A lot of people think world-building only applies to fantasy, where you have elaborate maps of sprawling kingdoms. Or maybe they think it applies to sci-fi or historical fiction, where you have to bring to life all the intricacies of the story’s world. Whether you write something “world heavy,” or your story’s world is a contemporary setting, world-building applies across all genres. Let’s take a closer look at how world-building and genres overlap. We’ll start with genres where world-building is more straightforward and work our way to the less obvious ones.
Fantasy
This genre relies heavily on creating a detailed world with intricate magical systems. World-building for this genre includes broad topics like the actual geography of the world as well as the structures and systems at play within it. This means considering the topography of your story world space. Are there lakes and rivers or mountains? Is there a desert? What does the terrain look like?
Any fantasy world that involves magic also needs to consider how that magic works. Does it involve wands or incantations, or is the magic something that people can wield simply by thinking about it? Also, who gets to have magic and why? Is magic associated with status in any way?
You also need to consider any magical creatures who might inhabit the world. What kinds of creatures are they? Are you basing them off of existing mythologies, or are you inventing creatures all your own? Also, are there ordinary creatures with extraordinary abilities, like the talking animals in the Narnia series?
Science Fiction
Whenever there is science and technology involved in a story, we have to consider where that tech came from and who gets access to it. Is technology something that is readily available to most everyone (as in the Star Trek universe) or is it something that only the people in power can have at their fingertips? You also need to consider whether technology is self-aware or not. Is it merely a tool used by humans and other individuals, or is it more “alive” like the Matrix in the Matrix trilogy or Skynet in the Terminator films?
When you consider world-building in sci-fi, you may also want to think about social structures like class or other societal groups. Are some people the “haves” and others the “have nots”? You also need to consider whether there are certain components of the world that relate to societal groups, for example districts in The Hunger Games trilogy that represent different social classes.
Finally, you also need to consider currency and the use of money. In a future world, has money become obsolete? If not, you need to think about what people use as a form of currency. Is it coins and paper money that we are used to, or is it something different?
Historical Fiction
This genre also tends to lean heavily on world-building, only now we are not imagining a fantasy or futuristic world, but crafting a story within a historical time period. Depending on the time period and the nature of your story, the scope of that world can vary wildly. If you are in a time period (say, the Middle Ages) where characters aren’t aware of several continents, the world-building will be more local, focusing on their immediate surroundings. If, on the other hand, you are writing about a big, sweeping war, the scope of the story will likely be far more global.
As with fantasy and sci-fi, historical fiction also must concern itself with certain mechanics of the world. Here are some questions to consider:
- What technology is available (or unavailable) in this particular time period?
- How do people communicate with each other over long distances, if at all?
- What does currency look like in this time period and how important is money to the way people navigate that world?
- What about class and societal groups—how do they impact the structures of the world?
- Who has the power in this time period and how does that power impact how the world operates?
Mystery
Depending on the type of mystery you are writing, there will be different types of world-building involved. If you’re writing a cozy mystery, then the world-building will concern itself primarily with the small town environment where your story takes place. This means most of the focus will be on your sleuth’s immediate surroundings. That said, many cozy mysteries often have themes to them: a hobby or activity that anchors the series. For instance, maybe the sleuth works at a yarn shop or has an interest in pottery making. These elements can become avenues for the writer to build out the story’s world and make it more intriguing to the reader.
If you’re writing a police procedural, then the world-building is completely different. In this case, the focus of the story is the investigation and the world-building is all about the world of law enforcement. In this case the world-building not only centers around the physical spaces of the story (precinct, crime lab, courtroom, etc.) but also the process of solving the case. The way the investigators pursue the criminal is all part of the world-building.
Thriller
In order to differentiate from other similar stories, a lot of thrillers tend to focus around a particular subject or location. For example, legal thrillers are set in the world of courtrooms and juries, giving us a window into that environment. Medical thrillers are set in hospitals or doctors’ offices and give us a behind-the-scenes look into that profession. Some thrillers emphasize a location, like a national park or particular city. And some thrillers take place in the world of international espionage.
Some thrillers or horror stories emphasize a specific locale, like a haunted house or a spooky cemetery. In these cases, the world-building is all about elevating the mood and making the reader feel that slow creep of fear as the events of the story unfold in that scary location.
Commercial or Literary Fiction
It might seem strange to think about world-building in our contemporary world, but it is still important. Think, for example, about the fashion world we see in The Devil Wears Prada, or the high-class stay-at-home-mom social circle we see in Happy and You Know It. If your story focuses around a particular job or industry, you need to develop that world the way you would world-build for any other genre.
This is because readers read not just as an escape, but as a way of satisfying their curiosity. They want to know what it’s like to work in a high-end restaurant kitchen or live in an exotic city. They’re also curious about seemingly mundane things. To a person who has never ridden a subway, that world of underground tunnels can be as exotic as a faraway locale.
With contemporary fiction, you don’t need to worry too much about certain types of world-building. We know how money works in the present day, and we know what cars, cell phones, and computers are. The one thing to be careful about is when it comes to technology, if it’s not central to your story, you may want to use a light touch. This is because technology will date your book. No one listens to CDs anymore or watches VHS tapes. If we read a book from the 80s today, details like this would make the book feel dated. So, be careful about going too heavy on the technology, or in a few years your story might seem out of date.
Romance
Just because it’s not obviously heavy on world-building doesn’t mean that romance is off the hook. Even if the romance occurs in a completely contemporary setting, there is still plenty of room to craft that story’s world. As with some thrillers and cozy mysteries, romance often has some element that holds the series together. Maybe it’s a particular sport that one of the characters play, or maybe it’s a specific location like a resort. Regardless, there’s often something that anchors the series and makes it feel unique. Whatever that theme may be, there is plenty of opportunity for world-building around it.
When it comes to world-building, romance tends to operate like commercial or literary fiction. People might read romance because they’re looking for that Happily Ever After, but they may also be curious about the world where the story takes place. This is why it’s important not to neglect world-building, even when that world may seem obvious or mundane.
World-building is an essential part of storytelling. In fact, I believe in a three-pronged system, where character, plot, and world are all essential components of a story. In order for something to be truly a story, it must have all three elements present, and if one of them is missing, the story falls apart.
Consider, for example, Dante’s Paradiso. Up until that point in the Divine Comedy, we have had concrete settings like the nine circles of the Inferno and the spiraling mountain of Purgatorio. When we finally get to Paradiso, the world becomes suddenly amorphous. It’s hard even to picture what that world looks like. It’s as though the characters are just suspended in mid-air. We have no sense of place, no grounding structure that allows us to imagine what this space looks like. This is why, in my opinion, Paradiso is the least effective installment of the Divine Comedy.
World-building is crucial if you want your story to come to life. Without it, the story will feel ungrounded and the narrative will fall flat. Whether your story’s world is elaborate and detailed or it is more subtle and subdued, it is still an essential part of your story and deserves to be crafted with care.
Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!
P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.
