Worldbuilding is one of the great joys of writing fiction. We’ve all had that thought when looking at reality: “I’d do it differently.” And wouldn’t it be better that way? When creating fictional worlds, it can be hard to know where to start.
We don’t all have the time and patience to do it the Tolkien way, which involves decades of study and diligent note-taking. We can shorten the runway a bit.
In this article, I’ll provide you with a worldbuilding template to help guide your creative process, and a Story Weapon to start tackling the next steps.
This worldbuilding template helps you construct a cohesive fictional universe by systematically exploring everything from planetary geography to complex social hierarchies. By using these prompts to establish consistent rules, you can move past the overwhelming “Tolkien method” and focus on the specific details that breathe life into your story.
What is worldbuilding?
It’s the practice of creating a fictional world with consistent rules within which your characters can roam.
In this template, I’ll follow the hard worldbuilding model as opposed to soft worldbuilding. You can read more about the difference between those two types of worldbuilding here.
To put it succinctly, hard worldbuilding focuses on the broad structures of the imagined world and filters down to the specifics of your individual story within that world. Soft worldbuilding works the other way around. Let’s get started!
The heart of your imagination
Before jumping into the concrete details, let’s take a second to focus the lens of your creative impulse.
If you’re setting out to create an imaginary world, odds are you have some images and ideas already. The goal of the first step is to identify those ideas and let them inform the choices you make in the sections below.
To start, just simply jot down or draw some of the images of this fictional world. Maybe you saw a picture of a floating city on Pinterest and it stuck with you. Write it down. There might be a specific magical item or animal. Draw a quick sketch.
This is where you are working fast and loose. You are getting your ideas down, while holding them loosely. You can also cobble together a vision board on sites like Pinterest or Tumblr. These are things that look like they would fit into your world. When you sum them all up, you can identify certain motifs, colors, and moods.
Imaginary worlds aren’t all about the laws of physics or magic systems that run them. They’re also about feeling and style. Some worlds are more noir and pulpy, like Gotham City. Others are more colorful and futuristic, like the world of Bioshock Infinite. Whatever the feeling is, jot down a few adjectives and keep those in your mind as you progress through the sections below.
“Things are different in the fantasy world
Towels are different in the fantasy world
Shows are different in the fantasy world
Dancing’s different in the fantasy world
Unicorns – No, they’re the same
Everything’s different in the fantasy world”
– Noel Fielding
Filling out the details
Let’s start with a wide lens and slowly zoom in as we go. Here are some questions you can ask yourself about your world.
(Don’t feel the need to answer every question. The important thing is to let your curiosity guide and excite you. The more you lean into those parts of your world, the more the rest will become clear as well.)
The Planet(s)
- On what sort of planet or celestial body does your story take place? This might be an asteroid or a distant moon like in Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan.
- Does this planet have a name? What would you call it?
- What’s the weather like? Is there one sun and one moon, like on our world, or is it a circumbinary planet, like Tatooine in Star Wars?
The Geography
- What does geography look like here? Are there multiple continents, just one, or none? Is it habitable everywhere or in specific parts of the world? Is everything above or below water?
- What are the different biomes like and how common are they? Are there deserts, islands, mountains?
- What sort of natural phenomena are common in this world? Try to compare it to stuff like our own volcanos, tsunamis, and polar ice caps.
Animal and Plant Life
- Now that you have a general idea of where things are happening, what’s happening on the surface (or below)? Are there many flora and fauna or is this a desolate planet?
- What does plant life look like? On our planet, plants tend to be green due to chlorophyll and they feed off solar energy. How does that coincide with or differ from the plants in your world?
- What does animal life look like? Are natural selection and evolution at play?
- Assuming there are sentient beings in your world, do those include any animals and plants? Don’t worry about people or humanoids yet, that’s our next section.
The People
- This section is for the most advanced species in your world, the ones that would be developed enough to have a complex culture. What do these “people” look like? Do they resemble humans, who stand on two legs and breathe air through the lungs? How do they differ?
- How does this species eat? How long are their lifespans? How long have they been around? How far back does this history stretch?
- What’s their main method of communication? If it’s verbal and written language, how does it compare to real-life languages?
- How do they mate?
The Culture
- What’s the history of these people? How have they adapted to the environment that you’ve created?
- How do they pass leisure time? How do they signify social status?
- How do they learn things and teach each other?
- Who are some major figures in this history? What have they done and why was it important?
- Have these people been at war with each other? How did that go or how is it going? What’s the impact on the rest of society?
- Do these people have a god or a religion? Is this deity known to them or more quiet?
Physics, Magic, Tech
- How do these people manipulate and influence the world around them? Do they have abilities that we would call magic?
- How does the logic of this world differ from our world, where people can’t fly but can communicate virtually wherever they are?
- What innovations have these people invented to make life easier or accomplish other goals of their civilizations?
- What sort of weaponry do these people use, if any?
Commerce
- What are the currencies in this world? What sort of things are considered valuable?
- How do people trade and travel to different places to do so? Remember that the Silk Road and other trade avenues were major players in the spread of culture and innovation on Earth.
- How do people conduct their business? What are the sort of businesses that arise, like hospitality, marketing, and entertainment?
Government
- Who runs this place? How did they get to power? How do people feel about that?
- How well are they running it? What sort of things does the government do?
- What’s allowed and not allowed here? Is there an enforced rule of law? Who enforces it and how? Who decides what these laws are?
Your story weapon: Marrying the world to story
There are endless questions that you could explore about your imagined world, but this template will give you a headstart.
Once you’ve explored the questions that feel most interesting to you, focus on one section and expand it. Write a scene relevant to those details and see how they impact a character’s choices. At this point, you are not yet writing a first draft, but allowing your protagonist to exist in this world.
If the world is feeling real, gradually begin to explore an outline following your protagonist’s dilemma and their journey, building up toward a climax and their transformation.
Once you’ve got enough to get started, feel free to write! You’ll probably stumble onto parts of your world that need more detail along the way, and that’s ok. Worldbuilding is a process. Your story will always know more than you do at the outset, so keep this worldbuilding template close and let your characters lead you deeper into their home.
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