You know what would be cool to see more in fantasy worldbuilding? Some of the more chaotic kinds of natural land formations on earth. For example, barrier islands. The Outer Banks in North Carolina are a really good example of this, and provide a lot to inspire a writer 1/ #writingcommunity #booksky - ThreadSky

themissinglink97.bsky.social • 5 days ago

You know what would be cool to see more in fantasy worldbuilding? Some of the more chaotic kinds of natural land formations on earth. For example, barrier islands. The Outer Banks in North Carolina are a really good example of this, and provide a lot to inspire a writer 1/
#writingcommunity #booksky

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themissinglink97.bsky.social•5 days ago

Barrier islands are often large sandbars creating an inner bay separated from the ocean. A more stable example would be Long Island in New York, but I’ll stick with the Outer Banks because they’re far less stable and therefore more interesting 2/

themissinglink97.bsky.social•5 days ago

The five sounds of the Outer Banks create a very diverse biosphere and, for centuries, the perfect resting place for bird, particularly waterfowl migration, which shaped a vibrant hunting culture before they almost hunted ducks below a viable population level 3/

themissinglink97.bsky.social•5 days ago

But you can create plenty of reasons for especially diverse environments. What makes the Outer Banks especially interesting as a location to study for worldbuilding is storms. People have been building on the islands for centuries, but they still cannot take stability for granted 4/

themissinglink97.bsky.social•5 days ago

The fact the Outer Banks are sandbars means they’re unstable. The coastlines shift frequently with the currents of the Atlantic, which makes premodern cartography and sailing very dangerous. It’s still not a particularly safe place to sail 5/

themissinglink97.bsky.social•5 days ago

These shifting sands can destroy houses, bury sunken ships, or reveal these same ships. One such ship that wrecked there being Blackbeard’s own Queen Anne’s Revenge. This gives authors a lot of natural sources for conflict and interesting inciting incidents 6/

themissinglink97.bsky.social•5 days ago

But then there’s that other bit you can never forget about southeastern North America, hurricanes. Hurricanes can reshape even stable coasts with the storm surge, but for a barrier island, it can be even more dramatic, like blowing a hole through the island for the ocean to flood into 7/

theamazingkimmoth.bsky.social•5 days ago

Yeah - one storm, an island forms. Next storm, it takes out four - and now we have to move a lighthouse!

vernfaulkner.bsky.social•5 days ago

What about a meteorite strike mark?

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