Worldbuilding is a crucial element of fantasy and historical fiction, but it's important to all stories. After all, the world you create is the world in which your characters to exist. If you write contemporary fiction, you have it easier than many since readers live in this world, but a good, three-dimensional setting is necessary in all novels. Readers may fall in love with characters, but through worldbuilding, you can transport readers away to brand new worlds.
Worldbuilding isn't long descriptions of the physical surroundings (although that's commonly found in epic fantasy); it's all the components of the world. Engaging all five senses—and moving deeper than physical attributes—will tug the reader's emotions. Unlike character development, don't be afraid to start writing your story with minimal details on your world. For any contemporary genre, you can work out many of the details once you start writing.
First, setting is crucial to all genres. When and where does your story take place? Does it take place today in London or two hundred years from now on Mars? Depending on the location you select, you may have a specific landmark, holiday, or natural disaster that you can incorporate into your story.
Once you know the location and time period, what is the emotion or mood you want to convey through the setting? If it's a murder mystery, you may start with an old, abandoned house. Or, if it's an edgy, young adult romance, you may open in a high school full of cliques. Many dystopian stories have dark, polluted skies that shadow the oppressors' dark actions.
Knowing the setting will guide you into the other details of your world. For example, if you're writing a historical fantasy, you'll need to develop snippets of its history. In paranormal stories, you'll want to pay special attention to mythology—the lore, legends, and religions. Different dialects or jargon may come into play in a space adventure. In a dystopia, the legal system, such as what's against the law and how people are punished, is important.
Culture is to worldbuilding as personalities are to characters. Culture shows the unique quirks of a particular place. Daily routines, traditions, taboos, attitudes, prejudices, and fashion can make your world a place that readers crave to visit, like a Quidditch match in Harry Potter. Or, culture can reveal a place so horrible that, like a bad accident, your readers are enthralled and can't look away...like any good horror story.
Having a general understanding on your world before you start writing puts your characters in a place that can help, hinder, or terrify them.
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