Worldbuilding101: Society
Wow… so, it’s been a while. I’m elbows-deep in going through my copy editor’s notes, which mostly consists of me alternating between grumbling about her removal of most of my Oxford commas, and marvelling at her ability to pick up both tiny inconsistencies and glaring mistakes.
Combine this with some busy (if amazing) times in my personal life, and that adds up to not a lot of blog writing. But that’s something I hope I can rectify, because today we’re looking at societies.
Apologies first off that this will, once again, be aimed at speculative fiction writers. This is because a) it’s the genre I write in, so it’s the one I feel most comfortable sharing my ideas in, and b) like it or not, contemporary and realistic fiction writers are stuck with real-world societies, and there’s not much advice I can offer to them besides keep your eyes open and read some anthropological studies.
Social Structure, eg. who’s sitting on the cushions?
You’ll want to think about what in your society commands the most respect and control, because that’s going to filter down throughout the rest of the aspects of your society. For example, I have a country called Yäel . Here, because of an unfortunate incident in their past when the rest of the world forgot about them, the people treat capturing an image of someone as almost a religious experience. They get their portraits painted on special occasions in their lives and hang portraits painted with their ashes in commemorative halls after their deaths. Consequently, certain artists have attained an almost rockstar-like quality as they are sought after by wealthy patrons. Art and beautification is valued in this society. Perhaps it might be religion in yours, or sport, or trade and commerce. Whatever it is, its superstars are going to be high in your society.
Alternatively, which social classes are the lowest in your structure? Who make up the unwashed masses? Often times is can be far more fun to follow these people around and get a sense of the grimy underworld below the marble temples.
Religion
There seems to be a trend in many fantasy stories today to either exclude religion altogether or make its priests corrupt and money-hungry and its god/s either petty and uncaring or completely non-existent. While this cynical look at religion fits well in some darker-and-edgier worlds, I like to believe that there is a place for non-corrupt religions in fantasy as well.
1. A single god. This one has definitely lost favour over the last couple of decades, but is still a viable option. The churches tend to be quite Catholic in their views, with plenty of traditions and social structures within the church itself. This god also mostly keeps to himself (and it’s generally a him) a lot more than the others.
2. A Greek pantheon. These gods are, in my opinion, the most fun. They are the archetypal big and loud family, with warring members, family in-jokes, too much history between them, messy fights and messier reunions. They tend to meddle in the affairs of mortals, taking champions and inspiring battles. Be careful when writing them because they have a tendency to steal the show.
3. Trinities. If female (and most are), these deities often take the forms traditionally given to the Moirai: the maiden, the mother, and the crone.
4. The Goddess. Tends to be a little more caring and less austere than her male counterpart. Is known for taking champions and inspiring young women to battle against the binds of patriarchy. If the world features more than one religion, it will often be the followers of 1. oppressing the followers of the Goddess.
Another aspect to look at is how the people worship. Is the focus on attendance or individual relationships with their deity? Do mortals take a deity as their patron? Is there a concept of Hell, and, if so, what is it? Lots of fun things to think about.
Ideologies
This one often intertwines with religion, but it can be separate: namely, what does your society most believe in? What informs them as they go about their day? They might be big, unshakeable ideas that permeate the whole of society, or small views that only certain members hold.
- What are the wives’ tales? Every society in real life has little bits of advice that are passed down through the generations, so why should speculative societies be any different? How do your people treat these wives’ tales? Do the young scoff at them? Begrudgingly treat them as useful? And how rooted in factuality are they?
- Superstitions. This one relates to wives’ tales, but is broad enough to split into a separate category. What do people avoid and why? This generally stems from religion, but can also come from an event in history. It’s amazing how many seemingly illogical superstitions actually make sense once you pull them apart. For example, the superstition that it’s bad luck to open an umbrella indoors probably originated in the eighteenth-century, when the stiff metal spokes of the early umbrellas meant that you were likely to poke someone in the eye if you opened an umbrella indoors.
- Since we mentioned upward social mobility a couple of paragraphs back, it might be a good time to mention whether or not this is actually a widely-held view in your society. Are social climbers admired for their tenacity or looked down on? Does society instead believe that, as was the prevalent idea in Europe for many centuries, they’ve been called into the station they belong in and any attempts to better it are, at best, unwise and, at worst, spitting in the face of God?
And I think I’ve blathered on enough today, so that will do for now. Let me know what your favourite aspect of speculative fiction society worldbuilding is in the comments or chat with me directly on k.a.barkerwrites [at] gmail [dot] com.
Combine this with some busy (if amazing) times in my personal life, and that adds up to not a lot of blog writing. But that’s something I hope I can rectify, because today we’re looking at societies.
Apologies first off that this will, once again, be aimed at speculative fiction writers. This is because a) it’s the genre I write in, so it’s the one I feel most comfortable sharing my ideas in, and b) like it or not, contemporary and realistic fiction writers are stuck with real-world societies, and there’s not much advice I can offer to them besides keep your eyes open and read some anthropological studies.
Social Structure, eg. who’s sitting on the cushions?
Social structure is a great indication of how a society is ordered and what they value the most. As Timothy Leary says, “Civilisation is unbearable, but it is less unbearable at the top”. Most people spend their lives on an endless attempt to improve their lot in life, whether through business or marriage or going out and whacking at dragons with pointy things. Who in your world is able to grab the most amount of power? Is it the land-holding knights and barons? The senior members of a religion? The artists and craftspeople?
You’ll want to think about what in your society commands the most respect and control, because that’s going to filter down throughout the rest of the aspects of your society. For example, I have a country called Yäel . Here, because of an unfortunate incident in their past when the rest of the world forgot about them, the people treat capturing an image of someone as almost a religious experience. They get their portraits painted on special occasions in their lives and hang portraits painted with their ashes in commemorative halls after their deaths. Consequently, certain artists have attained an almost rockstar-like quality as they are sought after by wealthy patrons. Art and beautification is valued in this society. Perhaps it might be religion in yours, or sport, or trade and commerce. Whatever it is, its superstars are going to be high in your society.
Alternatively, which social classes are the lowest in your structure? Who make up the unwashed masses? Often times is can be far more fun to follow these people around and get a sense of the grimy underworld below the marble temples.
Religion
There seems to be a trend in many fantasy stories today to either exclude religion altogether or make its priests corrupt and money-hungry and its god/s either petty and uncaring or completely non-existent. While this cynical look at religion fits well in some darker-and-edgier worlds, I like to believe that there is a place for non-corrupt religions in fantasy as well.
Religion is a great way to show us more about a society, from the number of gods they worship to their specific roles and the nature of the worship itself. Most fantasy stories tend to fall into four main categories:
1. A single god. This one has definitely lost favour over the last couple of decades, but is still a viable option. The churches tend to be quite Catholic in their views, with plenty of traditions and social structures within the church itself. This god also mostly keeps to himself (and it’s generally a him) a lot more than the others.
2. A Greek pantheon. These gods are, in my opinion, the most fun. They are the archetypal big and loud family, with warring members, family in-jokes, too much history between them, messy fights and messier reunions. They tend to meddle in the affairs of mortals, taking champions and inspiring battles. Be careful when writing them because they have a tendency to steal the show.
3. Trinities. If female (and most are), these deities often take the forms traditionally given to the Moirai: the maiden, the mother, and the crone.
4. The Goddess. Tends to be a little more caring and less austere than her male counterpart. Is known for taking champions and inspiring young women to battle against the binds of patriarchy. If the world features more than one religion, it will often be the followers of 1. oppressing the followers of the Goddess.
Another aspect to look at is how the people worship. Is the focus on attendance or individual relationships with their deity? Do mortals take a deity as their patron? Is there a concept of Hell, and, if so, what is it? Lots of fun things to think about.
Ideologies
This one often intertwines with religion, but it can be separate: namely, what does your society most believe in? What informs them as they go about their day? They might be big, unshakeable ideas that permeate the whole of society, or small views that only certain members hold.
- What are the wives’ tales? Every society in real life has little bits of advice that are passed down through the generations, so why should speculative societies be any different? How do your people treat these wives’ tales? Do the young scoff at them? Begrudgingly treat them as useful? And how rooted in factuality are they?
- Superstitions. This one relates to wives’ tales, but is broad enough to split into a separate category. What do people avoid and why? This generally stems from religion, but can also come from an event in history. It’s amazing how many seemingly illogical superstitions actually make sense once you pull them apart. For example, the superstition that it’s bad luck to open an umbrella indoors probably originated in the eighteenth-century, when the stiff metal spokes of the early umbrellas meant that you were likely to poke someone in the eye if you opened an umbrella indoors.
- Since we mentioned upward social mobility a couple of paragraphs back, it might be a good time to mention whether or not this is actually a widely-held view in your society. Are social climbers admired for their tenacity or looked down on? Does society instead believe that, as was the prevalent idea in Europe for many centuries, they’ve been called into the station they belong in and any attempts to better it are, at best, unwise and, at worst, spitting in the face of God?
And I think I’ve blathered on enough today, so that will do for now. Let me know what your favourite aspect of speculative fiction society worldbuilding is in the comments or chat with me directly on k.a.barkerwrites [at] gmail [dot] com.
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