How do I create a world for a fantasy novel?
You should probably start with what’s relevant to the novel and flesh out the world from there. I find it easier to be vague at first and then work in the details. So, for a religion, I’ll name each god and then work out their personalities, the dynamics between them, and the tenets that their worshippers follow. For countries, I’ll name major cities, religions, geographical features (rivers, mountains, climate, etc), ethnic groups, political system. If you’re building an entire world, it will take time. If you’re like me, you’ll edit the world a LOT! You definitely won’t need everything in the novel itself, but it helps me keep things straight and to really develop societies to make them more realistic and unique to my world.
