Having fun with worldbuilding…; map credit: Peter Fitzpatrick

Last Monday I discussed taking a(nother) look at worldbuilding and observed that having posted a reasonable amount on the topic, the starting point might be a review.

We-ell, that turned out to be a remarkably percipient observation, because when I sat down to tot up preceding posts, I counted a grand total of twenty eight on this blog alone, specifically addressing worldbuilding or an aspect of it.

And then, there’s the  Worldbuilding in Fantasy series that was my 2020 post theme on Supernatural Undergound…

All of which leads me to conclude that worldbuilding is a topic on which I have some reckons—and that a review is looking like an essential starting point, with a few From The Blog Backlist refeatures and probably some listicle action thrown in. 😀

For today, here’s an excerpt from what appears to be the very first worldbuilding themed post, from away back in June 2010; also the first month of the blog.

Middle Earth: possibly “the” most influential example of Fantasy worldbuilding

From the Backlist: “Influences on Story” — June 2010

On Sunday 20 I wrote about winter solstice and Matariki, the Maori name for the Pleaides and also for the Maori New Year: the rising of the Pleaides into southern hemisphere skies was the traditional signal used to judge when to plant many of the next year’s crops. …

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Yesterday, the section of The Gathering of the Lost (The Wall of Night Series, Book Two) that I was working on centered around a festival called Summer’s Eve, which is “always held on the first new moon of summer.” Which got me thinking about influences on our writing, especially where the author is trying to create a world that feels “real” and resonates with the reader (yes, even when writing “Fantasy”).  For example, influences such as Matariki being celebrated, by certain Maori tribes (hapu or iwi), on the first new moon after the Pleiades constellation rose.

Other, perhaps clearer (given Matariki is nearer midwinter), influences for a festival of Summer’s Eve would be the northern hemisphere’s May Day, with its tradition of mumming (acting out folk stories), crowning the May Queen and (in England, anyway) dancing around a Maypole.  But when I lived in Sweden, the festival of Valborgsmassafton, which is also celebrated in Germany as Walpurgis Night, seemed almost as important as the May Day that followed. The nights are definitely shortening by 30 April, and Valborgsmassafton is celebrated by lighting bonfires in the long clear evenings and dancing and partying through the night and into May Day itself.  You can argue that bonfires are a traditional celebration in many circumstances, but I am sure it is not accident that one way in which “Summer’s Eve” is celebrated in my story is by lighting “fires for Imuln.”