Tag: Worldbuilding Tips

Family Roles in Fantasy Cultures

Family Roles in Fantasy Cultures

Last week we talked about courtship and marriage customs, and this week we’re carrying on the family thread by discussing family roles as a whole. What role do families play in the culture of your world, or in the lives of your characters? And are they such that you can get away with not killing your teen protagonist’s parents? Well, let’s find out.

Is Family Important to This Culture?

The first thing to ask is whether or not family is appreciated in your culture. If your culture values Continue reading “Family Roles in Fantasy Cultures”

Creating Character Titles

Creating Character Titles

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about the most important elements to develop in a fictional language to make the most impact on your readers with the least amount of effort. One of those elements was character titles, and I accidentally wrote a whole second blog post explaining those. I ended up having to backtrack and relocate half of what I’d written. XD Thus, this post was born, all about character titles.

I’ll be looking at the several types of titles that I briefly mentioned in “The Lazy Worldbuilder’s Guide to Conlang“: titles of address, titles of reference, titles of relation, and titles that substitute for a name.

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General Principles

Before we get into specifics, there are some principles that can be Continue reading “Creating Character Titles”

Creating Courtship & Marriage Customs

Creating Courtship & Marriage Customs

I had another guest post lined up for today about building languages, but it’s been delayed, so here’s the post I was intending to post after that one, instead. So if you’re looking forward to the final post in my conlang series, stay tuned for next week! And in the meantime, enjoy this post on developing courtship and marriage customs.

What is the Purpose of Marriage?

Really, this question should be answered from two angles. One: What is the fundamental purpose of marriage in this world? Where and why Continue reading “Creating Courtship & Marriage Customs”

The Lazy Worldbuilder’s Guide to Conlang

The Lazy Worldbuilder’s Guide to Conlang

This post was meant to go up last week, but burnout got to me and almost nothing went up. So, first of all, I apologize for the missed week. Here’s the post you were meant to get last week, all about how to build a language (conlang = “constructed language”) that will add realism to your world… even if you’re not a linguist and don’t care to go full Tolkien with your world’s language(s). Continue reading “The Lazy Worldbuilder’s Guide to Conlang”

Elements of Culture for Worldbuilding

Elements of Culture for Worldbuilding

There are a lot of elements to consider when you’re building a fantasy world. It can be hard to know where to start. Which elements of culture are the most important? Different authors might have different answers, but here are the four elements I think operate as the pillars of a fictional culture.

Element #1: Worldview

The worldview of a culture colors everything that culture does, so Continue reading “Elements of Culture for Worldbuilding”