: Re: Creating An Original World I've been thinking of a few ideas for characters and concepts, and I am aiming to create a massive world: a world with its own deep history and rich lore. However,

@Kevin153

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To my mind, creating an original world that still makes sense to the reader is best done by coming up with one central idea about this world and then deriving most of the other details from this idea.

In Science Fiction this is often a technological development that may or may not be already starting in our days. For example in Altered Carbon one such idea is the stack that records the wearers consciousness from birth and allows to upload this consciousness into another body. This has a host of social consequences: Immortality for the super rich, massive overpopulation leading to most stacks being stored most of the time, elite soldiers whose consciousness can be transmitted with the speed of light to any conflict, etc.

In Fantasy this is usually connected to the magic system and/or some ancient conflict. Best both. For example the Wheel of Time is driven by the one power which is divided into a male and a female component, unfortunately in the ancient conflict the male half was tainted, leading to madness among all male "wizards". Fast forward three thousand years … male magic users are hunted down, the most powerful force is a bunch of female sorceresses, the ancient symbol for the one power (the yin-yang symbol) is now divided into the flame and the dragon's fang, etc.

Of course the more original you are with your central idea the more likely you will leave these genres behind. Just take a look at Shades of Grey (no not 50…), which describes a society "wherein social class is determined by one's ability to perceive colour."

So to create an original world you don't have to be creative for every little detail. You just have to come up with the one defining characteristic and then be very consistent about it.

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