I noticed that despite all the lovely guides about everything ELSE regarding good writing, there isn't anything about culture. The world-building guides all seem to assume that everyone's stories take place in a "Medieval Western Europe" world--which is regrettably true for a lot of published stories.
Mind, I don't think Medieval Western Europe is bad--I love it quite a bit. I just think that the writing world has it so ingrained into the Western subconscious that we've gotten too used to it, and now we're afraid to base our main characters' worlds on other cultures for fear of not being successful.
This will also focus on the issue of interaction between different cultures--radically different cultures, not just "Country A believes in the same god/pantheon, but their fashion is ridiculous compared to Country B."
So here's my advice on breaking out of the Fantasy comfort zone of "One culture that's been tweaked a bit for different countries". Some of it isn't going to be pretty, but this is only a basic guide and not a history lesson, so I apologize in advance if I offend anyone either by misinformation or my less-than-formal tone.
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There are a lot of other places besides Medieval Western Europe. This list is nowhere NEAR comprehensive or accurate enough, but it will still hopefully send a message of the scope of the world. In fact, even Europe has a lot of different regions.
Part 1: Geography
-Medieval NORTHERN Europe: The Nordic nations (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland), and the United Kingdom (England, North Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). Finland has a history of being North Europe's "comeback" ethnicity, such as: "Well, YOUR mother/father was a slutty/drunken/good-for-nothing Finn."
-Medieval EASTERN Europe: Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Belgium, etc. Greece is technically part of Eastern Europe, though it's much closer to Southern Europe. Historically, Poland was WEST Europe's "comeback" ethnicity. It is rather famous for being one of the first countries that Germany invaded in World War II, as well as being the production site of The Pianist, a much-acclaimed WW2 film. It was occupied by Germany and Russia at several points in history, and it retains some influences from them today.
-Medieval SOUTHERN Europe: The Slavic nations (aside from Poland), Italy, and the Mediterranean countries. Greece is culturally and geographically closer to Southern than Eastern Europe, and has majorly influenced much of the West. Italy is famous for being the Roman-Catholic stronghold of the world, part of the WW2 Axis, and its many contributions to Renaissance art.
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Outside of Europe, there's...
-Pre-colonial South America: The Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs are the most famous--with good reasons, since they all had IMMENSE empires. Look at the map of South America and try to divide most of it into three pieces; they're all EASILY the size of Europe itself. However, due to various factors, the Incas were the only people NOT constantly at civil war. South America was colonized mostly by the Spanish.
-Pre-colonial NORTH America: Native American tribes and Native ALASKAN people. You probably know who colonized this continent. (English, Spanish, and French were the three most powerful colonizers, if you don't.)
-Pre-colonial Africa: Too many countries, colonies, and ethnic groups to list. This continent was subject to the "Scramble For Africa," where the United Kingdoms, France, Portugal, Spain, England, and Italy colonized various pieces of it to gain control of trade routes. Also famous for the slave trade, which is a huge influence on North America in particular.
-Medieval Middle East: Persia/Iran, the Arabian Peninsula (they were two different cultures before Islam became widespread), and some parts of East Africa. Barring the current conflicts, this region is famous for the Crusades, where Christians and Muslims fought over who would get the city of Jerusalem.
-Medieval FAR East: China, Japan, and Korea are the three major powers, though there are many others. China is famous for its Great Wall, its extensive history, and its silk trade. Japan has an extensive history as well, but is also known for various war-crimes committed against the Philippines, China, and Korea (yeah, pretty much the rest of Asia). On a lighter note, it's famous for the "anime" phenomenon--and being the place that katanas are made. Korea is much more obscure in the West, but it also has a rich and extensive history, and is the place where a lot of animation is currently produced.
-Medieval/Pre-colonial SOUTH East: The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and India. The English, French, and Spanish colonized this region of the world (noticing a pattern?). British influence is particularly strong in India, and there's also a lot of Islamic influence in India and the Philippines. The Philippines were first colonized by the Spanish, and they retain many Spanish influences today. Vietnam was colonized by France. During WW2 a severe but little-known war crime called the Death March of Bataan was committed by Japan's army in the Philippines; however, there is no longer much hostility between the two countries.
-The Pacific Island Nations: New Zealand (famous for being the shooting sites of Lord of the Rings and Whale Rider), Hawaii, Borneo, and the Philippines. There is a circle of islands called the "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific Ocean, which has the most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the world.
That means there are a lot of other CULTURES besides MWE.
Part 2: Culture, plus example
It's not just the languages that are different. There's different clothing, different appearances, different fighting styles, different educational systems, different architecture... You get the point. Climate/geography alone shapes a HUGE amount of society--namely clothing, appearance, and weather.
-Appearance. For example, let's go with tropical climates: A tropical nation (that hasn't been conquered) would not consider a pale blonde attractive; they might not even KNOW that such people exist. Pale blondes are suited for cold climates, which is why the Nordic countries are almost all blonde. Tropical nations would be far more likely to consider black/dark hair and dark skin attractive. (Yes, there is the factor of "pale skin = young = beautiful," but too many people do it already.) Tropical ISLANDS, like the Philippines, usually have people who are much shorter than Europeans as well. The only "natural" blonde native would be someone with sunbleached hair, which to Western eyes would look more light-brown than blonde.
-Clothing. There aren't going to be sheep in the tropics, so wool and other thick, heavy fibers are going to be nonexistent aside from imports. While there are dozens of native fiber plants in the different tropical nations, cotton and linen are widely grown/imported because they're light and breathable. On the other hand, cotton and linen are usually quite expensive--the tropical version of silk. Also, there's probably going to be lots of vegetation that makes a MWE "long dress with a train" REALLY impractical... unless you're rich and don't need to hunt/travel often.
-Weather. Here's what most people tend to miss when going for a tropical culture. Tropical places are often considered paradises that have no "real" weather changes--but they aren't paradise, and they do change. Drastically. They have dry seasons, rainy seasons, crop-growing seasons... and the Pacific Ring of Fire is prone to LOTS of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Some nations experience at least a dozen minor quakes every day. The Mayan civilization was constantly besieged by drought, and Southeast Asia has monsoons (which is a fancy name for "minor to huge floods"). When you're writing about a tropical nation, you have to REALLY consider what the weather, seasons, and natural disasters will be like. Research, even if it's just basic, is going to do wonders for bringing your readers into the feel of the story.
And with cultures comes the frequently mentioned topic of conflict. There are more kinds of conflict than country-on-country conquest.
Part 3: Types of Conflict
-Civil war. If you have an empire, or even just a really big country, you're going to have people in power who disagree with each other. Powerful people disagreeing with each other will do a LOT of things to get their way. The Mayans may have contributed to their own civilization's collapse: There was a huge drought that forced everyone to compete for resources, BUT they completely overdid the "compete" part--namely by offing the losing royalty via sacrifice, fueling more conflict and anger. Aztecs had a similar problem, although they sacrificed thousands of the losing citizens in a more straightforward "pissing everyone off" problem. This is partly why Spain took over their empires so easily. The Incas, on the other hand, weren't conquered until later due to geography, and not sacrificing QUITE as much as the Mayans/Aztecs.
-Trade disputes. If something is valuable or rare, people will want it. And the people who possess it will have conditions (like prices) for giving it to them. Columbus' discovery of America was because he just wanted a faster ship route to India... for its spices. And where there's something valuable, people will want to steal it--which means thieves, highwaymen, and pirates. Not to mention that lots of countries depend on trade as additional sources of food. Speaking of which...
-Poor law enforcement. Most thieves aren't going to have gold and gems on their minds; every country has poor people, some with no other options but stealing to feed themselves and their families. Whoever runs the country will need to strike a balance between improving things (and more balance is needed between quick short-term improvement and slow but steady long-term improvement), making the RICH folk mad because they need to pay money, or not doing anything and making the poor/normal folk even MORE mad. Highwaymen were also dangerous; they'd often beat someone to a pulp, take their money and valuables (often stripping people naked if they had fancy clothes), then leave them to die of exposure and/or their wounds. And finally, pirates were a huge danger for coastal countries.
If the government isn't doing its job right by keeping everyone happy and safe, there's going to be discontent. It doesn't have to be "THE RIGHTFUL KING IS GONE OH NOES!" Maybe the rightful king is inexperienced and naive, whether from being young (do you REALLY want a twenty-year-old to be the sole ruler, with nobody to ask for advice?), still grieving over his father/parents' death, or from being raised as a peasant. Or maybe he's sickly, or got crippled, or hates ruling... Maybe the "rightful king" is just BAD at ruling, no matter who his parents are. Ruling a country is hard in the best of times and at top mental/physical health--which most kings needed to be for image purposes. Look at how we react when celebrities so much as sneeze (OMG ARE THEY SICK?!), gain a few pounds (Ha, they've really let themselves go!), lose their temper in the wrong place (What gives them the right to treat people like that?), or LOSE a few pounds (OMG ARE THEY SICK?!). There are about a hundred celebrities who we watch more closely than our friends and family--imagine all that focus on one person and his family.
-Religious/Holy war. This is similar to conquest or civil war, but ultimately distinct because of one factor: There is often no TANGIBLE reason for starting a war. Everyone can be doing just fine on a material standpoint--except for all those heathens who won't convert to the REAL religion. The Mayans and Aztecs had a huge problem with this, since the Mayans finished a lot of them with a sacrifice to the gods as gratitude for letting/helping their side win, and (for the Aztecs) they started some wars just to get sacrificial victims. Even the Crusades for Jerusalem were just about who would CONTROL the city; they probably cared less about who'd actually keep it running.
Two countries just don't understand each other. Culture clash doesn't have to be "KILL THE HEATHENS!!!eleven". If that happened there would only be one culture in the world, and a LOT less people. You can have countries disagree with others because they don't understand why the other does or believes certain things, but they don't have to be at each other's throats. For example; Country A does business with Country B and both country's citizens have formed settlements in the other nation. Country A's people will roll their eyes and prepare for a rough night's sleep when Country B's people start setting bonfires and jumping through them after the harvest, but they let them go on with it because it's just one day and it's not like anyone's getting hurt (aside from the usual risks of, you know, jumping through fire). Similarly, Country B doesn't like that Country A's citizens take a day off every week just to pray to their god, and how they have huge-ass buildings for it instead of a nice, cozy altar at home, but they won't burn down A's churches or try to stop them from going--besides, they're kind of pretty for glorified altars.
There are many, many, MANY other things that can be touched on, but hopefully this will be a springboard on getting people out of their fantasy comfort zone.
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