Worldbuilding
I have realised one thing, and that is that I have no idea how to build a world. My main focus has always been characters. I'm not sure I'm any good at it but it feels comfortable. Building a world feels like an impossible task. I guess that's why I've always leaned towards fanfiction instead, where the world is already built for you.
However, I am a pragmatic person and as always I will approach the matter with a problem-solving attitude! Don't know about something? Learn about it. So I've started watching a few videos on worldbuilding to orient myself and find my foot.
What I've learnt so far
Some people are super into worldbuilding and sometimes get lost in it, so much they end up not writing the story at all. That's something I can definitely see happening for me, however, I think I'm more likely to get stuck before even starting, overwhelmed by such a daunting task.
I started with a short series by Tale Foundry, which has some interesting insight.
Place and setting
A place is determined by period and location. Eg: medieval Italy
A setting is determined by period, location, level of conflict and duration: Eg. a medieval Italian villa frantically trying to create a quarantine in the days before the black plague arrives.
I found this distinction very helpful to focus on the relevant parts of the world I will need to build. It also helped me picturing my world not as a fixed thing where the action happens but rather a series of dynamic settings that happen over time.
The 3 F of worldbuilding.
The video touched upon what they called the 3 F of worldbuilding:
*Free design: free development of a fictional world, independently of settings *Fixed design: designed based around specific settings *Found design: design that needs to be done because of events happening in the story
I'm mostly interested in Fixed design, as I've always done well setting some boundaries to my imagination. The world will be functional to the story I want to tell.
Worldanvil.com
I've watched a few other videos about writing fantasy story and more than one mentioned World Anvil, which is described as “a set of worldbuilding tools that helps you create, organize and store your world setting.”
I may give it go.