scriptstructure:

From Naomi Davis (@NaomisLitPix on twitter):

• SFF worldbuilding has as many layers as the characters w/in it. You can’t sacrifice one for the other. It’s easy to duplicate a world that’s familiar in landscape &society, but coming up w/something original&immersive is another art altogether.
• Start with broad location. On Earth? Not on Earth? Space station? What kind of age? Does your story require a city? A mountain? A forest? A river? A tower? A volcano? A cave? Okay, cool. So take your required familiar element and see what you can do to make it different.
• If a city: How do the buildings look? Are there streets? Tunnels? What materials are common—glass, stone, brick, sand, etc? What is energy here? How do families dwell? Are there families? Use 5 senses to develop a list to draw from later when writing or revising.
• If a mountain: How tall? Shape? What surrounds it? What is it made of? What creatures lurk on the sides? Is there a path? Why or why not? What can you see from afar in the different stages of ascent?
• If a forest cool/ How thick is the canopy? Is it green? Are there leaves, or feathers, or needles or…? How does the clothing interact with this landscape? Is it suitable or do they need to improvise? What noises are constant here?
• If a space station: what is currency here? Any permits needed? Fuel? Food? Temptations? Someone in charge? What’s the floor made of? Is there a floor? Is there a ceiling? What is in the air? How do these things challenge your MC?
• Whatever landscape you choose, think about what entering this landscape does to the mental state of your characters. Again, use 5 senses, and attach emotions to each—and each character may process these things differently. This is immersion and authenticity.
• But few worlds have just one landscape. And you don’t have to chose between standard Minecraft biomes when developing these. Maybe there’s a biome that’s all rivers and cliffs. Maybe there’s a desert with spires of crystal for shelter.
• Maybe there are trees that only bear leaves for a day&the rest of the year you’re walking on a maddening crunch of crispy dry leaves. Maybe there’s no such thing as trees. Maybe your MC has never encountered a bird b4. Maybe sand mets into glass if you stand on it too long.
• Maybe the jungle smells like chocolate. Maybe the trees scream if you peel off the bark. Maybe there are lizards who try to climb under your toenails. Maybe there is grass so soft it’s tempting to rub on your skin, but is highly toxic and must be avoided at all costs.
• Maybe each level of ascent up a mountain triggers a diff uncontrollable emotion. Maybe there are rocks that sing when you step on them. Maybe fire can’t ignight on found wood, only harvested wood, but harvesting it causes the trees to swing at you in self defense.
• The possibilities are truely endless. The originality of your landscape is truly what allows your readers to dive into the pages and forget they even have another life to participate in at all. This is a good thing.
• Also, as characters enter a new landscape, what happens to the emotions&power dynamic of the group? Fear changes everything. So does hunger. And cold, and heat, and humidity, and getting lost. Keep these things in mind.
• So a broad landscape is selected&fleshed out. Let’s expand further. Weather! is it consistent? Does it change based on season or location? Are there standard days, or long stretches of dark and light? How does the setting compensate for weather problems?
• What about food? Alcohol? Drugs? How many kinds are there? Who is in charge of supplying this? Do nuts/berries exist? Is cooking a thing? Is there one standard food animal and everything else is sacred?
• From there: religion! What IS sacred? What do characters fear will happen if they don’t uphold beliefs? What are the gestures/ words/tools they use to communicate moments of spirituality? How does society deal with different/opposing faiths? Is the faith’s realness in question?
• Now let’s talk clothing! It’s easy to plunge into a story with a battery of standard clothing items: a dress, trousers, belts. These work well for most humanoid characters. How can they be made different? How do they decide what to wear? Who controls this?
• Consider material. Is the belt made of woven fronds? Leather? Cord? Hair? Does the shirt clasp or tie closed? What is armor? Why is it effective in this world? Is there only one place to get a certain replacement? Great way to drive your MC to new location.
• Also consider political/ authority structure. I see so. Many. Monarchies. In SFF queries. Does there need to be a King? What about democracy? What about anarchy? Who controls whom? Why? WHat do others think of the authority structure? Play with these things.
• Backstory is part of worldbuilding. Why do characters live/ scatter the way they do? Was there a war? A fire? A drought? A disease? Did it impact all locations or just one? How does this history influence attitudes& religions&power dynamics? Fear of recurrence?
• Getting closer to your character lens, what in your MC’s history chapes the way they interpret the landscape? Did they lose family once&develop cynical/fearful attitude to one or more culture/system/structure/location? Is there racism? How is this navigated?
• Is education encouraged/required/forbidden? What forms of education are available&to whom? Consider social/financial class structures in this. Consider what things are available to higher classes&where your MC sits in this structure.
• Medicine: How is it accessed? How does it work? Is any of it extinct? Is it viewed as a useful tool or a form of witchcraft? Or reserved for the elite? Oral/topical/suppository (maybe avoid that last one.)
• Is travel permitted/ forbidden? Why? Fear shapes societies in powerful ways. If you doubt that, look at atrocities happening in the real world today. Fear, used to manipulate those who are vulnerable to it, particularly levied with false promises of prosperity, is a powerful tool.
• Once you’ve developed many of these elements, developing your magical system/ plot/monsters becomes easier because you can clearly see where your MC sits in soceity and history, and WHAT THEY FEAR OR NEED, which is what drives your plot. This is motivation. This is stakes.
• By no means is this list exhaustive. And as always these are just my own opinons. But if you need a jumping off point for how to develop a thorough, immersive SFF world, I hope this helps open your mind and expand your worldbuilding beyond what you’ve already read and watched.
• Aaaand @Raeloverde brings up another point: language! How many? Who speaks what and why? Are any forbidden? You don’t need to write out a Tolkien Elf languagge itself, but understand how language influences culture & vice versa. Are there accents? Language barriers? Translators?