Writing with Soft Worldbuilding: Write Amazing Books with the Easy Way of Worldbuilding

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Chapter 1: Worldbuilding

Stories are like magic. They can take us out of reality and introduce us to a whole new world; we can live new lives through them. Stories are told worldwide through different mediums. Thousands of years ago, stories were cemented in poems and songs as they were easier to remember. We then started to write and read these tales in the forms of novels, plays, etc. Storytelling then expanded once again, and now we are able to tell them through TV shows, movies, video games, and so on. Now is a great time to be a storyteller as there are multiple mediums through which we can utilize; platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., and even social media platforms have given us an opportunity to showcase our work.

No matter where you go in the world, each country, city, and/or village will have its own story. We are introduced to them from childhood because it is a great way to present the world and its mannerisms to children. They not only help expand imagination but also form a beautiful bond between the storyteller and the listener. Reading books or watching films are often categorized as activities one does to unwind. The reason for this is that, through these mediums, we are transported away from our problems and into a world where everything turns out to be good in the end. Stories help us forget our troubles for the time we are immersed in them, and one of the primary reasons for this is that stories introduce a new world to us━a world that is different from ours. This world can be aspirational, sometimes magical, and at times, scary, but the world that writers and filmmakers build is the most essential part of telling a story. Often we see parents, while narrating a fairy tale to their children, tend to make different voices and sounds for individual characters and scenarios that are part of the fairy tale. Why is this? Well, it is all a part of worldbuilding. The parent cannot visually show this world to the child; therefore, they do what comes closest to making this world believable for the child, which is through sound and enactment.

In worldbuilding, there isn’t any supernatural, not really—just a different order of the natural. (Jameson, 2018)

Worldbuilding is one of the most essential points of determination in whether a book or film is successful or not. In fantasy fiction books, we have seen how much the world that has been built is important to the reader. For instance, after the Harry Potter series ended, fans desired more as they still wanted to be a part of the wizarding world in some capacity. So, J.K. Rowling came up with Pottermore, the official wizarding website built by her where fans could be a part of the world by getting sorted into their wizarding house, choosing a wand, discovering their Patronus, and even buying a virtual pet. It is fascinating to see how involved fans can get in a fictional world. Another example would be fans of the Star Trek series being familiar with its language: Klingon. The fans then became a community and have a yearly Comic-Con, where they can dress up as their favorite characters and have a great time. These stories help bring people together and give them a feeling of being a part of something bigger than themselves. Worldbuilding puts life into a story that otherwise would just be a simple plot. Below are the first few steps that need to be taken by any writer to venture into worldbuilding.

The First Steps

The first step in worldbuilding would be deciding the genre of the book as it is an essential factor while building the world. A horror genre-based book/film will have a very different approach to that of a fantasy fiction one. Let's take the horror genre as an example. Assume your story is about two friends who take a vacation to an island where bizarre incidents start to happen to them. You have to decide the following now: where are these two friends from? The location of the island━what kind of island is it? Is it a deserted island or a resort island? Where are the bizarre incidents happening, and at what time? Are there other people on this island? If so, what language do they speak, and what do they wear? Let us assume that the story's climax turns out to be that it was the island's local residents who were upset by all the tourists, and so they made false stories of ghosts and tried to scare the tourists away from there. Knowing your entire story is very important, and all beats must be clear in your head as a storyteller. Building a world in a story does not only involve knowing what the locations and visuals would look like. It also means knowing each and every character in your story inside out; knowing exactly how you want to progress with the story is of utmost importance.

Some genres need more effort put into worldbuilding than others. For instance, in the above horror-story example, not much is needed to be put into building the physical world. The case is vastly different in a fantasy or science fiction story. Not only is the storyteller focusing on building the characters, their motives, and how the world synchronizes with the plot, but the writer also has to build an entirely new world. Let us take a new example, this time that of a fantasy fiction story. This tale is about a village in an enchanted forest that has mythical creatures such as fairies and goblins. The protagonist is a 19-year-old girl who is being sent to Earth to carry out an important mission, and the success of the mission is crucial because it will determine the survival of humanity. The major conflict in this story is whether the girl can save humans from themselves. It is a very straightforward plot with a hero on a mission to save the world. However, now we are not just building one but two worlds. The first world we need to build is the enchanted forest. The storyteller must be able to answer a variety of questions. What is the history of this enchanted forest? Where in the universe is it located? How do the inhabitants travel