Articles – How to Write – How to Create
World Building is ultimately about creating the illusion of reality and depth. To create that illusion, we need to use details, to evoke mood and tone with details, and to put points on the notional map of the world we are creating.
Creating the world that your story takes place in is a difficult and vital art, and one that is best approached by building it up from small details.
Getting notes and feedback is vital to making sure that your writing is great, but to get the most from them you have to know yourself as a writer, what you are trying to achieve, so that you can make sure that you solve genuine problems with solutions that fit you.
To be able to create, you need endurance. To build endurance, you need to make a conscious practice of doing what makes you feel energised, making a habit of sleep, and recognising when you have done hard work and resting.
Ideas don’t arrive by lightning strike. They come from paying attention to the world and gathering what you find curious.
You should take notes. It captures ideas and observations in a way that lasts, and lets you look at an idea with fresh eyes when you come back to the note. Taking notes makes you observe the world. It makes you better.