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What Goes into Creating a Fantasy World that People will Love?
Sunfire
CONTENTS
The Premise
Do you want to learn what’s needed for creating a fantasy world? A core element of one is making a place that makes the audience feel like they’re really there, participating in the story. Video games and movies do a superb job at accomplishing this since the audience can see what the world looks like without having to picture it in their mind. Reading a novel stimulates the imagination, spurring each reader to mentally paint the world in his mind.
In my opinion, video games is the best medium to demonstrate a world that you can easily get lost in. Unlike other media where you just sit and watch it on screen or turn the pages while reading, the player character (PC) acts as an avatar for the person controlling him and the PC directly interacts with the world. The PC feels every raindrop on him as he rides through a storm or he converses with a shopkeeper to stock up on items for an upcoming journey. Engaging in battle with a ferocious monster, you feel each blow the monster strikes on the PC, fueling your determination to slay it once and for all.
A great way to pass the time is to just explore the beauty of the world. Skyrim and Hyrule in Breath of the Wild are both large and full of scenic wonders. You see Death Mountain towering above the other mountains and you see the city of Solitude from a distance. It’s easy to lose many hours exploring every nook and cranny the world has to offer. To create a fantasy world, the sky’s the limit when it comes to your imagination!
This is just an overview of the things you should know to make your own fantasy world. If you’d like to learn more, you can check out our handy dandy Beginner’s Guide or look through our blog page. You’ll find something you like!
Types of Worlds
The fantasy genre is full of diverse worlds even though the great majority of them take place during medieval times. Hyrule and Skyrim are just two examples. The Mushroom Kingdom and the worlds of the Xenoblade Chronicles are set in eras where technology is more advanced than that of medieval society. The possibilities are endless when it comes to creating a fantasy world!
The reason why there’s so many medieval-styled worlds is because we associate them with wizards and dragons. In our past, during that era of history we tended to believe in the supernatural as it offered an explanation for things that happened that defied logic. An example of this would be if someone suddenly recovered after being so close to death. People would think that magic is what saved his life. Back in those times, people genuinely thought dragons and other powerful beasts existed, lying beyond the confines of the world they knew.
Let’s not forget other kinds of worlds you can find in the genre. They range from ancient worlds or places that have been since lost to time to high-tech, futuristic locales like Star Wars. A popular way is to show one parallel to ours though it’s hidden from us and you see this clearly in the Harry Potter series with how wizards go to great pains to conceal themselves from us.
Creating a Fantasy World: The People
The setting isn’t the only thing needed in creating a fantasy world. One thing every world has in common, regardless of which era it’s set in, is the people who call them home. In many instances, humans are the dominant race but there’s also elves, dwarves, and monsters and so on. They have their own struggles, feelings, ways of thinking which impacts their relations with the other races they share their home with. Each species has their own society, their own laws and rules they follow.
Naturally, different races are likely to get into conflict with one another, whether it’s over land they covet or an insult. This natural tension helps make fantasy worlds more realistic and provides a dynamic backdrop to the story as the hero character and his party must navigate inter-race politics without making an enemy of one or both races.
While there are good races, there too are evil species. Orcs, goblins, and werewolves are just several of those who serve the dark forces. They are the twisted versions of the good races, manipulated by the servants of evil to do their bidding. Though hatred and jealousy of their counterparts fill their hearts; they too have their own societies.
Clashes between both good and evil races are a prominent trope in the genre, meant to act as a symbol of the eternal battle between good and evil. Conflict between different races is an important part in creating a fantasy world. The evil species desire only to destroy the world of the good whereas the good seek only to protect and preserve it for their children and grandchildren.
Creating a Fantasy World: Animals, Flora and Fauna
Next up on the agenda to create a fantasy world, besides humans and other races, all kinds of animals and plants live in the world. They play their part in the environment.
Many works depict animals identical to the ones in our world such as birds and squirrels though there’s many critters who were designed to only exist in imaginative worlds, the oliphant from Lord of the Rings being such one. Indeed, these fantasy creatures are inspired by their real-world counterparts, the oliphant being based off on a gigantic version of the elephant.
The animals have several purposes:
- Firstly, they serve as sustenance for people to consume so they can live and build flourishing societies.
- Secondly, their fur is used to keep people warm during the frigidness of winter or at night when there’s no light keeping them warm.
- Thirdly, they act as transportation. Horses are used to take one rider from one place to another and donkeys are used to pull carts full of cargo to go to another place to offload the goods.
- Fourthly, animals can spy on enemy movements and encampments. To accomplish this, birds are used as they can fly quite high and blend in with others, making it difficult for them to be found out.
Though a great number of real-life plants appear in fantasy worlds, quite a number of flora and fauna can only be found in these places. An example of this is the massive flowers where the great fairies of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild live in. These plants have a fantastical element in their design, being either abnormally large or having different colors or shapes than their real-world counterparts they’re based off on.
Like animals, plants have several purposes:
- First and most important, they serve as sustenance for animals and people to eat. Fruits and vegetables are grown for the sole purpose to be consumed.
- Secondly, they’re used as ingredients in cooking or brewing liquor.
- Thirdly, they act as decorations, brightening up a building or being a gift to a loved one.
- Fourthly, bugs and small critters make their homes in them.
Let your imagination run wild designing the animals and plants that’ll live in your world!
Creating a Fantasy World: The Environment
One required element in creating a fantasy world is the environment. The denizens who inhabit these places don’t live in a vacuum. Just as the natural environment shaped our development as a species, it did the same for them. They have rivers, mountains, oceans and so on.
The terrain plays a great part in the world. Rivers, lakes, and ponds provide water for all creatures and mountains offer protection for cities. Oceans and rivers provide obstacles to traversing the land and must be crossed using a ship or a bridge, respectively. Forests are used for shelter and to build homes.
The locations they choose to settle on is a combination of natural barriers, access to water and food and building materials. Elves tend to reside in either forests or nearby wooded lands where they can hunt animals whereas dwarves are content to merely live inside mountains or caves to mine jewels and other gems.
The evil races live in desolate places such as deep inside mines or places with little sunlight where no elf or human would dare venture to. They have little access to food and water and must go foraging abroad for survival though they’re likely to eat each other if they’re unsuccessful in foraging.
Take as much time as you need to make it. Don’t rush it. The goal here is to make a world that your audience wants to come back to again and again.
Designing a World
The last thing to create a fantasy world is the design. When designing a world, the goal is to match it to the story you want to tell. For example, would the tale that is Lord of the Rings be so beloved by many if instead of Middle-Earth, it took place in a high-tech futuristic world where magic no longer exists? If you want to focus on war and how it impacts not just the soldiers and nobles but everyone, have two kingdoms be locked in a perpetual war for supremacy of a continent.
The world is a living, breathing entity and it impacts how your story will go. Terrain affects how people travel as they’ll take longer routes if they get to avoid rough terrain like swampland. When fleshing it out, think about what natural obstacles like mountains the hero will have to overcome. A great lake standing in-between the hero and his objective? Should he find a boat to sail through it, knowing there’s a great monster lurking underneath the water or go around it, risking entering hostile territory?
The different races, animals, plants, and the landscape all go together in creating a fantasy world!
Tying it all Together
Crafting the landscape the story takes place is needed to create a fantasy world. It’s no simple task but when you start, it becomes fulfilling and more fun the more you do it. It begins with one idea and before long, that idea’s grown into a massive world filled with mountains, rivers, beasts, and people.
Start thinking about what type of world you want to use as the backdrop in your story. Look online at similar worlds for inspiration and make a list of things you want to put in there. When you’re ready, you’ll have everything you need to create a fantasy world!
We’ve only barely scratched the surface of fantasy worldbuilding and there’s still so much to learn.
If you’re interested, why not check out our Beginner’s Guide? It covers the basics you need to know to create the fantasy world you’ve always wanted to make!
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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