How to Build a Fantasy World
Ollie Ander
Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.
Fantasy novels require a level of worldbuilding greater than most other genres. General Fiction’s setting can exist exactly how you know it in real life, Historical is beholden to accuracy, Science Fiction demands enough knowledge to be believable in its futurism, but Fantasy? Even in Urban Fantasy where there’s an underlayer of magic squirreled away below the surface, there will be ripple effects in how that shapes what’s normal: character’s lives change, secret societies get formed! Any inclusion of magic will affect the reality your novel constructs, and though that freedom is liberating it also presents a potential dilemma:
A Fantasy world that’s not fleshed out enough can ruin readers’ immersion.
To supply a consistent image, you’ll need to examine each part of your Fantasy world. Even if your entire world has access to the same magic or technological advancement, people’s daily lives will be shaped by other considerations, such as their biosphere—those in a forest will live drastically different lives from those in a desert. The use of your magic may even vary based on where the story is situated in your world as a whole!
To make sure you’ve got all your bases covered, I’ve listed factors to take into consideration while worldbuilding for your Fantasy novel. Even if you don’t use it all, having a vague understanding of how your world functions outside of the main plot/events will lend to its believability. There are prompts and questions to guide you through how/why each aspect is important, and a visualization exercise to help flesh everything out to its utmost potential!
Resources
The first thing to consider about your Fantasy world is its people’s access to resources and their general availability. Although your story may not be focused on the minutiae of your character’s personal upkeep, like what they eat for breakfast, it can add a level of thoroughness not to disregard that information entirely. It can even cause logistical issues with your plot if you send your party on a long treacherous adventure with no mention of their access to food, water, or equipment to sustain such an excursion.
In High Fantasy’s most notable example, The Lord of the Rings series, not only are resources referenced and replenished frequently, but their inclusions even become significant plot points. Resupplying serves as a means of bolstering allies/ forming new bonds, and famously, running out of Lembas Bread is used as a plot device for psychological betrayal! Access to resources is hugely important to making your Fantasy world feel fleshed out.
Food
Not only should you know what kinds of food your world has, but where it comes from. The foods available to people shape their culture so much more than we realize.
What stage of food production is the predominant standard?
Have people surpassed being hunter/gatherers? Have animals been domesticated? Can they do agriculture (and on how large a scale)?
What your characters can and can’t do for themselves in acquiring food will shape their story decisions. The ration supplies taken on a quest can display other characteristics of the main party, like being well-prepared, mildly reckless, or unbelievably stupid.
If they can pick up everything they need from a market in every town they pass by (which also happens to be close enough together), that’s great! But make sure that infrastructure lines up with other things you’ve presented (i.e. major cities every few days’ travel could cause their own logistical issues in competition and scarcity).
Water
Water is the essence of life itself, and for your characters to continue to live throughout your story, they’re going to need it! Depending on the biosphere in which your story takes place, having access to water may end up being more of a story-shaper than expected.
Are they near freshwater sources (mountain runoff, lakes, rivers)? Do they have ways to sanitize their water? Is there frequent rainfall?
From daily chores to growing crops, water affects everything. Unless there’s a logical (or magical) reason your characters are never seen eating or drinking, it will slowly dawn on readers the implausibility of your story’s continuation.
Energy
It’s important to consider what energy resources are available to your characters. Do they have easy access to fire? If an industrial revolution happened, how would that benefit them in areas outside of manufacturing work in civilization (i.e. electricity, transportation)?
For many Fantasy worlds, the key energy source may be its magic, but even that needs to have its availability and limitations taken under consideration. There’s fewer stakes involved in a story where magic can be the answer to everything, so the things it can’t do become all the more important to stress and play around with.
Does the dispersion of energy resources reflect in the conflicts or development of different groups?
Technology
Technology is a key factor in what’s possible plot-wise for any story. Even if your story is medieval-based Fantasy, technology comes in the form of invention, from the wheel to the trebuchet. Your Fantasy world will shape drastically differently based on the level of technology of its people.
A great way to flesh out your Fantasy world is to envision how technology would affect different people/areas across the world. For example, if one race doesn’t have magic, would they use technology to compensate (and how)?
Who holds the power of resources in your Fantasy world and what does that mean for its occupants?
Culture
If you write your characters like they were born and raised in a vacuum, only existing to perform through your desired plot-points, readers aren’t going to find them all that endearing. Culture is important to writing characters so exploring the culture of your Fantasy world is even more so.
Political Structure
What political structures exist in your Fantasy world and how is the plot affected by its unique constructions? Politics should vary among different places/regions. To a character that’s been raised in an oligarchical magic-dominated city, stumbling upon mountain peoples that practice meritocracy outside of magical influence would be foreign to them.
It is interactions between different political or socioeconomic systems that will help develop your world and your characters’ ideologies.
Religion
In the absence of an organized religion, humans (and other Fantasy races alike) have a tendency to form some ideology toward how and why life is shaped a certain way.
Does your Fantasy world have a predominant religion? How did it form and how is it practiced?
Law
The laws of your Fantasy world could be a matter of political structure, religious practice, or something objective and entirely other (which is why it gets its own separate subheader). Although many would argue that using magic such as necromancy is immoral, there could be other unique factors at play as to why something is made illegal—some magics just have too high a cost.
Influence
Different areas of your world will be more isolated than others. A village surrounded by harsh terrain which entirely relies on its own development will result in a strong localized pride.
Alternatively, technology/ transportation could lift isolation and foster unique meldings through external influences. Many Fantasy stories feature a metropolis that merges cross-world cultures and opens up new possibilities. Likewise, a port-side town would have greater access to goods and be influenced from outside cultures, brought in through its opportune location.
Not only should your characters be reflective of the culture they were raised in, but the places they go should change based on its surrounding influences.
Arts & Hobbies
Every culture has expression in the form of Arts. For some, those arts can be accessed through and protected by governing institutions, even taught in regarded forms of education (visual, written, & performance).
How do the people in your Fantasy world express themselves? By extension this could include activities such as sports. What hobbies are available to practice or transferable to desired trades?
Architecture
Architecture is one of the most overlooked aspects of worldbuilding, but buildings’ shape are a byproduct of many other factors: The material buildings are made of will change with resources/scarcity, the structure can show technological advancements (planning), roof shape depends on snowfall, and style could change by eras of Art.
Not every town in a Fantasy world will look the same, an excellent example being the iconic differences between LOTR’s The Shrine (a hobbit village) compared to Rivendell (elven).
Education
Much like politics, education will affect hierarchies, and societal priorities will change over factors like whether magic is taught by institutions or only inherited through bloodline. Power structures will be different whether education is freely available or coveted by a select few.
History
Whether your world has been through any revolutions, wars, or even plagues will have lingering effects on its societies. Who has access to your world’s histories can also come into play in general mentalities and how progress is made.
Are there secret or lost histories people don’t know about? What have past events taught them—how did things change because of them?
Visualisation Prompt
Everything listed above is a LOT to take in all at once. You may not know every aspect of your world right away—things may come to you in a trickle while completing your zero draft—and that’s okay! If you’re wondering where to start in answering any of that, here’s a visualization prompt to help out:
Put yourself in your protagonist’s shoes on a regular day. Don’t think about where they’re going in the plot, but instead, rewind a bit to before the inciting incident of your story.
They wake up, where? What do they eat throughout the day? Who do they talk to? Where do they fit in society? What do they see when they go for a walk?
It can be helpful to rewind even further and take a walk through their day during different stages of their life too.
But you don’t want your world to feel like it only exists in what the protagonist has ever seen, you want your Fantasy world to feel alive, so repeat this visualization prompt with other random people in your world—side characters, distant friends, street vendors, the family pet.
Fantasy worldbuilding is a puzzle, and as you fit pieces together, the bigger and more impressive the picture others will see! Take time and care to fill in the gaps, not every explanation can fit every world, and if there is something missing, give yourself grace in finding the right piece, in due time.
On the other hand, if this article has got your inspiration flowing, you might want to check out this article on $ what the rules of fantasy are$ , before getting too ahead of yourself!
Like what you're reading?
Join other authors like you in NovelPad’s free writing community!
Join the communitySimilar Posts
What File Formats are Accepted by Kindle Direct Publishing?
File types for ebooks, paperbacks, and hardbacks on Amazon's KDP.
Ollie Ander
Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.
How To Write Strong Atmosphere In Stories
7 best tips for creating strong atmosphere in your writing.
Hannah Lee Kidder
NovelPad Author
How long is a fantasy book? Words, pages, chapters, scenes, & prologues
What should wordcount goals look like for a fantasy novel?
S.R. Beaston
Crafty with words, wit, and wisdom, just add caffeine to make it more interesting.
The Writer’s Resolution Guide 2024
Goal ideas and strategies for your new writing year.
Sage Kay
Writer, reader, outfit repeater.
How long is a Science Fiction Book?
How many words, chapters, and pages should be in your sci-fi novel?
Ollie Ander
Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.
When is the best time to publish a horror novel? [Peak Sales Method]
Make the most of your horror book launch by strategizing with these tips.
Bella Rose Emmorey
book editor, rogue behaviorist, digital marketer, writer, brand builder, plant aunt, and cheese enthusiast.