All language subtitles for Masterclass N. K. Jemisin Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing - 03.Macro.Worldbuilding Exercise Build Your World

[MUSIC PLAYING]

N. K. JEMISIN: As you're
creating this world

that your readers
understand, then you're

able to create a world
that feels more plausible.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I break worldbuilding down
into macro worldbuilding

and micro worldbuilding.

Macro worldbuilding
is the creation

of the physical
environment in which this--

this culture developed,
these characters

emerged from this
story takes place.

So that can be
everything from the--

the creation of the
universe on down,

the laws of physics
on down, because we're

dealing with fantasy and
science fiction here.

Or it can-- you
know, even people

who are writing stories
set in the real world

do a little bit of
macro worldbuilding.

Even if a story is
set in New York,

you need to decide which
piece of New York, which

block of New York, which
neighborhood of New York,

and so forth.

So with macro
worldbuilding, I normally

will start with the
creation of the planet

and then work down from there.

We go to continents.

We go to environments,
and then we

start to create people who
fit into these environments.

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Now, we're gonna actually
start going through an exercise

where we build a world.

So if you've got sheets
of blank paper handy,

if you want to open a
draw file on your laptop,

somehow create a
space where you can

do some drawing and note taking
for the next few minutes.

Then I want you to start
by drawing two circles.

These are the two
hemispheres of a planet.

Now, like I said,
with worldbuilding,

we aren't always
stuck with planets.

We can start at the
level of the universe.

If you want to write a
story about space wandering

clouds of people that don't have
a planet, go for what you know.

But you're going to
have to research that.

But in general,
because your audience

is familiar with
life on a planet,

and you want to try
and probably sell them

on life on a
different planet, it's

best if you start with something
that's relatively familiar,

like a terrestrial
earth-like world.

And for the sake of our
exercise today, we're

going to stick with the
terrestrial earth-like world.

Once you've drawn your two
hemispheres of the planet,

then the next step is to draw
continents onto this planet.

Keep in mind that
on our own world,

continents are sort of
like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

They fit together.

And because of plate tectonics,
over time, our continents

pull together and draw
apart and so forth.

And if you ever looked
at our continents

and sort of imagined the ways
that they could fit together,

that's realistically
how they used to.

And how they might again at
some point in the future.

So for the sake of this exercise
though, draw as many continents

or as few continents
as you want.

If you want to create a water
world here, you can do that.

If you want to create a world
with just one giant landmass

and like a small lake in
the middle, you can do that.

Draw as many continents or
as few continents as you

want right now.

Once you've done
that, the next step

is to make this world adhere to
the rules of how planets work.

Now, the truth is that
most planets actually all

work wildly differently
from each other,

because they're composed
of different substances,

they are different
kinds of planets.

You've got gas planets.

You've got terrestrial planets.

But the planet that your
readers are most familiar with

is Earth.

So you want your readers
to not immediately

be pulled out of the story by
the ways in which this planet

does not adhere to what they
think a planet should be.

So first, you want to draw
an equator on this planet.

Once you've drawn your equator
across each of the hemispheres,

then you need to consider the
ways in which prevailing air

and wind currents
typically work.

Most planets that
we know of rotate--

rotate on an axis.

You want to draw air
and water currents that

are being sort of effectively
pulled by the equator.

As the equator is going around,
the air and water currents

are going to be slanting in
the direction of that pull.

However, if you draw a continent
in the way of these air

and water currents,
then you have

to remember that let's say
that this is a continent,

and this is water
currents on the planet.

They're going to hit
this continent then

have to go around it.

So somewhere at the point
where these air currents

or these water currents
are hitting this continent,

touching the edge of
it, moving around it,

if there are multiple
continents flowing between them,

you're going to have
areas of agitated weather.

You're going to have storms.

You're going to have floods,
tsunami, in some cases,

if there are
underground earthquakes.

And so based on how you've
drawn your air and water

currents and your
continents, you

know where the areas
of strife or difficulty

or where it's going to be
harder for people to live,

or where the environment
is going to be unusual.

You can tell sort of
generally where those

are going to happen.

You can also add mountains
to your continent in chains.

Mountains don't just
randomly appear.

They usually tend to be part
of a chain of mountains.

They're often indicative
of continental breaks.

They are also where the
weather is going to change.

On one side of the
mountain, the weather

is going to be one thing.

On the other side
of the mountain,

the weather is going
to be something else.

All of these things
are what your reader

expects of a planet, because
that's the planet they live on.

You're going to have some
readers who live on mountains.

And they understand
innately that you're

going to have to different
kinds of weather on either side.

You're going to have some
people who are from deserts.

And they understand
how deserts are formed.

As you're creating this world
that your readers understand,

then you're able to
create a world that

feels more plausible.

So now that you've
created your planet

and your-- your basic
zones of you know,

kind of what this
planet looks like,

where its storm locations are,
where its ecologies are going

to generally develop,
then you want to pick an X

and put an X somewhere
on this planet.

Do that right now.

Doesn't matter where.

It can be in the middle of
the water, can be at the pole,

can be at the equator,
wherever you feel comfortable.

Once you've drawn
that X, we're going

to treat this X as the
location of the culture

that we're going to
spin this story into.

And so where that culture
lives and develops is--

is going to dictate how,
as a culture they develop.

So let's say that you've put
your X in a place where there's

a lot of storms happening
at any given time.

People of this culture
are going to find a way

to incorporate storms and
surviving storms into their day

to day.

It may become a part
of their religion.

It may become a part of
how they do their building

and how they do
their architecture.

On our own world, we
found that cultures

that existed in very
tectonically active,

seismically active places.

Those cultures developed ways
of building earthquake-proof

buildings long before
we had building

techniques and composite
materials and things like that.

They were able to do it with a
hanging frame and a wooden pole

in the middle of
the building that

allows the building
to kind of float

and move with the tectonics.

So if you're trying to
understand what your culture is

going to be like based
on the environment

that it's developing in,
go and research cultures

that have developed in that
environment in our own world.

And you can learn some details
there that may be useful.

But once again, you don't
want to rub the serial numbers

off an existing culture.

You also have to keep in mind
that similar environments

in our world develop
wildly different cultures.

If you've got a desert culture
in the Australian Outback,

and a desert culture
in the Sahara,

those are two completely
different cultures,

so wildly different that
it doesn't make sense

to compare them.

But you can research both
and learn techniques,

or learn details
from both that you

can add into your-- your
created culture that you're

about to come up with.

We've created our planet.

We've got our continents.

We've got our prevailing weather
patterns and general ecology.

But I want to pause
here and kind of

point out that there's an
element of science fiction

and fantasy that normally
gets put into the novel.

It doesn't necessarily have
to be put in at this point.

It can be put in at any point
in this creation process.

But it's going to affect
everything thereafter.

And I call it element X.

So with element X, it
can be either a feature

of the environment
that is unusual,

that is drastically different
from our world, that may not

be something possible
through the laws of physics

as far as we know.

Or it could be something
as simple as just you know,

magic exists.

That can be an element X.

Or it can be just the
story is set in the future.

That can be an element
X. You've just created

a world that isn't earth.

That in itself is an element X.

With the "Broken Earth"
series, for example,

the main element X that
affected everything thereafter

was the fact that this
is a highly seismically

active world, a world that's
so seismically active that it

encounters-- or
that it experiences

seismic winters
on a regular basis

and sort of general natural
disasters on a much more

frequent basis
than on our world.

And that affected the ecology.

That affects the
biology of the animals.

That affects the physiology of
the human beings on that planet

and everything from there on.

So you need to decide what
your element X is going to be.

And the sky's the limit.

It's whatever you
want to imagine.

But it ideally is just one
thing, one small seemingly

insignificant thing as far as
these people are concerned.

So some examples of element
X that I've encountered,

or that you've probably
encountered too

are you know, visible in
most popular science fiction.

So think of Frank
Herbert's "Dune."

You've got a whole planet
that's nothing but desert.

So that in and of
itself is an element X.

But then on top of that,
he adds in the sand worms

that produce a psychotropic
drugs from their worm poop.

I think it was
from the worm poop.

Anyway, so that's an
example of element X

and the ways in
which element X can

affect the ecology
of, in that case,

the whole universe
or the whole galaxy.

Another example
that I encountered

in one of my previous
worldbuilding classes--

I was giving a
worldbuilding seminar

to a group of 12
and 13-year-olds.

And for reasons, that seminar
had been set just before lunch.

And all of the
students were hungry.

So when I asked them
to create a world,

they drew a world
that looked like 12

identical wedge-shaped
slices in a circle, i.e.

pizza world, because they
were thinking about pizza.

They were hungry.

And we went with that.

We mapped out what the
prevailing water and wind

currents would be.

We figured out that basically,
almost all of these continents

would be completely
uninhabitable.

And-- but this is
a culture, which

as soon as it learns how to map
the world is going to realize

there is some higher power,
or some more advanced power

which is actually
designing their world.

Because continents don't develop
in that completely unnatural

shape.

So these are people who
have evidence from the point

that they begin to develop a
civilization that either God

exists, or aliens that are
highly interested in pizza

exist or something.

So pause.

And think about what your
element X is going to be.

And if you want
to write it down,

go ahead and do that right now.