10 World-building ideas
How to add depth and colour to your world
In my new book project, People of Dust, most of the action happens in a city. But what kind of city? I didn’t want a quasi-medieval one; too many of them out there on fantasy bookshelves. Not a modern one either, for the story is set in secondary world.
My inspiration came from the most unlikely source: a non-fiction book. Awakening: A History of the Western Mind AD 500-1700 by Charles Freeman.
In the Italian city-state Florence in the 1330’s, thousands of girls and boys from non-elite families went to school.
Primary education in the 14th Century! And for girls as well! This was my kind of city, the one I’d like as the backdrop to my story.
Freeman’s information comes from an eyewitness, Giovanni Villani (1280-1348), a chronicler of Florence. Villani “counted 8-10,000 girls and boys who were receiving education between the ages of six and eleven, possibly 70precent of the age group.” A gender-based breakdown is not available. But the mere fact that this primary education opportunity was open to girls was truly revolutionary.
Not only that. Villani says there were 1,000 to 2,000 abacus schools in Florence teaching commercial arithmetic. Plus, Florence and many other Italian cities placed teachers on a public payroll in the fourteenth century.
There was even more. Florence of that time had a system of government that was an amalgam of direct and indirect democracy, a government based on the rule of law. “Florence appeared to have found a stable government under the Ordinances of Justice first promulgated in 1293… Under the Ordnances, eight priors were to be chosen from the twenty-one largest guilds, balanced so that each district of the city was represented. Each prior only held office for two months… In tumultuous times, protesting crowds could gather in the Piazza della Signoria or could be summoned there at times of crisis by the city bell.”
After some supplementary reading via internet, I had enough ingredients to create the sophisticated non-monarchical city-state I needed for my story.
Here are the 10 sources I use regularly for my stories
1. History: Our history is a veritable storehouse of information for any world-building exercise.
Example: The Hittite empire, one of the great powers of the ancient world (1650BCE-1190BCE) could have collapsed due to a climate crisis in the form of a devastating drought. https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/hittite-collapse-0017912
2. Geography: Whenever I want to create ‘out of this world’ locations, I check out our world. Example: Columbia’s Cano Cristales – the rainbow river
and India’s Valley of Flowers
3. Ancient science: My first book has a kingdom beset by extreme climatic conditions. I did some research about ancient cooling methods and came up with some amazing results.
Example: In ancient Persia, Wind Catchers, specially constructed buildings, were used to catch the wind and beat the heat.
4. Ancient crafts: In my first book, the heroine and another female character bond over making bamboo fibre. All the information I needed was available on the internet. There are so many unusual craft types in our world that can be used to adorn even the most fantastical world.
Example: Nettle-spinning. Using stinging nettle to create yarn and clothing (remember the sister who sewed nettle shirts for her brothers who had been turned into swans? Just like that). https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/turning-nettles-into-textiles-zbcz2101/
5. Ancient healing practices: Medicine forms an important part of any world we make. Non-western medical practices can be mined for this purpose. Then there are lesser known spiritualistic methods which would fit in in any fantasy world.
Example: In a new story, I’m using a version of an ancient Belarussian practice called whispering healing. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/water-whisper-magic-belarus-tradition-health
6. Fauna: One of the main problems I have is how to create unearthly animals for my world. Here too, lesser known animal, bird, and fish species can provide a rich source.
Example: Pink fairy armadillo https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/fall-2022/articles/stranger-things-meet-the-pink-fairy-armadillo
Or if you want to try the extreme bizarre, check this out: https://www.iflscience.com/artist-draws-animals-the-same-way-we-draw-dinosaurs-based-on-bones-alone-and-theyre-terrifying--54399 Each of these recreated-from-bones-only creatures can become a part of the fauna of your world.
7. Flora: The heroine in my books doubles up as a plant-explorer, so I’m in constant need of coming up with strange trees, vines, and shrubs. Fortunately, there are plenty of strange trees in our world, which can act as a catalyst in flora-creation.
Example: rainbow eucalyptus. https://www.oneearth.org/species-of-the-week-rainbow-eucalyptus/
8. Animal capacities: If your stories feature animals, as mine do, what unusual capacities do they possess? I draw inspiration from lesser-known abilities of animals in our world.
Example: African pained dogs who vote for a new pack-leader (always female) via whoops and hoots. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2021/feb/03/the-african-painted-dogs-that-vote-by-sneezing-and-run-on-shadow-puppet-legs
9. Architecture: What kind of dwellings should a secondary world have? If brick or wattle-and-daub or straw is passé, try a bit of internet searching by typing weird or unusual houses.
Example: Cappadocian cave houses in Turkey are famous but until I did a search for a story I was doing, I didn’t realise they were so hip. https://www.tripstodiscover.com/cave-homes-cappadocia-turkey/
10. News: Everyday stories provide an unbeatable source not just for story ideas but also for world-building.
Example: Electricity from oranges – wouldn’t that be a perfect fit in any fantasy world? 'A role model': how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity | Renewable energy | The Guardian