<li>Works for both contemporary or made-up world, since there will also be things based around real-world concepts for reader relatable </li>
<li>Thought process:<ol>
<li>Figure out what your story is about<ul>
<li>What are your themes? E.g:</li>
<li>gay romance against a difficult-for-gay backdrops, using a contemporary world helps b/c folks today are going through the same. </li>
<li>connecting with your identity by learning from ghosts of folks who have gone through others, then have to change the world some, also e.g: Calatians, magical beings considered children of that race, that race considered a child of the society, colony coming into its own</li>
<li>So, gives you an idea of what elements are important for worldbuilding</li>
<li>If creating a secondary world, theme should be tied to the main difference between our worlds, e.g: HP about found family, so the magical world exists, but are muggleborn valid? Allows for character journeys within theme</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Terrain:<ul>
<li>Cities grow up where circumstances push people together. E.g: cities grow up around water for agriculture or trade, thus cities on strategic points on bodies of water</li>
<li>HP doesn’t do this particularly well. Centers around universities should have been bustling cities, so they should all want to live next to it. Wizard society mirrors muggle spaces without understanding it.</li>
<li>Maybe not an aspect that affects enjoying the books, but makes them feel less complete.</li>
<li>Calatians: bond between Calatians and sorcerers for magic/protection. Sorcerers near centers of power, but also want to be near trade/other people.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>People’s everyday lives:<ul>
<li>Structures needed to support them</li>
<li>Ergonomics - chairs different (booths?)</li>
<li>Knowing the main differences, pick at structures and ask how they’re different, is it needed, is it needed in the same way?</li>
<li>E.g: how would newspapers be affected? Not everyone has magic, still needed, but sorcerers gathering info, etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Communities:<ul>
<li>Small groups of people who can be singleminded, but communities can have differing opinions.</li>
<li>HP, not all wizards feel the same way about muggles. Kind of black-and-white. Slughorn trying to be a good person, but also had a lot of bad qualities</li>
<li>Resist temptation to assign identitical beliefs; even in a church group, members may interpret scripture/secular society differently, e.g: Southern Baptists in the 70s issued pro-choice statement before some persuaded otherwise, so some SBs are still pro-choice</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Things to keep in mind while writing:<ul>
<li>Worldbuilding on the fly - need something here, need these people to do a thing, so just put it in</li>
<li>Things can sneak in without you noticing, sometimes need to go back during editing to ensure balance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>What sells world building is details:<ul>
<li>Critical to writing</li>
<li>Good for connecting to story.</li>
<li>E.g: chairs, if you add in detail about chair back being separate or cat-chairs have claw-proof armrests</li>
<li>More little details like that, the more real it seems.</li>
<li>What do brushes look like? One per species? Different universal types? Brushmasters?</li>
<li>Tattoos? Clothes?</li>
<li>Languages? Do we call them paws? “On the other hand”/”hand me that”/”hand me downs” - received language (things used all the time without thinking about), good to catch on editing, but also keep in mind while writing. Line between making it interesting/intrusive</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>While writing:<ul>
<li>Step back from a scene and ask questions:<ul>
<li>What might be interesting about this location?</li>
<li>What might make things unique?</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Doesn’t need to be complete after first draft, then use editing pass to flesh out.</li>
<li>“Character/worlds revealed through interaction” (show vs tell, ish). Show parts of the world via their interactions</li>
<li>infodumps are sometimes okay (scifi/fantasy moreso), but in general via interactions; can answer questions later</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Theme is key:<ul>
<li>make sure worldbuilding is built around that</li>
<li>Not everything has to be 100% on point, can still have fun so that your readers have fun</li>
