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Setting and Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding is for everyone
Worldbuilding is for everyone
When you hear the world “worldbuilding,” you probably think of complex maps, made up languages, and alien species. That is a type of worldbuilding that is common in science fiction and fantasy, but it’s not the only kind. Worldbuilding is something every author engages in, even those writing contemporary romances set in the real world. Approaching your worldbuilding deliberately, no matter your genre, can help your story feel more real and keep your readers hooked. 
Discover types of worlds for your story
Discover types of worlds for your story
Worldbuilding can be broken down into four main types, depending on how complex the world is.  “Normal world” worldbuilding is the kind of worldbuilding we see in contemporary romance, contemporary Young Adult, New Adult, and college stories. These stories are set in the everyday, regular world that does not require specialized knowledge to understand. In this kind of worldbuilding, we want to get a sense of the distinct details that give this place its character, because we basically already know how the world works.
Deeper on trope worlds
Deeper on trope worlds
A Trope World is a world that is based in the conventions of the story’s subgenre. The story’s world differs from our regular world in significant ways, but the rules of those differences are pretty similar from story to story. The society depicted is different from our society, but all the settings share a recognizable set of characteristics determined by the subgenre of the story. Examples of subgenres that rely on Trope Worlds are regency romance, werewolf, and mafia.
Deeper on alternate worlds
Deeper on alternate worlds
An Alternate World is a type of story setting where the world of the story is drastically different from our everyday world, and there’s not a lot of overlap between stories even in the same subgenre. In each story, the author is introducing the reader to the world from the ground up.