The Tools I Use to Build A Setting That Feels Real

Worldbuilding sucks. It's hard to take in an understand all the details of the real world and make sense of them, let alone a fabricated world of fantasy. But, for storytellers, it's something that gets us excited.

At least until you have to sit down and face the blank page and a million thoughts buzzing around your head.

Fortunately, in the digital age, we have access to more tools than ever to get unstuck when creative paralysis hits. With the right tools bolstering the right processes, the difference between chaos and clarity is adding a few bits of software into your workflow.

I'm not talking about zero-distraction word processors, or Pomodoro timers, or specific software on its own. I mean the application of software used to not only make your worldbuilding easier to do, but also slots into the things you already want to do when worldbuilding.

The system I've built, powered by the software I currently use, let me write up to 1,500 words per hour while I worldbuild.

Good worldbuilding is interconnected. Without being able to draw connections between the people and places you make for your world, you can't ensure your world will have that living, breathing quality readers and listeners love. A fictional world made of a series of unconnected features feels less like an experience, and more like disjointed areas of a rundown state fairground.

So, I recommend something like Obsidian. It doesn't need to be Obsidian itself, but it does need to be some sort of software that lets you record your ideas and connect them to each other. I've used Notion a little bit, and I've heard good things about Kortex, but I'll stick to what I know and recommend Obsidian.

In Obsidian, I have folders for all of my characters, regions, cities, landmarks...anything you'd find on a map of your local area, I have a note for. I have templates for each of those things, so whenever I make a new note, I can drop in a template and get right to building.

While writing up my worldbuilding, I have some best practices I keep in mind while creating:

While I didn't do it intentionally when making this system, I have since learned that this habit of mine helps me feel motivated to come back and keep expanding my world by way of a psychology hack called The Zeigarnik Effect. I wrote a newsletter about that before if you wanted to check that out.

Anyways, what this means is that Obsidian is my one-stop program from getting my ideas formulated, organized, and interlinked so I can dive back into the worldbuilding web whenever I get the itch to do so.

I know already that telling people that I use AI tools to help me with my worldbuilding is going to get some eye rolls and groans. Unbunch your panties everyone, I don't use generative AI for my writing. Everything I make comes from me, and me alone.

But, that doesn't mean AI doesn't help me with my work.

There's a lot of information out there on the Internet, and I only have so many hours in the day. If I want to understand all the breaking news of what's going on in the world of storytelling, I have to get creative with how I gather info.

In the past, I'd go to each news source and read through the information myself...which meant hours every week spent just reading. Nowadays, I can have AI parse through recent news and videos in the world of storytelling and give me some insight about what the general trends tend to be.

For example, I have this recurring task in Perplexity that gives me insights on worldbuilding techniques, lore, and stories from around the Internet and breaks it down into a handful of bullet points for me:

This is information I could find without Perplexity. All the AI does for me is grab that info and deliver into into my email. So, rather than spending hours each week going over where the trends are in the industry, I have that info deliver to my inbox and summarized into a 5 minute read.

From there, any ideas or inspiration I get from reviewing these updates goes into my Obsidian vaults. I have separate vaults for my fiction world and for my content creation, so research gets sorted by me into the correct vault depending on where I think that information best deserves to be.

I chose Perplexity because it has different levels of reasoning that you can apply to your queries, and because it offers access to seven different LLMs across five of the major players in the LLM industry, meaning I can get different perspectives and outputs for the same query. In a way, having access to these extra models all in one place gives me a team to do research for me and brainstorm ideas.

It also sources all its claims, almost like an academic paper. Perplexity will still hallucinate sometimes, but with the sources there, I can go through and double-check all the important claims it makes before I run with them.

I'm exploring ways to deepen the automation elements of this tool. Right now, I've automated the pulling of information, but haven't yet found a good way to automation the entry of that information into my Obsidian vaults, mostly because I enjoy the "walled garden" experience Obsidian gives me. It's nice having something that I self-host and cannot be intruded on unless I give permission. It helps prevent distractions for me.

So, for now, idea generation is a blend of automated research and manual entry on my part.

As with any system, you need a goal to point the system towards. Without a goal, the system can't create a defined output. It'll make something, but you might not be happy with that something.

So, to ensure I make something worthwhile while I worldbuild, I use an altered version of the Pomodoro technique to give myself bursts of work, and ensure that I don't get so absorbed in my work that I forget to do things like stand up or drink water.

Here's what my modified Pomodoro system looks like:

So, over the course of about 2.5 hours, I get a little under two hours of work done. I also have a custom setting enabled that lets me autoplay the breaks, meaning that I can finish up what I was working on without having to time how long it takes from my break. I keep productivity sprints as something that requires manual input to start so that I send a clear signal to myself that I need to focus and get work done.

I found that when I tried the standard Pomodoro method, I'd be settling into a flow state right as the alarm to take a short break would ring. I'd then have to spend the next 25 minutes getting back into flow, only to get pulled out again within minutes of entering my flow state.

Since that process was jarring for me, I decided to extend the focused work period to 50 minutes so I spend at least half that time in a flow state, which gave me amazing results for my writing.

With the above timings, I can average 1,000 words per hour written, and peak at up to 1,500 words per hour if I hit my flow state fast.

But, that only happens if I get clear about my goals, which I set before I ever time my first productivity sprint. I'll write down what specific things I want to build and estimate how many sprints I'll need to dedicate to that task.

Once everything is lined up, I dive into my work, and don't stop until my tasks are done. I'll skip short breaks if I feel super motivated, but I never skip the longer breaks.

Once I have my worldbuilding notes set and written, it's time to revise and reflect on what I've made. This step usually happens a day or so after I write new notes for my world, but there have been weeks where I stack up everything for one big review session on the weekend. It depends on how busy my week is and, more specifically, where my priority work for the week had to go.

I use Grammarly to help me with this review process. I also use it for my non-fiction work (like this newsletter), but that's a different consideration I can get into later.

Something important to note, though: I don't pass every single note that I make through Grammarly. Not every note I make is something I plan to release publicly. There have been many times where I create things for my world because I plan to use it as a reference point for something smaller that my readers or players will interact with.

Think of it like this: when you go to use a gas station pump, you don't know you're using a proprietary version of Windows or Linux for the pump's OS. You push the buttons or use the touchscreen to tell the system you want gas, pay, and then fill up your car. Never do you have to actively think about the software running everything.

I know this because I had to look up how a gas station pump works while writing this. I never had to think about that before choosing to make that analogy.

Some facets of worldbuilding are that level of work: either so foundational that the characters and/or readers never think about it, or so high-level and removed from the story's perspective that they aren't yet noticeable.

I'll cover it more later, but I add that context here so that you know you have permission to skip this step if it isn't helpful for you.

I have some other tools that I'll use to help me out with worldbuilding, but these aren't huge steps in the overall system, so I'll just cover them briefly here:

All of the above software are the tools for my worldbuilding workflow, which is really just a variation of my general writing workflow. It's a system I call the Writer Wyrd System.

I'm a big believer in fate, in so much that I believe fate is something you create. I'm of the mindset that the things you do will lead you to predictable outcomes, even if those outcomes aren't obvious at the time. I'd rather take my fate into my own hands, and try to move in a course I set.

Thus, the use of the word "wyrd." It's an Old English word for fate or destiny, and it just so happens to sounds an awful like "word." It's a perfect descriptor for a system where someone can change their fate with words.

You've already seen my overall system:

But that doesn't mean this specific set of steps will work for you. I think the value of this system comes from the concept backing the steps and software, not the steps and software themselves.

If you strip away the software from my system, it actually looks like this:

If you can consistently follow those five key points, you'll have your own variation of the Writing Wyrd System.

I can't decide what the specifics of your variations will be, though. I don't know what sort of worldbuilding work you do, or what tools you prefer, or what considerations will have to be made for someone working on a team.

But, I do know that the above steps allow me, and folks like me, to be able to create consistent, high-quality writing for worldbuilding and beyond.

Consistent worldbuilding comes from something deeper than just the tools you use. A system is only as good as the goal you aim it at, meaning if you don't point yourself in the right direction, your system will carry you aimlessly.

Don't get me wrong - I love the software that I use right now, and am always looking for ways to improve my system with better tools. But, the specific steps I take with my Writing Wyrd System - environment sculpting, brainstorming, direction setting, and then executing - those stay the same regardless of what I use.

So, my recommendation is this: use whatever tools help you best achieve hitting each core concept of the Writing Wyrd System. I don't care if you writing in Obsidian, Notion, Google Drive, or even Notepad.

I care more about your ability to create amazing worlds on a consistent basis. The tools are secondary to the discipline and consistent output.