idea does not have to be a stable concrete thing, keep it fluid and evolving into what works for your story. I think you will find that it will change, evolve and reshape itself to support your work. What you had for your original concept may have taken a turn into something completely different as you start getting into your novel. Often, as you get further down the writing path, you may find it changing again. This is not unusual. Eventually it will feel comfortable and encompass what you have written rather than shaping what you will write.

Don't be afraid to reshape your ideas, themes, characters and worldbuilding material. The more detailed and familiar you have become with the world you are creating, the easier things will flow as the actual storytelling and creating process begins.

This is a good time to go back and reread everything you've written and see if there are changes you want to make which will help you better develop the idea. Think about emerging characters other than the ones you've created already. Think about the story-world into which you are gong to put them.

One thing to especially consider is your theme and how you can use it to influence the creation of your world. Don't be afraid to experiment. Everything can be changed. Now is the time to be daring. It's easier to fix dead ends and odd problems in the pre-work than in the writing.

Happy writing!

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Worldbuilding Wednesday: Community Interaction (Part 2)

Last week, on Worldbuilding Wednesday, we looked at Community Interaction, specifically with language and its usage.

Sometimes words and customs can seep into a society through an unexpected source -- slaves. Slave women often raised the young children of the richer element of the community and inadvertently infiltrated foreign words into their language, as well as stories, and sometimes the ideas of right and wrong. Slaves might also introduce new farming techniques and tools into a settlement. Anything which improves the life of the larger group will likely be kept, including the words. This is a concept Dave Berry used in his prequel to Peter Pan – explaining how these kids were on their own, and, even though they were children, had to adapt quickly to their circumstances and learn about finding shelter and foraging for food. They had their own ways of communicating, choosing a leader (who could spit the farthest) and dealing with circumstances dealt them.

Again, in the concept of language, remember that accents, even when using the same words, can make something nearly incomprehensible from one group to another. This proved true in much of Medieval England, where a person living twenty miles away was considered a foreigner because he talked differently. Words reflect the culture from which they originate. If two cultures overlap, usually through invasion, you might find strange combinations.

Place names can reflect either an older city by the original name, or a new city, founded by the invaders. Also after an invasion there can be a dichotomy in the names of items between natives and the invaders. For instance, Anglo-Saxon peasants raised cattle, but the Norman lords ate beef.

There is a theory that our lives are so conditioned by words that it may be impossible for us to experience something we cannot put a word to. We think in words, so -- if this theory is correct -- the larger a person's vocabulary, the more of the world the person can experience.

A number of fantasy and science fiction writers enjoy creating languages for their new worlds and it can be a lot of fun and a great intellectual game. However, once you begin writing the story, remember not to let the new language take over the story so much that it's impossible for a non-native to understand what's going on. Remember your readers.

The creation of slang is a difficult aspect of language. It can sometimes look stupid when first introduced in a book, but with care can be worked into a story in such a way that the use becomes natural to the reader. Slang should have some real world basis in which it exists. This, in some ways, is much harder to do than creating a language from scratch. Slang has to slide into the language we speak and make some sort of sense -- although you may have to explain it the first time.

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Worldbuilding Wednesday

Community Interaction

Civilization within your world can be defined by the appearance of settled communities is a sign that a group of people. Communities show cooperation of large assemblages working together for the betterment of the whole.

In order to cooperate with one another, any collection of people -- whether settled or nomadic -- must hold a few things in common. Primary among them is language and common laws or customs.

Life takes a drastic change when people abandon hunting/gathering and settle down. Those changes may mean a complete overhaul of the tribe's customs, and this might be something which takes generations to work out. Life changes when people move from the farm to the city as well. If you have anyone going through this type of change, remember to consider the changes from one society to another.

One of the primary needs for a civilization is a way for the group to communicate with one another. It is not uncommon for certain phrases or gestures to be associated with a specific community with common cultural traditions. It seems the larger the group or community, the more sophisticated the language becomes to enable them to be specific and detailed.

When two groups interact, the lack of a common language can be the first step to disaster. However, remember that if two groups of people share a common border, they are also going to share some common words. Borders are usually made at natural physical barriers which stop the regular passage of people from one area to the next. However, streams and rivers are often crossable at either fords or at certain times of the year, and they do not confine language. This is especially true if you have established trade routes. Oceans, deserts, and mountains -- and entire star systems -- are better impediments, but except for the last one, they've all been overcome, and often in ancient times.

Nonetheless, under certain conditions, you can have two closely living groups with entirely different cultures and languages. One way might be in a large city where one group immigrates in and settles in a certain section, living apart from the earlier group. This has happened many times in our world and continues to happen today. But in a less modern world you can play with something unusual which would not be a barrier in a later age. For instance, there are two entirely different species of squirrels living on opposite sides of the Grand Canyon. Why not put something like this between your people? You can invent atypical reasons why your groups have different languages, cultures, etc. and still exist within close range of each other.

While I am addressing worldbuilding on a larger scale, as in a fantasy or sci-fi novel, these same principles can apply to worldbuilding in your fictitious town in our realm. Granted, communications differences may be more subtle, but there are often words or phrases that are specific to certain geographical areas. Sometimes these subtle idiosyncrasies can lead to openings for humor in your story or fuel the fires of conflict. Has anything like this transpired in your work?

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World Building: What Defines Family in Your World?

Family has taken on many new faces over the past few decades. “Traditional Family” units used to include the mother, father, and siblings. In our own society that face is changing. “Traditional Family” often integrates extended family, blended families and many combinations within these units. What will be the “traditional family” in your world?

One thing to consider is the role of the community in your world. Will it truly take an entire village to raise a child in your world? How does the family fit in the societal hierarchy? Just a few things to ponder when building your world – lots of options await you here – let your imagination flow, will traditional family be traditional or will you start a whole new family pod?

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Worldbuilding Wednesday, a Sneak Peak into the Netherscape Realm

Just a thought, but tomorrow is the day my blog book tour class will visit to critique my blog. I have been trying to think of something special to post that is representative of what this site is about. After consideration I thought an excerpt based on my work in progress might be appropriate. I write for kids and young adults – this sets me apart from the rest of the class a bit, as does my genre of fantasy, and I do appreciate the tolerance of my differences from the rest of the class. Tolerance is a strong theme in my book. I hope everyone will continue to bear with me as today and tomorrow’s posts will be slightly longer than usual.

Today’s worldbuilding theme is a little more specific. Today I am going to “set the scene” for tomorrow’s post.

As the scene I plan on sharing is not from the book’s opening, I will try to give you a little story and character background. Ryan (16), his little brother Brady (9), Kylie (15) and Sean (16) attend a renowned private school called the Greenbrier Academy, one of the highest rated schools in the country. It is located in the fictitious town of Wen Melas, CA nestled in the valley of the Alijunga Mountains. A strange new head master, Wiliam Derrnz, has arrived at the prestigious school and suddenly very interesting things begin to occur. The headmaster brings with him new professors and an odd new curriculum that includes classes like dragon training and interactive history. The friends discover they have been assigned to a “directed study” program, which is the beta testing group for the new curriculum, but they seem to be the only ones participating with the new professors and classes.

They have discovered they each have very special innate talents, as everyone does.

Ryan is the leader of the group, a practical “everyman” with organizational skills that play to each of their strengths. He fearlessly blazes the trail on their quest into the Netherscape realm with a quiet strength.

Kylie’s talents lie in writing so she keeps a very special journal chronicling every step of their journey. She’s a bit awkward socially, and relies heavily on what she has learned from books for all her answers. She writes for the school newspaper and dreams of someday having adventures and not just writing about them.

Sean is the comic relief of the group. He is very comfortable at being the laid back, fun-loving practical joker they have all known and loved over the years. As the adventure unfolds the group is surprised to learn of Sean’s natural abilities in science and survival techniques. (After all, who knew he could read, let alone think?!) He is quick witted, resourceful and able to think outside the box in a MacGyver-ish sort of way, a source of continuous surprises.

Brady is the innocent; a kind-hearted and compassionate child who happens to love dragons and discovers his talent lies in the area of language and communications. He quickly assimilates languages and soon finds he is able to hear with more than his ears – he learns quickly to listen with his heart.

What they have learned in the short time they have been back at school is there is an ancient prophecy stating the Destineers will save the worlds. Yes, it is worlds with an “s” because there are many of them…you just have to know how to find them. They are the Destineers and they share strong roots with ties to different factions within the magical community…at least that is what they have been told. Research in the Cybrarie has told them many generations earlier, the magic ran strong in each of their families but that was the time when our world believed in “the old ways” and magical enchantments. But those beliefs and the magical crafts died out in our world centuries ago forcing the birth of the magical realm, a realm fraught with fantastical beings and magic, the Netherscape realm. Once again, magic is in danger of disappearing forever.

One of the classes the students are taking is interactive history. The techno-imagineering professor has invented a machine called an incarnation chamber that can transport anyone to any time in any history of any realm. This device enables them to study history interactively. In this particular lesson the headmaster, Wiliam Derrnz, is taking the group to get an important glimpse from a particularly violent portion of our world’s history – the Holocaust. Wiliam Derrnz has just told the class: “No matter how far you go, history has a way of coming back to haunt you. Keep this in mind as we enter the Chamber for today’s lesson. We shall be returning to November 9, 1938. ”

I am now turning the blog over to 15 year-old Kylie O’Connor who keeps the journals for the class and will be accompanying you tomorrow on your blog tour.

Hi, Kylie here. It is my job to keep the chronicles of our lessons and adventures in a very special journal Professor Sinclair gave me.

Just to set the scene for you: I was nervous about entering the Incarnation Chamber. I knew the headmaster said it was set to replication mode, and these were mere shadows of the past—nothing that could hurt us, but our lesson was on the Holocaust, one of the bloodiest most violent times in recent history and this was Interactive History class. It was still early in the school year and I wasn’t sure just how interactive the lesson would get. Professor Derrnz said the chamber was programmed to automatically translate everything being said so we’d hear everything in our own language. I could hear my heart thumping loudly so I knew everyone in the chamber could hear it too. They’d know I was afraid.

These were just supposed to be shadows from the past…shadows can’t hurt you, right? I kept telling myself this…but last night Sean and I watched one of those horror movies he likes so much. Shadows are never just shadows…shadows ALWAYS hurt you in those movies. Please don’t let this be like the movies…

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Worldbuilding Wednesday

As I mentioned last week, Wednesday’s theme over the next several weeks is going to focus on the art of worldbuilding in your fantasy or science fiction story. A good source of questions to ask yourself when deciding elements within your created world can be found in Patricia Wrede’s Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions . This is an excellent guide to help you determine what factors you will need to consider.

Worldbuilding is a lot like character development in the sense that the more detailed you are in its development, the more you will learn about its history. For example, in character development many writers will build an entire back story for their characters or have a conversation with them to get to know them better. Often this process will bring out details we were originally unaware of that can explain some of the behaviors and personalities of our characters. With worldbuilding, the more detailed you are with the creation, the history behind this realm emerges. The writer then gets an understanding about how this will affect the emerging cultures of the beings that inhabit this realm. Learning the “whys” in your world will lead to a depth that you never expected and open additional potential story threads that will add dimension and credibility to the story.

Worldbuilding goes much further than drawing a map, naming the geographic locales (lakes, forests, towns and determining a geographic locale – it is building the personality of your world, deciding how everything is interconnected and how different elements will interface with each other. Knowing things like the geography of your world will help you determine things like the population of your world. Often the writer already has the main characters for a particular story in mind, but it may be prudent to wait until a little later in the process before creating your secondary characters. This way you can create beings that fit into not only the story but the world being created for them. You can then make certain you have laid out an appropriate route for your character to take on his quest making sure your characters will run into realistic obstacles to heighten the tension through the storyline.

One area that helps not only in defining your world, but in character development, is cultural differences. This is an area that can bring conflict into a story that happens in any world. Living in a world of diverse cultures that are appropriate to your plot can open horizons for rabble-rousers and malcontents inciting tension throughout your story. And in fiction, tension is a good thing.

What about other genres? What processes do you go through in determining your setting in the real world? Just a thought...



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