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Writer's pictureNechama Sklar
Jul 26, 20205 min read

How to create a culture for your fantasy world




Hey, and welcome back to my series on my novel-writing process. In part one, we tackled 3 of my favorite software to use to organize all your planning & writing in. In part 2, we created a framework and system for our worldbuilding categories & set daily writing goals.

Today, we're going to build on that framework. For my world - building, I started with the races\ cultures so I'm going to share my template for that first.

I use this template for my main cultures - those that feature most prominently and my side cultures - those that are less featured. However, for the side cultures, I typically choose half of the categories i will list to develop.

To create a template for that, I did two things: I looked up real-life cultures and used the categories from those websites as well as inspiration from there. And I read a lot of articles on creating a culture and questions to use. I combined both and added some of my own things.

I'm going to provide you with some of the best resources I used then give you the template and questions I use.


I may not have all the articles I used here because I deleted the links after using them, but I tried my best to find them.


Worldbuilding cultures resources





Using real-life cultures for inspiration

I love taking facets of various cultures and weaving them into my fictional ones. It makes for more interesting and realistic cultures. What I like to do when researching is to taker one thing from each culture and then combine it with something from other cultures, with my own twist on top.

So let's create a holiday together using this process. First, we do research on different holidays. One culture we found drowns dolls during their holiday. Let's have our culture do that too.

Now, let's take a peek at some other cultures. This culture dyes their hair wacky colors during their holiday. That's kinda cool. Let's incorporate that.

Let's add our own twist & bring these two things together. Maybe this culture assigns symbolism to colors, as most do.

Maybe they dye their hairs a certain bright color to symbolize the kind of year they want. And they drown dolls they paint in dark colors that symbolize they year they don't want.

They paint their houses in the color they dye their hair. They only eat foods that color for that day. You can go wild with color ideas.

We got that figured out. Onward! Let's break down all the subcategories, questions & resources to help you get inspiration for each.

Bonus tip: I try to use ancient or little known cultures so it's not something my readers have seen done a thousand times before.


Category 1- Lifestyle


Lifestyle is subdivided into three categories:

  1. Every day

  2. Traditions

  3. Special events

Before we dive into the categories & questions, just a quick clarification. I do not use all the questions. I like having a lot of questions to choose from and then use only a few.

I give myself a goal (4 special events) then choose the questions that inspire me.




Special events

Rather than questions, for here I mostly have categories and do a lot of research for inspiration.


Life milestones - birth, death, coming of age, birthday, Magic \ warrior initiation


  • How important – if at all – are birthdays? How are they celebrated?

  • What superstitions and traditions surround birth? (When is the baby named? Who delivers the baby? How much do people know about childbirth in general? Is the father present during birth?)

  • What things must be done and why? (burn hair to free the spirit, burn the body to prevent necromancy, coins on eyes for the ferryman, etc.)?

  • What are the standard motions for these rites, if any? Wakes, fasts, days of prayer, etc?

  • Do more important members of your species get special treatment when they die? State funerals, a period of mourning, minute silence, etc?


Research



Love - courtship, engagement, marriage, anniversary, honeymoon



Competitions



Holidays\ celebrated days - new year's, harvest, seasonal, fast days, the day celebrating the dead


I also find many more unique special days through my research, that I do not put into the template but just use for that culture. I have a goal for five special days.




Traditions

Here I have a goal to answer 4 questions.


  • What’s something you have to own to belong there?

  • Is this an introverted or extroverted society? ( Americans vs. British.)

  • What’s one custom this culture has that annoys or offends a different culture?

  • What rituals do they have? Do they do something special during tough times? During good times?

  • What is one specific ritual this culture has (and why)? How would they react to someone who breaks it?

  • What's considered good everyday manners? Just how important are they? What happens when people don't conform?

  • What are the accepted norms of personal hygiene? Do most people bathe regularly, or is bathing considered a health hazard?

  • When and where are people supposed to be on their best behavior? e.g. when in the king's court

  • Are there standard greetings and farewells?

  • Does your species eat their meals in a specific order?

  • Are there any rules of hospitality?

Resources





Every day life

I'm sure after seeing the breadth of the last two categories, you'll be pleased to know this is the quickest section. I like to answer 3 questions here. Here I try to sketch out a day in the life.


  • How much time do they have for leisure activity?

  • What do they do for fun \ to unwind?

  • What do the adults do? Do they work? Do chores? Hunt?

  • What do men and women do differently?

  • What about the children? Do they have chores? Classes?

  • How are their days structured - what is it divided into? (morning, night)? when do they wake up? Are they nocturnal & stay up all night? Do they have a break in the middle of the afternoon? when do they go to sleep? How do they know to do any of that?

Resources



We did it! We got lifestyle down pat. Now have fun creating a unique lifestyle for your culture and let me know what you came up with in the comments. In the next post in this series, we'll dig deeper into creating a culture and some more categories. Piece by piece, we'll get there.

I've been having fun going through my process with you. I can't wait to be back next week. And... roll credits.


  • Did you know that I do freelance writing? If you think I would be a good fit to write content for you, you can see my rates & experience here.

  • Do you love stuff? Me too. If you want to see all the very best things I use, click me. It's a great way to keep the blog going as well.



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