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It isn't a "bad idea" per say, as long as there are in-world reasons for what you have contained in it. It's very common to have fantasy stories based in other cultures. Eon, for example, is based in large part in Chinese mythology. Codex Alera by Jim Butcher is based in Roman culture, even though it is not based explicitly in Rome. World building isn't ...

The first step is to hold back your urge to write. First do your homework, thoroughly. Learn. Learn a whole lot about the place. Start with Google StreetView and Panoramio. Proceed through Wikipedia to learn not just about the place but about landmarks, anything in the area. Find movies, amateur videos, anything to take place around there. Read blogs of ...

As Patches noted, play first, pay second. I launched a shared story world commercial entertainment property, and I curate examples of others. It is possible to make money from a shared world, but the hurdle is getting folks to want to play in the world first. You'll need to build a compelling world, lay out the rules clearly about how rights and revenue ...

If you reveal too little, new revelations will be deus ex machina, cheap tricks to overcome story obstacles, elephants in the room the reader wasn't allowed to see. The pacing of the story should be the only factor that limits the pacing of exposition of the mechanics of the world. Such exposition might be boring so keep it as sparse as to keep ...

Licensing fees Do you own the rights to, say, Starwars or Forgotten Realms or Hunger Games or Twilight or anything that big? 'Cause if you don't, no one's going to pay you to use the universe. Think about it -- why should I, the poor starving writer, give you what little money I have, or have coming in, for something I can do myself for free? There's only ...

I worked with a friend on what basically amounted to story-telling in a shared world, but which out of necessity also involved quite a lot of world exploration and some building, because the characters we worked with only interacted to a limited degree. What we did amounted mostly to "killing time", but resulted in a fairly hefty collaborative short story ...

What is your purpose in writing about a foreign country or place? Do you intend the setting to be integral to your story? If so, and you have never been there, then you are probably facing a considerable challenge. You simply do not have the background to inject the elements of authentic detail that will be required. On the other hand, if your aim is simply ...

Yes, the Man-Kzin Wars represents one such world. The series started as a short story by Larry Niven, but several more stories have sprung up mostly written by people who are not Larry Niven. I have also read books by Mercedes Lackey that are collections of short stories written in her Valdamar world by other authors. I think if you have a particular ...

It seems to me that if you're relying on the readers ignorance of the mechanisms of the world to keep up suspense, then you may have a little problem. If your story is meant to be suspenseful and intriguing, hopefully there's more going on than simple obfuscation brought about by the complexity of the world. A good mystery can be read and enjoyed even if you ...

It isn't a bad idea. Keep in mind that most fantasy settings today are based on Medieval European era. I see no problem at all using the Japanese one. Honestly it is already done by author. The Seventh Sword Trilogy is shouting "samurai" at me all over the place. And no, it does not play in Japan. Combining different cultures isn't a mistake either. It's up ...

From the reader's perspective (at least such reader like me) it's very interesting to read the fantasy stories placed in historical realities. And it applies to both stories which are placed in more exact realities and the stories which are only inspired by the real world. There's, for example, polish writer Czesław Białczyński who has invented the Slavic ...

This will always be a matter of preference, but I'd err on the side on little exposition. As a reader, I get bored by an info dump and usually stop reading. The only exception is humour, like the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Hannu Rajaniemi is an author who explains very little, yet his books are very successful. Some of the things/terms he uses ...

First, as someone who has used world builders extensively, a warning: When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. World builders are all limited to certain things. None are as realistic as they say on the box, and you'll find yourself with a few odd looking flaws which actually damage immersion. I strongly suggest you design your world first and ...

UniverseSandbox has a relatively new powerful Astrophysics and celestial mechanics simulator if you are writing a Sci-Fi universe and would like something that will give you a chance to make sure your orbits, day/month/year lengths, number of moons, etc are reasonable and workable. It also has a gross calculation of planetary surface temperatures based on ...