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Hellooo everybody! Last week we discussed the things you shouldn't do while world building,
and today we're discussing the thing you should do while world building. It's a
lot of stuff. Before we get started, you might have noticed my wonderful t-shirt and thought,
“Wow, that's the best t-shirt I've ever seen! Where on earth can I get one?” Well,
my incredibly fashion forward viewer, you're in luck. I received a shirt from Charitan,
a company that designs tons of cool shirts in order to raise awareness for charity.
Their goal is to raise awareness for charities that are extremely effective at what they do,
but maybe aren't getting the support and publicity they deserve, which I think is an
amazing objective. 30% of the profits from this shirt go directly to Cooperative for Education,
which is an incredible charity promoting literacy and education in Guatemala. Most Guatemalan
students dropout of school before reaching high school and illiteracy rates in rural areas are
up to 75%. So CoEd is all about changing that. If you want to help support CoEd, be sure to pick up
a shirt, I've got a link in the description below. Even better, Charitan was kind enough to offer my
subscribers a special 10% discount code, so you can help a charity and save a little cash. If 100
People buy a shirt CoEd could reach more than 2000 students, so click that link and put your discount
code to use. Onto the topic, I'm breaking down the basics you need to determine when creating your
fictional world. The first category we're going to cover is the setting, which basically covers
the most general information about your world. And speaking of your world, what the hell is it
called? By world I don't mean the specific setting of your novel. I mean, the planet that houses that
setting. Maybe it's another plane of existence. Maybe it's a world floating in the sky high above
the clouds. Next you're going to figure out your planet's divisions and by that I mean continents,
countries and kingdoms. So once you got your world divided up like a pizza, it's time to give
each slice a name. You don't have to name every country or every kingdom, but you should at least
name the ones that are relevant to your story. Next, we think about subdivisions: villages,
cities or towns, and again if they're applicable to your story, name them. And lastly is the most
important step. Choose your setting. Where does your novel take place? Depending on your story,
this could cover an entire globe or it could be relegated to a single village. For example,
the world you created could be called Cyborgia, but your story takes place specifically in the
Jennalea Kingdom. Pretty awesome names if I do say so myself. The next category to consider is flora,
fauna and climate. We're getting into nature. The easiest thing to nail down is the weather.
Is your setting sunny? Is it rainy? Figure it out. Similarly, you want to consider the seasons,
because not all places experienced a traditional spring, summer, fall and
winter. I live in California - we don't do snow days. The next step is to consider the earth,
and more specifically what the surface of the earth looks like. Maybe everything is mud or dirt.
Maybe it's desert sand. Maybe there's paved or cobblestone roads. The last two things to consider
are plant life and animal life. Do you have lush green forests filled with bunnies? Or hot pink
jungles filled with poisonous snake-monsters? It’s your world, do you. Moving on, we reach
my least favorite part of world building, and that's architecture. You're gonna ask yourself
three simple questions. Where do people live? What are the buildings look like? And what are
they made out of? And make sure the architecture fits the climate and setting. A desert probably
isn't going to feature large wooden homes, unless they have substantial trade agreements. Try to
get as detailed with your answers as possible because the more thoroughly you world build,
the easier writing will be. Now that we've moved on from the bitch that is architecture,
we reach history. As in what's the history of your setting? This is where a lot of writers get sucked
into the never-ending world building abyss. So before you get started, be honest with yourself.
How much of your world history do you ACTUALLY need to know in order to tell the story? About 75%
of the time all you really need to focus on are the defining moments. How was the kingdom born or
created? How did the current government or leader come into power? Keep in mind history is messy. So
the more neat and orderly you make your world's backstory, the less believable it's going to be.
On to our next category. It's time to dissect your world’s politics and other government systems.
What's your setting system of government? Is it a monarchy? Is it a democracy? Is it an oligarchy?
Who is the most powerful person or people in this world and why? How are laws passed and enforced?
Is there a military? Is there a judicial system? Is there a monetary system? Prisons punishment,
death penalty, public torture, figure it out. Our next category is society, which is one of my
favorite elements of world building. First, we're going to look at the class system. Is there an
upper, middle and lower class? Is everyone equal? Or is there a straight up caste system? Next,
you want to look at racial groups? Are there particular ethnicities that are more common in the
setting or is it mixed? Why is this the case? Next we look at gender norms and expectations. It's
very common for writers to include the same gender norms that we have in the real world, or try to
mirror norms from past civilizations. These are reasonable possibilities, but sometimes it isn't
believable. Why would a completely different world with none of our customs have the exact same norms
that we do? Plus a lot of writers don't thoroughly research gender norms throughout history, and go
with really incorrect generalizations and quite frankly, readers are sick of that shit. Next,
you want to look at prejudices and discrimination within your world. Like my last point. This is
something a lot of writers try to base off history without doing proper homework, and they end up
getting the facts all kinds of fucked up. Next is sexual orientation. How is it viewed? Is sexuality
a social identifier? Because it hasn't always been that way. Next, we look at children, how they're
raised, how they're treated, how they're expected to behave. This segues into schooling and careers.
You want to break down how education works in your world, if it exists at all, and what sort of jobs
are available, respected and coveted. And be sure to cover any societal expectations or norms that
your world might enforce, regardless of whether or not they fit into the aforementioned categories.
Next is my absolute favorite category, and that's culture. This is what makes your world colorful
and unique. The first and most obvious thing to nail down is whether or not your world has some
type of belief system, on a related note, you want to think about holidays, celebrations and customs.
This could tie directly into your world’s belief system, like for example, Christmas. Or it could
have nothing to do with them, like Presidents’ Day. Next you want to pin down my FAVOURITE topic,
romance. How are relationships treated? What about dating, sex or marriage? Is PDA frowned upon? Is
sex liberal and free? Are there any romantic expectations at all? Next we cover the arts,
music, dancing, writing, theater and art itself. Is this a thing in your world? If it is, what's
it like? If not, why not? After that we look at sports and athletics, aka shit I suck at. What
sort of sports exist? Do they involve broomsticks and flying balls? Or fighting to the death for
sheer entertainment? Speaking of entertainment, what's that like in your world? What do people
do for fun? You also can't forget about clothing, accessories or body modifications. Are tattoos and
piercings a thing? Do people color their hair? Do people wear underwear? The last thing you want to
cover is ethics. What are some moral codes that people typically follow? This could be related to
your religious system, or it could have nothing to do with it. Maybe honor is just an extremely
important concept in your world. The very last category I'm going to cover is technology, science
and magic. I could make an entire video about this, but I'm not going to, cuz I've got shit
to do. I combine these things because they often go hand-in-hand. For example, sometimes scientists
used to heal people. Sometimes it's technology. Sometimes it's magic. You need to figure out the
extent of your world’s technological advancements, their knowledge of science and their magic system,
if they have one at all. Nail down as many details as you can. The capabilities, the limitations,
which people have access to? Which people don't? Because these three things are gonna come into
play a lot more than you're probably anticipating. So that's all I got for you today. There are a
bunch of other things you can potentially figure out about your world, these are just the basics.
Additionally, world building can be a major time suck. So be honest with yourself regarding what
information is relevant to your story and what isn't. It's great if your world has a complex
innovative irrigation system, but your readers probably don't give a shit. With that said,
don't forget to subscribe to my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays and if you want to be
alerted as SOON as I upload, ring that bell down below. Don't forget to check out Charitan and
Cooperative for Education. Be sure to use my 10% promo code, get yourself an awesome t-shirt and
help the kids in Guatemala discover their passion for learning and reading. If you don't, I'm
judging you. I see you, and I'm judging you. And when you're done with all that, check me out on
social media. I'm on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, and of course you can Tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!