Everyone knows that one of the hardest (or easiest, depending on who you are) parts of writing is worldbuilding! Especially if you’re a fantasy or sci-fi writer, worldbuilding can be something that makes or breaks your novel. If you’re looking to dive more in depth on worldbuilding, don’t know where to start, or want a few resources to help spice up the process, this blog post is for you!
Resource 1 – Tumblr
I know, writing social media can be a bit of hassle. Toxic, even, if you’re on the wrong side. However, Tumblr is also a gold mine for writers. They have a specific subset of the site called writeblr where it consists of users sharing their WIPs (works in progress) and giving others useful tips on how to worldbuild, on things to do when you’re in a writing rut, and even novel prompts to get you out of a slump.
However, my favorite tumblr resources are the worldbuilding challenges! These are challenges that can help you both start worldbuilding a world or get deeper into creating a nuanced setting for a novel through prompts about things you usually wouldn't consider. They ask about the water supplies, wha
t the country does when a monarch dies, but can also go more general, asking you to describe the weather of your world and societal norms for age and gender. Most challenges go on a day by day basis and are incremental, assuring that you won’t get burnt out and will instead slowly gain more and more passion for your novel while being able to write or outline at the same time! Multitasking.
Here are some of my favorite tumblr world building challenges:
Feel free to use these questions, there is no pressure to actually post in order to participate in these challenges!
Resource 2 - Worldbuilding Websites
If you’ve ever played DnD, you might be familiar with some of these websites. Many websites offer organization services for worldbuilders. They either have folders and note taking sections for different parts of world/cities/towns! Others even offer prompts to help you slowly develop your world and flesh it out. These websites can be an incredible organization tool for newer worldbuilders because it practically provides you with the prompts/indicators to create a whole new world from scratch. When you have filled all these out, some websites offer even more perks and prompts (usually for a price, though if you’re that far into using the website and its services, you might want to invest) to further develop the nuance of your wor
ld! Here are some of the best worldbuilding websites:
worldanvil
notebook.ai
evernote (this is more of an online organization platform similar to google docs, but they offer a plethora of creative writing templates)
notion (similar to evernote, can be customized and made aesthetic!)
Resource 3 - https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
This is probably one of my most visited tabs! Fantasy name generators is an incredible website that offers hundreds of names. They have 7 types of generators, two for character names, a few for places, and even pop culture and character/scenario generators! It’s an amazing website to find both inspiration when you’re stuck, and to find cool names for a town or character that you need in a pinch. Additionally, the website is incredibly diverse, with both the fantasy media that it pulls these names and inspiration from, to the real names, including all sorts of African, Middle Eastern, European, and Asian countries! If you’re ever in a writing rut too, this site could potentially be the answer to all of your problems; go to their plot or character description generator and see if you can spin a story out of what they give you!
Resource 4 - https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/
If you ask any writer on the face of the earth about this website, I assure you that (most of them) they will call it their holy grail. This map generator is a lifesaver, especially if you’re looking for inspiration, need visual representation of a world, or aren’t exactly the best artist. There are, of course, ways to make physical maps and if you prefer a physical representation you can alt
er more clearly, power to you! As a digital oriented person, I love Azgaar’s map generator because you can change the names of countries, alter the maps, and even change up the terrain. There is a whole sidebar menu that allows you to create borders based on terrain, country, and even culture. Furthermore, you can choose how to represent the map and what types of things you would like to see and generate on the map.
The best part? It’s completely free. Honestly, I think there should be a national holiday dedicated to just this website.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my commentary on my favorite worldbuilding resources and I hope that I’ve inspired you to use some of these to aid you in your quest of worldbuilding!