What are some questions I should be asking myself?

I'm currently in the process of writing my first novel and have started to work on world building. Since I am new I'm not sure where to start. I was hoping you guys could help me by posting questions you think would be good to ask when building the world. (Alternate Earth)

So far I only have a map of a really specific city.

There is also magic. It well known in the world and not uncommon.

Thanks, everyone let me know if you need any more information or if I need to be more specific about my world in particular.

Nina

Posted 2015-09-27T08:46:16.673

Reputation: 13

1I think, way too broad a question. Have you tried reading this site? Go diving in the archives (search on keywords). I think I'd start with the ones on magic systems. Since it's alternate earth, you don't have to do any planet or solar system design, just monkey with some history; depending on the specifics of your magic system. – user3082 – 2015-09-27T08:57:05.643

@user3082 Rather than calling this too broad, it would be better to make it a duplicate of some existing question, e.g. How can I break down the task of creating a world into manageable chunks? There's also the Creating a Realistic World series of questions.

– Brythan – 2015-09-27T10:37:35.330

Thank you both for your answers. I have checked out the site and have been browsing other questions to see if I could use any of the information for my own story. – Nina – 2015-09-27T21:08:07.290

The links you provided did prove to be of some use so thank you @user3082 – Nina – 2015-09-27T21:08:51.647

Answers

These are some points I think are useful to have a general idea of:

1. Story

What is the main storyline of your novel?
What are the main events that will occure?
What events that happen inflict your main story?

2. Protagonists

Who are your main characters? What are their backgrounds?
How do they think, react?
What are their main character traits?
What are their character flaws?
Their bonds and weaknesses?
How are they involved into the society?

3. The world around them

What time does your story play in?
What technology level is present?
How is your world governed? Is it a monarchy? Democracy?
Is it in a state of war or are there any local conflicts?
Are religions playing a role? Which one?
What kinds of religions/gods/ deities exists (are believed to exist)?

4. Magic

How popular is magic in your world?
Is spell casting a day to day activity, that everybody does, ore do only a few gifted wizards and sorceresses exist?

These are just a few questions that could help you get an Idea of how your world could look like. You should note all this Information in some organized way, maybe some local Wiki on your computer?

Whenever you think of new features for your world, look at them in comparison to what already exists. Does it seem fit? Does it contradict something?

Further reading: Consider reading this article. It seems to provide some useful tips about writing your novel. Have fun writing, and don't forget the Party point on the list!

More on the wiki thing:

I recommended using some sort of local wiki. For the point of which one to use, I recommend having a look at this article on Wikipedia (how convenient :). Personally, I use DokuWiki for my Dungeons and Dragons sessions, as it is lightweight and simple to set-up (doesn't even need a mysql-database), easy to use and free...

The reasons why I recommend one are majorly simplicity. For example, I like the opportunity to categorize descriptions of different characters or geographical locations by their families or countries etc. You could do this with a Text-File as well, but If you go into detail on your descriptions, that file will shortly become very big and confusing. A wiki enables you for an easy search and versioning of your thoughts. And offers possibilities to easily associate different articles. You sure can do all of this with a single word document, but from my personal point of view, using a wiki makes it much more organized.

T3 H40 - reinstate Monica

Posted 2015-09-27T08:46:16.673

Reputation: 1 388

When you say local wiki, what software are you considering/recommending? And why might you think that's better than just revising a text-file? – user3082 – 2015-09-27T15:39:20.723

Have a look at my edit. I added my reasoning why I would prefer a Wiki. – T3 H40 - reinstate Monica – 2015-09-27T15:54:07.237

Thank you very much. I already have 1 and 2 answered and am now working on 3 and 4. I think the questions you provided in section 3 are exactly the kinds of questions I was looking for. – Nina – 2015-09-27T21:20:02.723

I am happy to hear that! Consider voting for the answer and accepting it, if it was helpful to you – T3 H40 - reinstate Monica – 2015-09-28T00:00:31.717

Sorry, I'm new to this site but I think I accepted it, it's good to know thats an option. – Nina – 2015-09-28T10:02:39.837

Yes, you did accept it. Thank you very much! You can accept answers on your questions that were most helpful to you. You can also up- or downvote questions, comments and answers to help making good (or bad) content more visible. Doing so will give the responsible user reputation points (the ones in your top bar). These points serve as indicator of how experienced a user is, and how much trust the community has in his posts quality. Take a look at the tour again (http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/tour) it should not take more than 2 minutes to read. Anyways, welcome to the site!

– T3 H40 - reinstate Monica – 2015-09-28T14:32:16.760

When you are writing a novel, a rough outline of the story should probably come first. The world must be built to serve the needs of the story.

Take a part of your story and consider if it would work on present-day or historical Earth. If not, what do you have to change to make it possible? What do you have to change to make those changes possible?

o.m.

Posted 2015-09-27T08:46:16.673

Reputation: 75 227

I do have an online of my story, I'm just working out the smaller details and making sure everything fits together and transitions smoothly. – Nina – 2015-09-27T21:11:38.013

In fact, the city in which my novel takes place mostly finished but I heard that the more details you have, even if it doesn't end up in the novel, the better for your story. Plus if I turn this into a series then I would like for the setting to also be in a different location. – Nina – 2015-09-27T21:14:23.010

Agreed. First you need the rough outline of the plot, then you build a world where that plot makes sense, then you draw on that world to fill in non-essential details in a consistent manner. – o.m. – 2015-09-28T05:25:02.347