Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding Series: Rules and Laws

 

Worldbuilding Series: Rules and Laws

Click here to read the first in our series: The World and Maps

Click here to read the second in our series: Populating the World

Click here to read the third in our series: Cultures and Languages

Click here to read the fourth in our series: History

Everything must come at a price, and characters learn that the hard way in our novels.

Rules and laws not only dictate our characters' world but also can create conflict for our characters. Often times in fantasy, there are supreme rulers of a land that create such rules. Magic is often ruled by laws and guidelines. Governmental rules often play a large part in dystopians.

But what kind of rules should you consider when creating your world?

It depends on the novel. Lots of fantasies have magic. Who has magical abilities? Are there rules and laws against using it or not? For example, in Harry Potter, underage wizards can't use magic while not in school. This creates quite a mess for Harry who often needs his magic at all times. A bit closer to home, my The Phoenix Prophetess novel has a rule about who has magical abilities. Only those of royal descent have magical powers, and those powers only manifest themselves when they turn eighteen years of age. You should see how that affects my main character.

When creating rules and laws, I often like to think what will make my character's life even harder than it is now. Think of your own rules around the house, your state, your country and how they affect your every day life. For example, there is a law against speeding. Just think of the consequences of what might can happen if you go against that law and get caught. Using ordinary rules can be modified for something extraordinary. What if your characters ride broomsticks to travel, but can't do it between sunrise and sunset? And sunrise is only a few minutes away. Chaos and conflict will ensue, and stories thrive on conflict.

Have you created any rules or laws to govern your characters?

And, folks, this is the end of the Worldbuilding Series. I hope you enjoyed it and perhaps learned something new.

Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding Series: History

 

Worldbuilding Series: History

Click here to read the first in our series: The World and Maps

 Click here to read the second in our series: Populating the World

Click here to read the third in our series: Cultures and Languages

 

Characters and places have a past, a history, unless somehow both appear fully formed from a vacuum of nothingness, which isn't likely to happen. As writers we learn not to insert too much backstory into our stories, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a backstory.

Why do our characters do what they do? Why is their world as it is? The past plays such an important role in why we do what we do. Depending on the story, we will have to decide how much of history actually gets into the book. History, of course, is what happened before the start of the book. And fantasy novels tend to have a rich history because we often create new cultures and lands for them.  

A good question to ask is "why"? Why does this character do the things they do? Why are the laws of the land such? Why is this place called such-and-such? And the whys will vary for each story.

For example, in my un-published novel The Phoenix Prophetess, Yssa's birth goes back to a prophecy uttered almost 2500 years before her birth. Amora, the first Phoenix Prophetess, claimed that every 500 years, a female child would be born dead but revived by the god Apenth. This child would have special powers of foresight. Without this tidbit of history and Yssa being chosen as the sixth Phoenix Prophetess, then the entire story wouldn't happen. It also creates conflict because gods aren't supposed to meddle with Fate, and Apenth does. Also, because Amora was not only the first Phoenix Prophetess but also the first queen of her self-named city, then she set a precedence that there are only queens of Amora, never a king.

A more current and non-fantasy related example is Americans' distrust of kings. It's so ingrained in our society back from 1776 when we broke away from England that it has caused quite a bit of problems even today. It's why we have the government we have, for better or worse.

History can play a vital role and in order to create that history for our worlds to ring true, we must ask why.

Have you created a history for your novels? Or used history that we have of this world for them?

Next month on October 8th, we'll have our last entry in the Worldbuilding Series. So stay tune for Worldbuilding Series: Rules and Laws.

Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding Series: Cultures and Languages

 

Worldbuilding Series: Cultures and Languages

Click here to read the first in our series: The World and Maps

Click here to read the second in our series: Populating the World

Since most stories start with characters or are soon followed by characters, then how the characters act and interact with each other is important. But for fantasy people and creatures, then they might not always act how we're used to.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret on how you can make your cultures unique. That secret is: Read about other cultures. That's right. Read. One of the most fascinating classes I took in college was World Cultures. Our own peoples on Earth are fascinating. 

For example, the Yanomamo who live in South America are a small tribal community. When someone dies, they actually drink the dead person's ashes, so they can keep a part of their loved one with them. It sounds a bit icky to most people, I would think, but it's a fascinating characteristic of their culture.

If you're writing a futuristic story, think how customs change throughout time. Writing a historical fantasy, look at history.

Write these cultural nuances down, so you can be consistent.

Another aspect of culture is languages and linguistics. The fantasy author best known for creating languages is probably J.R.R. Tolkien. Most people don't create their own languages for their fantasy novels, but you can create fantasy words for certain things. Think like your characters. For example, curse words are particularly fun to create. In The Phoenix Prophetess, the characters have "Inashara's tits" and "Hypobus" for curse words. Inashara is the goddess of love, so Inashara's tits means "I'm f*cked" or "I'm screwed." Hypobus is the god of the underworld, so it's more like saying "hell" or "damned."

Most cultural/language references don't come in the first draft for me. Some don't come until near the end of editing, but those little things mean so much and focus the reader on the magical world you create.

Have you created different cultures or a new language for your stories?

Next Month's Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding Series: History

Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding - Populating the World

 

Worldbuilding Series: Populating the World

Click here to read the first in our series: The World and Maps

I would say most worldbuilding starts out with the characters. They are the people (or creatures) who populate our stories. A story without characters probably isn't too much of a story, is it?

With fantasy, we don't have to resolve ourselves to normal humans. We can use our imaginations to create new human-like creatures, even new types of humans.

What do our people or creatures look like? Hair color, skin color, eye color, build. Are they small or large? Do they look like us? If they bleed, is it red? How do they walk? Are they magical? Or can use magic? There are so many intricacies we writers need to think of when we create our characters, especially magical ones. If you are reusing previously created creatures, how are yours different? Similar?

Fantasy involves so many different kinds of sentient creatures beyond humans, such as elves, dragons, orcs, trolls, fairies, etc. That's why it is so much fun--and so difficult--to write fantasy.

Think about the creatures you want to use. Imagine them. Write down their traits because it will come in handy. Seriously, if you write fantasy, especially with a lot of characters and multiple books, then it is really handy to have such details written down somewhere, so you don't mix things up.

When I was writing The Phoenix Prophetess, I knew I wanted the normal humans--there are some that range from Caucasian to African to Asian, but I wanted a human that was different too. I thought about this race living up north in the Great Beyond. The sun doesn't shine there much, so they would be very fair of skin. Well, I'm more of a moon child too, so I looked at my own skin. My blue-colored veins are pretty noticeable. Blue. What if these people have skin so fair that it makes them look blue? Yes! I also thought about my fascination with the blue people in Kentucky, so I had my new race. They have bluish skin and blond hair so pale it often looks white. Thus, the Great Beyonders were born.

Use what you know and don't be afraid to come up with something unique.

And you don't have to know everything right away. Personally, I often figure out some details later on in the drafts.

Have you ever created new creatures or races for your characters? Do you keep notes on what they look like?

Next month's Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding: Cultures and Languages

Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding Series: The World and Maps

 

Worldbuilding Series: The World and Maps

Today we're going to talk about creating the world and maps in a fantasy series. Of course, this will work with all types of fiction writing.

So you have an idea for a novel. Characters and plot start coming at you, but where will these characters live?

Building the world can be an arduous task. There are so many things to think of. What is the climate like? How is the terrain? Is it a large world? As small as a house? Is there water nearby? Etc. The list goes on and on.

When I had the idea for The Phoenix Prophetess, I knew I wanted to place it in a secondary world similar to our own but not. As a Classics major, I knew I wanted Amora to be like ancient Rome. Even the name "Amora" backwards becomes "a roma" or "to Rome." So I began drawing a map to get the outline of not only the city but the entire Amoran Kingdom.

Please pardon my lack of drawing skills. I tried.

Although I wanted Amora to be modeled after ancient Rome, I didn't want my world to look like Italy. When I created my map, I also tried to think like a map maker living in the Kingdom of Amora.

When I want a particular climate or landscape for a novel, then I do some research. Need a desert? Look at the Sahara, the Gobi, or even Death Valley? Our own world has a lot of information we need to create new ones.

Naming places can be the tricky part. I used my language skills to create quite a few places in The Phoenix Prophetess. Find ways to change up a name. For example, the Ocean of Luquis comes from Liquid and Aqua. Sometimes a place name can crop up from a history of the place, but we'll discuss those things later in this Worldbuilding series.

Fantasy worlds don't need maps, but I'm a visual person. When I read Lord of the Rings, I often looked at the map to see where they were at in relation to where they had been. If you build a complex world, a map can really help out a reader. It doesn't have to be elaborate. A quick sketch can help.

The best thing about building the world is you don't have to know it before you write. A lot of place names, places, etc. came while I was writing. Some happen in edits. As a writer, you will also know more about the world than any reader will, but remember: not everything needs to go into the novel. So what if I know the true name of the Great Beyond in The Phoenix Prophetess. An Amoran calls it the Great Beyond. I don't need to tell a reader its true name. Same goes with all details about your world.

Do you have any questions? Have you created a secondary world before? Have you ever drawn a map for it?

Next month's Fantasy Chat: Worldbuilding: Populating the World.