This post was originally published on E.S. Foster’s blog.

Middle Earth. Roshar. Narnia. These are just some of the iconic worlds that come to mind when I think of places I’ve read in fantasy books. These places become real to us, almost a second home that we don’t want to leave or that we want to return to time and time again. But as fantasy writers, how do we do fantasy worldbuilding well so readers will see the setting as realistic and won’t want to leave?

This post just scratches the ti...