For fantasy, sci-fi and historical writers
Worldbuilding Template and Questions
Land, power, money, belief, daily life, history and magic, starting with what your story needs, so you build only the world your plot touches.
What the story needs
- The wantOdile must buy back her mother's sealed memories before the winter auction.
- What the plot testsWhether a sealed memory can lie.
Magic: memory glass
- The ruleBreathe a memory into glass and it leaves you for good.
- The costSealers lose a little of their own with every seal.
Power and law
- The Glass GuildHolds three of five council seats and keeps the Registry.
- ForbiddenBreaking another person's glass: ten years on the dredging barges.
Three places
- The Ice HallThe winter auction, held on the frozen lake.
- The Burnt StepsEmpty since the fire forty years ago. Where it ends.
What you'll get
Setting questions from land to magic, scoped to your plot
- What your story needs from its world, answered first
- Your magic or technology: its rule, its cost, its limits
- Three key places in detail, plus a filled example
Before and after
Your notes in. A world sorted by question.
Veyle: a city on stilts in a cold mountain lake. People pay debts by breathing memories into glass, and once it's sealed the memory is gone from your head. The Glass Guild runs everything. Odile is a sealer's apprentice trying to buy back her dead mother's memories before they're auctioned when the lake freezes.
The world in one line: In the lake city of Veyle, debts are paid in memories sealed in glass, and the courts treat a sealed memory as the truth (proposed). What it costs: The giver loses the memory for good, and sealers lose a little of their own with every seal (proposed). Who rules: A council of five. The Glass Guild holds three seats because it keeps the Registry of every sealed memory (proposed). On the page: A fisherman pays off a boat loan with the memory of his daughter's birth, then can't recall her name (proposed). Open question: Who decides what a memory is worth?
Your notes stay in your words. Anything River suggests is marked (proposed) until you keep it.
Why it works
What is a worldbuilding template?
A worldbuilding template is a set of questions that helps you work out how your story's world runs. It covers the land, rulers, money, beliefs, daily habits, history and any magic or technology. This one starts with what your story needs from the world, so you answer the questions your plot will test and leave the rest. Most groups end with one line for the scene where a reader sees it, so your world shows up on the page.
Big question lists are easy to find, and they can swallow months before chapter one. Patricia C. Wrede's fantasy worldbuilding questions, hosted by SFWA, run across a whole series of pages. K.M. Weiland's fantasy worldbuilding guide gives the reason to cut back: the world "must exist to serve the story," not the other way round. So this template keeps fewer than 50 questions, caps the map at three places, and asks your magic or technology for its rule, its cost and its limits.
Download it as a Word file, or click Edit with AI to open it in River beside a filled example, an invented lake city written for this page. Paste your world notes and River sorts them under the right questions in your words, marking anything it suggests as proposed. For the plot itself, use the fantasy novel outline template. Once you're drafting, the story bible template records each fact as it reaches the page.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the worldbuilding template
- What the story needs, first
Four questions that show which parts of your world matter now and which can wait. - Land and climate
Terrain, weather, what's scarce and how long it takes to get anywhere. - Power, law and money
Who rules, what's forbidden, how people earn a living and who goes without. - Belief, daily life and history
What's sacred, what people eat and wear, and the past they still argue about. - Magic or technology
The rule, what it costs, what it can never do and who controls it. - Three places, no more
Where the story starts, turns and ends, each in three sensory details. - A filled example
An invented lake city, written for this page, with a few questions left blank on purpose.
How it works
From scattered notes to a working world
Open the template
Click Edit with AI. Your worldbuilding doc opens in River, with a filled example beside it.
Paste your world notes
Optional. A sentence, a page of notes or a chapter that shows your world. There's no form to fill.
Get a first pass
River sorts your notes under the right questions, suggests the rest marked (proposed), and lists what's still open.
Put the world on the page
Answer the open questions, then ask River to write an opening scene set in your first place.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What is a worldbuilding template?
A worldbuilding template is a fill-in document of questions about your story's setting: geography, government, money, religion, customs, history and magic or technology. You answer them before or early in your draft so the world stays consistent. This one is a free Word download and starts with what your plot needs from the world.
What questions should I ask when worldbuilding?
Start with your story: what your protagonist wants and what in the world blocks them. Then ask who holds power, how people earn a living, what they believe and fear, and what your magic or technology costs. Want more? Kindlepreneur's worldbuilding template lists over 100 questions.
How much worldbuilding do I need before I start writing?
Less than most lists suggest. Answer what the story needs, the magic's rule and cost, and your three places, then start drafting. Patricia C. Wrede says of her own list that it isn't necessary "to answer all, or even any, of the questions in order to start writing." Fill gaps as chapters need them.
How is this different from a story bible or a fantasy outline?
This template is where you invent the world, before or early in the draft. A story bible records facts as they reach the page, each with its chapter. The fantasy novel outline is the plot plan, built around your magic's rule. Many writers use all three, in that order.
Does it work for science fiction or historical fiction?
Yes. In science fiction, the magic group takes your technology: what it does, what it costs and what it can't do. In historical or contemporary fiction, skip that group and use the rest for the real place and period. River flags dates, laws and figures for you to check against a source.
Is this a worldbuilding generator?
It can be. Give River one line, for example: a lake city where debts are paid in memories. It keeps that line in your words and suggests answers to the rest, each marked (proposed) so you know what's yours. Paste fuller notes and it fills only the gaps. Big decisions go under Open questions.
Your next step
More for your book
Build the world your story needs
Every question in one doc you keep. Answer them yourself, or paste your world notes for a first pass.