I have ten pages of my fictional nations set up as a map. In total, minus the shadowlands and Knight State, I have 119 countries that are still ruled by monarchs.
So, I am trying to understand what these nations are well-known for. I am going in the same manner as the popular cities on earth, like Paris is known as the City of Love or New York City is The Big Apple. Something along those lines, yet I am trying to do things for a country.
I have cities that are well-known for what they offer, but I want sorta the same vein as the nations that those cities dwell in.
I have 119 countries, so some of the countries wonât have anything like that. There are 119 countries, so I canât name them all with what makes them uniqueâŠyet.
Have you ever considered creating a website for your worldbuilding? There are free sites where you could do that. If not, you could just create text documents on your computer for each country, or keep track of them in paper notebooks or journals, etc.
Enna has a site where she does that, and it would be useful if we all did the same for our various series. Iâm seriously thinking of maybe doing it if I ever get these freaking books doneâŠ
Thatâs massive! Iâve got ten countries and twenty-seven major cities Iâm working with so itâs sorta manageable.
Iâve thought of cultures and landscapes when deciding the âuniquenessâ of each location. What resources are available here? What can be produced? As it turns out, not every city in my world is special â much like in the real world. Sometimes, itâs just a strategic trading port. And there are overlaps in cultures because of trade, conquest and neighbours. My desert continent has the same(ish) culture, despite being split into two countries and several tribes â and their sister desert on the mainland shares similarities because of their history and migration.
So donât sweat it if you canât come up with distinct cultures/ attributes for every single one.
Yeah, I made like Wikipedia does I actually used a Wikipedia article on Italy (for some reason) as inspiration on what kind of sections to add to the article. Definitely time-consuming, but worth it. It helps to explain the world as if youâre talking to someone. Helps to organize the thoughts.
I know that it is massive, that is why I am trying not to do it all in one single go.
I donât know which countries will be prevalent to whatever story I work on, but I do know there are some countries that I want to make more noticeable in the story.
I have winter countries and desert countries myself. Honestly, all of my countries are five to ten years more advanced than the nations on Earth. Pretty much what I am saying is that the year on Alagossia is between 2024 to 2038, yet there is magic EVERYWHERE, even in the air.
One nation is pretty much Venice Italy, but more magical and futuristic.
I have a few things in my Alagossian nations that make them stand out, what makes them unique than others. I think the other nations that I have, wonât have anything that makes them stand out, because I donât know anything about them.
I am rambling, but that is the gist of what I wanted to share.
This is what I have specifically for my Sorcerer side of the World of Elgana.
If I do have something to add about it, like maybe itâs known for something or some event happens in that place which also happens in the story or affects events in the story, then I make a note of it.
So, for you, instead of cities or towns like I have, you will have the list of countries and a little something about them if you have that kind of information. Things you can include in the information can be a sub-list using Wikipedia sub-headings as inspiration.
For example, look at Italy on Wikipedia and look at the table of contents.
Your sub-headings in the list could talk a little bit about each sub-heading.
So, like, Alagossia -Country A
Name: derived fromâŠ
History: just some basic events if you have any
Geography (or Nature): talk about the climate and what the nature is like
Politics: basic stuff. no detail. If itâs a monarchy, just say, âmonarchyâ and not add detail unless you have the information or think you need it for later.
Demographics (or Population): Talk about who lives here and maybe some of the major jobs that people hold?
Economy: whatâs it like? Basic stuff. Is there trade? How is money made? Whatâs the currency.
Culture: this can be broken down into food, music, art, fashion, literature. You can add more if you want to.
You can also add any other sub-headings you want. I might include Technology, maybe Magic can be itâs own thing? Education (how people get educated. is there a school? who teaches kids?). You can also separate Animals from Nature and talk about pets, cattle, livestock.
Once youâve established your template, then you can use this format over and over for all the other countries. Just copy and paste the template. Thatâs what Iâd do to start out.
Also, to add, you can see that in my list, not all the cities or towns have things written in them. Thatâs because I just havenât yet, or I didnât really need to because maybe the character passes through there and doesnât stop, or the name just comes up once. Or, the name alone triggers information out of my noggin, so I didnât need to write it down. In the end, this list works for me.
Make a list that works for you. If you need to jot down all the information, thatâs totally fine. Make your own encyclopedia of your world. Itâs fun
I wouldnât have shown this if it wasnât organized I donât usually write these for other people. Know that you donât have to show it to anyone, so do whatever organizing you think will help you
I have half a dozen races, and a few more settlements and cities within those realms⊠Iâm just coping with all that including the fallen kingdoms tooâŠ
I think that you may have taken quite a lot on here, and I donât know how to assist you. However, I do like the earthly vibes of Paris City of Love etcâŠ
Yup, I love the organization of your site! Iâve been trying to encourage Churro to do something similar with characters since there are way too many for me to remember. But I really need to do the same myself once I get my current book done. Itâs so easy to give others advice, but not take it myself. (âŻ^.^âŻ)
Thank you! Iâm trying to get it even more organized and updated.
What do you think about writer websites where they have blogs and then a whole TON of tags? I was thinking of reducing the number of tags on my site. Or, at least make them make more sense.
So, like, instead of âbehind the scenesâ to make it more specific like âbetween roses articlesâ. Because I have a bunch of projects, so when you click âbehind the scenesâ it shows all the behind the scenes of every book ever.
Or instead of having âwriterslifeâ (which I donât think I have⊠but this is an example) I would have something like âauthorlifepublicationâ or âpublicationlifeâ to be more specific. Then if you go there, it would be all about the self-publishing journey, for example.
That still makes me shudder with fear⊠To have al that to adhere to for future tales within your series⊠I wonder how you will manage it all⊠Iâd have a mind failure just compiling it all into notesâŠ
I actually used a Wikipedia article on Italy (for some reason) as inspiration on what kind of sections to add to the article. Definitely time-consuming, but worth it. It helps to explain the world as if youâre talking to someone. Helps to organize the thoughts.
Isnât it?