Worldbuilding: A River Runs Through It

AKA if your tracking down a monster scene has stalled, and that monster is associated with water, you might need to know where the docks are. And where the rivers run. And which direction, and how do they affect the city walls….

Worldbuilding: To Pet is Human

I am bemused. Because of this vid.

Water droplet on jumping spider.

Things Inflicted Upon a Poor Isekai Protagonist

A bit of Jason lamenting on things present and absent. In no particular order.

No tomatoes.

Worldbuilding: The Stage Set

Part of what you have to consider in building your story is, how much room do you have to work with? Physically.

Worldbuilding: Fantastic vs. Consistent

There are many reasons you can jam up while writing a story. One of the most frustrating ones is when you finally realize the idea you thought was rock-solid and hot iron ready to forge… might have a few holes in it. Bad enough if they’re “frivolous” details, like whether or not your general’s hats have gold braid, or rubies, or are as plain as possible to avoid sniper fire. Worse if you find a hole in the foundation of your idea. Or something that might lead you to tear up part of the foundation to make sure it gets done right. Like, say, the plumbing.

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Colors of Another Sky: Knit One, World Two

Research is critical in building any good world, and especially in an isekai. In part because you not only have to figure out the odd details of your fantastic world, you also have to make a good guess what the local characters find odd about their sudden transplant. A lot of isekai works around this with either the reincarnation gambit, or by dropping a lone character into an isolated spot so they have a chance to filch some local clothes and otherwise disguise themselves as just more ordinary kinds of strange.

Worldbuilding: Conquering the Map

Okay, someone needs to do a Grand Epic Fantasy where the Evil Overlord… has some trouble conquering exactly where he intends to, because he doesn’t have a good enough map.

No, really. This has happened. Probably multiple times through history. “Ramses invading Syria, that was an accident,” isn’t just a bit of dialogue from The Mummy.

Worldbuilding: Soap, Taxes, Consequences

Way too many writers seem to create dirty, decrepit fantasy or historical settings, without giving much thought as to why things might be grimy. Or why not.

For example, Victorian England, specifically London, is infamous for being dark, with choking smogs and lower classes regarded as filthy. There is a fair amount of truth to this… but historically, we as writers should look deeper. There were a lot of factors involved in this grime, but three of the big ones were heating, the window tax, and the soap tax.

Worldbuilding: Blood Relations

Who are your characters related to? Biologically, and otherwise?

(Including otherwise because if someone animates a gargoyle statue and then adopts it, I think that counts as a relation. Though that may depend on the world and the sentience of all involved.)

Worldbuilding: Life on the Rung

Consider the step, in all its permutations; from a niche chipped out of a rock face to grand stairways to the lightest aluminum folding ladder. We think of being human as working with our hands, but we shape a lot of our world for our feet.