Hey!

So to kill someone and get away with it, you should first locate- okay I’m just kidding. At the time of writing this, it was April first so April Fools!

The actual thing is “How To: Create Your Own Universe.”

We’re not creating our own galaxy with stars and planets but we’re making a world for our stories to take place. In a lot of stories, the setting matters a lot. Remember that it’s your world! This means that you shouldn’t create it just by following rules and guidelines. Your world should be created based off how you feel like creating it. There’s no set order when creating a world.

But here’s an easy way to get started if you have a bit of trouble.

• Imagine the Genre

Your world should revolve around the plot. Are you writing a fantasy? Or are you writing a murder mystery set in our current world? Making the broad universe helps a lot. Just imagine what rules that world follows, whether it’s a magical world or a world that follows our physics. This helps create limitations and make it so that it isn’t bizarre.

• Create the Rules

Depending on your genre and what kind of story it is, this can be simple or complicated. You set rules to your world. What do you let in and what do you keep out?

If it’s a modern setting, then just follow our world’s rules. Don’t randomly include things that are out of reach like a flying pig mysteriously appearing out of nowhere or a character suddenly has the ability to take down multiple people at once. Just stay within your universe… unless you plan something beforehand….

If you choose a fantasy world, what are the rules? What kind of beasts are there or what kind of mythical things are included? You want to really imagine all of that and make a few guidelines to that world. What kind of things can’t happen in your world? Are there magical tools? You want to set out all of these rules because fantasy is a subject unfamiliar to our world. Everyone has different rules in their world, whether they allow creatures from myths or only allow creatures that can be scientifically possible.

A fantasy world is yours to create. No one has set rules on the topic of fantasy, so use your creativity to do that for your own world.

• Combine It With Your Story

An expansive world shouldn’t be confined to the plot, but working with it. You want your story to be a piece within the world and not have the world be shaped specifically for the story.

Make the world big enough so that you can fit another story within that universe. That universe should be able to have two similar yet different stories take place in it at the same time. A universe isn’t just a single story-line, it’s a world that tells many stories.

While you want how the world works to be clear to the readers, you also want to hide some secrets. No world doesn’t have its secrets and it creates a place where if you need to, your world can be explored even more.

• Make the History and Geography

No world is complete without a history. Plan out the history, from important past events to current events. This helps it come back to life more. Along with history, mixing in the geography and where the story takes place is also crucial. Create multiple areas in your story so your characters can explore or you can leave it as a place for another story. In the end, this matters the most since your characters can’t function without a place to function in.

Basing a story off of our real world can be harder or easier, depending on what type of person you are. If the story takes place in our world, you only need to do a bit of research on the countries you set the story in. At least know the geography of the country so you can accurately make the story come to life.

• Add Your Story

Your universe is now created. There will be more things to add but that’s up to you. No one can create a world for someone else and your world should be from what you think.

All that’s left is to add your story to it and see how it interacts with everything in it. You can start to see how making an expansive universe allows you to freely explore with things inside of it or even create a sequel or prequel.

Because of this universe, you don’t have to add or delete more things. This will save both you and your readers from future confusions with the story.

• Wait, there’s more?

Like I said earlier, how you make your universe is entirely based off of you. You can start off with your plot and make a universe that slowly expands based off of it. I know I said to not have the world be specifically made for the story but starting it off as that can be easier for some writers. As long as the final version became it’s own thing, you have successfully created an expansive universe.

So you can actually follow this guide backwards too. Start small, end big. It all depends on what story and what kind of writer you are. Writing is like fantasy, there really aren’t set rules. So just use your mind to create that universe, because in the end, your universe is made by and only by you.

That’s my guide to killing someone and getting away with it– wait no. I mean, that’s my guide to creating your own universe!

I hope this helped some of you and was easy to follow!

Bye!