World Building: Where Stories Come Alive
Ok. Here comes the teacher in me! Time for today’s lesson!
Building a world isn’t just about setting the stage—it’s about giving your story a place to come alive. A good world deepens the story, shapes characters, sharpens themes, and creates a space both you and your audience will want to return to again and again.
Why create a new world?
When you build a world, you give yourself permission to imagine anything—new societies, cultures, even rules of reality. That freedom makes stories richer and more immersive, because the world feels consistent and believable. It also grounds your characters. Where they come from, what they believe, and what they fight for are all influenced by the world around them.
World-building also lets you tackle big ideas in fresh ways. Panem in The Hunger Games explores inequality, the Star Wars galaxy wrestles with morality and power, and Wonderland plays with logic and nonsense. By filtering real issues through fictional settings, creators can spark reflection without being too direct.
And let’s be honest—world-building is fun. I loved sketching Lake Tearas and designing its historic center of town, winding roads that follow the scenic shoreline, and rolling hills on which several important scenes take place. Even a dusty fairground where love ignites beneath a moonlit sky.
Fans (me included) love poring over maps, lore, and hidden details. Entire communities spring up around shared worlds, keeping them alive through fanfiction, art, and role-play. That’s how some universes, like Star Wars or Marvel, turn into massive franchises that thrive for decades. (Who saw the first Star Wars in the movie theatre back in 1977? Yup. That was me! Who still loves it? Me again!)
On a personal level, world-building is incredibly rewarding. It’s a workout for my imagination and problem-solving skills. I’m not just inventing—I’m designing systems, testing “what if” scenarios, and figuring out how everything connects. Best of all? It’s a chance to go old-school with colored pencils and paper.
So where do you start?
Begin simple. Sketch a rough map—even blobs for land and rivers to help anchor your world. I sketch using a notebook, then use digital tools, ie. Adobe Animate or Powerpoint’s drawing tools to flesh it out. I plan to hire a digital designer to take the map of Lake Tearas to the next level.
Next, layer in culture: What do people eat? How do they dress? What traditions or quirks make them unique? Add rules if your world has magic or advanced tech, and don’t forget history—wars, disasters, or legends that still echo in the present. I spent a great deal of time exploring Google maps of Ireland, studying the backdrop of the Great Famine. (Someday I’ll take a trip to the Emerald Isle in person).
You don’t have to create everything at once. Start with one city, village, or spaceship and expand as your story grows. The goal is to build a stage where your characters can shine and your story can flourish.