hi river!! i really, really love SWS 😭😭 your ability to come up with new worlds and species to inhabit them + their cultures and magic systems is incredibly impressive. each world feels so distinct and fascinating.
i read in one of the Q&As where you said that you’re basically always thinking of new world concepts and writing down ideas, and i wanted to ask if you would mind expounding on that a little? are there specific things that inspire you or frameworks you use to flesh out a world?
i’m asking because i myself used to be very into writing and drawing fantasy/sci-fi kinds of stuff, but bc of life stuff and then-untreated adhd i got burned out and basically stopped creating for many years….i am just now rediscovering the love i had for it. my problem is, whenever i try to plan out a new world or something, it’s like….my brain just goes blank. or every idea i do come up with sounds stupid and not worth following.
i guess what i want to know is, do you have any sort of specific creative process you’ve found? or any advice you could share?
please excuse me if this is too presumptuous of me—i really admire you as a creator and i can’t wait to see what happens next in SWS! also i hope you are having a good day 💕
Hi! Thank you so much!! I'm so glad you enjoy my story :D
So, it's true that I'm always passively thinking/looking for new world ideas, but whether or not I expand on an idea boils down to if I want to use that world for something specific.
Often I only expand/worldbuild by necessity. If my characters bump up against something, or I need an explanation for plot happenings, or a certain character's personality needs more explanation...the world expands to accommodate.
Example: When I was planning Braelyn's world, I knew a couple things going in:
- the sapient species were bears (because it felt right that my character's mentor would be a bear for some reason)
- the overall scenery is more temperate/deciduous
- braelyn/MC's mentor is a hermit & a capable hunter
The first two things were simple visuals for the most part. The third thing was most important because now I could ask myself "why is she a hermit?"
I knew I wanted to explore magic (and introduce the fact that Tabb can't manipulate it), so I tied that into my hermit's backstory. Thus I got:
- there is magic, but attitudes about it aren't positive
- society itself is harsh, with a focus on physical achievement ("do things with your own hands! Magic is cowardly/cheating/too complicated!")
Then I just kept following that train, expanding my character by expanding my world.
If your mind often goes blank thinking about world building, then try thinking of it in terms of character (why do they have x personality trait? How does their appearance impact their place in society? If they have x magic/ability, is that rare, common, or something only obtained through work?)
If that doesn't work, then worldbuild through plot. If you want, say, a big battle to happen...why is a big battle happening? Well there are two kingdoms that disagree. On what? Kingdom A's ruler believes magic is inherently evil. Why? A tragedy once befell them due to a powerful sorcerer...
And on and on. Suddenly you start to build history, settings, politics...
Remember that you don't need to know EVERYTHING about your world. It's better to keep some things vague so that you have a way to tie up plotholes if need be...or to allow the readers to fill in the gaps with their own imagination. :)
I really enjoy talking about this, so if you'd like clarification or have another question, please ask! :D
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