Way With Worlds Series

Creating fictional worlds also means figuring out how people take control of their environment, be it magic or technology. Your characters are going to build houses, cast spells, use computers, brew potions.  Magic and technology in many ways are the same thing for worldbuilding - but what do they mean for your setting? This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about magic and technology in your setting.  From economics to social standing, delivery to training, there's plenty of questions to get you to think.  It's having a worldbuilding coach in one handy guide! So it's time to talk about magic, technology, and the worlds you make!

Creating fictional worlds is fun - but making memorable, effective ones is often challenging. How do you make something that doesn't exist, make it real enough people enjoy it, and make sure it endures, grows, and keeps making sense to your expanding audience? Way With Worlds offers you a helpful guide to being a better worldbuilder. From basic theories and principles to guide you, to intense discussions of sex, ecology, and culture, you'll take a tour of the best ways to make places that never were. When you're done, you'll have a grasp of worldbuilding that will make sure your fiction is as memorable as fact. In this book you'll explore: *Basic Philosophies Of Worldbuilding - Get the basics and gain a new viewpoint on worldbuilding. *World Creation Essentials - What you have to think of to build your setting. *Magic And Technology - Understand the differences, the similarities, and what they mean. Clarke's law ahoy . . . *Religion - Building religion presents challenges and opportunities - learn to face them and take them! *Sex - Sex in the world's you build is going to involve more than you think, because more than you may think is about sex . . . * Species And Races - Creating species and races opens us up to traps of words and ideas we may not see - avoid them! * Characters - Who are the people in your world? More than you may think . . .

Creating fictional worlds also means populating them - but how does the population keep populating? At some point you're good to have to look at your setting and ask, bluntly, just how sex works for the people and creatures you created. This can be incredibly complicated in our own world, let alone a newly imagined setting! This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about sex in your setting. From mental development to social diseases, the definition of maturity to the role of senses in reproduction, there's plenty of questions to get you to think. It's having a worldbuilding coach in one handy guide! So it's time to talk about sex and the worlds you make!

Way With Worlds is back for round two! We love making fictional worlds - but making ones that are memorable and powerful takes work. How can we build better fictional settings when there's so many challenges? To help you out, Steve Savage explores specific issues and subjects that are important to worldbuilders. It's time for a deep dive on subjects near and dear to our hearts - and that occasionally frustrate us! This book covers: * Heroes, Villains, and Author's Pets - Good and evil are tough enough to write, but get more complicated when authors favor certain characters or our own cultural biases step in! * Utopias and Dystopias - How do we make believably good civilizations, believably bad ones - and why do we do this in the first place? * Conflicts - How do conflicts occur, how can we write them realistically, and what happens when you need to haul off and go post-apocalyptic on your setting? * Communication - How do you tell people what's going on in your world, without making it obvious you're telling them? * Tools and Techniques - From philosophy and exercises to using (or avoiding) other forms of media to help your worldbuilding, what can you do to stretch yourself? * Skills - What skills make a good Worldbuilder - and is worldbuilding itself a skillset or something more? * Originality - Fruitless quest or the holy grail of the worldbuilder? Why do we worry so often about originality?

Creating fictional worlds is complicated, and sometimes you need to step back and make sure you're doing it right.  Other times, you want to prepare yourself before going forward.  This book is to help you make sure you're keeping your worldbuilding on track! This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you evaluate how well you're building your world. From timelines to rules, from audience expectation to genres, it's like having a coach at your fingertips! Time for a worldbuilding checkup!

Creating fictional worlds also means figuring out how people manage to stay alive in that setting (or don't) - and that means food. However once characters start cooking, eating, and complaining about cooking that means you have to think about everything from economics to culture. This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about food and cuisine in your setting.  From economics to delivery, religious significance to medical benefits, let's talk food, culture, and more! Hope you're hungry for a discussion on food!

Cities are a stable of fiction, from vast structures on other worlds to cities of magic and dragons.  Creating truly good and believable cities is critical to good worldbuilding.  Just like real life, cities are often their own characters. This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about cities and setting.  From medical care to transportation, politics to natural disasters, these questions help you bring your cities to proper life. It's time to explore the fictional cities you make!  

Characters are the way people experience your stories, games, and more - and they're unique expressions of your world.  Making sure characters are part of your setting, bring people into their setting, and act believably is critical to good writing and worldbuilding. This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about characters and setting. From goals and motivations to agency and history, this guide is here to help you think and explore! Time to take a look at characters.

Creating fictional worlds means writing about people – and often that means cultural institutions, especially religion and philosophy. If you think Worldbuilding is complicated, wait until gods, demons, sages, and philosophers get drawn into the mix! This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about religion in your setting.  From metaphysics and hidden truths, to tradition and superstition, it's time to ask some hard questions – about often soft subjects! Worldbuilding is a challenge, but with this book you've got a prayer of getting religion right!  

From tribes to conspiracies, organizations are part of any setting - because people naturally organize.  Believable organizations are part of a believable world.  In many ways, churches and conspiracies and guilds are like characters. This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about organizations and setting.  From power structures to traditions, communications to publicity, this guide is here to help bring your organizations - and world - to life! Get organized.  Get ready.  Get worldbuilding!

Superheroes are a staple of our books, games, movies, and television.  However when people are throwing lightning and measuring themselves for capes, you need a setting that makes them believable.  A good superhero is more than a character – they're a story of the world they live in! This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about superheroes and setting.  From costumes and fashion to retirement and superpowers, this guide is here to help you think and explore! Suit up and make your worldbuilding both super and heroic!

We're used to disaster response being part of our lives.  But what about our fictional settings?  How do our characters handle crises, recover from disaster, and learn?   This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about how people respond to disasters in your setting - and why.  From prediction to rebuilding, education to pop culture, this book walks you through the important questions with helpful advice, suggested exercises, and more.   Make sure disaster response in your world is believably good – or disastrous!

News and media shape culture and education, forge the future, and record the past.  Your fictional settings will have news - but what kind?  Is your world a place of information and knowledge, or propaganda and lies?  Fictional settings require real thought about news! This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about news and setting. From professions to propaganda, media to magic, these questions help you understand how people in your setting stay informed! Build your world, and make it newsworthy!

Clothes and jewelry, colors and gems, tell stories about the culture and people who wear them.  If you're creating a fictional world, it's time to get real about fashion - knowing why people dress the way they do. This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about fashion and setting. From traditions to materials, religions to government, everything is here to make the fashion in your world more believable! Build your world, and put fashion into action!

The biggest disasters in your setting may be created by people, not by nature.  Man-made disasters wreak havoc, change society, and can be ignored due to arrogance and ignorance.  So what horrible crises is the cast of your next game or novel making for themselves?   This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about what history means in your setting.  From records to disinformation, historians to museums, this book walks you through the important questions with helpful advice, suggested exercises, and more.   It's time to do disaster right!

Gods and deities are a constant element of our fiction, from fantasy worlds to high-tech artificial gods.  Real deities mean real challenges for authors and worldbuilders.  How do you make them believable – and where do you start? This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about gods and deities in your setting.  From the importance of worship to how the gods work, this book is your key to making fictional gods seem very real! Build your world and make it divine!  

Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories often feature in fiction.  But how can we make our fictional worlds more believable when skullduggery and lies are afoot?  How can we avoid lazy writing and promoting harmful propaganda?  By asking the right questions and thinking things through!   This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories in your world.  From the organizational challenges of running an ancient cult to false things people believe, this book helps you build a more believable world.   The truth isn't always out there, but your story can get way out there . . .

History is a vital part of our lives - and our fiction. How do your fictional cultures record history, deal with change, honor the past, and face the future? This book is here to help you bring history to life!   This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about what history means in your setting. From records to disinformation, historians to museums, this book walks you through the important questions with helpful advice, suggested exercises, and more.   Make history and your fiction will also make history!

Sometimes the biggest danger in your fictional setting is the setting itself!  Natural disasters can challenge your characters, rewrite political boundaries, and threaten whole planets.  However, what disasters fit your setting, your story, and your goals?   This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about what history means in your setting.  From records to disinformation, historians to museums, this book walks you through the important questions with helpful advice, suggested exercises, and more.   It's time to give the power of nature the respect it deserves.

We're used to calendars and holidays being part of our lives.  But what about our fictional settings?  How do our characters measure time, celebrate holidays, and why do they do these things?   This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about how people think about time in your setting - and why.  From calendars to holidays, timekeeping to professions, this book walks you through the important questions with helpful advice, suggested exercises, and more.   It's time to think about time in your world!

  Isekai is a popular genre - with a legacy going back long before the popular term.  However, when characters switch worlds, unique worldbuilding challenges confront the author.  How can we explore the rich challenges of world-changing protagonists without falling into tropes or missing great opportunities? This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about Isekai-style tales in your world.  From unexpected side effects to possibly destroying society by innocently changing the arts, you'll find plenty to make you think. Waking up in a new world may challenge your protagonist, but it also challenges you as a creator . . .

As a worldbuilder you work to define your world – but what role do lies and falsehoods have in your creation?  Misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda have troubled humankind throughout history, and your setting may be no different.  What terrible lies, schemes, and mistakes exist for your characters to face?   This book is a helpful series of 50 questions, as well as follow-up exercises and more, to help you think about what history means in your setting.  From records to disinformation, historians to museums, this book walks you through the important questions with helpful advice, suggested exercises, and more.   It's time to do falsehood right!