Fantasy worldbuilding can often be difficult. One of the best ways to work is to let your own imagination guide you through the construction, but don't forget to include rules to the organization of your world. Otherwise, chaos will reign. Have you ever played a game without rules? It doesn't work very well. Neither does a world without rules. Rules set us free, rather than hinder us.

One of the first steps is do decide how fantastic, or which subgenre of fantasy, your world is going to be. Is it going to have a medieval cast to it? Is it prehistoric? From colonization times? Modern fantasy? How about fairy-tale style? The subgenre you choose has an effect on the creation of your world. It is not always a distinct effect either. It does affect how the reader approaches your world, however.

Here are a few basic subgenres, and what to expect from each:

• Fairy-Tale Fantasy — Fairy-tale fantasy has probably the most defined rules, yet these rules are not noticeable, and not usually very restrictive. Fairy-tale fantasy often contains a lot of magic, many fantastical creatures, and is usually medieval in style, though this can vary. The rules of fairy-tale fantasy usually govern how magic works, which creatures can do what and live where, and how basic life is run.
  
• Medieval Fantasy, non-fairy-tale — Medieval fantasy is based on medieval life on Earth. This usually has a lot of historical basis to it, though that can differ. Unlike fairy-tale fantasy, medieval fantasy doesn't have a lot of magic or magical beings, though it can have people who practiced witchcraft and other followings that really existed in our world. One of the best ways to work this type of fantasy is to study how medieval life was, and base your creation off of that.
  
• Colonization Fantasy — The time period for this type of fantasy can range from the beginnings of colonization, just after Medieval times, to today. You can choose from your favorite time period, and usually base the creation of your world off of history.
  
• Modern Fantasy — Modern fantasy takes place during modern times. This is often called Urban Fantasy, or Dark Fantasy. There are a few good authors in this field, if you wish to check out someone else's creation. Usually, you will use a setting that already exists, in a time period you've lived in (or a few years away). Your setting is often establishd already, so you simply need to clarify what it is. I won't go into too much detail on creating these worlds, simply because they exist already.

There are others, but I'll try to make the worldbuilding pages general so you can modify them to the world type you want to do. As a note right now, I'm most likely going to be focusing on Fairy-Tale Fantasy, because the other world types can fit into the creation of that. There will simply be parts you can eliminate depending on the type you want to do. If you need help with something I don't cover in these pages, e-mail me at celestial_drachen@hotmail.com to add it to my pages.