World building is one of the essential skills of a fantasy writer. And yet, it can often cause so many problems: from issues with overwriting the world to inconsistent construction to terrible tropes in world building.
I pulled five videos from various YouTube channels that I have found to be useful in not just understanding what world building is, but how to do it well and what things to avoid. While no one video can give the whole answers for everyone, I feel like these provide a comprehensive starting point to develop your own approaches to world building.
Tale Foundry – How to world build
First, I have chosen two videos from last year which elaborate on how world building is done, and done well. In general, the content on this channel is of a high quality, in particular these vids are very, very informative. Tale Foundry’s guide is much more comprehensive than I have seen online.
Hello Future Me – World Building in Action
The next YouTube video deals with a work of anime, but almost all of the principles work for anime, film or writing. I thought this video helped in reflecting on how I world build,and on the techniques in the Tale Foundry entries above. It is well worth a watch.
Jenna’s Do’s and Don’ts
Jenna Moreci is a prolific YouTuber with a strong following and some solid videos. I tend to find her earlier videos more informative, and these fall into that category. Jenna’s informal style helps her cut to the quick and her guides on these points are perfectly on point.
In conclusion…
This isn’t a comprehensive guide, but after watching these videos, making notes and having a go myself, I found I was able to build believable settings with interesting features and exciting settings. With the ‘Kingdom of the Lion‘ novella I am writing, I used these techniques to help make my world feel more real.
Which guides have you found to help you world build? Share them with me and I’ll maybe be able to update this short guide in the future.
Imagine Erratically 