Tag: Worldbuilding

5 Most Overlooked Resources for Worldbuilding Research

When you’re worldbuilding, you want to make the world you’re creating feel both realistic and new. That means you need elements that feel familiar and elements that are unexpected (especially if your story is fantasy or science fiction). Research is useful for the new aspects and absolutely vital for giving an impression of realism. Besides the library and the internet in general...

An April Fools’ Day Writing Prompt

Happy April 1st! April Fools’ Day: The day of mild to malevolent trickery, laughter, and hurt feelings. If you’ve ever played a trick on someone for April Fools’, or if you were unfortunate enough to have a major one played on you, then you probably have some strong emotional memories about April 1st. Time to turn that torment into writing inspiration! Here...

Fairy Folklore as Inspiration for Writing

From what I’ve seen, every culture has folklore involving fairies or other spirits, and they make great inspiration for all genres. Although serious usage may require more research than a St. Patrick’s Day writing prompt. Whether you need fresh ideas for types of magic (worldbuilding), ways to frighten people, or even human behavior, fairy stories have a lot to offer – as...

Worldbuilding Without Traditions Feels Fake

December is one month where many different cultural holidays overlap. Even those without strong religious beliefs often have certain activities they associate with the holiday season. That makes it a particularly appropriate time to talk about traditions and worldbuilding. As far as I know, every single culture in existence has traditions that it relies on (they are generally different from culture...