worldbuilding: a god-tier knowledge of the way the world works. cyberpunk edition.

I’ve seen the quote a hundred thousand times. You know the one that says something along the lines of writers being everything in this world? We’re builders and politicians and artists and architects… whatever our characters are, whatever our worlds hold within them, we have to know. Why do you think so many writers are philosophers? Looking into experiences outside of our own and developing conclusions from it is literally our day job. I think that leads to a lot of philosophical questions and possibly an existential crisis (or two).

Sometimes, worldbuilding is easy. Maybe your characters live in the same world we do. Maybe the outside world has very little to do with the contents of your story. That’s okay, it means more room for characters! But sometimes it requires more. Sometimes it even requires a lot. I’m on the extreme end of the scale. Though a lot of my short stories can exist without the need to build a new world, quite a lot of them do, and my books never go without some immense building and an outpouring of creative energy I didn’t even know I had. Admittedly, I can become so caught up in the whole building thing that I forget the actual plot even exists and I bin it for a book idea and use it for a short story instead. No harm done, it’s all experience.

However, today, you get to benefit from my insane exploration of worldbuilding tools. I am a serial builder and I dip in and out of aesthetics like a toe in the cold ocean (because I always manage to forget that it’s as cold as it is when I go for another dip five minutes later. I think part of it is subconscious gaslighting – oops). Most of you will know that I’m firmly set in cyberpunk and futurism nowadays. I suppose cynical speculative fiction is my thing – I like to set a tone of cynicism and poke a little hole of light through. Our world is pretty cynical, and I’d like to think the author of our stories would do the same for us. I would for myself, hence the whole ‘writing a book’ shtick. Creating things is pretty inspiring for a world like ours.

Onto the actual subject of this post - I have a lot of experience in different aesthetics and the requirements for building worlds within the boundaries of said aesthetic. The minuscule questions that you always forget to ask yourself, like how domestic technology would evolve in a steampunk world where electricity, gas and oil are redundant. Details are what makes your world realistic. It isn’t the neon lights or cyborgs of cyberpunk, it’s the way they cook their food that makes your characters real. What reminds your reader that your characters are just like them. Relatability and footing in a reader’s reality is what connects them to your story. So, give yourself a good foundation for your characters and you’ll be set.

This is where I come in. I have a list of questions for every aesthetic that I've used before and am further developing now for these posts (by creating new and never-to-be-seen worlds, of course) which I will be sharing with you, someone unfamiliar (or more familiar) these aesthetics. With these questions, you should be able to create an entirely functional world within the boundaries of these speculative fiction subgenres. Obviously, you don’t have to stick directly to the boundaries – I’m just giving you questions directed within them so that you have the ability to cross them in whatever way you feel is right for your creations.

And we'll start with cyberpunk. Here are the questions of the week, which are also posted in more detail on my Instagram (@neofae_). Tune in again next week for steampunk!

cyberpunk worldbuilding questions

energy & tech

1. How do they source their energy?

2. If energy sourcing is different from our world, how does it affect your cyberpunk world?

3. How has the main source of energy impacted the world (e.g. environmental issues)?

4. How has technology impacted people?

5. Are bio-upgrades a part of your world?

6. If there are bio-upgrades, what are the most common ones for each class?

7. What are their upsides?

8. What are their drawbacks?

9. What age are people allowed to get them?

10. How serious are people about the recommended age?

11. What are the ten most common buildings in your world? Cyberware shops, etc.

12. How technologically advanced in your world? Can you think of any good examples to demonstrate it?

healthcare & children

13. How are children born? Are they made organically?

14. If made organically, what’s the severity of the risk that carrying a child brings?

15. Is raising children common?

16. What do people do if they need healthcare?

17. What healthcare system is in place? Does it benefit anyone? Does it disadvantage anyone?

18. Are there anu prevalent health issues?

19. Do bio-upgrades impact the system at all?

20. Are bio-upgrades treated any differently?

21. What are the more common illnesses?

22. Are fatal illnesses easily cured?

environment & travel

23. Are there any weird environmental occurrences?

24. What is the weather like?

25. Are people impacted by the weather? How much of your cities or public areas indoors?

26. How do people use the environment to their benefit? If there are rich soils, do people grow their own food?

27. If people grow/make their own food, how much of it belongs to the one who made it?

28. Any accessible natural resources?

29. What about animals?

30. What are the most common animals?

31. Are common pets regularly eaten? Or do morals still prevent this?

32. What do people eat?

33. Is water still accessible?

34. Is animal meat a common part of meals? If so, where does it come from?

35. What is the most accessible type of food?

36. How do people travel? What systems and forms of travel are in place? What are some of the more accessible forms of travel?

37. How does this impact the environment?

society & economics

38. What is the most common form of currency?

39. What kind of society is your world defined by? Capitalism? Socialism?

40. What are the most valuable resources?

41. What’s the easiest way for someone to make money?

42. Is education accessible?

43. Does education bring any promise of wealth?

44. Are the arts valued equally to labour and sciences?

45. What’s the day-to-day life of an average low-class citizen look like? Walk through, hour by hour.

46. What’s the day-to-day life of an average high-class citizen look like? Walk through, hour by hour.

47. Are there any prominent benefits that come with being a specific class? E.g better healthcare, access to certain areas….

48. How prominent is the class divide?

49. How do these classes interact within shared spaces?

50. Who are the most important people to society?

51. What are the most notable forms of systemic inequality? Race? Bio versus cyborg? Class?

52. A typical identifier of the cyberpunk genre is widespread radical thinking. What is the defining societal issue of your world?

53. Is the most common form of travel accessible to lower classes? What class dominates it?

54. Are there any common forms of religion?

< 95% Baked>