Welcome to Part 15 of my World Building blog series 😀 I’ll be covering just about every topic I can think of that goes into world crafting. If you have any topics you’d like me to write about, please let me know 🙂

Understanding how jobs and education work in your world will solve the very basic question of how and why your characters know what they know. A lot of times characters are given careers that are highly skilled even though they’re quite young or inexperienced. You should be able to address this easily in your writing if it’s needed.

How does education work: are there schools? Private tutors? Self-learning through books? Apprenticeships? Who had access to education? Historically it’s only been available to wealthy males in many cases, but this is fantasy and you can decide to offer it up to as many or as few people as you want. Decide whether it is mandatory or voluntary and what the circumstances of that is.

What are the levels of education? This runs the gamut from pre-school to university, so you have some flexibility. Is there a specific age people start school? How long do they attend? What do people get out of their education? How does it vary based on the careers they want to pursue? Is education regulated and/or standardized?

What are common jobs? Are there restrictions around what jobs people can hold based on sex/class/etc.? What is the protocol for getting a job? What jobs grant prestige and which would people rather avoid? Are any jobs used as a form of punishment? Are people able to switch careers? What are the expectations for work/life balance? Are workers valued or used?

How is work regulated? Are there corporations? Guilds? Does the government get involved and appoint leaders for each type of job? What are the work hours? Work hours and conditions have varied wildly through history. You can exhaust your characters with 7 day work weeks and 16+ hour days or you can give them untold free time with a system that provides everyone with their needs.

How is abuse handled? How are people compensated for their time and skill? What happens if someone is injured on the job and can’t work? What about people who might have difficulty working? How are the systems set up to support or neglect characters who have additional needs? Is there educational assistance or modified job duties available?

Hopefully that’s a good start to help 🙂

Happy writing!

-Erin

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