World Building: Public Spaces

What types of public spaces did they have: town squares, courtyards, gardens, parks, circles, lawns, shared land, public walkways, pavilions, bandstands, clock or bell towers, arenas, or common grounds?

What public buildings do they have: churches, temples, or other holy spaces, masonic or other lodges?

Did they have monuments, statues, fountains, reflecting pools, museums, or memorials? Who did they celebrate? What did they memorialize?

Did they have motels, hotels, hostels, or inns?

Did they have office buildings and skyscrapers in a crowded urban area, or sprawling suburbs, or distant and isolated rural spaces?

Did they ruins, catacombs, graveyards, mausoleums, or other architectural marvels like the seven world wonders?

Did they have large university campuses, libraries or reading rooms, government buildings, palaces or castles, mansions, or presidential residences and embassies?

Did they have slums and ghettos?

Were they near water (lakes, rivers, or oceans)? Did they have lighthouses, wharves, ports, or piers? Did they have canals, waterfalls, waterwheels, bridges, ponds, lakes, or piers?

Did they have industrial parks or warehouse blocks?

Did they have fair grounds, carnivals, amusement parks, pleasure palaces, or freak shows?

What utilities did they have or pay for: electric, sewage, gas, water, cable, internet, satellite, telephone service.

How did they handle garbage? Did they have garbage dumps? Did they recycle?

Did they have driveways and roadways: dirt, grass, gravel, cobbles, paved, runways, helipads, airports, or armories?

Using carefully selected items to illustrate your story world brings it to life. It can support theme and aspects of this exterior world can create conflicts your characters must overcome.

Next week, we will explore food.

For advanced world-building, the SBB Build A World Workbook is available in print and e-book.

Other titles in the series:

Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict available in print and e-book takes you from story seed to conflict outline. The fourteen companion Build A Plot Workbooks, in print and e-book, offer step by step development prompts: Comedy, Con, Heist & Prison Break, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical, Horror, Literary
(Drama),  Mystery, Road Trip, Romance, Science Fiction, Team Victory, Thriller & Suspense, Western.

SBB II Crafting Believable Conflict in print and e-book and the Build A Cast Workbook in print and e-book help you build a believable cast and add conflict based on the sixteen personality types.

SBB III The Revision Layers in print and e-book helps you self-edit your manuscript.

Free story building tools are available at www.dianahurwitz.com.