A large part of even beginning to write your novel, is your setting. Some people choose to have a vague idea of their setting so it can evolve with the characters, others like to meticulously plan it out until they have everything in place before setting their characters down inside it. Whether you are either person, at one point you are going to come to a place where you need to know the ins and outs of your setting before you can continue any further.
I speak from experience. I was working on one of my stories with a slight idea of where everything was going on, a big building with a Greek Mythological Mount Olympus feel, maybe with the Parthenon at the top, but more of an academic looking school with a whole society living under it. The outside was made out of rich materials which would cost millions of dollars and the inside was made of white walls and no color. That was all I had, I didn't know anything else about my world and I got stuck quite quickly.
After six chapters of useless information I will use maybe half of (if I'm lucky), I realized I needed a foundation. I needed a fully worked out setting, the laws of where I was working, the looks, the feel, the technology, everything. I've been working on creating a guide line for my own future stories so I will fully know my setting before I start another writing project.
How to Create a Setting:
1. What are the people like?
While you may think your people have nothing to do with your setting, they have a large part to do with it. Don't name any of them, don't give them any personalities, just look at them.
-Are your people human?
If so, do they live on Earth or are in they in some other universe, planet, science center, space station?
-Are you creating a new race?
They have blue skin, but they have a human body, perhaps they have a tail. Give them a scientific name. Homo aer or Homo cauda.
Imagine your people, your race, your characters and form a world for them or use an already created one in which they can be placed.
2. Creation Myths.
Every world has a story of creation, Earth has many. Science will explain it one way, while religious texts will portray another more spiritual or meaningful way based on their people and culture. I never knew how my world was created, I took a mixture of science and then the race I had created helped along what science had done for it. It all started with Pangea on Earth. Find your creation myth, how did your world form, where was the start of a different kind of people. Are there people who may have caused it, maybe there was a war.
3. Now you have your people, you have your creation myth, what does the world look like?
If you've chosen Earth, this could be an easy subject, however, you'll have a much harder time perhaps if you want to include many cultures when you create your characters. If you are on Earth, then choose a city, a state, a province, a country, wherever you'd like to place it based on your loose ideas for your plot. If you're going to create a world all your own, then plan how big it is. Is the planet flat, circular? Do your characters walk everywhere, are they primitive, do they choose to be primitive? Think the process through very carefully.
4. Now you have your place, what do the houses look like? Where are you characters going to live?
You can choose based on photos or drawings from different time periods, you create something entirely your own, or perhaps your people don't live in homes. You have full creative range with this unless you are writing a historical fiction, because then you should line up the existing time period with what you are writing. Research time! You may hate research, but it's a necessary part to writing. I used to hate doing research, but then I started to enjoy it when I began to pick places and time periods I like. I once printed out 16 pages of research on pirates alone just so I could accurately write an AU (alternate universe) Harry Potter FanFiction in which Lily Evans is a pirate. It absolutely fascinated me, I highlighted, underlined, wrote notes. and pretty much murdered every inch of those 16 pages until I found exactly what I wanted for my story.
5. Now you have the lay of the land, but who or what rules it?
Do you have a monarchy, a dictatorship, a system like America. If you're setting this in a certain time period or a place, then look up what kind of a ruling system the country has/had. If you're creating it, you get to decide, so do more research, find what would best suit the people you are going to be writing about. This should not be taken lightly as it may be impossible to change later on.
6. Now you have your ruling class, what kind of laws do your people have to abide by?
There are laws for every people, every religion, every anything. There will also be retribution if you fall out of line, so what punishments are the people given if they do not abide by these rules. This can often be the most fun part if you are creating it yourself rather than doing, yet again, more research about the area.
7. Laws, ruling class, people, planet, area, buildings, everything seems pretty well rounded up. Yet, there is another part; what is the culture?
Every country or parts of the same country will have a different culture. Just look at how much America is split up. the North is different from the South, the East from the West, Utah to California... There are endless possibilities and every where has such different background from what you might expect. Look up the culture if you don't know it, create your own, mix several known cultures together, whatever you'd like. Just make sure it fits with the land you've created, you can't have a conflicting culture or there won't be harmony.
8. Last part of figuring out your setting, language. This may not seem like a big part of setting, but it is. What language do your characters speak?
Perhaps they have several different languages, are they required to learn them in school, from their families, does the government train them, do they automatically know them because of some magical force? We don't know, but you definitely do. Take some time to figure out just what their language might be, because maybe they won't know all the languages like you will, but they could learn them.
Take the time to play around with your setting, if you start to write and something feels off, go back through your notes and research and tweak what you have. It may not be perfect on the first run through. If you want to know more, put yourself in an interview situation. Try and explain what you have to someone and then let them ask questions where they might be confused, then answer them in detail and take note of what you say. If you don't have anyone to help you with this, then ask yourself. Maybe there's something even you don't fully understand, so ask yourself and wait patiently for an answer as you never know when one might come to you. Keep trying and remember, this is just an outline so you don't have to follow it step for step, but they are some great things to consider when creating your world.
Let me know what you think down in the comments below, call me out on some points if you disagree, throw in your own advice for creating a setting, whatever you want. Maybe you agreed with the process, tell me. I'll discuss anything with you guys in the comments below.
Until next time!
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