When you’re creating a magical world, I think it’s best to start with what feels real. After all, the inhabitants of that world don’t necessarily realise that spells or dragons or flying carpets are anything out of the ordinary. And as much as the reader might enjoy fantastical details, ultimately they need to feel like this is somewhere where real people can live and work and have real and textured lives.
When I first start thinking about the world my characters live in, I think of a specific place in that world, and what it’s like – whether it’s warm or cold, whether it’s close to the sea or in a mountain valley or a frozen wasteland. I try and imagine the world using my senses – what can I see, hear, touch, taste, smell? I imagine that I’m walking around the world, and think about where I would like to go, and how everything would make me feel.
Then, I write a paragraph imagining I’m a tour guide explaining this place to someone who has just arrived there. This rarely makes it into the final book – but it helps me to see how I can make the world come alive for other people. Sometimes I add new buildings or landmarks while I’m writing – sometimes I even think of new ideas about the history or magic of the world by describing its layout.
There’s lots of other things important to creating a magical world – I read history books and fairy tales and medieval encyclopaedias, and think very carefully about the rules of the magic system I’m making. But that first paragraph where I try to transport a reader somewhere new is at the heart of any new world I build.
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