12 - Urban Fantasy World Building

The 5 keys that every urban fantasy author must know
1. Choose your type of fantasy
a. Classic western mythology: vamps, weres, witches, biblical
b. Classic non-western mythology: south american, egyptian / arabic, far east
c. Neo-mythology: epic fantasy based / weird
2. Integration level
a. Secrecy by rarity: real magic/fantastic elements are rare enough that their strangeness is absorbed in the background
b. Secrecy by pact: There are enough magical beings that they have a council or ruling body that enforces secrecy
c. In the open: The world is a blend of fantastic and mundane without secrecy at all.
3. Organisations
a. Academic / religious
b. Government (normal and paranormal)
c. Ad hoc (hunters, protectors)
4. Characters
a. sane
b. insane
c. good
d. evil
5. Conflict
Primary underlying conflict: avoid good/evil that's rubbish in urban fantasy.
a. change vs stagnation
b. redemption
c. love vs fear
d. mundane vs supernatural