The process of creating or keeping track of story details such as character traits and backstories, setting details, relationship networks, and timelines is known as worldbuilding, and it’s a critical part of plotting and writing a novel or series of almost any genre, from epic fantasies where you may need to create and remember details about hundreds of different characters, to mysteries where it’s important to track who knows what and when, to historical fiction where you need a place to organize your research. The larger the writing project. the more of a challenge this process can become.
Fortunately, there are a growing number of tools available to help. You have several options to choose from.
First, many dedicated novel-writing software programs such as Scrivener have special tools for worldbuilding built-in.
Second, note-taking and personal wiki software and apps such as Microsoft OneNote, Bear, Notion, or Obsidian are another popular choice to use as worldbuilding tools. Because they’re not dedicated worldbuilding tools, they will lack some specialized features such as character-building templates and map-making features and they may have a higher learning curve and require more work to set up, but once you’re familiar with them, they can also be easier to customize to your world’s specific requirements.
Obsidian is my own personal choice for worldbuilding because it’s free, offline (with official and unofficial cloud sync options), and highly customizable. Here is a little bit more about how I use Obsidian as a writer. Dungeon Master Josh Plunkett has created an extensive archive of Obsidian tutorials for TTRPG game masters and players wishing to use the app to track their worlds and campaigns, some of which will be useful for worldbuilding novelists as well.
Finally, there is dedicated worldbuilding software and apps.
The most popular of these is World Anvil, which was designed for RPG gamemasters, writers, and worldbuilding hobbyists. It includes many useful features for worldbuilders, including maps, timelines, family trees, and the ability to create a detailed and interlinked world bible for your story. It also has distraction-free writing tools that allow you to write your novel directly in the app, if you so desire. World Anvil has a limited free tier that allows you to create up to two public worlds, two maps, two timelines, 42 articles, and up to 100 MB of storage. Paid tiers include the option for private worlds, more worlds, more storage, and the ability to have collaborators or even to publish and monetize your writing directly on World Anvil with subscribers.
Another great worldbuilding and self-publishing tool for writers is Campfire. Like World Anvil, Campfire has extensive worldbuilding tools and allows you to write, self-publish, and monetize your story directly on the Campfire site, alongside bonus content from your worldbuilding work. Campfire offers a limited free tier, plus a modular pricing system that enables writers to pay only for the modules they need, with both subscription and one-time payment options.
There are also several alternatives to World Anvil that focus on worldbuilding for tabletop RPG campaign management, but have plenty of features useful to writers as well. These include Kanka and LegendKeeper.
If you prefer a fully offline worldbuilding tool, check out Fantasia Archive. It’s not only offline, it’s 100% free!
Other alternatives to World Anvil include:
Do you prefer to use built-in worldbuilding tools such as Scrivener’s, note-taking and personal wiki apps like Obsidian, or dedicated worldbuilding tools such as World Anvil? Let me know in comments!
Image credit: Peter Herrmann