Wikipedia No Longer Being Anywhere Near The Top Of Search Results When Looking Up Anything Feels Eviscerating

Approaching Your World-Building Through Two Perspectives

Creating a new world for a story is intimidating! Sometimes it feels like as you're writing, you're tacking on world-building details that get buried in your draft.

I've also re-read my work and felt like the characters were vivid, but their world was blurry. There are a few ways to help your work when you come across these problems.

Perspective 1: Zoom In From Outer Space

Imagine looking at your world, country, city, or any other location from outer space. Create a new document or grab a fresh sheet of paper and start taking notes as details come to you, like:

Is your world mostly water, land, or a mix of both?

Do the inhabitants of your world survive on oxygen?

Is your protagonist more human or an otherwordly creature?

Where on that planet or in that country does your protagonist's story take place?

After getting these ideas down, you can zoom in a bit closer. Ask yourself questions like:

What's the geography like where your protagonist lives/experiences your plot?

How does society operate in that location? (Are there economic classes, politics influencing their lives, discrimination holding them back, etc.)

Who fits best in that society, who doesn't, and why?

What does your protagonist like about that location and what do they not like?

Zoom in further if you want to start your world's backstory. You should be able to answer things like:

What local or national history created that societal or political system?

Did any historical event take place that influenced your protagonist's current life? (Maybe their grandparents relocated after a regional drought devastated their farms and others nearby. There could have been a national tragedy or success.)

What is your protagonist's personal history with the area? (Are the fond of their hometown because it's where they were born? Did they move there as a kid and meet their antagonist?)

This method is best for people who love to plan their work. Enjoy learning about the world that influence's your protagonist's journey and remember that it's okay to start writing at any point!

Perspective 2: Start With Your Protagonist

You can also start world-building by focusing on your character. Address details of their personality like:

What is their normal routine?

How does their routine work with or against their local society?

Do they enjoy their current lifestyle?

What's most important to them?

What do they believe in, outside of themself and their abilties?

Then you can start asking the most important question—why.

Why does your character never eat meat?

Why doesn't their current life serve their interests?

Why do they have the relationships with friends and family members that they have?

Why do they have their specific set of values?

Why does their life start changing at the inciting incident of your story?

The "whys" will lead you down natural paths to expanding your new world. It's better suited to people who write without planning—just make sure you keep a record of your answers/world-building details along the way!

Play Around With Your World Building Routine

Creating your first in-depth world is a challenge, but it will come much more easily with practice. Try both perspectives in your writing to see what works for you!

WE HAVE A PHOTO

OF A BLACK. HOLE.

THIS IS SO FANTASTIC!

Scientist: “w….what the fuck is that?”

I love how the search function on this site is absolute garbage. I can look up a post word for word and I will NEVER find it

Streaming Service Rant

Had an impromptu chat with @ushi418 about fashion history the other day- thought I’d post it here as a quick ref for people!

normalise being bad at roofs in minecraft. normalise not being able to make an aesthetically pleasing roof to save your life in minecraft.

The older they are the more eldritch they become

Something different from Beetlejuice? More likely than you think! These are angels!

OK Tumblr Geriatric Ward, let’s talk about your posture-

there are things you should be doing now to prevent yourself from starting to look like 🥀

Why does it matter? Future you would like to avoid the pain, limited motion, and fall risk that goes along with worsening posture.

What’s the focus?

1. Keep the flexibility in your spine

2. Stretch the muscles in the front

3. Strengthen the muscle in the back

Here are some simple things you can do daily while sitting and when you get up to go into the bathroom or the kitchen

Keep the flexibility by doing these repeated movements: 10 repetitions several times a day

The goal is to give yourself a double or triple chin. Keep your nose pointing forward, don’t let it tip up or down

Thoracic extension- use a chair with a seat back that comes up to the level of your shoulder blades. Try to bend back over the top of the chair without arching away from the seat back and without extending your neck. If the pressure from the top of the chair is uncomfortable you can place a towel there

Stretch the muscles in the front by using a door frame. This one will feel good afterwards

If this isn’t enough of a stretch you can do one side at a time. If you have the right arm up step forward with the right foot and turn slightly to the left. Then do it on the other side.

Strengthen the muscles in the back by squeezing your shoulder blades together for a count of 10 and then repeating 10 times. You can do this several times a day Hint: Don’t lift your shoulder blades up

There are lots more exercises for strengthening your back muscles but this is a good starting point and easy to do. I like doing it while driving

Tips:

Do the best you can

If it hurts stop

Envision future you saying thank you each time you do one of the exercises