Most of my stories start when a character leaps out of my mind and onto the page, but every character needs a world to live in. Here’s how I find a place for them when I get stuck.

Create the villain first

When I first tried creating a villain first, I was surprised at how well it worked. I mind-mapped her personality before I did anything else, and in about an hour, I had not only a villain, but a setting and the beginnings of a plot. The frustrating part was that I didn’t want her to be the antagonist; I wanted her to be the misunderstood hero, or at the very least, have a change of heart instead of making me kill her. What I appreciated about this method was that I didn’t have a vague ‘bad guy’. The villain wasn’t just a dark cloak shrouded in mist, but a person with hopes, fears, and motives.

Come up with a being, creature, or other living thing

Again, for me this starts with art. I am by no means an artistic person, so I like to use other people’s art for inspiration. Pinterest is my go-to, with my character and creature boards topping over 3,000 pins each. If you’re more of a hands-on person, you can always get out a sketchbook and draw something, letting the lines lead you as a being emerges from the page. I have done this as well, and it resulted in an entirely new spin on the world I thought I was creating.

If, like me, you don’t consider yourself an artist, you could always try describing your creature. This also works if you have a picture to go off of. Describing your creature forces you to think past what it looks like, and lets you discover secret traits and hidden abilities. Who knows? They might change the direction of the entire story.

Draw a map

At some point or another, I create a map for every one of my stories. I had a hand-drawn one of Aramendala, the world of my first trilogy, hanging in front of my desk for five years. Sometimes all it takes is a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. Other times I use online map creators such as Inkarnate, though there are many more available for free online.

World-Building

For the plotters out there, you don’t need to start with anything I’ve listed above. Feel free to create your own ways to start a story! For the pantsers, I’ve found it helps to try some sort of world-building technique before you start writing, or at least alongside your first draft. This helps prevent contradictions in your world and establishes a foundation for your story to rest on.

When Aramendala got too big to keep in my head, I started using World Anvil. It works primarily for sci-fi and fantasy, and can also be used for D&D campaigns. I love it because you can create the natural laws of your world, significant places, historical figures, and so many other things that you need to remember but can’t quite seem to keep track of them all.

Every writer is different. The methods above are just the ones that helped Aramendala take shape. Experiment. Find what works for you!