There is a lot that goes into worldbuilding. When you are creating a fully fictional place, that list gets even longer. So much influences the lives of your characters that might not be an obvious part of them. One of those things is government, or in some cases a lack thereof, so our first Worldbuilding Spotlight will be on the topic of fictional governments.
When dealing with creating a government, you have to consider what kind of government it is, how long that government has been in control, how people become part of the government, what percentage of the people have control over the government, whether the government has good intentions or bad ones, and so much more. You will also probably want to deal with how that government deals with other governments and how much they pay attention to what the common citizen of the place they are governing is doing.
It can be a lot to consider when all you wanted to do, for example, was create a character who loves to garden. Consider this though, are there places where gardening is allowed and not allowed? How is personal property defined? Is public land a place where anyone can do what they wish with it or is it a place where only certain people are allowed to even step foot on it?
There is a lot that goes into this and a lot you have to consider. In this series we will discuss places that have resources for crafting governments as well as various types of governments that you might use for your stories. Believe me, there are a lot of them. When I started researching it, I was surprised at how long the list was, probably because in my own life I have only encountered a very limited number of those, most of which my exposure is only through media portrayal. Some of these government types are only used in very small nations that don’t make it on to the media very often if ever and others are not currently practiced, but where at some point in history. There are even a couple of them that are still theoretical, because attempts to create them have all ended in failure. What kind of government do you find most interesting and what about it catches your interest?
