One of the hallmarks of urban fantasy is world building. That is, I think part of the reason people read the genre is to be able to fall into a different world for a little while. But I like to think world building is part of all good storytelling — it’s how you know a story is set in Chicago instead of New York, because it takes more than just saying “New York” to convince a knowledgeable reader that you’re really there.
The more fantastical your story, the more world building details you need to make up. The more real you can make a totally imaginary world, the more successfully you draw in your reader. A lot of people give Tolkien a hard time for the endless descriptions in Lord of the Rings. But you know what? Middle Earth seems real because of it.
Now, I suppose what you’re expecting is for me to give a bunch of tips and advice about world building. About how to make not just the settings of your stories real, but the political system, religion, geography, social structures, technology, and so on. Making the world believable. But world building is one of my weak spots. There’s a reason all my novels are contemporary fantasy — set in our world. I only have to describe, not invent.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve had to establish rules for the fantastical elements of my books, and that’s a big part of world building, especially for urban fantasy. Other points I think about when I’m writing (or reading) urban fantasy:
- Do your research. And I’m talking about the mundane aspects, not the fantasy. Make sure the cops act like real cops, that any real-world professions you depict come across accurately, that existing locations are accurate, and so on. The more real “real” feels to the reader, the more real the rest will feel.
- Make rules for the world — especially the magical and supernatural elements. Stick to those rules. Build your stories around those rules so you don’t end up having to fudge your own rules to make a story work.
- Wow factor. There has to be something that makes this world worth visiting. That makes it different than our world. Otherwise, what’s the point? One of the identifying traits of urban fantasy is that it takes place in something resembling the “real” world. But what are the differences? What makes this world interesting enough to tell stories about?
Here are some of my very favorite examples of great world building: Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea, Frank Herbert’s Dune, Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, Steven Erikson’s Malazan series, and George Lucas’s Star Wars.
Any others I should add to the list?
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Excellent post, Carrie. =o) Especially since I’m working on making this right with my WIP.
Two authors I think do an excellent job of world-building within our ‘real’ world are Jim Butcher in his Dresden Files series and Seanan McGuire in her October Daye series.
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Patricia Wrede has rules for fantasy worldbuilding over at the SF Writer’s website. the link is:
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/
I think it’s probably pretty complete, although I haven’t used it myself (not yet a writer). I hope they help.
As for other worlds I’d hold us as great examples, Anne McCaffrey’s Pern is my personal favourite. Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series is also set in a grand universe, and another favourite.
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I love world building, and I agree with you in its importance in making things believable/plausible. Though I’m using an ancient setting in an alt world, I’m using a great deal of parallels based on earth history, particularly what would be biased by geological and geographical influences.
It is my belief that this will make cultures and peoples easier to understand/relate for the reader, and at the same time, it allows me to have a little fun with “what if” situations between ancient cultures that had not met in our own earth history.
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kaigou has made a series of excellent posts about UF world building: dear [not just urban fantasy author]
She focuses a lot on accuracy.
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An absolutely must-read for five-star awesome urban fantasy world building is China Mieville’s “The City and the City.”
ZOMG but he’s good.
Mieville does four things with absolute mastery that are worth mentioning:
1. Creating an absolutely unique setting. I’ve never read anything like it, which is kind of surprising in hindsight, since the real world has some settings that are like a watered-down version of the city in this book. Just goes to show, it pays to spend some time developing your premise.
2. He obviously put in A LOT of time up front thinking through the implications of how his city works, in terms of the social and cultural traditions/behaviors that would naturally (or at least plausibly) arise given the premise of the setting (which I’m not going to spoil, because I wish I had come into this book totally cold, rather than knowing what I knew about it up-front. Spoilers are teh suck.) I’m especially impressed by this, because I see it from so few of the clients whose manuscripts I work on: the ones that have fantasy settings just never think them through to the degree that Mieville has here, which is a shame because nothing messes up a wonderful setting than pretending that the people in that setting would behave just like people here.
3. He conveys his setting as much through the language of the place as anything else. Again, I can’t say much because of no spoilers. But you could do worse than to study Mieville (or D.M. Cornish, for that matter, or Tolkein) for lessons in how to use personal and place-names to support the reality of your setting. But, you said “urban fantasy,” so Mieville is the standout example.
4. He gives the best example I’ve ever seen of the RIGHT way to show the reader all the cool stuff he thought to put into his setting. Again, too many of my clients resort to useless and distracting infodumps as a mechanism for sharing what they think are the neat parts about their settings, their “waterfalls of fire” or whatever it happens to be, even if that part of the setting has no material impact on the plot. “The City and the City,” though, manages to show the reader EVERYTHING about the setting, and it gets away with it. How? Mieville constructed a cracking-good plot that provides natural reasons within the context of the story for the narrator to visit, think about, or examine all that cool stuff.
I have read here and there that “The City and the City” has received a nomination or two for various book awards. I hope it wins some of them, because damn, a lot of writers could stand to learn a think or two from China Mieville.
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I think Katie MacAlister does a great job in her guardian series, with the secret society of magic. I also G.A. Aiken on his dragon books with the ancient time world is great. She keeps bringing up the two suns in her story to make the reader remember that this is a different world.
LOVED Earthsea by the way.
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Thanks for the great suggestions and the links! That’s why I ask, I know I always forget good examples and learn something new…