7 elements that make epic world-building

In honor of Columbus Day and Leif Erikson Day (who got to North America waaaaaaaaaaaaaay before Columbus) (I’m just sayin’), I’m going to be talking about world-building. Because that’s sorta similar? Exploration and world-building…… This link is going to have to do.

While not the most important element of a story (I feel like characters reserve this spot), world-building is pretty darn important. Especially in fantasy, dystopian, and sci-fi (FDS) genres, because they introduce us to different worlds, with different rules and values. (Regardless of the world, they’re probably still obsessed with cats though.)

Inside world-building, there are many elements that cluster together to make something worthwhile. If I talked about all of them, I would die.

So here are a few of them, sorted into somewhat similar categories. I’ll apologize in advance.

•  Setting, Aesthetic, Maps

I know this will shock you, but setting plays a big role in world-building.

Locations and their appearances are necessary for any story of any genre. The scope of what’s being described will vary from story to story, sometimes being as large as an entire planet, other times staying mostly to the confines of a house. But with either location, there are questions to be answered, like what the temperature/weather/seasons are like, or what color the wallpaper is. Lots of these things don’t even need to be shared with the reader, it’s just important that the author knows them. There’s a noticeable difference between an author who knows the world they’re working in and one who does not, if that makes any sense.

Once you get past the logical setting questions, you have the aesthetic. The general mood you get from the story. Here’s a quote from one of my favorite authors, Maggie Stiefvater:

I think of world building in painting terms. In real life, all details scream for attention, existing without priority. A painting can not only eliminate details but also shift colors, shapes, and sizes in impossible ways. A landscape can be painted all in blue, a mouse can be exaggerated in size, a man drawn impossibly fat or thin.

One thing that I love about her settings is that she makes them subtly reflect her characters’ quirks and traits. You instantly learn more about the character and the place without being smacked in the face with info.

And if anything ever had a strong aesthetic, it’s Harry Potter. If you google Hogwarts aesthetic, you get 8,850,000 results. I do not kid.

Also, since we’re talking about setting, it would be a crime to not talk about maps.

To be honest, I don’t look at them very much when books have them (I usually forget they’re there, and I’ll get mad when the author starts spewing intricate plans that have a lot to do with locations. Because? how am I supposed to keep all this is my mind??) (And then I remember the map.) (But don’t get me started on Kindle books with maps.) Even so, books with maps increase in coolness exponentially. And they can be helpful. If, y’know, you actually look at them.

•  History, Folklore, Children’s Stories, Urban Legends

One thing that annoys me when it comes to fantasy, dystopian, and sci-fi is every character’s complete knowledge of the history of their country. They always know about The Revolution or The Formation of The New Government/Royalty and could prepare a PowerPoint for it without batting an eyelash. And? That’s not realistic at all??

If you ask me about a specific war in history, there’s a high chance that I’ll just go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Not to mention it’s much more entertaining to have characters who don’t have a clue what happened, or better yet, who make up increasingly ridiculous stories about how the latest ruler came to power. Step it up, peeps.

One thing I see that I like a lot is when the world-building contains stories inside itself. Folklore, urban legends, children’s stories. Harry Potter has this with The Tales of Beedle the Bard. And Leigh Bardugo’s The Language of Thorns ties in with the Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows shared universe (plus it takes classic fairy tales and switches them up a bit.) Both of these add another layer of depth to the world-building.

•  Languages/Dialects, Slang, Phrases

Tolkien went above and beyond on this one, creating something between two and twenty languages (depending on how permissive you are when defining a language.) Buuuut he also wrote enough info to make a book just to keep his world’s history straight, so he did not lack dedication.

Of course, not every book needs its own fictional language. Sometimes it just takes different languages (or dialects) to help ground a story in its surroundings. The occasional phrase in Ancient Greek in the Percy Jackson books (or Norse, Latin, or hieroglyphics in Rick Riordan’s other books.) The addition of “chum” and “mate” to the characters’ speech in the Illuminae Files, reminding me that they’re Australian. (Which makes so much sense because everything in space wants to kill them.) German phrases peppered throughout A Thousand Perfect Notes. All these things make me happy.

•  Entertainment, Pop Culture

Pop culture and entertainment tend to be missing from world-building. And that’s just too bad. Movies and tv shows might not exist yet in certain stories, books and music might not be readily available, but don’t tell me there isn’t an equivalent to the Baby Shark song. No matter what time period or culture, people have a way of making annoyances of themselves.

Random pieces of entertainment popping up is always fun, especially if it happens repeatedly like with the Murder Squash Song from the Raven Cycle.

•  Animals, Specifically Mythical Creatures

One addition for depth in world-building is that of creatures, whether based in mythology or in creepiness. Harry Potter does a great job of including both well-known mythical creatures (like dragons, mermaids, unicorns, and centaurs) and lesser-known/new ones (like Thestrals, Nifflers, Hippogriffs, and Phoenixes.)

Another book that has some epic mythical animals is the Scorpio Races. It’s got creatures that look like horses, and act like horses, bUT THEY ALSO LIKE TO EAT PEOPLE. Celtic Folklore is so fun.

And this last point has less to do with world-building, and more to do with my preferences, but I love when stories include animals. Give me dogs and cats and baby ravens named after power tools. I’m here for it all. But if you kill off the animal, be prepared to meet me in a dark alley.

•  Technology, Magic

For FDS genres it’s always important to know what level of technology the world has. Are letters the main form of communication? Are AIs running everything? And, the most important question, is there plumbing? (Not like anyone ever goes to the bathroom in books.)

Sci-fi books tend to all have the same level of tech, with spaceships, better, less bulky space suits (that are more slimming), weird energy-powered blasters, and robots that work perfectly fine until they want to kill you.

What fantasy lacks in tech, it normally makes up for in magic (and swords.) It’s always interesting to see how magic systems work in different stories. Sometimes magic takes energy, a trade, skill, or simply practice, and other times it’s something only certain people can do. A birthright.

•  Food, Recipes

And at last, we have food.

If a book mentions delicious food often, then I will be both happy and outraged. But again, it’s a good way of world-building. The food characters eat lets you know what’s locally available (and what’s not) and how it’s culturally prepared.

The Hunger Games is one of my favorite series with food. Half the time the characters are starving, but when they’re eating, they’re eating. Lamb stew with dried plums. Frothy raspberry soup. Goat cheese and apple tarts. (It’s 11:39 PM and thinking about food is not helping my condition.)

The Scorpio Races also has scrummy food descriptions. Specifically November cakes:

“Finn finds my left hand, opens my fingers, and puts a November cake in my palm. It oozes honey & butter, rivulets of the creamy frosting joining the honey in the pit of my hand. It begs to be licked.

—The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Also, if anyone was so inclined, there are existing recipes for this……

• • •

This is by no means a complete list or a relevant list for every story. These are just the things I’m passionate about, or that I’ve seen someone execute really well in a story. (Which normally makes me passionate about it, but whatevs.)