How to Create a World for a Fantasy Novel

Creating a world for a fantasy novel is a complex process. Many variables will go into the decisions about what your world is like and don't forget that the environment of your fantasy world will affect what types of civilizations arise.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Internet access
• Word processor program

1. Decide what type of world you want to create. Worlds can be anything from extremely earth-like, with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere to more exotic worlds with hydrochloric acid in the atmosphere. The type of world you choose will affect what sorts of creatures populate it; if you have a water world, then the creatures would probably need to have gills and so on.
2. Determine how large your world is. Size will affect a lot of things; the larger a world is, the less likely different races are to run into each other, the more available land there is for colonization and more. Smaller worlds would run into problems with over population and limited resources.
3. Establish the number and size of the world's moons. One single large moon would affect your world much as our own moon does Earth, but what about more than one moon. This would affect the tides, the rotation speed of the planet and many other concerns. Many early religions and calendars were also based on the moon; how does this work on your world?
4. Choose where to place your planet in your solar system. A planet with an orbit placed farther out than our own would yield a colder world, while closer would make a warmer world. You may choose to eliminate the question of science altogether and go with a mystical approach, in which case you have more freedom to make the world act as you wish without having to have a reason for it to do so.
5. Build your mountain ranges, volcanoes and other geographic features. These features will influence weather patterns, helping to create deserts, swamps, grasslands and forests. Reading magazines like National Geographic will help deepen your understanding of the way these processes work.
6. Populate your world. Place the races that you have created around the world. Build cultures and civilizations, and remember that geographic features, weather patterns and many other issues will influence what types of civilizations appear on your world.
7. Make notes of all your ideas either in your notebook, or in a word processor program. The notebook is easier to use and carry with you, though. Keep track of all your decisions and thoughts; you'll need to refer to them later.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many resources online to help you build a world for a fantasy novel. Two links may be found below.
• Keep the world as believable as possible, and try to have reasons for why the world is the way it is. If the sky is purple, maybe it's because of a certain element in the atmosphere, or a property of the light from that particular sun.
• Build your civilizations and cultures realistically. In every society, no matter how Utopian, there are elements of strife, and no matter how war mongering a people may be, they will have redeeming qualities. A race or civilization that is "bad" because all the people are purely evil may be kind of boring.
• Each culture and civilization needs a history. This can be as brief or in-depth as you care to make it, but every people needs a past. Past exploits and debacles will influence the way a culture develops in the future; history creates the present and future. In order for your cultures to be believable, they need to have a history.