Caution: Creative Imagination May Cause the Crafting of Worlds

Everyone has hobbies and interests, and things that they to do to relax. Fishing, golfing, even drawing are common hobbies; some love to place ink to paper and tell tall tales. And yet, for others it’s Worldbuilding. These people’s relaxation area is crafting a world from scratch with consideration of every minute detail. These people are insane. I, for one, am part of them. I enjoy making creatures, cultures, and even geographic features.

I enjoy carving out the rivers’ paths and pulling up and shaping mountains that drive water towards the sea. Creating volcanos that make islands, while dripping sand upon the beaches and shores; crafting the coastlines, painting grasslands, planting forests, etc. This may not seem like fun for most, but that slow process of Worldbuilding is cathartic for me. Just emptying my mind and drafting the foundation of a new world, the possibilities that this new world can hold, is part of the process as I create a full-size continent map to adorn the walls.

Very few think of the importance of charting the path that plants make while evolving. It’s probably more important than creating animals. Animals simply follow the food. They are greedy, wanting more food and less competition. If not for plants wishing to survive and thrive leading them to move up on land, animals would have never been driven to the world above the waves. There are many species of plants we haven’t even discovered yet. Creating these endless possibilities, while considering what these plants can force creatures to evolve into, is pure entertainment for me.

Creature crafting is something I enjoy doing but have little time to do. Creating monsters of the sea and slowly evolving them to the point they take to land and then to the sky, filling all the pieces of a living, breathing world together with aquatic animals, terrestrial animals, and aerial animals. These beautiful creatures that share our world help me create new and fantastical animals that could very well exist somewhere out there. Both excite me and terrify me.