Ever wondered how to turn your worldbuilding into a career? Well, we got in touch with the author of one of the most-viewed worlds on World Anvil, and he’s giving you some free professional worldbuilding advice! Author and game developer Espen Johansen started working on The Age of Calamitous in 2011 and he’s been building it ever since. With 9 years of development, his world is brimming with lore, and he’s full of tips to share! So, let’s hear what he has to say, shall we?
Tips for professional worldbuilding
When it comes to creating worlds, it can take many years, and trends can quickly change overnight. Therefore, it is important that you build something you are passionate about.
Be Passionate about YOUR project
When you’re worldbuilding, it’s important to do what you want to do instead of blindly following current trends. These trends will eventually disappear, and if you’re not doing what you’re passionate about, you’ll quickly burn out! Define your motivation and come up with a goal for your world. This will make consistency much easier!
Find an inner circle for your professional worldbuilding project
However, the journey to your goal can be a bit lonely —this is why Espen recommends finding a couple of people to form an inner circle. You can then share your works with each other and brainstorm together. That’s free extra brains to think about your world! What else could you ask for?
Be brave
And then it’s time to publish your first story. The first one will not be what you expect, and that’s fine! Do your best, but don’t wait for your first project to be perfect, or you’ll never get to publish it.
Find professional worldbuilding tools for your project
Trying to build an expansive world from the ground up can be quite overwhelming. Therefore, having the ability to keep your work organized is key. To me personally, World Anvil has been nothing but a dream to work with.
When you’re building a big world with many different moving parts, organization is key. And that’s where World Anvil really shines! All the different templates let you separate the different kinds of content in your world, and the article prompts are great for creating more in-depth articles.
And not only that, but World Anvil has also let him share his work with the world! He even has a small community around his world, with a Discord server and a Patreon page.
What I love to see is people RP’ing in this world, even with the current amount of available lore, they’re still able to craft their own story arcs within this universe. I can’t wait to see more as the project keeps evolving!
Make sure to check out The Age of Calamitous on World Anvil!
Espen has already published a short novel on World Anvil, using Manuscripts. Read Scourge of the East for free to get a glimpse of his world and what it has to offer! The main series, Desire for Hope, is in the works, so keep an eye on that! Make sure to check out The Age of Calamitous, as well as his Patreon page and Twitter profile for updates.
And if you’re looking to do some professional worldbuilding, check out World Anvil’s features for writers and authors, and for Dungeon Masters and RPG creators. It’s the recommended by Writers Digest and holds a gold Ennie Award for best digital RPG toolset!
