#worldbuilding tips

[kaijuposting]

Something I've found is that if you want to develop really deep and rich worldbuilding, you've got to put your main or favorite characters out of your mind for awhile and look at things from other people's perspectives. What's the world like for the people who've never heard of your main/favorite characters, or have maybe heard of them, but mostly feel indifferent about them? How is the world affecting them, and how are they responding to it? If you shift your focus away from your main/favorite characters and start looking closely at everyone else, you're going to find some incredibly interesting things.

[nellywrisource]

A writer’s guide to the historical method: how historians work with sources

In this post, I provide a brief overview of how historians engage with different types of sources, with a focus on the mindset of a historian. This insight could be valuable for anyone crafting a character whose profession revolves around history research. It may also prove useful for authors conducting research for their book.

Concept of historical source

The concept of historical source evolves over time. 

Initially, the focus was mainly on written sources due to their obvious availability. However, as time has progressed, historians now consider a wide range of sources beyond just written records. These include material artifacts, intangible cultural elements, and even virtual data.

While "armchair historians" may rely on existing studies and secondary sources, true professional historians distinguish themselves by delving directly into primary sources. They engage in a nuanced examination of various sources, weaving together diverse perspectives. It's crucial to recognize the distinction between personal recollection or memory and the rigorous discipline of historical inquiry. A historical source provides information, but the truth must be carefully discerned through critical analysis and corroboration.

Here's a concise list of the types of sources historians utilize:

Notarial source

Epistolary source

Accountancy source

Epigraphic source

Chronicle source

Oratory and oral source

Iconographic source

Diary source

Electronic source

Example: a notarial source

These are documents drafted by a notary, a public official entrusted with providing legal certainty to facts and legal transactions. These documents can take various forms, such as deeds, lawsuits, wills, contracts, powers of attorney, inventories, and many others.

Here we are specifically discussing a lawsuit document from 1211 in Italy.

A medieval lawsuit document is highly valuable for understanding various aspects of daily life because in a dispute, one must argue a position. From lawsuits, we also understand how institutions truly operated.

Furthermore, in the Middle Ages, lawsuits mostly relied on witnesses as evidence, so we can access a direct and popular source of certain specific social situations.

Some insight into the methodology of analysis:

Formal examination: historians scrutinize the document's form, verifying its authenticity and integrity. Elements such as structure, writing style, language, signatures, and seals are analyzed. Indeed, a professional historian will rarely conduct research on a source published in a volume but will instead go directly to the archive to study its origin, to avoid transcription errors.

Content analysis: historians proceed to analyze the document's content, extracting useful information for their research. This may include data on individuals, places, events, economic activities, social relations, and much more. It's crucial to compile a list of witnesses in a case and identify them to understand why they speak or why they speak in a certain manner.

Cross-referencing with other sources: information derived from the notarial source is compared with that of other historical sources to obtain a more comprehensive and accurate view of the period under examination.

Documents of the episcopal archive of Ivrea

Let's take the example of a specific legal case, stemming from the documents of the episcopal archive of Ivrea. It's a case from 1211 in Italy involving the bishop of Ivrea in dispute with Bongiovanni d'Albiano over feudal obligations.

This case is significant because it allows us to understand how feudal society operated and how social status was determined.

The bishop's representative argues that Bongiovanni should provide a horse as a feudal service. Bongiovanni denies it, claiming to be a noble, not a serf. Both parties present witnesses and documents supporting their arguments.

Witnesses are asked whether the serf obligations had been endured for a long time. This helps us understand that in a society where "law" was based on customs, it was important to ascertain if an obligation had been endured for a long time because at that point it would no longer be contestable (it would have become customary).

The responses are confused and inconsistent, so witnesses are directly asked whether they consider Bongiovanni a serf or a noble. This is because (and it allows us to understand that) the division into "social classes" wasn't definable within concrete boundaries; it was more about the appearance of one's way of life. If a serf refused to fulfill his serf duties, he would easily be considered a noble by bystanders because he lived like one.

Ultimately, the analysis of the case leads us to determine that medieval justice wasn't conceived with the logic of our modern system, but was measured in oaths and witnesses as evidentiary means. And emerging from it with honor was much more important than fairly distributing blame and reason.

Other sources

Accounting source: it is very useful for measuring consumption and its variety in a particular historical period. To reconstruct past consumption, inventories post mortem are often used, which are lists of goods found in households, described and valued by notaries to facilitate distribution among heirs. Alternatively, the recording of daily expenses, which in modern times were often very detailed, can lead to insights into complex family histories and their internal inequalities - for example, more money might be spent on one child than another corresponding to their planned future role in society.

Oral source: in relation to the political sphere, it is useful for representing that part of politics composed of direct sources, that is, where politics speaks of itself and how it presents itself to the public, such as a politician's public speech. However, working with this type of source, a historian cannot avoid hermeneutic work, as through the speech, the politician aims to present himself to a certain audience, justify, persuade, construct his own image, and achieve results. This is the hidden agenda that also exists in the most obvious part of politics.

Iconographic source: it concerns art or other forms of "artistic" expression, such as in the case of an advertising poster. They become historical sources when it is the historian who, through analysis, confers upon them the status of a historical source. Essentially, the historian uses the source to understand aspects of the past otherwise inaccessible. The first step in this direction is to recontextualize the source, returning it to its original context. Examining the history of the source represents the fundamental first step for historical analysis.

Diary source: diaries are a "subjective" source, a representation of one's self, often influenced by the thoughts of "others," who can be close or distant readers, interested or distracted, visible or invisible, whom every diary author can imagine and hope to see, sooner or later, reflected on the pages of their writing. Furthermore, they are often subject to subsequent manipulations, and therefore should be treated by historians only in their critical edition; all other versions, whether old or new, foreign or not, are useful only as evidence of the changes and manipulations undergone over time by the original manuscripts.

Electronic source: historians use Wikipedia even if they often don't admit it out loud.

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[thecrazyworldbuilder]

My opinion on worldbuilding is that worlds must have things excluded from them.

You have a world that you made, let's say. There's some magical species in it, like elves, dwarves, there's humans. There's some of your own making, species that might be quite curious, say, ones that have pink/red skin, can breathe underwater and live in volcanic regions, and who are known for being great sailors.

And let's say this world of yours suddenly gets so much popularity that a gaming company wants to buy the rights for it. You think, "Hurray! That's amazing!" and sign the contract.

And then the world starts losing the face you gave to it. "Too little variety!" the people shout. And you start adding things that are ripped out of mythology, out of popular culture. You add orcs because people know who that is, you add all kinds of anthropomorphic species who are just furry bait, you add minotaurs, dryads, mermaids, centaurs, fauns, demons, angels, Aztecs, Egyptians, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, you add Halloween into your world, you add Christmas.

Until it is just like any other MMORPG setting. Which has everything - and no personality. Which has no face of its' own.

ESO is suffering from that, in my opinion. Many worldbuilding projects do, too. D&D does, to an extent. The Discworld setting does not since it is satire.

To worldbuild is to restrict yourself. To worldbuild is to say what you cannot do in this project and still make the world interesting.

Like "having large ships is impossible in this setting because of krakens". Enormous bridges being built over time, slowly, to reach other continents. Flying to those lands on dragons or some other beasts.

Restrict yourself. In fiction, anything can exist, but it doesn't mean that in your world it must exist.

[elegyofdionysus]

Soulmate AU's are weird. Not in the way of "you have a person meant for you and there are physical manifestations of that bond", no that part's fine. They're weird in that they're not weird enough.

If in this world people have their soulmates names written on their bodies and this has been going on for centuries then wouldn't it make sense that this society would have a culture of naming their kids weird ass names. So that their children can have the best chance at finding true love. Names like Jennifer-Green-eyes- ChamberlainRd-Chicago Jacobson or something like that, Jenny for short. Or maybe they would be named numbers because that is more unique. Or maybe their names would be gibberish like jskdiggdudgsj because that too is more unique. Or maybe it would impact naming differently but it would definitely have an impact. It would also have an impact on laws, on how people interact, on etiquette around giving and knowing people's names and personal information, on phonebooks, on the clothing people wear, etc.

I just feel like we're wasting potential by adhering to rules that clearly do not apply. It makes absolutely no sense for people to have regular ass names when a name is so significant in that society. I mean, yeah it would be weird for us reading it but it would make total sense for that world.

Stop being afraid. Take tropes as far as they can go. As far as they need to go. Stories would be so much more exciting if we stopped being so ethnocentric and unimaginative.

[redd956]

Need to make a last minute fantasy city/town?

I got just the trick for you. Exaggerate a city you’re already familiar with. A hometown? Capital? Friend’s town? Exaggerate it with fantastical elements and maybe even inside jokes. Not too long needs to pass before you got a convincing fantasy city.

A small rural town known for its flowers? A secluded village swallowed by giant boughs of wildflowers, where masterful but painstakingly traditional druids live.

A city with terrible potholes and construction that never ends? Make it a city built upon massive caverns and canyons, repairing the results of constant dangerous dragon attacks.

Detroit? A city of thieves, that upon entering, with each passing hour you yourself become more and more thief-like.

Really do this! Exaggerate more than one element, and you get a place even more unlike with what you started from.

[clarafyer]

A worldbuilding tip for making your fictional nation interesting: choose a crime, taboo, etc. and make it legal, perhaps even engraved in the culture.

For example, cannibalism. It could be tradition to hold a feast in the honor of the recently deceased, devouring them as a way to signify their sacrifice will not be wasted. That could be not only the main way of holding a funeral, but it could be embedded in the culture. Perhaps it arose from the early days of the nation, when the founders resorted to cannibalism to survive.

[auideas]

Ermmm sorry if this is weird but do u maybe have any like, ““original”” cyberpunk prompts? I want to write something cyberpunk for an au but I just don’t have any ideas right now no matter how long I brainstorm

Exploring Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a very unique genre, which is why so many people are both attracted to it and stumped when attempting to develop plots within an unknown world. Think of Black Mirror created by Charlie Brooker (TV show), Blade Runner written by Philip K. Dick (a movie based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a classic Cyberpunk novel), Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (modern Cyberpunk novel), etc. -- each of these were incredibly influential in their own right, but they all also build their worlds gradually while having a single easy-to-explain concept that can spawn an entire universe. To be more specific, each story establishes an issue created by an advanced society ignorantly abusing technology, then allow their characters to explore that problem and try to find a solution in a manner that isn't explicitly black or white for society as a whole, but every shade of grey.

For Black Mirror, each episode anthologically builds upon a high-tech future within the same universe and explores how its characters interact with problems created by new pieces of said technology, both good and bad.

For Blade Runner, the story establishes that androids seem to be malfunctioning, but the bounty hunter charged with hunting them down discovers that the true issue lies in society's understanding of what it means to be human.

For Altered Carbon, the novel explores the issue derived from the obscene length of time it would take for humans to travel between planets stretched across the universe, then dives into more detail regarding how a solution has been abused.

How to Construct a Cyberpunk Concept

What we'd recommend is to start by asking the right questions and looking in the right places. Black Mirror takes its inspiration from a variety of technology, both new and old; Blade Runner explores the idea of AI and androids during the 80's when robotics was on the forefront of innovation; Altered Carbon took note of our increasing ability to travel in an interstellar fashion, then posed a simple question regarding the limits of humanity (specifically, time).

This may sound strange, but the best thing you can do is seek out trends online and scientific journals about new breakthroughs, then ask questions about what may go wrong. For example, an old post we featured here on AUideas that has since been removed from ~2017 because it's in the process of being developed into a script (sorry guys, our bad!) called Dreamscape Co. uses this exact method. When the prompt was made, Admin M was in the process of reading a scientific journal about how neurologists had been able to project a person's thoughts into an image. Although the technology was rudimentary at the time, Admin M posed the question "if dreams can be viewed, what if dreams can be watched in real time with a high quality image? What if they could be immersive? What would that industry look like? Who would pay how much to see a certain person's dreams?" This spun out into a sweeping cyberpunk mini-series, yet came from a simple news article.

Some Cyberpunk Inspiration

When performing a quick search, some amazing ideas seemed to jump out from technology news headlines these past couple weeks alone:

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (FLC) Technology Being Used in 3D Displays

Unlike holograms, this technology uses liquid crystals that exhibit spontaneous polarization, meaning their orientation can be influenced by an electric field. They're high-speed, low-power, and have innumerable applications in the future. So, what could go wrong?

How could this technology impact the medical field? Although this may not be possible, consider what could occur if FLCs were injected into human bodies and influenced by electric fields to perform different tasks and functions, such as replacing an organ, attacking cancer cells, etc. How could such a technology be abused or go wrong? How many could die with a simple pulse, like an EMP?

Real-Life Freeze Ray Technology Created for the US Airforce

This technology hasn't been developed to be used as weaponry, but instead to replace large amounts of coolant that must be used on space and air crafts to prevent the machinery from overheating (coolant is heavy and can reduce efficiency yet is absolutely necessary due to the fact that space is a vacuum and therefore does not cool heat like air would on Earth). This "freeze ray" technology utilizes plasma's strange property that seems to break the second law of thermodynamics: it chills down when touching another object before heating up, which experts have proposed is because it vaporizes the ultra-thin layer of carbon and water on an object upon contact, similar to how water evaporates off your skin when stepping out of a pool. The question must be asked: how could such technology be used for not just utilitarian means, but outside of the Airforce's intentions?

Perhaps the technology could be manipulated and over-chill an aircraft, or otherwise damage internal engineering.

Consider its potential applications here on Earth: what could benefit from being chilled with something light-weight and low-power? How could it be integrated into homes? What could be disastrously destroyed with such technology?

Breakthrough in Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technology May Completely Replace Carbon Energy Sources

Google and Fervo have successfully developed geothermal technology that has increased its efficiency and broke records by changing existing rock formations in the Earth's crust. For a natural geothermal energy system to produce electricity, it has to have the right amount of heat, fluid, and rock permeability -- these Goldilocks conditions can be difficult to find 'in the wild'. However, this new Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) targets the most-easily found aspect (rocks with high heat) then creates the necessary permeability artificially by drilling to the intended rock formation and injecting fluid to create fractures in the rock, achieving the necessary Goldilocks conditions. Sure, this may be carbon-free energy, but what would happen if this were employed on a mass scale?

When energy is prioritized by a high-tech society over food and water, how could citizens gain access to those resources?

What long-term effects could such a system have on the Earth as a whole? Could the ground become unstable? Maybe earthquakes crumble city after city? Maybe the entire Earth's crust loses its integrity and disintegrates, pulling only a lucky few deep underground and forcing them to survive off the left over fluid injected into the Earth's crust and whatever they can find.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see from above, there's a crazy amount of inspiration that can be drawn from current technology events. What's important to remember is that yes, we've been talking about complicated technology, but only you have to understand how it functions in your universe down to the molecule, not your audience. Deep technology topics can be dry to a certain extent, and over-explaining your world can be damaging to your story. Explanations regarding how technology works in each of the stories we discussed is limited for that same reason (Black Mirror's overarching concepts, specifics about how Blade Runner's Replicant technology are rarely discussed, etc.). Leave some mystery surrounding how your cyberpunk world functions and allow how your characters room to breathe and interact with that world -- it can speak for itself. Your audience may first love the idea behind your story, but what they'll remember and relate to is how your protagonists and antagonists suffer and prevail within your universe.

We hope this answered your question, and feel free to follow up if you'd like some more guidance and advice on how to construct your Cyberpunk story! In addition, feel free to check out our other post which outlines more information on how to build a Cyberpunk world.

Now get to writing, and have an awesome week!

-- Admin M x

[ultimate-worldbuilding]

[🔗Building a Diverse Culture] [🔗Elements of culture] [🔗Cultural Iceberg]

🗺️Geographic Distribution

Why knowing where your culture is important:

Enviroment ➡️ Materials from the enviroment ➡️ affect their clothes, food, weapons etc.

Enviroment ➡️ Certain resources are limited ➡️ plays into their values

Areas, planets where the culture is primarily found

Migration patterns throughout the world

Influence of the environment on their everyday lives

🍵 Values, Beliefs and Traditions

Values and Beliefs:

Core values and principles that guide the culture's behavior and decision-making

Moral and ethical codes that shape their interactions with other cultures and their environment.

Beliefs about the universe, spirituality, the afterlife, and the nature of existence.

Customs and Traditions:

Rituals, ceremonies, and traditions that are significant to the culture's culture

Celebrations, Festivals, holidays, or coming-of-age rituals.

Customs related to birth, marriage, death

Belief Systems and Religion:

Religious or spiritual beliefs practiced by the culture

Deities mythologies and legends

Rituals, ceremonies connected to their faith

sacred sites

👯Relationship and Communication

Social Structures:

Hierarchies and social classes within the culture

Systems of governance, including monarchies, democracies, councils, or communal decision-making. [see government template]

Gender roles, family structures

Interactions between different generations or age groups

Language and Communication:

Unique language(s) spoken by the culture

Dialects and variations within the language

Non-verbal communication, gestures

Written scripts, alphabets, or symbolic systems used for recording and transmitting knowledge.

Relationships and Interactions:

Protocols and etiquette for social interactions, greetings, and forms of address.

Values placed on community, cooperation, or individualism.

Attitudes towards outsiders, including hospitality, suspicion, or xenophobia.

Education, training, and knowledge transmission practices

🪐History and Origins

Mythology or creation stories related to the culture

Historical events that shaped their culture and identity

Moments of triumph, struggle, or transformation in their history.

Conflicts, wars, or alliances that influenced their development and interactions with other Cultures.

How do they prerve the past? (Art, oral traditions, written texts, artifacts, monuments ?)

Are there any guardians of historical knowledge? (historians, scholars?)

Historical Figures and Heroes:

Notable individuals who played pivotal roles in their history

Legendary figures of inspiration within their culture.

Stories and folklore surrounding these historical figures and their impact on the culture

Cultural Revivals (If there was any)

Periods of cultural revivalthat brought about significant artistic or intellectual growth

Factors that sparked these revivals, like social movements, political changes, natural disasters or technological advancements.

How much of these revivals are still affecting them today?

Where do they keep their cultural items?

Interactions with Other Ethnicities/Cultures:

Relations with other culture in the past (conflict, alliances, trade, etc.)

Cultural exchange, assimilation, or integration with other groups

Prejudices, stereotypes, or tensions between different culture bleeding from past events

Are they welcoming?

🎨Art and Architecture

Arts and Entertainment:

Describe their forms of artistic expressions: visual arts, music, dance, storytelling, theater, etc.

Cultural appreciation for literature, poetry, oral histories.

Clothing and Fashion:

Traditional clothing styles and attires specific to the culture, fashion trends

Materials, colors, or patterns commonly used in their garments

Dresscode, Clothing related to social status, ceremonies, events (symbolic accesories, wedding gown, mourning attires, etc.)

Symbolism or cultural significance of specific garments and accessories

Architecture and Built Environment:

Unique architectural styles, construction materials, design principles.

Landmarks, sacred sites, structures of cultural importance.

Adaptations to their homeworld's environment ,technological advancements in their architecture

🎙️ Economics and Technology

Economic Systems:

Modes of production, distribution, and trade

Economic practices (bartering, currency, communal sharing)

Attitudes (or even predujices) towards wealth, resources, material possessions.

Economic activities and industries prominent

Currency, barter systems

Technology and Advancements:

Technological prowess specific advancements

How their technology shapes their way of life and cultural practices

Interaction between traditional and advanced technologies

🍱 Food

Traditional dishes, cooking techniques, culinary customs

Staple foods, spices, ingredients

Rituals and etiquette associated with food preparation, sharing, and dining

Sacred abd holiday dishes.

Impact of environmental conditions on their culinary practices

🏦 Law and Leadership

Political systems or governing structures within the culture

Leadership roles, decision-making processes, and power dynamics

Forms of governance (monarchy, democracy, tribal council, etc.)

Conflict Resolution and Justice:

Methods of conflict resolution

legal systems

Cultural attitudes towards justice, punishment, and rehabilitation.

Traditional systems of governance, decision-making in matters of conflict

[bored-bi]

worldbuilding holidays; possible traditions for holidays based on historical events:

commemorating victims of the historical event

parades

mass lighting candles

displaying art related to the event

cooking traditional dishes

organizing discussions and lectures to educate the public

planting commemorative trees

family trips to museums

discussions with people who lived through the event

reenacting the event

family reunions

wearing awareness accessories (ribbons, etc.)

political figures giving commemorative speeches

fundraisers for victims of the event

workshops to educate children in schools

building monuments/statues

feel free to add more!

[flockofcrowswithwritersblock]

Describing a people/tribe questions

Physical description

Eyes (shape, color)

Skin (color, texture)

Hair (color, texture, style)

Body (shapes, sizes)

Other (wings, tails, anything not on this list)

Culture

Traditions

Rituals

Death

Birth

Marriage

Etc.

Clothing

Color

Material

Style

Food

Celebrations

Clothing

Food

Stories or games

Stories/lore

Games

Religion

Gods

Divine topics

Objects/places of power

The people

How are the different genders treated? How do they act?

Coming of age stuff?

Who's in charge? Why?

Are the people human?

How do they raise their children?describe a family unit.

Pets? Livestock?

Describe some of the people in your tribe. How do they interact with the rest of the tribe?

Taboos/rules/forbidden topics?

Geography

Where do they live?

What do their houses look like?

Have they adapted well to their environment?

Describe the land around them and how they interact with it. Are they using their resources efficiently?

Are they near other tribes? If so, what are the relationships between the tribes? Are they allies?

Trade and economy

Do they trade? With whom?

Do they have a currency? Describe how it works.

Describe the technologies, if any. This includes farming equipment and simple tools!

Transportation

Animals/beasts of labor?

Vehicles?

Paths and roads?

Which locations are the least accessable? The most accessable? Why?

Language

What languages do they speak? How many? What types?

What Earth languages are most similar to their languages, if any?

Are they literate? Describe.

Describe body language, if any.

Describe curses or rude gestures.

What are some phrases? What do they mean?

Law

What are some laws?

Taboos?

How are wrongdoers punished?

Who's in charge of punishment?

Are wrongdoers tried?

How do they fight?

Describe the last war, if any. Who was it with? Who were they fighting against? Who were their allies? What was the cause/reason for the war?

Describe their fighting methods. Are they martial?

Describe their weapons. Melee or range? Both?

How are veterans and soldiers treated?

How successful are they in war?

What are the requirements to fight, if any?

Describe some myths or lore.

What is your favorite myth from this culture?

What are some recurring themes?

Who are some recurring characters?

What is the most famous/well known myth from this culture?

Describe a normal day in the tribe.

Describe a house or building built by/used by the tribe.

Food

Normal meals

What do they eat?

Delicacies, if any?

Mealtime etiquette?

Do they eat alone or together? In big groups or small groups? Who do they eat with?

Crafts? Arts?

Jewelry

Metalworking

Textiles/fabrics

Pottery

Sculpture

Painting

Drawings

Recurring colors or patterns?

Recurring figures or objects?

Recurring characters or themes?

Symbolism

Gods/deities

Do they believe in gods?

What type of gods? Destruction or creation gods? Nature gods?

Is there a ruler of the gods? Who? How did they become ruler?

How does one become a god, if possible? Can anyone become a god?

How do the gods work?

Is there an afterlife? How does it work?

Describe some gods. What are they the gods of? Who are they the patrons of? What are their goals? Do they have many worshippers? Why or why not?

What pantheon are your gods based on, if any? Why?

Where are the places of worship, if any? Why?

Other deities?

Color scheme

Main colors

Accents

Metal color

Glow/magic color, if any

Tone range

Reasoning behind color choices

Clothing

Material

Weave, if any

Colors

Patterns

Styles

Comfort, fashion, or work?

Reasoning behind those choices

(This is a wip and needs to be reorganized.)

[mnkeethewriter]

Worldbuilding Tips: How to Find Inspiration

Picture this. You’re minding your own business when out of nowhere you’re struck with creative genius. This new story idea consumes your every waking thought, playing out like a brilliant movie inside your head. However, when you try to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), words fail you. It’s a dilemma all writers face in their career. How do you turn an idea into reality? Don’t fight it. Explore it.

Fun Fact: There’s no right or wrong place to begin building your fictional world. You define your creation journey. The trick is finding what works best for you specifically. 

Are you more visual? Pinterest is a great source of inspiration. Keyword searches are your friend. What is a keyword? It’s a “significant word from a title or document used especially as an index to content.” Type in a word(s) into the search bar that summarizes the aesthetic you’re visualizing and let the magic happen. This could be anything from a color, time period, genre, trope, etc. Take one of my own creations, Scavenge Clan, for example. Keywords I associate with it include: hyena, werehyena, bones, gothic, scavenger, vulture culture, vultures, black-haired women, death. Over time, your searches will affect your algorithm, giving you more ideas that line up with your stories in the long run.

Are you more auditory? Creating Spotify playlists that remind you of your story and/or characters can help give you more inspiration and set the mood for when you start writing. 

Are you both visual and auditory? I love collecting fan made tribute videos on YouTube of TV shows and movies that give me a source of inspiration for my stories. For example, the TV show Grimm with a splash of the grounders from The 100 inspired my main story universe The Culling Wars.

Wherever you draw inspiration from, take advantage of it. Use it to expand your ideas and to help you when you’re feeling stuck. Remember that every bestselling novel started as a mere idea. 

[yourlocaldragondealer]

Do you have any tips on making fantasy maps?

completely missed this ask im sorry

uhh my tips are, go fucking crazy with it, dont listen to the people who say a river flowing into the mountains is geologically inaccurate, they have fundamentally misunderstood the concept of fantasy and are imaginationless losers, do whatever the hell you want, paper drenched in coffee looks old, draw little bumps instead of trees if you dont want to spend that much time drawing trees everywhere (if you do, go on i wont be stopping you), and also please draw borders as - - - lines because anything else looks like rivers, really, it never looks good if you just put a normal line there

and monsters in the sea are confusing if there arent any monsters in the story. if your map belongs to a story and theres monsters in the sea i expect to see monsters in the sea in the story and i will be sad if i dont because sea monsters are wonderful

[nellywrisource]

Worldbuilding through cultural anthropology series – #0 What is culture?

This series aims to serve as a guide for worldbuilding centered around culture and its various components, based on the theories of cultural anthropology. 

To start, let's understand what culture is. Anthropologically, we define culture as the set of acquired abilities and habits shared by a group of people; the elements of this set are called cultural facts. Culture does not encompass behaviors linked to the instinctual sphere of humans.

What are the basic facts of culture?

It is holistic, meaning that each fact must be interconnected with the others. In other words, every cultural fact should have an explanation that links to another and does not contradict it.

It is dynamic, selective, and adaptive. It means it is not immutable and does not stratify over time; instead, it changes, modifies, and adapts to the surrounding environment and historical period. Some cultural facts may be lost and thus extinguish due to adaptation. Generally, cultural facts persist when repeated over time.

It is operational, meaning it includes ingrained and automated habits and behaviors, as well as worldviews (these automated cultural facts make up a habitus [what is habitus?]).

In a globalized world, it has blurred boundaries. Cultural facts can be shared, and differences between one culture and another are subtle.

It is maintained through transmission. As we mentioned, cultural facts are acquired, and transmission is the process that allows the acquisition and maintenance of cultural facts in generations, along with forms of memorization and externalization of memory (mythologies, proverbs, poetry, etc…). Transmission can be:

Explicit: a parent directly teaching a behavior to a child or sharing a worldview.

Implicit: a child observing their mother peel potatoes in a certain way and learning to perform the same actions by imitation without explicit instruction.

When creating your cultural group, consider these fundamental traits for every aspect of its culture.

What are the cultural facts considered by anthropology nowadays?

Worldview

Cosmogonies/cosmologies

Religions

Magical systems and beliefs

Categories and forms of judgment

Values and symbols

Corporeal systems

Production systems

Settlement systems

Livelihood systems

Power systems

Social relationship systems

Forms of memorization and externalization of memory

We'll explore some of these as we continue with this series.

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[thecrazyworldbuilder]

Reminder that there's no universal symbolism.

In your world, black can be the color of love. Horns can be a symbol of corruption. Hooves can be the sign of loyalty.

Like the dark nights spent in the embrace of your lover. Like fungi that grow out of dead bodies looking like goat horns. Like the loyal steed that will ride you into battle.

[thaorins-gate]

When writing lore for worlds that have races with large life spans who are central to the geopolitical landscape, remember that ages & eras probably won’t change as quickly as they do for just humans. Advancement will happen, but they may have differences in how long someone can be in office, and depending on how important they truly are they can mark historical eras based on their perception of time.

[redd956]

I need world-building questions for royalty and class systems, please

Sure!

Worldbuilding questions to get the creative juices flowing 32

Theme: Class Systems

Now it's been awhile since I've researched or worldbuilt this stuff, so I did some side research to make sure I'm bright on ideas

Now class systems are very very complicated. I'm not very confident in them myself, so at the end I've added some nice videos to watch, thing to research on, and places to start.

How many classes is your society divided into? Is it a feudalism system, caste system, slave system, or something else?

Can all classes take part in the ruling class? If not what classes can? What roles in society can rule? Is the ruling class its own class?

How is the population distributed by class? How is the hierarchy built? Who has it the worst? Who has it the best?

What advantages does each class have? What disadvantages does each class have? What decides who's in what class?

Class systems are not just divided by economic status. In fact they can be divided by many things at once. So what divides yours? (race, economic status, birthright, religious, species, magic branches)

What helps keep lower classes low? What helps keep higher classes high?

What type of change is occuring? Is it more peaceful? More chaotic? More violent? Is it looking successful?

What cultural divides play into classes? How does culture differ across classes?

What group controls the society? How does this group do so? What could happen to cause this group to lose this power?

If the current ruling class was overthrown what would the aftermath be like?

Not every class runs off of our five modern ones. Go back in time and class systems change sometimes drastically. So name your class levels. Where do these names derive from?

What class systems did the society go through in the past? How does this affect their modern day?

How do class groups view each other? Is there discrimination? Is there privilege?

What decides a class' value? What makes them that valuable?

What does education, economic status, and potential religion do for the class system?

What does the current events; war, sickness, alliances, etc; affect the class system? (These events tend to be great moments for classes to change)

Extra:

Class Systems to study

Our Modern Social Class

Medeival Social Class

Ancient China Classes

Caste Systems of India throughout time

Japanese castes

Native American Roles

Amazing Videos

How Class Systems Fall: https://youtu.be/bbkSim9iaOQ

How Class Systems Work: https://youtu.be/8tjvul5e1y4

Historical Moments

Russian Prohibition

French Revolution

Any bit of Soviet History, really I'm not kidding, the formation and fall of the USSR was a big class system historical fuckery mess

American Progressive Era

Republic Era of Qing China

Finally Books that have good class system worldbuilding

Grishaverse Book Series

Watership Down

Tale of Two Cities