Hi all! So, I am trying to start to get back into writing my book, and to do that, I figure I should do some world building! So how would I go about doing that? Do I start with a map? What are your methods? And what do you use to make a map? And as a side note, do you know any good name generators? Or are there such things?

I usually just draw random shapes with rugged edges and then modify them to my delight. There was this one time though that I saw this.... plate I guess and it had the remnants of stickers on it and to my astonishment they looked like islands!! I wish I had taken a photo of it... So yea. If something looks like a good frame for your story world, TAKE A PHOTO OF IT!!!! >:U



I just randomly look up name generators.



I suggest you have basic geology knowledge. You know, the smarts to not place a lake in the middle of a desert. It's good to know where to put mountain ranges and where to place jungles. Research my friend. I suggest watching science channel on Netflix. Of course... you don't have to but for me details are important. Get to know your story world!


For me... My world has some continents and islands. On these I have a few volcanos, a grassland, a desert, jungles, mountain ranges, and a tundra. My own world isn't complete yet so I'm expecting to create a wasteland as well. The reason I've yet to finish is because I don't know what terrain would suit best for the storyline. Keep that in mind as well!

Maps are a cool way to start, but it really depends on how much story you already have. If you have lots of story, try to figure out the historical background of your story. So your MC lives in a kingdom... figure out who the king was, who the last king was, go back like that a few generations. Decide if there was a usurpation, a war, a scandal... just make it up as you go along with the kings.
If there was a war, figure out who with. Why did it start? Where were the battlefields? Who fought? What were their weapons like?
How did they obtain the resources for the weapons? What does the chain of command look like?
So just pick something you already know and then continually ask and answer why and how. That's sometimes a good way to start.

Different styles will also make for different world building. If it's more about animals you need to look into the nature aspects a lot more. If it's people you may need to go into the history side but if they're travelers a map would be a better place to start. In my experience, both the world and the story build around each other. I think to get the essence of your world right, you have to know what it will do. For me it started with a dragon's eye. After that I moved on to characters and bits of dialogue and from there I moved to writing. It was only after I had written a few chapters that I started really focusing on world building. It all lays on your style though.

Ok, well what about this? I will probably have the story in a Canadian-like setting, but the problem is... Nevermind! typing it out gave me a solution! HW is so helpful!



The MC's are part human, part animal, and will be traveling!

Fascinating.

I draw a map, with pencil. Then I just start rambling longhand, and getting ideas out.

Someone ought to announce this thread! There are some awesome tips here! *_*

In that case, I'd develop their race first, then decide why they're traveling and how fast you need everything to happen. That gives you an idea of how far everything needs to be which is a nice starting scale for your map. That was about how I got down to working on a map.

Ok, thanks all! I think I'm getting my head around this.

Most of my worlds have been adaptations where I'd read a book with a magical system/cobha that seemed interesting to me, so I'd create my own world with a similar cobha/premise. So for me, worlds usually start with Cobha.