Author name: SFWA Admin

The Craft of Writing, The SFWA Blog, Worldbuilding, Writing Technique

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions

The following list of questions is meant to aid authors of fantasy fiction who are seeking to create believable imaginary settings for their stories. While many of these questions may be helpful or crucial to certain stories, they will not all apply to every story. It is not necessary for an author to answer all, or even any, of the questions in order to start writing, (or to finish writing, either). The idea is simply to provoke people into thinking about the ways their settings and backgrounds hang together … or don’t. If it’s useful, use it. If not, don’t.

The Craft of Writing, The SFWA Blog, Writing Technique

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions: Social Organization

  • Where is scientific and/or magical research done — universities, private labs, under the auspices of the ruler/government, etc.?
  • Does it require a license to be a wizard? If so, is it more like a driver’s license (something nearly everyone in our culture gets upon coming of age) or like a doctor’s license (something only a small percentage of the population will ever get)? Who certifies wizards: government, wizard’s guild/AMA, local priests?
The SFWA Blog

Update: Website changeover

Update: sfwa.org is in a transition state at the moment while we wait for some things to finish propagating through the internet. At the moment, if you go to sfwa.org you might get a parked page with advertising. This should change by the end of the day although for some people it may take up to 72 hours.

Scroll to Top