When it comes to worldbuilding, many writers focus on the visible parts of their world. They create maps or languages, and forget all about what makes a story feel truly alive: culture.
Storytelling in itself is a form of culture. The kind of story you write is heavily affected by your culture. Therefore, you can’t write a good story without writing a strong fictional culture. Your worldbuilding will be one-dimensional and your story half-cooked. We don’t do that here.
If you want to create a strong fictional culture, you have to understand what it means, because culture affects how your characters think, behave, and interact with the world. The key to good worldbuilding, even great worldbuilding, is to create a strong fictional world from scratch.
I know what you’re thinking: that’s easier said than done. I agree, it’s difficult to worldbuild, but we can do it together. Furthermore, I know a simple way to create a strong fictional world from scratch.
What Is Culture in Worldbuilding?
Before I reveal all the secrets to writing a strong fictional culture, do you know what culture is in worldbuilding? If you don’t know, there’s no need to worry. It’s quite simple.
In fiction, culture is the shared way of life between a group of people. They have a shared set of beliefs, values, customs, and traditions.
When I say culture, the first thing that might pop up in your head is culture between ethnic groups or countries. But it doesn’t just have to be nations; it can be a generation, friend group, or fandom.
The minimum criteria for it to be considered a culture is that there’s a group of people who have developed a similar view on life.
However, when we’re speaking of fictional culture, we’re often referring to an ethnic group, nation, or even a planet. It depends on what kind of story you’re writing and how many cultures you want to include in your story.
Furthermore, when you’re creating a fictional culture, you’re creating logic behind your world. That will make your story more believable and also make it easier for you to write from your characters’ POVs, who have perspectives different from yours.
Think of culture as a:
- Guide for your character’s behavior.
- Constant source of conflict.
- Way to make your story realistic, even when it’s not.
- Something that will make your story more unique.
The 7 Steps to Building Fictional Cultures
The key to writing a strong fictional culture from scratch is to follow only 7 simple steps. Remember to write a good fictional culture to worldbuild well. Good worldbuilding is what can make a fantasy or sci-fi story great. And all you have to do is follow this 7-step guide.
Step 1: Build Geography First
The best place to begin when you’re worldbuilding a fictional culture is geography. Geography shapes how people survive, and survival shapes culture.
Climate, landscape, and resources available will determine how people live, because the main goal of everyday life is to survive another day. When your characters have to do certain things to survive, that becomes their habit and traditions form.
Read this in-depth guide to worldbuilding geography made simple.
You can also focus on these 3 things when you’re creating a fictional culture if you aren’t ready to worldbuild geography:
Climate: is it hot, cold, dry, or seasonal?
Landscape: Mountain, coastal, desert, forests, wetlands, or tundra?
Resources: Metals/stones, plants, animals/livestock, fuels, or water sources?
After you figure out what you want for your world, connect how those things relate to survival.
- How do people get food and water?
- What kind of homes do they build?
- What challenges do they face daily?
- Is this culture isolated or connected to others?
- Are there trade routes or conflicts?
- How easy is travel between regions?
This is the first step into creating a functioning culture.
Step 2: Build History and Culture Together
One of the secret lessons you’re going to learn here today is that history and culture can’t be separated.
Culture exists because of what happened. In the same way, the Industrial Revolution has shaped the world as we see it today. (I mean, it’s completely ordinary for you to learn something by staring at a glowing screen.) Therefore, instead of creating culture first and history later, build them simultaneously. Worldbuild a history for your fictional world while you’re at it. The only thing you need is a blank document and this step-by-step guide.
Here are some major and life-changing historical events:
- Wars, invasions, or long periods of peace.
- Natural disasters like famine or floods.
- Discoveries, inventions, or migrations.
Additionally, I want you to challenge yourself. Don’t only create historical events, but also find out the reason behind them:
- How did these events change how people think?
- What do people remember, celebrate, or avoid?
- What lessons were passed down?
Step 3: Define Beliefs and Values
Beliefs and values are the core of not only fiction, but the world. How you think and what you value shape how you perceive reality and how you live your life.
In storytelling, we are constantly changing the protagonist’s beliefs. So you see how important this aspect of worldbuilding is.
Think about:
- What’s considered right or wrong?
- Which traits are admired or disliked?
- What’s the purpose of life in this culture?
There’s so much to explore, such as religion, morals, taboos, and attitudes towards family, power, and death.
You can go on like this forever; nevertheless, here are 3 questions you can ask yourself to conclude this:
- What would someone be judged for in this society?
- What would make someone respected?
- What do people fear the most?
Step 4: Create Social and Family Structures
Now that you know what your characters believe in, you can decide how the society is organized.
Beliefs and values don’t exist on their own. They shape systems. A culture that values power will likely create hierarchies, while a culture that values equality will build more balanced systems. This is why structure comes after beliefs in worldbuilding.
Social structures aren’t only created and enforced by the government. They also come from family and peers. Together, these structures define how people live, both publicly and privately.
Think about:
- Who holds power in this society?
- Is there a government, and how does it work?
- Is society equal, or is there a hierarchy?
- Are there clear social classes or ranks?
- What does a typical family look like?
- Who has authority in the household?
- Are families close-knit or independent?
- How important is family reputation?
- Who benefits the most from this system?
Step 5: Show Daily Life and Traditions
If you’re anything like me, you are dying to tell your readers all about this amazing and well-developed fictional culture. Fortunately for us, culture shines through daily life and traditions.
You can add details of how the culture works through mundane everyday routines, for example, showing how your characters who live on another planet use advanced technology to cook food.
Map out these topics, and you’re set:
- A normal day for the average citizen.
- The most common jobs.
- How people spend their time.
- Marriage, birth, and death ceremonies.
- Basic social customs.
- Gatherings.
The main point here is to figure out what your characters do without thinking.
Step 6: Develop Art, Stories, and Festivities
This is probably the section you’ve been waiting for. Culture is expressed through arts, stories, and festivities.
They show us what’s important to us, how we interpret the world, and they’re a celebration of our culture.
Use this list as a guide:
- Decide what stories are told
- Define the heroes and legends
- Choose the main themes
- Pick what the culture celebrates
- Create key festivals
- Show how people celebrate
- Add art, music, and clothing
- Connect everything to conflict
Step 7: Develop Language
Finally, let’s discuss how your characters communicate. Language is one of the clearest expressions of culture, even if you’re not creating a full fictional language.
The perfect checklist:
- Figure out speech patterns and phrases.
- Decide how respect is shown.
- Show how emotions are expressed.
- Differentiate speech by status or age.
- Create sayings and expressions.
- Reflect values through communication.
- Use language to direct dialogue.
Completing Your Fictional Culture
Worldbuilding fictional cultures may seem overwhelming at first, but it becomes much easier when you follow a clear process.
When you’re creating a fictional world, there are many aspects to worldbuilding. Believe me when I say it. They’re all important. However, creating a strong fictional culture can make your fictional world stand out from the crowd and become a unique, multidimensional world. More importantly, something you can be proud of.
I know you want to write a good story. That’s the one thing all writers want. We want to say something profoundly good that will be remembered for centuries. However, to do that, we have to start with our technique.
