Eight Best Tips On How To Create A Complex Fantasy World (Part II)
By: Paul Gilbert
Tags: Game of Thrones, Worldbuilding, Maps, How To, Fantasy World

In the first blog post on this topic, we looked at the first five of the eight best tips on how to create a complex fantasy world. There, we discussed that it is advisable for writers to:

1. Decide The Key Locations For The Plot;

2. Use Non-Visited Locations To Affect The Plot;

3. Determine How The Landscape and The Climate Force POV Characters To Make Critical Decisions;

4. Decide How The Climate And The Landscape Affect Geopolitics (And The Plot); and

5. Create History And Mythology For A Location, And Use Them To Impact The Plot.

Continuing on from these, we shall assess the remaining three of the eight best tips on how to create a complex fantasy world.

Tip 6 — Name Places In The World

The name of a place, by itself, has to tell the reader a story. On Earth, every country, city, town, river, forest, etc… has a name, and every place has acquired its name for a reason. That reason holds a story, and the writer should aim to evoke an image and a tale in the names of his/her locations. This applies regardless of whether the writer is naming worlds, kingdoms or empires; cities, towns, villages or castles; or forests, mountains, seas or rivers.

6A. Worlds, Kingdoms And Empires

A writer must be creative when coming up with names for worlds, kingdoms and/or empires and can choose any name he/she fancies. However, again, he/she should aim to give them evocative names.

When it comes to worlds, JRR Tolkien named his world as Middle-Earth; Terry Pratchett named his as Discworld; and George RR Martin has named his as The Known World. Each of the names of the worlds either evokes an image of a medieval-like Earth, or a planet on a disc, or a map that still has wonders to behold beyond what is known.

For kingdoms and empires though, it is much harder to give them evocative names. Raymond E Feist names his countries as The Kingdom, The Great Empire of Kesh, and Lesser Kesh. All three names give an indication of their size and importance within the world (and it is obvious from the name that the Kesh are a people). David Eddings did something similar with his world, as he named countries as the Kingdom of Riva, the Kingdom of Cherek, the Seven Kingdoms of Karanda, and the Dalasian Protectorates. All of these, again, give the reader an indication of the size of the respective countries.

Thus, as a general rule, putting the word ‘kingdom,’ or ‘empire,’ or ‘protectorate,’ or ‘free city’ (or something else of that ilk) before or after the name of the main people or god of that country should suffice.

I would personally like to add one other feature about designing the map/world here. If the writer wishes his map to bear some semblance to Earth, he/she should create names for countries that resemble their counterparts on Earth in their correct location on Earth. So, western countries should have names that would sound apt for a country in the West, while countries to the near and far east should have names that would be fitting for that part of the world. This is why George RR Martin names the kingdom in the west as Westeros, while there is a kingdom to the distant east called Yi Ti that is meant to resemble medieval China.

6B. Cities, Towns, Counties, Villages And Castles

Like with naming a world, naming a city, town, county, village and/or a castle must be emotive and evoke an image and a story in the reader’s mind. For example, in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, some of the most evocative names are The Shire, which conjures up images of a rural peoples working on the land; and Helm’s Deep, where an image springs to mind of a stronghold that would have high walls and would cost many lives to seize.

Similarly, CS Lewis for The Chronicles of Narnia often adopted names such as Witch’s Castle and The Stone Table. Lewis wrote his Narnia series for children, so the names are somewhat risible to an adult audience. Nevertheless, Witch’s Castle produces an image of a nasty place where the evil witch dwells; and The Stone Table does what it says on the tin (so to speak) by evoking an image of a stone table, where key decisions are made.

However, a writer should not only limit himself/herself to names that automatically conjure up an image in the reader’s mind. He/she should name a few places (at maximum) that have unique connotations to the story; for instance, Hobbiton in LOTR and Casterly Rock in ASOIAF.

Hobbiton is unique to LOTR as it is the village where hobbits (who only exist in Tolkien’s world) generally come from, including our main protagonists Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. Casterly Rock, though, has an altogether different and darker reason for its name. It is the ancestral fortress of House Lannister, based on the top of a large rock alike the one in Gibraltar. According to lore, Casterly Rock belonged to House Casterly thousands of years ago (hence the name), but Lann the Clever (whom the Lannisters descend from) hoodwinked the Casterlys out of their home and slaughtered them all. Yet, the Lannisters kept the Casterly part in the name of their fortress as a warning to others who dared trifle with them; that the Lannisters have cunning, brute strength and ruthlessness as part of their arsenal.

6C. Forests, Seas, Rivers and Mountains

Again, all such names have to evoke an image or an emotion in the reader’s mind. For example, in George RR Martin’s Known World, he names forests as The Kingswoods, as it is near the capital and it is where the King hunts; and the Wolfswood, as it is in the North, near Winterfell and where the wolves reside (both Starks and actual wolves for that matter).

For the names of the rivers he was no different either, as he named a river north of The Wall as the Milk River. Of course, the river’s water is not literally made of milk. Rather, this is how it looks to observers since its surface is frozen all year round. Likewise, south of the wall he names the river that flows through King’s Landing as the Blackwater Rush, implying a foul waterway travelling at speed through the Crownlands.

Martin, of course, was not the only who used evocative names on his map. Joe Abercrombie, in his First Law trilogy, used some highly emotive and evocative names when naming some of his seas. One he names as the Circle Sea, as a circular sea surrounds Midderland; and he names another as the Sea of Knives, thereby conjuring up images of a sharp rocks sticking out of the sea, ready to break the hulls of ships.

Tolkien was not averse to using emotive names either to form Middle-Earth as well; in fact, he saved some his most evocative names for his mountains. The Lonely Mountain invokes an image of a sole mountain in the middle of a flat terrain, with nothing of comparison within eye-range; while the Misty Mountains raise images of fog covering a set of frowning mountains, as if to give the mountains a shadowy, mysterious edge.

In a very different way, Brandon Sanderson in his Stormlight Archives gives one sets of hills an emotive name too because he names them as the Unclaimed Hills. Here, he gives the reader the idea that the hills are warred over, with kingdom after kingdom trying to conquer them, while tribes (and other monstrous creatures) ambush soldiers to make holding the hills impossible.

Tip 7 — Be Consistent With The Language Of The Places

Years ago, I read an interview with a fantasy author who used different (made up) languages while explaining how he named the places on his map. Then, I read a critique of his work this critic explained why this was not a wise idea. I would tend to agree with this critic because names written in another (made up) language do not evoke an image in the reader’s mind.

This is the case even if the writer has created his/her own language for the story and translates the name into English/the Common Tongue for the reader. Translations do not have the same impact upon the reader as English/the Common Tongue, sadly.

Also, if there is a translation why did the author bother using the made up name in the first place?

Tip 8 — When To Use Exotic-Sounding Names For Their Locations

It is tempting for a writer to be creative and give a city, a river, a castle, a mountain, etc… a made up, exotic name (that borders on the unpronounceable). Credit where credit is due as these names can be highly imaginative, genius and/or amusing.

However, there is a problem with exotic, made up names for places: they emote and tell the reader nothing about the history and/or location of the place. Therefore, such names are best avoided.

Thank You

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and the last one, and that they have helped you in building your world. I want to reassure you that creating a world is no simple to task and my map took me close to a decade to draw and name (and I am still making alterations to it).

Nevertheless, I have greatly enjoyed creating my world and making it as rich and sophisticated as possible. I hope that the same is true for you.

Paul