How To Build Your Fictional World Like a Boss

This subject is both tricky and hard to accomplish, depending on how deep you get into it. You could go far into histories, religions, races, etc., and honestly, it could never end. It should be noted that looking up questionnaires made for the purpose of worldbuilding can come in handy, and it's important that you actually take notes on the world so you don't forget what you built.

we'll break this down into the basics and go from there:
Knowledge
Environment
Emotions
Story


K.E.E.S.
ok, so now we begin.



knowledge:


What is known about your world?
What do the scientists know?
What do the people commonly know?
Who knows how to do what things?
Where do people learn skills, knowledge, and other things?
Who teaches, preaches, and spreads the word?
How does knowledge travel?
What's the Media like in your world?
Who runs the media and is it good or bad?
Are there bad sources of media?
How is information passed around?
Are certain species/areas/populations/etc. in your world a higher class of intelligence or lower class of intelligence?
What happens to the people who just don't cut it?
What happens to the people who do?
Gospel?
New ideas/inventions/etc.?
What about the science community?
How is money handled?
What's the money system???




now onto the first E...



Environment:



What kind of biomes does your world possess?
What kinds of people/species/diseases/cultures lurk there?
Are there any types of specific creatures/people that live only in certain biomes?
Are there places in your world that are uninhabitable?
Have some places in your world never been touched before?
What does it take to survive in your world?
Food/Water/Power/etc. sources?
How are supplies harvested/gathered/etc.?
Do people move around a lot?
Any migrations of people/creatures?
Diseases in certain areas/how are they transferred?
How do people travel?
Lighting when and if it get's dark?

[Cultures are pretty important, so make sure you build them up to be wonderfully bursting :) ]



NEXT E!!!

Emotions:


Differing opinions on things like:
Government?
Cultures?
How things are done?
Authority?
Other people?
Etc.?

How are differing opinions handled?
Any conflicting parties of cultures/politics/etc.?
How do the people of your world feel about what's going on in your storyline?
The people in your world, or even creatures, have emotions too, make sure you consider how you want them to feel.
How are things like dating/courting/arranged or regular marriage/etc. handled?
Are there classes in different societies?



ONTO THE FINAL ONE!!!




Story:



How does your story affect this world you've created?
How do people feel about it and your characters?
Are there major changes in peoples' opinions or how things are run due to your story?
What are the stories that are tossed around?
Any Legends?
Are the people in your story liked?
How does the media/government/people/etc. handle your characters?
What kinds of trials are your characters going to run into due to problems they've caused within society?





You can kind of see where I'm going with all of these. I know there are a lot of questions, trust me, I know, but when you know something, and you're passionate about it, you can write with such ease, it'll amaze you. If these still weren't enough, I know for a fact that just looking up some world building questions on Pinterest will satisfy you.


Best of luck,
Rey Brooks