World Building That Creates Character
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World building is one of my favorite parts of the writing process—makes sense, I love writing & working with fantasy writers for a reason. It’s also one of the most important parts of your writing. Why?
Because world building touches every other part of your manuscript.
Especially characterization.
Think about it: the same thing is true in real life. Whether you like it or not, you’re likely a product of where and how you were raised. Even if you’ve devoted your life to breaking away from the parental mold, you’re still reacting to the norms and expectations of the people who raised you.
When you write stories that are set in our world, you have an advantage. You can go and visit the places where your characters were raised. You can experience life there. If you’re writing about your own hometown, you can even draw on your own experiences to create your characters.
When you’re writing about an invented world, you don’t have the same opportunity to research the cultural background of your characters. Instead, you have to create all of the cultural influences that shaped them. You have to invent the biases, assumptions, beliefs, and cultural practices that have made them who they are. If you’re dealing with multiple cultures, you’ll have to repeat this task for each culture that’s represented by a main character.
Before you get overwhelmed, you don’t have to create every single part of your world’s culture. Especially if there are parts of the society that your main characters aren’t going to interact with at all. [Need help deciding what is or isn’t relevant to your story, grab my free guide to setting world building priorities here!]
He might not know it, but this child is being shaped by the world around him, just as much as he may grow to shape it.
Now, here are my tips for creating world building that will help you create nuanced, consistent characters:
1) Consider how people have or haven’t adapted to the physical environment
It may seem odd to start this discussion with the physical world of the story, but environment is a crucial factor in the development of a culture. Any extreme aspects of the physical world are going to impact the beliefs and practices of your society. For example, a culture with dramatic seasonal changes likely has a mythology to explain how those seasons have come to be. Even if that society has advanced to the point that those beliefs no longer rule lives, there may be leftover traditions that reflect those early beliefs.
On a logistical level, the degree to which a character reacts to weather events will reflect their past experiences. For example, a few years ago a tornado warning popped up on my phone. My boyfriend who grew up in central Pennsylvania didn’t worry at all—he grew up getting tornado warnings all the time that didn’t amount to much. I, however, grew up in western Washington where tornado warnings don’t happen—like at all. Naturally, I panicked.
On the flip side, I am very confident driving in the rain (yes, everything you’ve heard about Seattle’s weather is true). My boyfriend is far less confident driving in heavy rain because he grew up in an area where you could just wait out a rainstorm and then proceed with your day.
The list goes on and on. When you grow up in a certain climate, you naturally pick up on all the tricks and tips for dealing with that climate. You take those for granted, but for someone else those everyday actions represent a revolutionary way to live.
2) Determine the assumptions and biases that shape your character’s perspective
It’s not enough to create cool traditions or beliefs for your culture. You also have to determine the value judgments that go alongside those practices and beliefs so that you know how your character will react to situations or people that deviate from the norm.
For example, maybe you’ve created a world in which everyone wears pink to celebrate certain religious holidays. But what does it mean if someone fails to wear pink?
Does it signify that they’re a non-believer?
Does it mean they belong to a separate faction that believes religion should be kept private and not broadcast via clothing choices?
Does it signify that they are lower caste and aren’t allowed to wear the requisite pink?
Does it mark them as a rebel? A sinner? An academic? Something else entirely.
Then, you need to decide what the stakes are for your characters. Is failing to wear pink going to result in some side-eye and gossip or an arrest and public flogging? Creating stakes around cultural beliefs & practices can also help you create conflict in your story. Look for places where you can create misunderstandings and disagreements that will set your characters at odds and force them to step outside their cultural comfort zone.
3) Determine your character’s frame of reference and stick to it.
Once you’ve created these cultural practices and developed the biases and assumptions surrounding them, you have to make sure that you filter your POV characters’ thoughts and reactions through the lens of their cultural background.
If you’ve invented a culture that is completely different from your own, it’s essential that you think through all of the implications for how your character would think and act.
That sounds easy enough on paper, but it can be incredibly difficult to maintain a unique perspective throughout the novel, especially when the culture you’ve created is very different from the one you’ve grown up in.
For example, I once read a manuscript in which the society was matriarchal. The men were nomadic, really only coming back to reproduce, while the women and children stayed together in self-governed bands. It was a cool concept and a unique world. Then, the author introduced a male character who stayed behind to take an active part in his child’s life.
The POV character, a female leader in the society, celebrated this character’s choices even though his actions flew in the face of every tradition and value system already established in the world. In that instance, the author’s real-world beliefs were creeping into their created society in a way that didn’t fit the pre-established rules).
It doesn’t make sense for the leader of this society to celebrate a father who breaks from tradition. Instead, she would see him as a threat to her status and the social structures that keep her in power. Even if she accepts his choices, she’s still going to see him as odd. Why? Because his behavior doesn’t make sense within the context she’s grown up in.
As you write or revise your manuscript, look for places where your own biases and assumptions are creeping in and overriding your characters’ voices or perspectives.
4) Understand which beliefs your character will lean on in times of trouble
Conflict is essential in a novel. If you’re doing it right, your novel’s plot is going to challenge your protagonist in ways their first act self never could have imagined.
When times are tough, people tend to revert back to the beliefs that were emphasized in childhood, even if those beliefs aren’t central to their lives anymore. Think of the person that only prays when facing turbulence on an airplane or when they get a scary diagnosis from their doctor. They may not think about their spirituality on a day-to-day basis, but when they’re faced with something big, scary, and unpredictable, they turn to those early beliefs—whatever they may be. Negative experiences can also bring out the worst in a person—i.e., the person who reverts to nasty racial stereotypes when they feel threatened.
As you develop your character’s backstory, think of the cultural influences that have shaped them. Did they participate in daily prayers or were they shamed as the one person in their community who didn’t take part in the dominant religion? Did they constantly hear their parents talking about the nasty, no-good orcs down the road or were they one of those orcs being unfairly judged by the other villagers?
One way to figure out your characters underlying beliefs is to write scenes that explore their defining moments. I love the exercises from Lisa Cron’s book Story Genius. To give those exercises a speculative fiction spin, pay careful attention to the way that the world building shows up in those defining moment scenes. Think about the cultural biases or beliefs that were in play when your character had this life-altering experience. Even if that defining moment scene never makes it into the book, working them out will give you a better sense of the cultural elements that have left an indelible mark on your protagonist. Then, when they’re struggling through the conflicts you’ve forced upon them, you’ll know beliefs or memories to lean on in describing their reactions.
Conclusion
One last thought before you go. If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, wondering how you can ever develop the world, create your characters, and still have time to write a novel, it’s okay. There is a lot of work to be done, but you’ve got this.
Keep in mind, you don’t have to come up with the entire culture before you start writing or even before you start your character bios. Instead, think of world building and character creation as an iterative process. Start with whichever element you’re most comfortable with and build on the other elements as you go.
Maybe you start by sketching out your world, then you start building characters to populate it. Or, maybe you do the opposite, developing your characters first and then designing the world that created them. Or, start with the plot and discover your world and characters as you free-write your first draft. The only right way is the way that works for you.
No matter where you start, I recommend that you go back and forth between all three of these key elements: plot, world building, and characterization throughout the writing process. As you make decisions for each element, consider how the others will be impacted. Then, revise and repeat. It may take some time to get right, but that’s the beauty and challenge of world building.
Happy writing!
FYI: This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. For more information click here and thanks, as always, for your support!
