Worldbuilding Guide Part 2: Original Settings

World Building Guide Part 1: Creating Original Languages

Original Settings - Basics

#1: Write from experience.

• You can take entire cities, countries, and other broad places as you’ve experienced. You can use buildings, rooms, and furniture you know in your stories. Go as broad or as small as you want.
• Change whatever you want and as much as you need.

Example: My second-favorite city in my world is called Ewel (e-well) and was inspired by my hometown Boulder, CO. 

outsideonline.com

Even though I was inspired by an entire city, a city I know extremely well, there are only a few details that I use. The first is that Ewel is by the mountains in a high valley. The buildings are all very low in order to maintain the natural beauty, there are a lot of red-rooftops, and it likes to snow. 

archdaily.com

There is also an amphitheater that inspired an entire city district. A district of art, education, and religion.

casterockphotography.com

The amphitheater of Ewel is in a park that is adjacent to a large square that really defines the downtown. The square is HUGE. All the finest shops, theaters, museums are around it. It’s the perfect place to hold festivals and make public addresses. 

This one tiny amphitheater was enough to build an entire downtown area of a city. Its functionality was enough to define the mood of this downtown.

And… that’s it. Out of all of Boulder, I ended up using five details for the major capital of a Kingdom. The heart of Boulder remains in Ewel, but I couldn’t just copy the whole of Boulder. It wouldn’t work for a capital city that is many, many times larger than my dinky hometown. (~25 sq. miles). Plus, there’s a lot to large cities that Boulder just doesn’t understand.

Keep a travel log (physical or in your mind). Really take in the places you visit.

There was this one road of shops in Annapolis, MD that I visited while I was on my college tour.

civicartsproject.com

They were something like the picture above, but more colorful. Although, my mind has probably changed the details to fit what I found most charming about it. The line of boutiques and cafes that fit together with similar architectures and patriotic colors turned into a row of pastel artisan shops and restaurants that line a drop-off by a salty bay. The patios built onto the rear of the fictional shops have stairs that wind right onto the sandy beach instead of some dank alley.

destination360.com

These fictional shops are just a short stretch that face a similar low and rounded road, but much flatter. And, dear God, there is not as much brick. 

civicartsproject.com

This fictional city I’ve made is called Sable, so named for the rare black-barked trees that grow around the bay. The main industry of Sable is glass-production. They have a large-scale trade business that sells glass to the surrounding cities, whose industry is lacking. This trade makes Sable one of the wealthiest cities in the area. This provides its citizens with a comfortable lifestyle.

Once again, one little place, a simple line of shops, was enough to inspire the creation of an entire city for my world. 

#2: You don’t always have to write from experience.

Use pictures, articles, and stories of places you’ve never been. It’s okay. You want variety in your settings, and it’s unreasonable to say that the only way you’ll get it right is by traveling the world. Whatever you find from places you’ve only ever seen in a picture or heard about from a friend that intrigued you or inspired you belongs in your story.

Here’s Machu Picchu:

archaeology.about.com

I have a large temple complex in my world that sits on a mountain outside of a city called Divinheigh. Machu Picchu wasn’t what initially inspired the temple, but it is a good reference when I get in the mood to write about the temple. The complex sits on a much larger and flatter section of a mountain, but the bricks are similar enough, and there is a very large cliff on one side (it’s not a steep slope you can walk down, but close enough).

famouswonders.com

The green scenery and the large mountains are also the inspiration for the city Divinheigh (di-vin-high). The grey-bricks are great contrast to the green and blues of the mountains. My mountain city is cradled by giant mountains where it is sheltered, but also bombarded by trapped winds. The ocean that traces the curves of the mountain range keeps the city warm and wet. Moss encroaches the oldest ring of the city, creating a gradient of green up to the foothills. There is no way to catch a glimpse of the temple in the constant fog around the mountain tops.

Divinheigh is probably the least realistic setting I have in my world (I make up for it with a great, magical excuse). What’s important is the imagery and uplifting spirit of tall, green mountains and the grey bricks of historic buildings.

I’ve never been to Machu Picchu or a temple complex. My mountains are nothing like the ones around Divinheigh They are much smaller, and follow the city on one side only.

It’s important to draw on as many sources as you can.

Of course, all of my settings are made of more than one experience and memory. Dozens. Dozens of dozens. I couldn’t list the number of images and cultures I use for Divinheigh and Ewel.

It’s the variety of details I use that keep my settings interesting, both for me and my readers. Boring is boring. You want to fall in love your settings - that way, other people will too.

Make sure you get a good selection of the amazing natural wonders around the world. A lot of them are mind blowing, and usually overlooked. Having a setting in a really special place would set you apart, even if it’s not your main focus. 

Of course, your characters probably don’t live in these places, but they are good to keep in mind as your write.

seemorepictures.blogspot.com

crossingislandnature.tumblr.com

Also, architecture.

bluepeublo.tumblr.com

Tiziano

And both.

topdreamer.com

#3: Do NOT go on huge rants to describe everything about your setting. 

Break it up. Take a moment to describe where you are. That means, get your imagery in order - clear and accurate - so you can use fewer words. Then, move on. 

Focus on important details and general impressions as you go. 

One of the WORST habits a fantasy writer can have is the need to explain everything about their creations. They give it all up, all at once, and completely tear down their story in the process.  Authors like J.K. Rowling and Phillip Pullman didn’t need to get everything out all at once in order to communicate their amazing worlds. Look to your favorite fantasy books, you’ll see it.

Just an amazing reference.

The Bookshelf Muse. A.K.A “heaven”.

For those of you who haven’t discovered The Bookshelf Muse, it is a blog that offers a thesaurus for settings, physical attributes, colors, etc. The Settings thesaurus will help you describe your fictional places, especially if you’ve never been to any place similar to your setting. It can help with a place as small as a room or a place as big as a forest. Check it out. It’s awesome.