This guide will hopefully help you to create the perfect world to set your story in. I'll be suggesting resources, websites, tips from Pinterest and my own advice to help you through one of the hardest parts of planning!
If you have questions of a...
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This chapter kind of leads on from last time, as I'm going to be going into a bit more detail about your world's landscape. To make this interesting, how about a do's and don'ts list?
DO: Have a variety of relief and altitude
In case you're not familiar with geography terms, relief is the slope and shape of the land, and altitude is the height of the land. Basically, don't have a world with a completely flat landscape. The real world is not a flat plain, so your story setting shouldn't be either. The only exception for this is if there's a reason it's completely flat, like in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
DO: Create interesting landscapes
You could have a few types of forest, such as oak, birch, and redwood, or add rivers, hills and valleys. The choice is yours, so you can make something cool and different.
DO: Create some flora and fauna
You don't have to create enough species for a school textbook, but a few new things can add something to the story. For example, is there a type of plant that has healing properties? Killer tulips? Trees that sing opera? The possibilities are endless!
DON'T: Use clichés
A lot of fantasy stories seem to be set in a forest. Like I said, the possibilities are endless, so why be cliché? The other option is to break the cliché. You could use a forest, but make it an orchard of some magical fruit. Or you can set your story on a beach. There are so many ways to break the cliché, so do it!
DON'T: Set the story in just one landscape
Unless your story just has one landscape type (which it shouldn't), take your character on a journey through jungles, oceans, plains and deserts!
I don't have any underlined questions at the moment, but if you have any, please suggest them in the comments.
Next time, on Your Wonderful Guide to World Building -History! Whether you love it or hate it, you don't have to make the history of your world boring.
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