World building is incredibly important, especially in a fantasy story. Though not only necessary for fantasy realms, world building is one of the most important key elements to any story. It's your setting, time, location, scenery, and history of the world you've created. Though your story may be on earth, you need world building to portray what is happening on this earth. Is it an apocalypse? Is this the future/past? Is it earth but just not quite earth? Are there magical beings that exist unbeknownst to mortals? How do people interact? What's common/uncommon behavior? Etc.

There are a few key points to world building that you must keep in mind. First, I'd like to address an important part of building your world which is to absorb other examples of world building around you.

My favorite example of fantastic world building would be from the animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend watching it. The thing about the world it's created is that it feels familiar. It's like earth, but it's not. You see the world map at the beginning of every episode, and it's far from being on earth. But it never addresses this verbally. There is no name for the world they're in, which makes it feel more like it's just earth from another reality.

The world feels lived in, which is important. In the episode "Zuko Alone" you can see the traces of an old war in the country side. There's stone rings—which you see the Earth Kingdom use as weapons—faded into the hills as if they've been there, forgotten for decades.

You can also see how different areas of this world slightly differ in culture. Though it was simple to base it on already existing Asian cultures of earth, you can notice subtle differences between the four nations that inhabit it. The Water Tribes live in cold climates. Their world is going to be cold, their clothing built for keeping warm (not being sexy or bad ass looking), their communities are tighter as they have less people between the two tribes so the tribes are like a family, and so on. And even then, the two tribes have their differences as well. The Northern Tribe focuses more on the men, royal blood, education, and strength while the Southern Tribe focuses on everyone, there's no royalty, well-being is most important, and everyone seems to have a role in taking care of one another.

The people in the series are also great examples of world building. Depending on where they're from, everyone looks slightly different. Skin tones, hair colors, eye colors, body structure, and even the shapes of their hands differ from nation to nation. People of the Earth Kingdom looks strong and sturdy, while people of the Air Temples look light and agile.

Other great examples of world building in fiction (in my opinion), are:

The Hunger Games- it's set in a dystopian future of earth.  You know where the districts lay (12 is in the Appalachians and the Capital is in the Rocky Mountains for example). Everything is close to what we live in, yet different. And each district has a different way of life, as addressed by Katniss when describing the Careers. The Capitol people were entirely different to those in the districts. They seems to have this whimsical state of mind, and belief towards the game. Because they didn't have to play, it really was only entertainment and you can't blame them for not feeling remorse when they were never taught to.

Star Wars- it's very blatant about what the world is like. It's in the future, it's not on earth, is it's own thing completely. But you can see the diversity of aliens and people, and how most species stay on their own home planet (though you see them spread out on other planets as well). Just like on earth where people live around the people like them, intentional or not, the aliens in the franchise do the same.

Attack on Titan- it's very mysterious. It doesn't tell you everything you need to know, because the characters themselves don't know. Everyone has German names (except Mikasa), and the housing and clothing are all German inspired. So it's safe to assume that it's set in Germany, or somewhere around that area. Their world is the walls, no one goes beyond them, and no one knows how they were created. So it's perfect in a sense of the viewer doesn't know what this world is like because the characters are still discovering it.

How to Train your Dragon (Movies and Books)- Again, it's set in a earth-like world but it's not quite the same. In all of Hiccup's maps, it's evident that there's a lot of ocean, and all the people seem to live in a Viking culture. The only reason we know the time is because Hiccup states the year in the first movie and book. The relationship of dragons and humans have a deep history, and it's not unreasonable that the humans hate the dragons. And since there's so much water, there's a lot of mystery to the world which kept getting built upon throughout the series.

But then there are examples of poor world building (in my opinion):

She Ra and the Princesses of Power- it's obviously not on earth. The world itself isn't even the problem, it's the people. There's so many species that have no origin. Why is Catra the only cat-like human in the entire show? Is her species on the verge of extinction and if so, why isn't that addressed? What even is Double-Trouble, and how come we never see more of their species? Why are they the only one, and is their gender a species related thing or just their identity? What about the other species that only have one character of their kind? The only explained one is Scorpia, because her family and people were wiped out so she assumes she's the only one left. Is Queen Angelica a human with wings or is she her own species as well? There's a lot of questions left unanswered, and several confusing points within the history of the world. For example, how come Mara is the only She Ra of the past shown, when they've addressed that She Ra has been around for centuries?

FableHaven- I love Fablehaven, but the world building isn't fantastic. It seems to follow the trope of "there's fantasy creatures that exist and humans don't know about it/can't see them", but there's no explanation. In Percy Jackson, they use the Mist as a way of saying "Mortals can't see the mythical beings or suspicious things", which works well. But then in Fablehaven, MC Kendra can suddenly see these creatures after the first book but for some reason only notices this because of one creature in her school. Would there be more? Or are all the creatures locked into sanctuaries? If that's the case, how on earth did humans corral them like that?

Demon Slayer- I adore this show, it's fantastic. But the reason I'm putting it here is because of the dynamic between humans and demons. Some humans are aware of demons, while others aren't. But throughout the show it's obvious that demon attacks happen all the time, so how come people aren't aware of them? Tanjirou didn't know at all until his family was attacked. Is that how all the people have to find out? And how do they gain so many demon slayers if humans aren't supposed to be aware?

Here are a few main ideas to keep in mind when in the process of work building:

Diversity-
Diversity exists no matter where you go. And if you're creating an entire universe/planet/realm, you best expect diversity to be a thing. Not everyone on a specific planet will look the same, even if they're the same species. People don't, yet we're all human. It's also affected on the roots of ancestry. People with African roots/roots closer to the equator, will have darker skin. But the fourth north you go, the lighter the skin tones in ancestry will get. Race is important in world building.

Religion and language-
Multiple religions and language will exist in the same area, especially if your world has fast ways of travel already existing (boats, cars, planes, space ships, etc).

Don't infodump in your exposition-
No one wants to have every fact of your world thrown at them the second they open your book. Take it slow, build on it over time and introduce things as they come.

Know how your world accommodates (or doesn't) to people with disabilities-
They exist. Some places are wheelchair accessible and some places aren't. And for some reason, Hogwarts doesn't have disabled children and therefore, only "normal" human wizards/witches are allowed to go to school. (That was a joke).

Technology-
Is it advanced and if so, how accessible is it? So yes, flying cars exist in your story but are they easy to afford or can only the rich own one? Time travel machines may exist, but are they easy to come by? How many would exist?

How are messages transferred? Can characters text because it's a modern world or do they communicate through holograms because it's the future and you love Star Wars? Do they have to send messengers with letters through the post? How fast can your characters spread word and communicate. If it's slow or fast, it will affect your story (usually).

Make the world feel lived in-
Make historical landmarks, or traces of events that happened in the past. Give your world a history, even if it doesn't get explained.

How do people interact?-
Not everyone will get along. Using Avatar: the Last Airbender, as an example again, none of the nations like the Fire Nation that much. And reasonably so, they've built a hatred for them. So even the firebenders who haven't done anything wrong, will receive hate for existing, even if they're being helpful or rescuing someone.

World building is tough, but the better you understand the world your story is set in, the easier it will be to write your book/story.

Any questions or something you'd like to add? Leave it in the comments!