Think About the Implications

The real world is full of implications. One of the trickiest things about building a fantasy world from scratch is making it feel real. And one of the biggest let downs is when a series or TV show that, for most of its run, tried to feel grounded in some way, has suddenly tossed any continuity out the window.

Which is to say: when making a world or a character, you've got to think about the implications.

For example, say you have a lovable rapscallion of a character. A mischievous but kind princess perhaps, who longs for life outside the palace, or a full on thief with a heart of gold. They see someone rich being cruel to an old man selling his wares, and steal the jerk's wallet for good measure. Serves them right! Your hero gets away, feeling pleased at righting an injustice, and possibly your reader agrees with them.

Because yeah, maybe the jerk deserved to lose a wallet for abusing an old man — but now the old man has had a terrible day at his job, and he won't even make a sale. Any character that you introduce comes with the weight of their existence, even if they only exist in that scene.

So beyond ripping off your poor street vendor, you also make your lovable rogue character come off as someone who doesn't think through consequences, and who can impulsively, unintentionally hurt other people in the long-run. And this is fantastic — if you want those to be the character flaws your protagonist has to learn to work through and overcome. One of my favourite things about writing YA is having teenage protagonists getting a reality check from caring and/or concerned adults around them who have actually thought the situation through. But, if your character is just supposed to be fun loving and kind, and has entirely different flaws, you may not want to accidentally give your characters faults you have no intention of addressing.

Thinking about implications is also very important for a magic system. If say, people can summon things at will by having them fly through the air, they'll probably build houses that prioritize open shelf space other wardrobes with doors that would just get in the way of the summoning spell. Or, if people have water magic, they may be more inclined to live in a desert environment because their magic will give them an advantage of surviving there over magic-less humans.

However, don't get overwhelmed. You don't have to think through every implication all at once, and can just go one at a time, moving from concept to concept while letting a lot of it come naturally. I'm a plotter more than a pantser when it comes to writing, but I've still definitely had moments of making up worldbuilding or a rule on the fly.

One of the most gratifying things about getting four books into a series and then doubling back around to rewrite and revise book one was getting to bring all the things I'd developed in later books back to book one, to be quietly introduced or implied. Not only did it make the whole project feel more cohesive and coherent, plucking ripe ideas from the fruits of five years of labour firsthand, but it gave a credence to my world that it didn't have before.

Now, there are a few times where you can get away with not thinking about the implications. You should still probably know what they are, but you can get away with not addressing them. Children's fantasy media is particularly rife with this, as some things come down to the Story's Contract.

For example, if characters from different parts of the world are meeting each other, particularly after centuries of social division, there's almost no way they would be able to understand each other. However, a core part of the story's contract are the characters being able to be friends with one another, thus they have to able to understand each other, even if from a realism angle this part of the worldbuilding makes no sense. Sometimes you can or have sacrifice realism, or implications, for theme and engagement.

The trick is figuring out when to do so. After all, Avatar: The Last Airbender does this exact thing, and it's one of the greatest TV shows of all time. One of the key ways to figure out if you can avoid addressing all the implications is whether, simply put, what happening in your story is "fun enough" or interesting / compelling enough that your audience would rather see what happens than ask how or why it's happening.

But asking yourself questions like

• What would the widespread use of this type of magic or technology mean for the markets, education, cultures?
• How are celebrities, idols, or heroes seen in this culture, or these various cultures, if your protagonist falls in one of these categories?
• How would a strict upbringing affect your main character's high school experience? Do they see their parents behaviour as normal? Why or why not?

Can all be useful in creating a strong, well thought out world. If you want more tips and tricks on how to do this, check out my article on how to create consistent thinking patterns for your characters. There are also other considerations to ponder, such as the implications of allegory, which I hope to talk more about in the future, and overcoming old-fashioned, harmful tropes that have been normalized in a lot of media (like the disfigured villain trope) both in the past and today.

Last but not least, have fun. Some of the best storytelling can be done entirely through implication — subtext is always a strength when well-utilized. Go watch "The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals," and think about the implications. Worldbuilding and character crafting can be a wild ride at the best of the times — and can also be some of your best writing.