Vast as Worlds

Today I want to talk about an important aspect of writing -- the world your characters are inhabiting.
It is not only part of the setting, but where your story takes place can also influence the characters' behaviour and -- utlimately -- the plot itself.

source: pixabay.com

Worldbuilding is way more than mere mapping. It includes many aspects such as culture, lore and languages. Especially for fantasy/scifi stories worldbuilding is essential. Still, if you decide to use the 'real world' as setting, you have to keep all of these things in mind.
Imagine your story takes place in, let's say, Italy. It would be very strange if your characters  -- Italians -- had Finnish names or German traditions or lived in cities which reminded you of ancient Chinese architecture. Think about this beforehand, and be dedicated to whatever you decide.

This is even more important when you make up your own world like I did with my 'Neverbeen Universe'. Surely, the readers won't know exactly how it is supposed to be in this world. But they will catch on to things that make no sense or are confusing. So it is important to be stringent with yourself and with your world. Think about the different people who live there.
How are they governed? Do they remind you of real people in their mannerisms? What are their traditions and values? What do they believe in? What about sports, art or food?
These are just a few questions you should be able to answer.

In Neverbeen Universe there are a lot of different people and creatures. For example, there are the Waterfairies. They are a deeply religious and traditionally rooted people who live in Waterfairy Kingdom. Their capital Yponerotis is a megacity larger than Tokyo and it is both ashore and under the sea. While they are very traditional a people, Waterfairies are very advanced in medicine and healing magic. Their motto is 'panta rhei' -- everything flows. And like the waters, they believe they can always find a way to solve issues. Altough they have ongoing feuds with other fairy people, they are very helpful towards any creature in need. Their religion is centered around a waterdeity, who occasionaly helps heal people at the Healing Academy of Yponerotis. The Academy building is a masterpiece of architectural art. As the Waterfairy country is a kingdom, they have an absolutistically ruling dynasty -- the di Kuningas -- and the Waterfairies would always follow their lead, even if it led away from their traditional paths. They usually have more than one first name and the naming pattern is something between Icelandic and Japanese. Their life expectancy is a few thousand years...

Now this is only one people living in Neverbeen Universe. And -- like the name suggests -- Neverbeen Universe is more than just one world. There is Earth -- a lot of my short stories take place in the fictional city of Thuddington -- and there are other planets connected to it via magical portals; they belong to Thisside, but there are also Heaven and Hell, which are vast and complex realms of their own, belonging to the Otherside.

source: gizmodo.com

You see, I spent more than a decade building this universe and it still grows and thrives. Of course you don't have to wait for ten years until your world is finished and you can start writing.
But you should take time to get to know your world, to explore the places your characters inhabit and to build this world until it fits. You'll soon experience that writing becomes a lot easier if you not only know your characters by heart but also take like a fish to the sea in the world you created for them.