Not sure if this is in the right forum and apologise if the thread already exists (which I assume it must?), but just wondering if anyone else aspires to create their own fantasy world?

If so, what are some ideas you're toying around with?

I'm really keen on the 1800s and want to create a world inspired by this time and maybe dipping back a bit into the 1700s and forward into the earliest 1900s (rather than the usual medieval or dark ages, or conversely the future) . I think it was an exciting time of exploration and discovery, where lots of advancements were being made but there was also a lot of hilarious stupidity and ignorance leading to bafflingly inappropriate actions and beliefs. Like we were harnessing electricity for example, this is significant and amazing, but then what do we do with it? Edison electrocutes a circus elephant to death for attacking it's trainer. Like wtf? We were learning about all the different cultures of the world, so we start measuring their "brain pans" and determining that they're inferior. It's like people thought they were so smart and were so sure of themselves while being totally ridiculous and idiotic. I find that hilarious, and just a bottomless pit of inspiration.

My world would, in it's reality, resemble the pompous English gentlemen's perception of the world in the 19th century. Almost... like it would on the surface appear in line with his simple views, but constantly prove not to match them and indeed show him to be the fool he was, which is kind of the whole point of the project.

Keep in mind there will be no "England" in the world, all unique continents, islands and countries, but each culture therein will be somewhat anologous to a real culture or mash-up of cultures. No elves or orcs or hobbits anything, but abominable snowmen and anything else 1800s man was terrified of and certain existed. Boat swallowing fish, whales and squids, mermaids, revitalising tonics, quick sand around every jungle turn. Magic only in the form of voodoo curses and the like. Tobacco would be good for you.

My world will, organically in an entirely unforced manner, contain cowboys and indians, pirates and ninjas, gentlemen and savages. A mysterious dodgey soviet-esque nation. Colonialism obnoxiously imposed all over the place against much resistance.

Race will play a big part, I think more fittingly in my world than in the medieval fantasy worlds because in the era I'm paying homage to it was SUCH a big deal. The races will be classified by strain first and then lineage. 6 strains and 4 lineages per strain (24 lineages in all).

The lineages will range from tribal to civilised and everything in between. But each strain will have a lineage that is somewhat civilised. The strains will share a certain similarity in the basic look and vibe but then vary in accordance with their living arrangements, tribal people being naturally more physically capable while more civilised people being more industrious and crafty.

There is a much more straight forward and easy to understand linear evolutionary tree in my world than in the real world as this is in line with the simplistic (invariably offensive) views of the 19th century. This human variation thoroughly studied and documented by the many prominent anthropologists who will debate one another while poking and prodding some unfortunate tribal person.

I'm currently working on a rough map and a very rudimentary racial classification/evolutionary tree and just brainstorming ideas. I'm not even sure where I'm going with this, what my end goal is, I want to make the world first, truly from the ground up (with not just the geography but the flora and fauna and climates and etc) and then let inspiration flow into possible stories and art works. And if someone down the line wanted to make a video game like fallout or the elder scrolls that would be awesome (but I sure as hell wouldn't know how to do it).

Would love to hear from other people embarking on creating their own world and also would love feedback on the ideas I've mentioned already.

It really just sounds like you want to make an alternate reality kind of deal instead of a fantasy world.

I think some type of alternate reality or parallel universe or whatever would be a better route to go for what you want, because I personally would find it rather weird if so many Earthly type of things are found on some other world.

Most fantasy has some type of supernatural who-ha going on as a main element which yours doesn't seem to have.

There is in fact http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1460151-fantasy-writing-thread/ though it hasn't been getting much use lately, and it's more of a tossing-around-ideas-to-see-what-works thread.

Though there you'll find people such as yourself, aspiring to write their own fantasy world. Myself included.

EDIT: I just had to point out this. The hilarity of how "stupid" people were, because they were deciding that they were superior to everyone else? Yeah, that's still happening today.

Doesn't that apply to every fantasy world wonderwombat? Every fantasy world seems to have people and trees and even wolves and etc etc. I'm sure a real alien planet would realistically be far more ... alien, but that's why this is fantasy and not science fiction???

Anyway yeah maybe, but I definitely want totally different continents to earth, if that's still called alternate reality then so be it.

I don't know what to call it.

The supernatural just seems to be missing besides the thing here or there so it doesn't seem like fantasy to me, yet it doesn't seem like Science-Fiction either....maybe just fiction!

I write a lot of fantasy that I would never show anyone..but it's always a rough draft even after several revisions. There's always something to add/subtract/redact/retcon/merge..and I find that my worlds and creatures and stories never finish and look far different now than they did in the beginning..and there are so many influences that pull on worlds you create.

Usually I'm in high fantasy..similar to the elder scrolls and final fantasy..but still far different.

Try creating flowcharts from the beginning..and make sure you write notes on everything you create so you can remember

Fair point. I do have a bit of an aversion to the supernatural and it certainly wouldn't be getting the respect in my world that it gets in say TES or LOTR, but it wouldn't be entirely absent. Like I said Voodoo and shamanistic "black magic" would have to be there (but no fireballs or lightning bolts coming out of anyones hands - and also I'd like it's validity to be somewhat ambiguous and doubted), and even though I don't like ghosts I feel they have to be there too if it's a genuine satirical statement on the 1800s (which is kind of the point), since ghosts were a big deal in that time. Also crypto-zoology will be a major theme so, I dunno... semi-fantasy? lol

A lot of revision is good. If there's something to be added, add it! It'll perfect the world.

I need to start putting my ideas on paper (kind of), but I have no computer at the monent.

Ah well. I'm sure I'd do bad at it, anyway.

Thanks thelexicon for that thread and also thanks for the advice bluesnacks.

worldbuilding is cool as hell. i've got a ton of dumb ideas i've been plugging away at for years floating around that i'll never do anything with but every time i sit down to work on something it's crazy fun.

the most important thing to remember imo is never throw anything away ever, no matter how dumb, trivial or inconsequential it seems. if you talk with friends about ideas always try to keep a log somewhere. if you have a neat idea in the middle of the night that sounds dumb as hell when you wake up, throw it into a file anyway. everything you write is important and at some point you'll come back to the little things and find the perfect place for them.

iteration is good. rebooting is good. don't be afraid to throw out everything you've done and then redo it all from scratch even if it winds up being identical because chances are it'll be different enough that you'll enjoy it more than your original vision. just don't actually literally throw it out, just stick it in a subfolder somewhere.

also don't [censored] yourself coming up with minutiae if you're never going to use it anywhere. if you're coming up with crazy proto-germanic languages where speakers switch between voiced and voiceless consonants depending on politeness and social standing but you don't ever use it anywhere it's REALLY COOL that you're doing that but at the same time make sure not to go insane in the process.

keep it fun. don't delete everything one day in writer's-block-induced rage.

you could also try www.giantitp.com which is a D&D and other tabletop gaming site, they have an entire forum devoted to homebrew(ie: created by regular people) worlds, races, rulesets, etc etc, and a LOT of people who specifically review those things, and do a good job in doing so. You could find a lot of help there

Thanks starwulf for that link. Looks good.

Really good advice there, MBAC. I haven't really thought about language and knowing myself I know I definitely don't want to even go there. I love english too much and struggled to even begin to fathom other languages in school. I feel I'll be able to mask this weakness due to the fact my planet is largely dominated by english speaking colonial bastards who insist on righteously teaching everyone English, anyone who doesn't comply simply isn't communicated with, is deemed a primitive beyond repair and is simply shot in the face, shackled in some way or at best patted on the head condescendingly. So any time anyone is speaking another language it will never be acknowledged what they're saying, the point will be that it's indecipherable gibberish to the arrogant pompous colonials. I think this will serve as a useful tool in illustrating how messed up everything is. I think I will have it that most of the world speaks english (obviously not called english, it just will be), after just bending to the influence of the dominating lineage. Those who don't will be remote isolated tribes and the like, their inability to communicate with the colonials will result in them enduring horrible injustices, and this will make their uprisings and revenge attacks all the more rewarding and satisfying.

I used to create fantasy worlds in primary school by drawing a map based around how everyone's desks were arranged and basing the cultures/nations around the people at those desks.

I am so glad no-one found those, that would have been pretty embarrassing.

Haha that's awesome.

Does anyone know if "the pirates of darkwater" series has a trademark on the term "darkwater"? I have this idea that my planet is divided by channels of "Darkwater" between continents, which is really just deep water where huge monstruous sea creatures live that can (and will, invariably) destroy boats and devour the sailors within them. The colonial race being the only culture to build boats that can survive journeys over dark water, everyone else may or may not have boats, but they are limited to boating around their own continent and to islands nearby that aren't split off with darkwater (the darkwater channels formed since human migration spread around the world). I guess I could call it black water or something but that's also been used here and there?

I can relate somewhat. Most of the characters in my Fantasy world had my friends names, but did different things in my world. As the genrations of the world progressed however, it was difficult to continue to incorperate them into my existing canon, and I had to create new characters. These new ones have a bit more depth to them, and instead of being backup or support roles, they help the current main character keep his sanity