World Building in the Real World

These are my notes from a recent workshop I gave at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, including some hypothetical questions to ask yourself as part of the world-building exercise.

I've also found my notes on the different kinds of fantasy and can better clarify my take on the difference between urban or contemporary fantasy and magical realism. Magical realism is about magical things that happen in the middle of everyday settings or events. The characters don't change the world but instead are changed. In fantasy, there's usually an external enemy threatening some part of the world, and defeating that enemy changes the world, while in magical realism isn't more about the growth or transformation of that one character or small part of the world. In fantasy, the magical "world" is fully developed, while in magical realism there may be just one magical element, and even that may be ambiguous, so it's up to the reader to decide if magic was literally involved or if the magic was more of a metaphor.

Word version of this document

Paranormal or not ­ the world in a book is an alternate reality. At the very least, it's a world in which these characters really exist and in which the book doesn't. What other differences are there?

Apply the guidelines of fantasy world building to your real world setting -- not just what's there but how it applies to and affects story and characters

-- people, their cultures

-- history

-- money

-- food

-- religion

-- education

Also may create real-world "worlds" like fictional small towns, even cities

When you incorporate fantasy or paranormal elements, you have to build three worlds -- the "real" world, the "magical" world and the point where these intersect.

The intersection, where the magical and real worlds meet, is going to be a major source of conflict and/or humor in a story. If there is no intersection, why is your story taking place in the "real" world?

Point of intersection is often your main character -- person who lives in and deals with both worlds.

Big questions:

How much does the real world know about the unreal world?

Who knows it?

What do they know?

Magic:

-- From magical side:

Is it a secret?

Why?

What are the consequences for letting the secret out?

How do they hide what they do?

How do people learn about the existence of magic?

-- From "real" side

What do they know?

If they know something, what do they think about it?

Fear, honor, revere, envy

Does the “real” world have rules imposed on magic?

Can someone cross from one side to another?

Mythical Creatures:

Fairies, the sidhe, vampires, werewolves

Do they live in their own society, or do they mingle with the real world?

Are they subject to real world laws?

Is their existence known?

How do they hide themselves?

What do they know of the real world?

What do they think about it -- feel superior, envious, want to control?

Economic system

Do magical people need real money?

Do they have their own monetary system?

Can magic be used to subvert the monetary system -- make money out of thin air, alchemy?

Social/political system

Does magic have influence?

Are there any rules about using magic for influence? Who imposes those rules, the outside world or the magical world? What are the consequences if someone breaks those rules?

Religion

What do dominant religions know about the paranormal elements, how do they react if they do know?

What beliefs do people in the magical world have?

Impact of paranormal world on real world

Body count from dangerous creatures -- on Buffy, how many people needed to support a vampire population?

Real-world consequence for supernatural activity --Supernatural -- look like serial killers for taking out shapeshifters, people possessed by demons