World Building: How to Build Characters That Shape Your World

You build a world, fill it people, tell a story. Right? Wrong. Unlike God you shouldn’t save your people until the sixth day! It should be your starting point, or at least one of your earliest considerations. World building is more than maps, lore, made-up calendars, and weird festivals involving frogs. 

That might well be the fun bit but ultimately none of it matters—none of it truly lands—if we don’t care about the people living in it. 

The characters that inhabit your world are far more important than the world itself to make it resonate with your audience. The dusty villages mean nothing without the boots walking through them. The intergalactic empire? Useless without the stowaway dreaming of tearing it down. Your magic system? Cool. But who does it hurt? Middle Earth with all its bell, whistles and Elves is empty without the begrudging heroism of Frodo or the, well, the begrudging heroism of Aragon. 

This is where character comes in. 

In this blog, we’re going to ask what shapes unforgettable characters: the heroes, the villains, and everyone in between.

‍Quick note: The phrase ‘world building’ is often attributed to grand works of fantasy or science fiction. This is not the case. All writing involves world building. If you are writing about a historian working in the library, that library is a world that needs to be built.

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1. Picking Your Protagonist

Start with the basics, but don’t stay there.

• Who is your protagonist beyond their job title or class?
• What quirks, fears, habits, or scars make them feel human (or convincingly non- human)?
• What do they want, and why does it matter so deeply to them?

Your character’s goal is the engine of your story. Do they want to destroy a magical ring? Do they want to go to the big city and become a star? Whatever is, this main goal should drive your character’s actions, and your world should be built to both facilitate and obstruct this goal.

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2. Conflict, Challenges and Obstacles

Your protagonist needs friction. Challenges. Things that punch them on the nose and in the gut.

So ask:

• What internal battles are they losing?
• What external forces are pushing back?
• And how do these struggles mirror the bigger world issues or themes?

Stories work best when the personal and the political clash. This does not always mean the politics of the White House or the Intergalactic Federation. This can be as small as the politics of an individual household, where the strict father does not want their son to become a ballet dancer.

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3. Want vs. Need

What your character wants is rarely what they need.

Ask:

• Beyond their immediate goals, what deeper aspirations or life ambitions drive your characters?
• How do these aspirations shape their choices and journey within the narrative?

Maybe they want revenge, but need healing. They want love, but need to love themselves. They want to prove something, but need to let go. Dig into those deeper aspirations. The emotional, existential stuff. That’s where the core of your characters, your stories and your worlds can be found.

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4. The Journey (Not Just the Plot)

We’re not talking just “go here, do this.” (Although they do need to go there and do that!)

We’re talking about the character arc.

• Where do they start emotionally, spiritually, mentally?
• What breaks them?
• What remakes them?
• Basically, how do your characters change?

Even if the plot is a straight line, your character’s internal arc should be just that, an arc. It should start somewhere and end somewhere but it should go up, down, left and right and leave your character a different person to one we find at the beginning.

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5. People Make People

No one changes in isolation.

So:

• Who’s in your protagonist’s orbit?
• What relationships challenge them, teach them, betray them, save them?
• How do those dynamics evolve?

Great characters are revealed not just in action, but in interaction.

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6. Characters as Metaphor

Yes, your protagonist is a person (well, maybe not a person but something with enough humanistic traits that the audience can empathise with them).

But they can also be a symbol.

• Do they represent rebellion? Faith? Addiction? Hope?
• Are they the living embodiment of your story’s theme?
• How do these symbolic or metaphorical roles play into the wider narrative?

Think of characters as idea carriers. Just don’t let the metaphor flatten the human beneath it.

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7. Adapting to a Changing World

The world you’ve built will shift. Governments will fall. Magic will fade. Love will die.

Ask:

• How does your character adapt or resist?
• What does their response say about them?
• Are they shaped by the world, or do they shape it?

Change is inevitable. Your character’s response is the story. This change in the wider world should be rooted (if not caused) in the change happening in your character.

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8. Character Impact

Every decision ripples outwards. Even the small ones.

• What effect does your character have on the world?
• On other people?
• What unintended consequences do they unleash?

A good story doesn’t just show character growth. It shows how character choices change the world they live in.

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9. Role in the Past, Present and Future

Backstory is more than flashbacks.

Ask:

• What’s simmering under their skin?
• What past grief, guilt, trauma, or triumph shapes how they act now?
• How do your characters fit into or influence the unfolding history or future trajectory of your world?
• Are they mere witnesses, active shapers, or reluctant participants in the historical or future developments of your narrative?

If they are a mere witness, there are issues with your character or your world. The purpose of the world is as a vehicle for your character’s growth. If the world remains unaffected the character is not in the driving seat. This doesn’t mean they have to bring down governments or smite dark wizards. It can be as simple as winning a football game in a small town, but this win should in some small or large way change the fabric of the town’s community.

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10. Perfect Imperfections: Strengths and Flaws

You want a protagonist who’s capable, but flawed. Flaws don’t make a character weak.

They make them real.

So ask:

• What do they do well?
• What do they mess up consistently?
• How do their strengths help, or sabotage, themselves and others?

This could be anything from not not being able to control their magic to falling in love too easily. Imperfection is where empathy lives.

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11. Meet the Antagonist

Not every villain twirls a moustache. (Although for my money the best ones do!)

But every antagonist should want something badly, and crucially believe they’re right.

• Who’s standing in your protagonist’s way?
• What drives them?
• How do they reflect or challenge your main character’s own beliefs?

Everything above should also apply to the bad guys. They should be real people with strengths and flaws. The best villains hold up a mirror to the hero and even the audience. If you can get your audience to empathise with the villain whilst still wanting the hero to succeed, your story, and world, will be richer for it.

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12. The Rest of the Cast

Secondary characters aren’t just filler. They’re pressure points, mirrors, catalysts.

• What role does each one play?
• Who supports, who sabotages, who surprises?

As with the villain, the secondary characters should be rich three dimensional people. Their chief role should be to impact, whether positively or negatively, the journey of your hero, but they too should stand alone on their own two feet. No one should exist just to fetch coffee or explain lore.

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13. Change Is the Point

We have done this but we are doing it again because it is the most important thing.

By the end of your story, something in your character should have shifted. Even if it’s subtle. Even if they break instead of growing.

• Where do they start, and where do they end: emotionally, mentally, spiritually?
• What did the world teach them?
• What did they teach the world?

Stories are about transformation. So you characters, and your world, should transform.

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Conclusion

World building is more than bricks and maps. It’s people. It’s pain. It’s love. It’s the choices made under pressure and the obstacles overcome. You can build a universe with star systems, ancient languages, and wondrous magic systems. You can build a world on a remote farm, on a boring suburban street or in a dingy office, but if your characters don’t feel real, none of it matters.

The worlds we remember, the ones we dream about, return to in times of solace, show to our grandchildren, are always tethered to unforgettable characters. Not perfect ones. But raw, flawed, perfectly imperfect characters.

So start there. End there. Always come back to the people. Because in the end, no matter how epic your story is, it’s the human (or not-so-human) experiences that will stick in the hearts and minds of your audience.

Build your world around your characters. Not the other way round.

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