Magic and lore: world-building in fantasy fiction
Jools’s workshop on October 17th will focus on world-building in fantasy fiction. It will explore what makes fantasy worlds come alive and how to go about crafting them, from the big picture right down to the details. The session will include guided discussions and practical exercises to unlock imagination and write coherent, immersive fantasy worlds. We asked Jools to tell us a bit more about what world-building is and what makes an engaging fantasy world. To book for the session, click here.
As a writer and reader of fantasy, I enjoy different types of worlds. I am currently writing a ‘high fantasy’ project that I anticipate will become a series, but I also love a world that is recognisable as our own but with magic that’s just out of sight. Because I have read fantasy since childhood and grew up on Alan Garner and J.R.R. Tolkien, it felt natural for me to write that genre, so I threw myself into my first fantasy writing project in 2016.
Jools Warner
World-building is key to fantasy fiction, and the possibilities are endless. While the vast potential is liberating, such freedom can also be intimidating: how and where to start? To plan or not to plan? What to focus on, and in how much detail? Is the world connected in any way to the ‘real’ world, or is it somewhere totally different? How important is lore? And what about … *dramatic pause* … the question of time? These are just some of the many questions that can come up for writers of fantasy, and all of them have multiple answers. So much so, that it can be easy to get bogged down and miss the most important things, which are to get started and to keep going.
For me, successful world-building immerses the reader and creates a vivid world through attention to the right details, effective description, depth, and texture. The least engaging worlds, I find, are those that rely on tired tropes, such as a protagonist who is the ‘chosen one’, who overcomes every challenge too easily. This type of thing can be disappointingly superficial.
Fantasy is such a broad and imaginative genre; I want to be introduced to worlds and stories I haven’t seen multiple times before. Setting up a world that works is central to giving the characters and story a believable and interesting place to live – and, hopefully, the potential for many more stories to grow over time.
In the workshop, we will explore some of the big questions as springboards for discussion, and also talk about what works well in fantasy worlds, and what doesn’t. However, the main focus will be on practical exercises as ways to get started, or continue with the process of world-building.
My top tips: Be open. Listen. Observe. Allow. Describe.