ALYSSA LOST IN SPACE

There are so many amazing resources out there, and I thought I would make a little list to highlight some your might find useful. You can expect more of these since there are still many resources I want to share with you. But we’ll start with five for now.

Some of these might be a little unconventional, but I wanted to provide some interesting resources that you either haven’t heard of before or haven’t considered. They do tend to lean more towards the fantasy side of worldbuilding, but you could use any of these resources listed below if you really wanted to. On to the list!

Ambient Mixer

First up on the list is an ambient soundscape website called Ambient Mixer. This one is a bit of a weird one, and while I think it is used quite often for writing, I think as a tool for worldbuilding it might not be as obvious. But I realized after hunting down a good desert village track for the short story I was writing, that many people had different interpretations of what that might sound like, and that alone was fascinating.

If you’re in need of some inspiration, or you want to add more dimension to your worldbuilding, I highly suggest giving some of them a listen, and take a look at some of the things people have used to create that ambience. Is there a lot of wind? People singing? What sort of animals can be heard? And of course, you can always mix your own.

There is a lot of focus on what a world looks like, but I think what a world might sound like is overlooked, and might be an interesting avenue to explore. Oh, and did I mention that there is also an app?

r/worldbuilding

Sometimes I think Reddit is often overlooked as a resource, despite the wealth of information it contains. The worldbuilding Reddit page is no different and it’s a great place to go to connect with other worldbuilders or garner some inspiration. It can also provide a myriad of topics for you to explore in your own world. I would highly recommend giving it a look for any avid worldbuilders out there.

Inkarnate

Inkarnate is definitely one of, if not THE best map making resource I have found on the internet. The maps look amazing, the builder is straightforward and you can easily export the results. I’d love to see more colours and options, but it’s still a really robust mapmaker. If you really love maps and struggle with the artistic side of things, I cannot recommend Inkarnate enough for all of your mapmaking needs.

WordGen

WordGen is a tool I found while exploring language generators, and I have to say, this one has impressed me more than any other. While creating a language might be a little advanced and definitely not for everyone, I think it has other uses as well. If you happen to struggle coming up with names for people and objects, for example, or you want to make sure your created culture has some cohesion where their names and language are concerned. WordGen can generate words based on rules that you set, so they naturally fit together the way an actual language would. I would definitely give this website a try, if only for the coolness factor.

Pinterest

I should preface this with a little disclaimer. I am very biased where Pinterest is concerned. I absolutely love this website, and I think it can be used for a great number of things. Worldbuilding is no exception. I use it all the time to help me get a sense of what something will look like. What is the difference between a river and a creek? What might a village look like if it’s buried in the snow? There is so much visual inspiration on there, and I love to collect relevant images both to help give my world a cohesive feel and also to inspire me when I’m feeling a lot less than motivated.

There are tons of worksheets and infographics and the like that can help you build your world as well, like lists of geographic features and how to draw a map (should you prefer the hand-drawn method as opposed to something like Inkarnate). Create a board for your world and give it a shot! You can even create sub-categories within the boards if you want to focus on specific cultural details and things of that nature. And did I mention how much fun it is?

Hopefully, this list of slightly unusual resources will help get you worldbuilding or revive that motivation! I wanted to choose things that were varied and covered all sorts of aspects of worldbuilding, and maybe ones you never heard of before or thought to try in such a way. Anything to introduce a new way of thinking or a new way of building, right?

I want to hear from you!

Do you have any amazing worldbuilding resources you swear by? Share them down below!