Crafting through Example

 

Born in 1892 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien would later become one of if not the most influential writers of the 20th century and would remain as a prominent staple of pop culture in modern times. J.R.R Tolkien in his early life would move to England from his birthplace being what is now Free State, South Africa. Tolkien had an early knack for reading being able to read by the age of four. Tolkien had an apparent fondness for the works of Andrew Lang which would later be reflected in Tolkien's later works. While also in his youth Tolkien would experiment and develop conlangs which would pose as the catalyst for arguably his most famous work. Tolkien during his life was a firsthand witness of WWI in which he fought for the British army and did see combat. his experiences in the great war would also carry on to his stories.    

J.R.R. Tolkien is considered one of the greatest world-builders and his works still influence many other fantasy works to this day. While I discussed in a previous blog post on how I like to develop worlds from a visual / map-making standpoint, the origins of Tolkien's Middle Earth have a more lingual conception. Tolkien was the father of many Conlangs (made up languages) and some of these father conlangs sat as the catalyst for the the world Tolkien made that housed stories such as the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. this catalyst then snowballed into the masterclass it is today. fairy tales as well as Norse mythologies also had an influence on Middle Earth Tolkien's work took bits in pieces from authors such as Andrew Lang as well as implemented mythologies but with his own unique spin on the existing concepts. Middle-earth wasn't made in a day and in fact, took up a majority of Tolkien's life to make it what it is today, and still some of these writings remain unfinished.       

Despite Tolkien passing away over 50 years ago his work still remains relevant to this day. some of Tolkien's works were not even published while he was alive and his legacy would continue with the efforts of his son Christopher Tolkien who collected his father's notes letter as well as unfinished writing to compile the Silmarillion, unfinished tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth, the letter of J.R.R Tolkien, history of Middle-Earth as well as a collection of others. Middle-Earth is kept alive today by the various fan creations many fans have made using this project as inspiration. One of these fan creations is Dungeons and Dragons which has sparked into a multitude of different world-building projects of their own. 

World building can sometimes be a daunting process so take inspiration from works that already exist, take inspiration from real life, and don't be afraid to take your time!