Tag: Worldview

Worldbuilding Lessons from a History Major – Guest Post by Cate VanNostrand

Worldbuilding Lessons from a History Major – Guest Post by Cate VanNostrand

Today I’m excited to share a guest post from Cate VanNostrand, who has been a long-time friend and supporter of my work and, I’m happy to announce, recently launched a blog where you can learn more about her and her work! There will be a link to her website at the bottom of the post and I highly recommend you check it out. But for now I’ll pass you over to her!


History has a huge impact on the way we write. Whether we’re basing our stories off of real-life historical events or using history to Continue reading “Worldbuilding Lessons from a History Major – Guest Post by Cate VanNostrand”

Fantasy School… or Not – Worldbuilding Education

Fantasy School… or Not – Worldbuilding Education

Education is an often overlooked aspect of worldbuilding, even though education defines our individual worldviews and skill sets and also supports society as a whole. After all, people can’t occupy trades or other societal roles if they don’t know how. Today I want to explore how to develop the educational systems of your world… and why “fantasy school” isn’t always the answer. Continue reading “Fantasy School… or Not – Worldbuilding Education”

Culture and Tradition in Fantasy

Culture and Tradition in Fantasy

Culture and tradition are crucially interwoven. Tradition is the means through which culture is preserved and reinforced, which makes it the ultimate tool for exploring fictional worldviews. I’ve talked about building festivals and holidays before, but today I want to focus on how to use both “special” traditions (like holidays) and everyday traditions (like nightly worship) to emphasize and support a cultural worldview. Continue reading “Culture and Tradition in Fantasy”

Why Cultural Worldview in Fantasy is Important

Why Cultural Worldview in Fantasy is Important

In the past I’ve discussed how to use fantasy worldbuilding to explore worldview (and why it’s important to include real-world worldview), and I’ve talked about how to build the foundation of your world (which is what will form the basis of worldview). But I haven’t actually talked about why a cultural worldview is important as an aspect of the worldbuilding process, so today I want to fix that.

Worldview Colors Everything

This is the core point. Everything else is secondary. A cultural worldview colors every aspect of a culture, influences how your characters think, breeds conflict when worldviews clash… Everything within and surrounding a culture is going to be influenced by that culture’s worldview. Therefore, it ought to be an intentional consideration. A culture’s worldview is the axis Continue reading “Why Cultural Worldview in Fantasy is Important”

Deciding the Foundational Truth of Your World

Deciding the Foundational Truth of Your World

Something I’ve always found fascinating, as a Christian with an interest in story, is how so many mythologies have points in which they reflect the truth of how the world was made, how it flooded, and even sometimes how it was saved and how it will end. When something is true, it is impossible to completely obscure that truth. Which is why I think it’s important for authors to lay out the groundwork for their fictional worlds fairly early on; the foundational truth of your world will shine through in many different areas. Continue reading “Deciding the Foundational Truth of Your World”