: Re: How do you build a story from a world? I have some material for a "world" (more fantasy than sci-fi at this point). I've noodled around with this world off-and-on for ages but have never

@Eichhorn147

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There are some great answers here, but I'd like to add to them.

My answer will probably be slightly based on the fact that I'm writing sci-fi myself.

For over a year, I only spent time on world-building. At some point, I realized, that if I wanted people to experience the world I had developed, I needed characters and a story.

My big question was still "How do I find a/the way to tell a story and then let people experience the 'world' I have created.

Now, my story takes place "today" and in "our world", so a lot of things can go unsaid, as it is made fairly obvious, that it takes place in a place we know, more or less.

My approach was this: What kind of experiences CAN my world give the characters in it?

Being sci-fi, my story includes "tech", that can affect people quite seriously. I realized that, even though I had created groups/societies/backstories for communities + alternative explanations for our evolution, THAT was the approach that made the best sense to me - In other words; What does it make the most sense that the important characters experience?

Start there, and soon, hopefully, the story will draw the characters into situations/places where they 'naturally' experience the parts of the world that you want the reader to experience.

What do you find the most interesting about your world? Why?

If it is a specific culture in one of your societies, for instance, having a 'foreigner' meet that culture is one way to go about it. Then you'll have to ask; "what would make her/him have to meet this culture?"

I realized that I wanted my readers to wonder if the stories in my project were probable and if it could happen to them - I then began by writing 'seemingly insignificant everyday situations' for my three main characters, before turning their life upside down.

This way, I got to know them and the people around them, and that helped tremendously for creating a realistic path for them going forward.

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