1. Are there different physics/physical contexts? 0:36 2. Develop a specific region; reference existing regions. 2:55 3. Figure out what reasons, particularly basic needs and other resources, that draw people to your region/away from other regions. 4:49 4. What is nature- natural disasters, aggressive animals, etc.- like? How do people react/adapt to these antagonistic environments? 9:48
Number 4 is challenges in general. He focused on the natural disasters but when he summarised then at the end he said challenges for the 4th one. It makes more sense. Thanks by the way.
1:03 The planet from Pitch Black is not tidal-locked. It's just surrounded by three suns. The entire planet is engulfed in light save when it is eclipsed by some gas giants.
This was a nice video, and I enjoy you covering the basics of building societies. I'm just feet from the finish line on my first fantasy book, and I'm still trying to create interesting diversity in my world.
Thank you, you have given me a lot to think about in regards to my own world. Especially with the resources and natural disasters, that opens a whole load of interesting things to play with
Thank you so much! That was great info with fantastic examples! The way you manage to simplify this kind of stuff really helps when I find myself feeling overwhelmed by crafting a story. You’re a great teacher Chris!
Wow, the salt part is so true. I'm trying to write a story set in a somewhat medieval setting and I struggled for weeks trying to find a "business" for the protagonist, an important one and salt is what I ultimately landed on. So much so that I have consumed a number of documentaries on the process of making or mining salt. I really much love your videos, they are very exhaustive. :)
Reading Plot Gardening and your writing about Jurassic Park and research for building your world. That you have to research or... “I’m looking at you, James Patterson’s Zoo.” So funny!
Great stuff, Chris! Thank you for giving us such salient points to think about. I'm sure you're already hip to these, but a couple of resources I found to be fascinating when it comes to drawing inspiration from the world around us and translating that into our own world-building are John McPhee's "Annals of the Former World" (actually anything by John McPhee - even though it's technically about geology, it's a compelling picture of the natural world); several of Craig Child's books; and Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse."
This video is very timely. I've been struggling with this. The sad thing is, I'm very good at modeling all of these things, I just have been ... waffling about stuff. It's good to hear that I'm already on the right track, I just need to get back it. Thank you, Chris.
Chris and other world builders: Do you find any value is using software like Campaign Cartographer to map worlds, towns, countries, etc? What value does it add for you?
Kate Adams I think for some people, if you are less artistic or just disorganized, they can be extremely useful. But if you can I would recommend a stack of A4 paper and some stationary.
This is good and common sense. If you look at any old cities or towns, you will noticed someone settled them on or near water of some sort. Why? Cause water was critical for transportation, trade, drinking, or production of goods. And if they settled in a desert it's probably because something more valuable was there that they wanted.
Also towns naturally spring up along roads because say travellers need a place to stay-a small encampment becomes an inn. That inn attracts tons of customers, and soon more people flock over to soak up the traffic.
That is also True. A good example of this is the town of Gettysburg. Why did a huge battle take place there? Because if you look at the map of Gettysburg from 1863 there were 5 major roads, and they all converged there. That is why there was a town and that is why the armies converged there. Which is also good when writing because significant battles happen at places because of geography and circumstance more than expert military planning.
For me, the most important part in conveying a different world to readers is through the character's worldview, how they interpret their environment, what their expectations are, and how they rationalize their lives, decisions, and motivations. This requires a lot of time trying to think in your characters' shoes. You need the characters to show the world through their own eyes, not through the reader's. Hugh Howey comes to mind as particularly adept at this type of immersive writing. This is particularly difficult to achieve, and requires multiple drafts to perfect.
I'd agree that wool is a masterful example of immersive writing. Walking down a flight of stairs became a compelling quest. I was blown away. However, I'd argue that conveying their environment is no more important than worldbuilding. They are complimentary skills. If you didn't know what the silo looked like, or what kind of repairs and maintenance it needed, then there would have been no reason for the Mayor to walk down those stairs in the first place. You need both IMO.
@@ChrisFoxWrites Absolutely agree. Effective, immersive stories require solid world building, and that takes an immense level of detail, as is the effort of thinking in your characters' heads. If we invest time into thorough world building (and resist the urge to dump all that info on our readers) that foundation can become a huge asset to the stories we tell. And this is not limited to SF or fantasy.
A planet with one dark, one bright side, a so called eyeball planet, DOES spin, however, its spin to orbit ratio is 1:1, which means the day is as long as the year is, it revolves around itself in the same period as it orbits the sun.
My World Rainbowtopia is a magical planet far away from the Solar system. It has seven kingdoms,And I'm working on The capital kingdom of Prisma, My worldbuilding is a work in progress, but i got some real-life references for the other six kingdoms.
How do u make ur own beings and give them good names, for example one of my species is like a wolf that stands on two legs and have steatlhas their specialty, how do u give like a good name
The first video in this series covers general names, and the fifth one covers character names. I think the first one will get you on the right path, but here's my short take. Rifts has dogboys. World of Warcraft has Worgen. Harry Potter has Professor Lupin. Each of these is drawing on an unconscious symbol most people will recognize. We can all picture what a dogboy would look like. Worgen, which borrows from Tolkien's wargs. Lupin is borrowing from the latin word for wolf, lupus. People tend to use simple terms. If your wolfmen silently assassinate people, and are never really seen, then people might think they're ghosts. Or demons. They're going to name those wolfmen based on what they think they are, not what they actually are. If they see them regularly enough to understand that they're basically bipedal wolves, then the name will more likely reflect that instead. Hope that helps!
When it comes to language is it Ok if I have a lot of real languages in my fictional world? I try it to make sence, the romance and germanic languages are pretty closely related so they exists on the same continent. The poeple on the other side of the world will have a very diffrent languages.
There are many linguistic families in our world, and it stands to reason there would be in most fictional worlds as well. My own fantasy world has seven in common use in the primary region, but there are quite a few more in different areas. I highly recommend the audiobook The Story of Human Language. It's long, but it will teach you how languages spread and change.
It won't. Divergent wasn't a bad story, if the focus on the emotional resonance the audience is seeking. That is tied to Beactrice's relationship and ending the oppression of the government. You and I are simulationists. We need our world's to make sense. Many genres don't care at all about that stuff. They don't care about naming conventions, and magic systems, and special physics, and consequences. They care how it made them feel. Note that roughly half the people who see The Last Jedi love it, despite the other half hating it because it breaks rules. That only matters to people who care about those rules. Different genres have different needs, and the fans of Divergent love it for a reason.
1. Are there different physics/physical contexts? 0:36
2. Develop a specific region; reference existing regions. 2:55
3. Figure out what reasons, particularly basic needs and other resources, that draw people to your region/away from other regions. 4:49
4. What is nature- natural disasters, aggressive animals, etc.- like? How do people react/adapt to these antagonistic environments? 9:48
Number 4 is challenges in general. He focused on the natural disasters but when he summarised then at the end he said challenges for the 4th one. It makes more sense.
Thanks by the way.
I don't understand how these videos have so little views. I absolutely love them! Gonna be buying your books soon.
1:03
The planet from Pitch Black is not tidal-locked. It's just surrounded by three suns. The entire planet is engulfed in light save when it is eclipsed by some gas giants.
This was a nice video, and I enjoy you covering the basics of building societies. I'm just feet from the finish line on my first fantasy book, and I'm still trying to create interesting diversity in my world.
Love world building stuff! hope to see more of it soon!
I really needed this chris. Thank u so much for this and all ur other videos have really helped me out with my writing.
My pleasure! I've gotten a ton of requests to cover more worldbuilding, and it is definitely my favorite thing to talk about haha.
Thank you for your guidance! You've got some great insights that were really useful to fleshing out my world
Thank you, you have given me a lot to think about in regards to my own world. Especially with the resources and natural disasters, that opens a whole load of interesting things to play with
Thank you so much! That was great info with fantastic examples! The way you manage to simplify this kind of stuff really helps when I find myself feeling overwhelmed by crafting a story. You’re a great teacher Chris!
Wow, the salt part is so true. I'm trying to write a story set in a somewhat medieval setting and I struggled for weeks trying to find a "business" for the protagonist, an important one and salt is what I ultimately landed on. So much so that I have consumed a number of documentaries on the process of making or mining salt. I really much love your videos, they are very exhaustive. :)
Reading Plot Gardening and your writing about Jurassic Park and research for building your world. That you have to research or... “I’m looking at you, James Patterson’s Zoo.” So funny!
Thank you for sharing this. Helped me figure out so many things
Great stuff, Chris! Thank you for giving us such salient points to think about. I'm sure you're already hip to these, but a couple of resources I found to be fascinating when it comes to drawing inspiration from the world around us and translating that into our own world-building are John McPhee's "Annals of the Former World" (actually anything by John McPhee - even though it's technically about geology, it's a compelling picture of the natural world); several of Craig Child's books; and Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse."
These are great! I've read Guns, Germs, and Steel, but I haven't checked out Collapse, or Annals of the Former World. Off to audible I go!
This video is very timely. I've been struggling with this. The sad thing is, I'm very good at modeling all of these things, I just have been ... waffling about stuff.
It's good to hear that I'm already on the right track, I just need to get back it. Thank you, Chris.
Chris and other world builders: Do you find any value is using software like Campaign Cartographer to map worlds, towns, countries, etc? What value does it add for you?
Kate Adams I think for some people, if you are less artistic or just disorganized, they can be extremely useful. But if you can I would recommend a stack of A4 paper and some stationary.
This helped a lot. Thank you!
This is good and common sense. If you look at any old cities or towns, you will noticed someone settled them on or near water of some sort. Why? Cause water was critical for transportation, trade, drinking, or production of goods. And if they settled in a desert it's probably because something more valuable was there that they wanted.
Also towns naturally spring up along roads because say travellers need a place to stay-a small encampment becomes an inn. That inn attracts tons of customers, and soon more people flock over to soak up the traffic.
That is also True. A good example of this is the town of Gettysburg. Why did a huge battle take place there? Because if you look at the map of Gettysburg from 1863 there were 5 major roads, and they all converged there. That is why there was a town and that is why the armies converged there. Which is also good when writing because significant battles happen at places because of geography and circumstance more than expert military planning.
Thank you so much for your advice ! Very helpful =D
Thanks
how to divide story into chapters that still makes sogic sense and will be linear?
Thank you!! Great stuff!!
Thanks - that really got my wheels turning!
For me, the most important part in conveying a different world to readers is through the character's worldview, how they interpret their environment, what their expectations are, and how they rationalize their lives, decisions, and motivations. This requires a lot of time trying to think in your characters' shoes. You need the characters to show the world through their own eyes, not through the reader's. Hugh Howey comes to mind as particularly adept at this type of immersive writing.
This is particularly difficult to achieve, and requires multiple drafts to perfect.
I'd agree that wool is a masterful example of immersive writing. Walking down a flight of stairs became a compelling quest. I was blown away. However, I'd argue that conveying their environment is no more important than worldbuilding. They are complimentary skills. If you didn't know what the silo looked like, or what kind of repairs and maintenance it needed, then there would have been no reason for the Mayor to walk down those stairs in the first place. You need both IMO.
@@ChrisFoxWrites Absolutely agree. Effective, immersive stories require solid world building, and that takes an immense level of detail, as is the effort of thinking in your characters' heads. If we invest time into thorough world building (and resist the urge to dump all that info on our readers) that foundation can become a huge asset to the stories we tell. And this is not limited to SF or fantasy.
Some good advice here! Thanks for this.
This really helped, thanks a lot 👍👌
A planet with one dark, one bright side, a so called eyeball planet, DOES spin, however, its spin to orbit ratio is 1:1, which means the day is as long as the year is, it revolves around itself in the same period as it orbits the sun.
Interesting. Thanks for teaching me something new.
My World Rainbowtopia is a magical planet far away from the Solar system. It has seven kingdoms,And I'm working on The capital kingdom of Prisma, My worldbuilding is a work in progress, but i got some real-life references for the other six kingdoms.
How’s it going so far?
How do u make ur own beings and give them good names, for example one of my species is like a wolf that stands on two legs and have steatlhas their specialty, how do u give like a good name
The first video in this series covers general names, and the fifth one covers character names. I think the first one will get you on the right path, but here's my short take. Rifts has dogboys. World of Warcraft has Worgen. Harry Potter has Professor Lupin.
Each of these is drawing on an unconscious symbol most people will recognize. We can all picture what a dogboy would look like. Worgen, which borrows from Tolkien's wargs. Lupin is borrowing from the latin word for wolf, lupus.
People tend to use simple terms. If your wolfmen silently assassinate people, and are never really seen, then people might think they're ghosts. Or demons. They're going to name those wolfmen based on what they think they are, not what they actually are. If they see them regularly enough to understand that they're basically bipedal wolves, then the name will more likely reflect that instead. Hope that helps!
When it comes to language is it Ok if I have a lot of real languages in my fictional world? I try it to make sence, the romance and germanic languages are pretty closely related so they exists on the same continent. The poeple on the other side of the world will have a very diffrent languages.
There are many linguistic families in our world, and it stands to reason there would be in most fictional worlds as well. My own fantasy world has seven in common use in the primary region, but there are quite a few more in different areas. I highly recommend the audiobook The Story of Human Language. It's long, but it will teach you how languages spread and change.
protip: if ur world is flat and a circle & you place a firmament ontop of it then it becomes a closed off system.
Is it just me or is worldbuilding becoming an increasingly popular subject on the internet?
It's always been there. I've been making Worldbuilding videos since 2015, but once you start watching them then UA-cam will show them everywhere =)
@@ChrisFoxWrites Yeah but I feel they're gaining a larger following among channels that are newer to the subject.
Interesting. There are a lot of writers and it's a very necessary skill, so I suppose I am not surprised.
I sure do hope it prevents disasters like divergent from ever reaching the populace.
It won't. Divergent wasn't a bad story, if the focus on the emotional resonance the audience is seeking. That is tied to Beactrice's relationship and ending the oppression of the government. You and I are simulationists. We need our world's to make sense. Many genres don't care at all about that stuff. They don't care about naming conventions, and magic systems, and special physics, and consequences. They care how it made them feel.
Note that roughly half the people who see The Last Jedi love it, despite the other half hating it because it breaks rules. That only matters to people who care about those rules. Different genres have different needs, and the fans of Divergent love it for a reason.