World building questions help us think deeper about place and the many layered details that make up worlds and civilizations. Explore 300 prompts in thirty categories.
Category: Worldbuilding
World building tips often focus on fantastical genres such as fantasy and sci-fi, because they involve creating worlds different to our own. It’s important to create immersive, interesting and believable settings, whatever your genre. To build a detailed world, one to rival Westeros, Hogwarts (or Dickens’ London), use these world building tips:
In epic fantasy world building, natural environments provide possible hazards (freezing cold, dangerous volcanoes) and mood or atmosphere. Even in ‘realist’ fiction set in our own world, environment (such as the details that make a coastal city familiar, for example), is a key part of setting. Read tips for creating an engaging natural world for your story:
In novel-writing, world building is an important concept, especially in genres such as fantasy and science fiction that explore alternate worlds. Good world building questions will help you create a detailed and immersive world. Here are some questions to ask: