Are you here to learn about worldbuilding? If you answered yes, great! Because that's what the title says and had you stumbled here blindly I would have been concerned. If you know me, you might know that I love worldbuilding. Love it so much that I often write its name in the margins of my notebook and draw little hearts around it.
Why do I love it so much? Mostly because it is fun, but also I sort of have a degree in it. As in a Bachelor's Degree.
Not kidding.
Maybe a little kidding, but I do have legitimate university training in this subject. You see, I have a BA in Social Studies Education. For my degree, I had to take classes in each aspect of social studies to ensure that I would be able to teach it sufficiently (in my case, I took way more classes than required and almost had a double major).
What is Social Studies?
Geography, civics & government, economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, religious studies, and history. Essentially, the study of the world's physical form and the societies that occupy it. How those societies function and interact and the impact they have on the earth.
Past, present, and future.
What elements should you consider in worldbuilding?
See above.
Past, present, and future.
What elements should you consider in worldbuilding?
See above.
I have now led several workshops on worldbuilding and created many handouts that people have told me are quite helpful. Handouts that I will share with you below. I even learned how to do this fancy embedded PDF thing so you can see what you're getting (I really hope it works...)
To download the file for saving and printing, you can click the link below the embedded image and it will take you to Google Drive to download and/or print as needed.
Feel free to share them with your friends, writing groups, students, and so forth.
Keep in mind that I spoke (fangirled) when presenting these, but you should still be able to get the idea of where my thoughts go with each. (If not, ask me.)
Download: Building Your World
This first handout addresses the top layer of considerations. Geography, time, placement, etc.
The best place to start. Start big or start small and work from there.
This first handout addresses the top layer of considerations. Geography, time, placement, etc.
The best place to start. Start big or start small and work from there.
Download: What's in a Name?
This one is about naming places in your world. As I mentioned in a previous post, you won't believe all the naming you'll be doing.
This one is about naming places in your world. As I mentioned in a previous post, you won't believe all the naming you'll be doing.
These are the elements of your city. The foundation, the framework, and the fluff!
This is how you breathe life into it!
Download: Businesses & Beyond
Lastly, we have a little cheat sheet for businesses and the like. I struggled to think of places that were essential to keep a city running and this final list seems relatively comprehensive. Depending on where and when your story takes place, you may need more or less of these or want to combine them into one building instead of several.
Lastly, we have a little cheat sheet for businesses and the like. I struggled to think of places that were essential to keep a city running and this final list seems relatively comprehensive. Depending on where and when your story takes place, you may need more or less of these or want to combine them into one building instead of several.
The Activity
I do an activity with these workshops that encourages on the spot city creation! You pick one element from each of the categories on the Aspects of a City handout and apply it to a randomly drawn city setting using this list...
Download: City Settings
Some of these are very basic while others are unusual, but I wanted to make sure that everyone got something different and because my fellow wordsmiths are already really creative, I was looking forward to what they would do with their foundation.
And I was not disappointed! They all did an amazing job with what they got and I was internally squealing with delight at their descriptions.
Some of these are very basic while others are unusual, but I wanted to make sure that everyone got something different and because my fellow wordsmiths are already really creative, I was looking forward to what they would do with their foundation.
And I was not disappointed! They all did an amazing job with what they got and I was internally squealing with delight at their descriptions.
What makes this activity so great is that everyone's mind can go in different directions!
A town with no humans? I was thinking werewolves, but Brent went for a robot utopia.
Transportation? Planes, trains & automobiles... pthhthp! Chad's city has hydrotubes. Heck yeah!
This is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and some of the wordsmiths may have given me a death stare after drawing their slips, but it was so worth it.
So get out of your comfort zone and have fun, folks!
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