Questions tagged [world-building]
This tag should be used for questions about the act of creating elements for your own fictional world that you will use in your creative writing. If you are considering asking a question about world-building, please consider asking it on StackExchange's launched site dedicated to this specific topic, worldbuilding.stackexchange.com.
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In a superhero story, is it better to make all the superpowers come from one source or multiple sources?
In my world I had a idea for four power sources for superhumans. The four power sources were mutations, magic, technology, and skills. Mutations are genetic based superpowers. Magic users get their ...
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How would the "one good member" of an evil organization/culture see themselves?
I have a character that is the stereotypical "token good member of an evil organization". The organization is a brutal social darwinist one that sees nothing wrong with killing people and ...
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How do you do worldbuilding for many worlds in a collection of short stories when you have multiple worlds, and multiple alternate histories?
How do you do worldbuilding for many worlds in a collection of short stories when you have multiple worlds, and multiple alternate histories?
Say you're writing a collection of short stories, and ...
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Getting it across
I'm having trouble wording something so people understand it.
I have a man across the street from someone holding up a wallet in the air up to another guy across the street. The guy across the street ...
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Is 'infodumping' the important parts of a story via an in-universe lesson in school/documentary/the news/other educational medium bad storytelling?
I have done this twice at the beginning of 2 of my stories (IIRC.) The first was a lecture on the Dust Dragon, an extinct creature in this world. The second was a schoolteacher giving a lesson on the ...
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Is my story too much like Harry Potter?
Is my story too much like Harry Potter?
My story is set in a magical world hidden within our own, and it has many magical version of things we do.
It has wands but I have decided to change it and ...
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How to keep an original fiction from becoming fan fiction with world-hopping?
I've got an original fiction I'm writing with the concept of a multiverse where every story written or drawn in one version of modern earth generates attached universes. Everything from anime to ...
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What counts as exposition dump and is it possible to do exposition dumps without affecting pacing?
One effective technique I was told to use is to integrate the exposition within the narrative, rather than presenting it as a separate block of information. This can be accomplished through various ...
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How do you prevent yourself from neglecting scientific accuracy in a sci-fi-fantasy story without telling?
In a sci-fi setting, I was told it was important to follow scientific principles to some extent. Neglecting these principles can create confusion and disbelief among readers or viewers.
For example, ...
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How can you create a story that incorporates magical or supernatural elements in a way that is subtle and understated?
How can you create a story that incorporates magical or supernatural elements in a way that is subtle and understated, without overwhelming the plot or detracting from the realism of the narrative?
I ...
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Having Real-World Gods in a High Fantasy Setting
In my fantasy world, there are various religions and beliefs. To not get too obsessed with the worldbuilding (it is already pretty thick and heavy,) I was thinking of, in terms of their religions, ...
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How should you name an imaginary machine?
How should you name an imaginary machine? I was thinking of naming a time-machine/transdimensional teleportation machine Proteus, but I am not sure if giving it a generic name like that makes sense. ...
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Just how unrealistic can I make my science fiction stories without alienating my readers?
Just how unrealistic can I make my science fiction stories without alienating my readers?
I read a lot of comics and often the science in them is just wrong, so I know a lot of people do this and they'...
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Does it make sense to use the English language ungrammatically because the worldbuilding of your world tells you to do so?
Does it make sense to use the English language ungrammatically because the worldbuilding tells you to do so? I was thinking about writing a story in a world where gender pronouns don't exist and ...
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How can I further develop this warrior fantasy story of mine?
My fantasy story is about an 18-year old knight who was trained from 5-years old to 18-years old as a knight. He is an expert when it comes to using a two-handed double-edged longsword as a weapon. He ...
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Are there two kinds of metanarratives or is it roughly synonymous to worldbuilding manuscript?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTCnnNmWzUE
This guy seems to conflate metanarrative and worldbuilding manuscript, which is different from metanarrative in the sense of a grand narrative that seeks to ...
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Use of racial slurs in a fantasy setting
I was thinking of making the characters use racial slurs, because there's no way that in a fantasy setting people are progressive and respect people of every group, but I wasn't sure what would be ...
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For a fantasy world, what word can I use instead of "human" in order to include elves, dwarves, etc.?
I've been creating this fantasy world where many different races coexist, so most aren't human. I'm trying to write all the worldbuilding details down, and I'm stuck on a phrase "She is the ...
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Using Labels on Character Sexuality (to add subtle worldbuilding)
For my fantasy story, I was thinking of having the characters say their sexuality, but in a different way. In most stories that do representation right, they show it, but do not directly say it. For ...
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Handling language barriers
I am trying to write the story for an RPG I will make in the future. The world itself is huge with multiple continents and landmasses, but the current story takes place on the main four continents. ...
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Do I need to create fictional places to make things work?
The story I'm writing takes place in the USA. I have a huge problem as my protagonist is crossing states and needs to end up at a place where a lot of things have to come together. Like there need to ...
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Are unexplained or inconsistent worldbuilding elements considered plot holes?
Are unexplained or inconsistent worldbuilding elements considered plot holes?
Let's say that coal and railroads are used in a medieval fantasy world, but people are still serfs and poor. If you don't ...
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Is it okay to use mythology names of creatures in a fantasy world?
In creating my world, I am trying to write down and create mythical wildlife and monsters. I had been thinking of using sirens as one of them. Not a creature based off of them, but the actual Greek ...
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Can you put your readers right in the middle of things without assuming they know anything?
Can you put your readers right in the middle of things without assuming they know anything? Let's take a very strange world with very unique world building like Made by Abyss or The Elder's Scrolls: ...
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Information dumping in the first few chapters?
Is it a good idea to do this? I just started writing and I dislike dialogue heavy texts so I have grown to write moderately descriptive stories instead; people have, however, told me that I should not ...
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Is a constantly changing world bad?
I'm making a story about a guy who travels through many worlds. There's also a world that he stays in for a larger period than others, with changing hierarchy, powers, laws, and so on.
I know that ...
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Is it ok to explain magic in a very abstract way in a fantasy setting?
I bound the spell to a different domain of existence, which allowed me
to change the secondary effect of gravity well, which make me immune
to any gravitational effect created by the spell.
This ...
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Can you write a short story that's only an exposition for worldbuilding?
Can you write a short story that's only an exposition for worldbuilding?
Let's say that you have a collection of science fiction short stories. In order to have strong worldbuilding, is it possible to ...
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Is there a method to determining how many books long your series needs to be?
I set out to write a trilogy, and feel my characters, world, and story are complex enough to warrant it. However, the more I dig into it, I’m sensing three books isn’t enough. But it will be a huge ...
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How should you refer to modern words and concepts like DNA and neutrons in a fantasy book?
How should you refer to modern words and concepts like DNA and neutrons in a fantasy book? I see people use DNA and neutrons in TV shows where the setting doesn't allow for it for simplicity sake, but ...
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How should you tell reader in what world your story takes place if you are writing a collection of short novels taking place in different world?
How should you tell reader in what world your story takes place if you are writing a collection of short novels taking place in different world? Is it a problem if in some situations it's almost ...
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Is there a good way to store worldbuilding information so that I can get a quick reference and overview without having to go through an entire doc?
Is there a good way to store worldbuilding information so that I can get a quick reference and overview without having to go through an entire doc? I don't need to store it, I can store it in a word ...
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How could I show good worldbuilding without ending up with info-dumps?
A horror story I am writing involves the protagonist in another world. It is like an isekai, but it is horror and the protagonist is trying to survive as long as possible.
The main story surrounds the ...
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Would it be wrong to base a fictional country on multiple real-world countries?
I was trying to work on the worldbuilding of my story. The concept of fictional nations being based on real ones is nothing new, but it is fun to do. Usually, when there's a nation based on actual ...
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Is there a good reason to use a fictional country in a world with an alternate earth?
Is there a good reason to use a fictional country in a world with an alternate earth? I see a lot of TV show where we have an alternate history on earth and where we see Russian, American people ...
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I want to name a fantasy species something, but it's the name of a similar species in WoW. Is that okay?
I came up with a name for a species in my fantasy world, and looked it up to see if it had been used already. Turns out it's the name of a species in WoW. They are both big cats. Am I infringing on ...
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How to coherently include medieval elements in a sci-fi story?
I'm trying to write a novel that's sci-fi but with medieval elements (something similar to the He-Man, She-Ra world). I'm thinking of having ships that travel through space and people living in ...
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How seriously can the wild wild west nature of pro wrestling be taken in a story or fictional world that takes place in a modern setting?
I wanted to take a realistic approach to pro wrestling when it came to world-building. If you are not a fan of pro wrestling, I would tell you that pro wrestling is an insane concept when taken ...
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In a story where magic exists, does magic leave a lot of room for hope and spiritual beliefs?
I'm kind of asking two questions here. One question is about hope and the other is about spiritual beliefs.
I like to keep my world grounded in reality. For some reason, I feel like this is super easy ...
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Is it acceptable to put 'music' into a book?
I am writing a story about an ancient race of creatures whose culture revolves around music. Each being in the society will have a unique tune or musical motive that represents them (i.e., character X'...
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In a superhuman society, would certain threats be underestimated by society?
Batman has an extremely dangerous supervillain gallery. One of those dangerous villains is Victor Zsasz. He is a very dangerous serial killer. Put him in the real world, and Victor Zsasz would be the ...
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Tips for brainstorming solutions to plot holes & worldbuilding
Coming up with ideas for where I want a plot to go & what I want to happen to my characters is easy, but then I find myself asking all kinds of things, like ‘Why’ or ‘How;’ and as a result, I get ...
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What are some things to consider when it comes to superpowers and criminal organizations coexisting in the same superhero world?
Fictional works about criminal organizations, like Scarface, God Father, and Sons of Anarchy are where I get my notes from. I would like to see how superpowers would look in the criminal underworld. I ...
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Is it odd to overestimate the danger of peak human characters or characters without powers?
What does peak human mean in my world?
There are two types of peak humans in my world: physical types and mental types. Physical types are the top tier in skills that involve hand-to-hand combat or ...
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When it comes to superhero stories, would an audience be accepting of a weak character that is superhuman?
I find myself limited or stuck between writing two types of characters. One character type is the Batman type. The type where the hero can be vulnerable to any form of damage and can be taken out ...
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When it comes to superhero stories, particularly the X-Men. Would it be too much to focus on other types of superhumans in the setting?
In most kitchen sink or sandbox worlds like Marvel and DC, the superhumans who got their powers from genetics (i.e. the X gene or DC's Meta gene) seem to be the ones that get the most attention from ...
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Is it odd to have a bunch of characters with unique personalities and gimmicks in one place?
I'm writing a fighting/combat type of story like Bloodsport. In Pro Wrestling companies like the WWE and TNA and also fighting games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken it's very common for ...
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Can I make a complicated power system?
I was trying to come up with a power system. I didn't manage to but I decided to just learn first about power systems from other authors and other series. I was searching anime, TV shows, and manga. I ...
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How do you respectfully portray a character that cannot walk when they have the power to visit an alternate dimension where they can walk?
Context
In my fantasy world, there are two realities that people travel back and forth between constantly. There is the "real world" where everyone travels when they are awake, and then ...
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Is it okay if my fictional country is like a real country?
I fear that my fictional nation may be too similar. It is based on Great Britain, and is in high fantasy, but this is the description:
Similarities:
It is an archipelago.
It is somewhere similar ...
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