Create a Prophecy for Effective World Building

How do writers world build their fantasy novels? Is there a technique they use to visualize the landscape? What tools do they use to make rules of magic that will makes sense for the reader? There are several strategies for writers out there. These include anything from sketching to outlining to stream of consciousness journaling but two that I've found effective are crafting a creation myth and a prophecy.

When I started writing The Artania Chronicles some years ago one question I asked myself was, "How would a world of living art begin?" I thought for a bit and then decided that it made sense for its inception to hinge upon humanity's first creations.

This lead me to researching some fascinating discoveries about prehistoric times where archeologists had found ancient paintings on cave walls. One of the most famous was in 1940 near Montignoc, France. when three teenagers descended a fifty foot shaft only to find walls covered with the animal drawings.

Learning about the Lascaux Caves and others like them helped me to envision what early humans might have sketched on cave walls and how that effected their culture. From there it was easy to imagine that some would revere these creations while others might envy them. The next logical step was to take that envy further to create a jealous race of creatures that would endanger Artania. At the same time, I was cognizant that I'd need to continue celebrating the artists. I wanted to make sure that the idea of every sketch, sculpture, and painting bringing hope with its inception was included throughout.

Lastly I kept all of these things in mind as I wrote the poem, "The Prophecy," here:

.

The Prophecy has helped to guide my writing multiple times over the years. I've used it in both the books and screenplays. So if you're working on world building and are frustrated, why not try writing your own?