Help:Getting Started

Are you sure you want to start?
Welcome to Converse Wikia! This is the place where you can go create your very own imaginary world (in text, pictures, and songs, of course). Making your very own world is difficult, but that's what this guide is for. Things you should have, before you get started, are:


 * You know that you are a diligent worker and writer;
 * You have thought enough about your world to have a great amount of material (in your mind) that you can put in writing;
 * You have had significant experience writing and using MediaWiki software (which this is based on);
 * You know that you have the time to get your world developed.

Check out the Guide to Editing if you don't know much about wikis.

Unlike writing a poem or short story, writing your very own World is not a one-shot, half-hearted attempt. It's more like writing a novel: you have to know what you're going to do before you get started (or will get hopelessly disorganized); you need to be able to put in a significant amount of time; and more likely than not, even if you are a diligent worker, the novelty of creating your own world will cool off in a few dozen articles or less. In all these situations your World will get next to nowhere. But if you do satisfy those requirements for success listed above, you have a good shot at creating a large World.

Things to think about before you begin
Warning: Don't rush to start your conworlding project! Make sure you have everything else organized and well-thought out, or you'll quit before page 10.


 * 1) What setting will the World be? Science fiction, realism (real world), low fantasy, high fantasy, or any of a plethora of rarer genres? Know this before you move on. And then, stop thinking of trying to cross the line. Thinking "wouldn't it be cool to have medieval knights using light-sabers?" is not only bad for your world, it's also the mark of a true amateur. Don't have readers of your World immediately jump to the conclusion that you're an amateur.
 * 2) Your world ought to be realistic. If it isn't, no one will bother reading it, and sooner or later your world will implode on itself. This is just like trying to draw a circle - if you draw and draw that arc and don't pay attention to where it is relative to the rest of the circle, after 360 degrees the tail of the circle won't meet up with the head of the circle, and you'll have to scratch that circle. Similarly, if you write articles about the world without paying attention to where you plan to go and what you've already written, you will run into inconsistencies. This is a realism-killer.
 * 3) Think about whether you plan to have a storyline for your world. For example, the World for Eragon was practically made for the novel. Along the same line of thought, if you plan to involve your world in a story, you'll want a world that fits nicely with the story. This means that you have to have the generals of the story entirely planned out before you get started with conworlding!
 * 4) What will be included in the world? Generally science fiction includes more than just the solar system, fantasy includes the entire world, and realism includes a small region of the earth, such as a group of islands. Of course, you don't have to follow these exactly, but make sure before you start that you know what you're going to do.
 * 5) You need unique idea(s) for your world before you begin. Otherwise you won't have much to distinguish it from all the other worlds, and you will be far more likely to give up. This is an especially acute problem if you're creating a nation-world in a real-earth-like setting, because that's just about the most common, typical, and inflexible subgenre of world there is.
 * 6) What are some interesting parts about your world? People enjoy reading about intriguing, written out worlds, not collections of redundant and short articles. This can be harder if you're writing about a realistic world, but not always. Try to create good hooks (especially in the beginning) of your articles and keep people reading. As stated above, unique ideas are important as well because people will likely say something such as "Wow, this spacecraft can travel faster than light?" and read on. Cool pictures and other media also help this. Of course, try to keep it believable.

Areas of the World
These are things you should definitely have in your world:


 * 1) A detailed introduction page that gives a clear overview with links to more articles.
 * 2) A category page (this means that you categorize all the pages in your world with.
 * 3) Maps of your world, where relevant.

These are things you should consider including in your World:


 * 1) Timelines of important events
 * 2) Articles on your own constructed languages (which you can put here as long as it's coupled with a world) if you're not using English or another factual language
 * 3) Detailed article pages that focus on particular terms or entries of your world:
 * 4) People (politicians, pioneers, etc.)
 * 5) Entities (political parties, companies, etc.)
 * 6) Geographical Features (rivers, mountains etc.)
 * 7) Worlds (science fiction)
 * 8) Settlements (towns, cities, etc.)
 * 9) Kingdoms / Nations / States
 * 10) Events / Wars / Treaties / Coronations
 * 11) Population / Demographics
 * 12) Basic pages, such as a page for your own world's means of measurement (if you're not using meter/kg/sec.)

It is best that you organise your pages under subcategories and the category of your world.

Although not required, adding a "See Also" section to the end of your articles linking to related pages in your world can be helpful and make the world more organized.

Parting Tips

 * 1) Take it slow. Many conworlders start off very interested in the project, but don't really know just how tedious it can get. You want to always be in a state of mind in which you are eager to write the next article. So don't exhaust yourself by writing too many articles too quickly, because this will backfire on you when, whenever you think about the project, your brain starts feeling 'sick'. Better slow and steady than sprinting and sorry.
 * 2) Take a look at others' conworlders to get fresh ideas. Do this before you run out of ideas, because if you wait until your mind gets sick and tired of conworlding... it's over.
 * 3) Take notes. Otherwise, you'll get confused, or waste time looking for what date you chose for this or that particular event, or confuse your readers.
 * 4) Remember: Quality is Better Than Quantity! No one cares if you have 200 articles if all but 20 of them are one-or-two-liners (stubs). But if they're of good quality your project might be featured!

Good luck!