The Fundamentals of World-building

1. Introduction to The Fundamentals of World-building: Hello and welcome to the fundamentals of World Building. My name is Nia Hogan and I'm a multi published indie author. Are you in the planning stage of writing a novel? Do you want to know more about the fundamentals of building an immersive story world? Then it would be my pleasure to assist you. I design this course with beginner writers in mind. If you're a writer of fiction and want to improve your world building abilities, this class is perfect for you. If you're solely a non fiction writer or have already mastered the art of world building, you may not benefit from the content of this course as much. We will cover what world building is, why it's important, world building elements, how to get started, things to consider, and tips and best practices for world building. In the project section of this course, you will find a free principle PDF called World Building Reference Guide. This document goes along with this course. I created this resource to support my clients with world building, and now I am sharing it with you. We'll go over the content found within the guide during this course. If you're ready to get started, let's begin with our first lecture. 2. What is World-building?: What is world building? World building is a literary term for the process of imagining and designing a fictional story. World world building can be as simple as adapting a real world setting to fit your story, or as complex as creating an entirely new universe. World building is a creative process that is necessary for writers to explore in order to ground their readers in the world. Their characters navigate World building and setting are sometimes used interchangeably, but it's important to know the difference. Setting is the time and location of which your story takes place. Defining the setting is important because it informs your character's decisions. Setting can put limitations on a character or provide them with opportunities. For example, a character can do certain things on a warm spring day that they can't do in the middle of a hurricane. A story set in a fantasy world with magical elements provides characters with opportunities that characters in a real world setting, in a small town, do not have. While you will be establishing setting in your world building process, creating a story world is more complicated than determining landmarks and timelines. All stories have settings and world building explores the inner workings of that world. In this section, we covered what world building is. 3. The Importance of World-building: Now that you have a clear understanding of what world building is, let's advance to the next lecture, the importance of world building. For readers to immerse themselves in your fictional world. You are tasked with creating a place that is worth exploring. All story worlds have manmade rules and laws of nature. By developing this world, you're not only giving your characters somewhere to live, but controlling the choices they have and decisions they can make based on their environment. World building is where you establish the rules and boundaries of your world and how everything exists within it. A story set in your hometown will still have rules. It's just that readers might already know what they are in a fantasy world, the rules may be extremely different. If this town has special rules due to it being set in the future or the town being run by a corrupt government, then you'll be tasked with ensuring the reader understands the rules that your characters are living by. Real world settings might include fictional elements for you to build on. Meaning, A story set in a real city such as Harlem might have businesses that you've made up. No matter your level of development, world building is important to your story structure and your reader's experience. Remember that a story world you've created from scratch will be unfamiliar to your reader. It's your job to determine what you'd like to explicitly reveal and what you'd like to leave, up to their imagination. It's up to you if you'd like to explain how and why things work the way they do in your story world. Making your world feel realistic doesn't mean you have to explain the inner workings of every single thing. Either strong world building elevates your writing. A well developed story can transport your readers through time space, in places that don't exist in the real world. It allows readers to suspend their belief and immerse themselves in your art. Well, readers buy into your story world. That all depends on how well you sell it. The better you know your world, the richer and more immersive your writing can be. This lecture covered why world building is important to you as a writer, but more importantly to your readers. 4. World-building Elements: World building elements. Now that you understand how essential the world you insert your characters into is, let's move on to the main elements that authors develop for their book. All stories require some level of world building. A real contemporary world will not require as much exploration as one you've created. Some elements are genre specific. Be sure to research your genre extensively before beginning this world building process. If you haven't already or don't know the inner workings well, much like the world we live in, fictional story worlds have history, geography, social constructs, and people. In this lecture, I'll focus on the big picture of those four core elements. In this lecture, world building considerations will dive much deeper and explore the free guide I mentioned earlier, Origins matter. Defining the history of your world explains how civilization has evolved over time. Your story world doesn't have to have an extensive origin story. Though it's good practice to ask yourself, what are the notable events that have shaped the present world my characters are living in. Geography encompasses so many things. What probably comes to mind first is the landscape and climate. But it also has to do with how characters interact with the physical world around them. Defining geographical elements that have more to do with setting help set the scene through imagery. Merriam Webster defines social construct as an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society. Social constructionism is the practice of how people or groups participate in their social reality. When world building, we often examine the big ideas. Who is in control? Who created the construct? And how do members of the society interact? Who is in control is sometimes a matter of perspective. Who created the construct may not be an identifiable group of people, but a popular norm established by majority of people in a certain part of your world. Some examples you might explore when looking at social construct are class political systems, economics, culture and language. But there is so much more that will cover later in this course. Lastly, let's discuss people. There is no society without people in your fictional world. The people may not be human. But for the purpose of this discussion, we'll define people as the living organisms that are responsible for upholding the rules of your world. Aka characters. Describing characters may also have similarities to things you explore within social construct. And you'll notice that as we delve into the guide, this lecture covered four primary role building elements that you'll likely explore when you begin creating your own story world. Keep in mind these are only some of the pieces you can. 5. How to Get Started: If you're wondering how to approach world building, this next lecture will answer that question, world building getting started. How you approach world building is a personal preference. The best way to summarize what you'll learn in this lecture is when world building begin by looking at the information that directly impacts your story. If you don't know what that is yet, that's okay too. By the end of this lecture, you'll be able to select an approach that works best for you. Some writers like to flesh out their entire world as they plan their novel, and others prefer to figure things out as they go along. It's okay if you don't know all the details about your world right away. If you focus on the basics, the rest of your world can manifest from there. While most of world building occurs in the planning process, it is possible that part of your world will take on a new shape or reveal itself as the story unfolds. Don't feel like you have to have all the answers before you can begin writing. There is no wrong or right way to get started and know that the world building process can differ from project to project depending on how imaginative you're looking to get. We'll determine how deep you need to explore. In this lecture, we'll talk about eight approaches to world building that authors have used in the past to begin creating their fictional worlds. Those are top down, sometimes called outside in or macroscopic. Bottom up, sometimes referred to as inside out or microscopic. Situational, sociological character focused, historical, hard and soft. The top down approach is when you start with a general overview of your world. You're starting at the highest level of understanding by looking at the big picture before working your way into smaller details. The best way to use this approach is to begin by identifying the four broad elements we discussed in the previous lecture, the history, geography, social construct, and people. What are the main events that shape this world? What does your world look like? And what environmental factors directly impact characters? What are the most important manmade laws, and laws of nature that characters abide by? Finally, describe the most important traits of your inhabitants. Bottom up is the exact opposite of the top down approach. This is where you start with a small fragment of your world and work your way out. For example, maybe your main character is born in a small village. You can start by exploring this part of your world and then move on to exploring neighboring towns that they'll visit on their journey until you've gotten to the highest level of your world. Another example is to first explore a character's home before diving into the world around them. Sometimes it's easier to start on a smaller scale before trying to develop an entire world to go along with it. Situational is when you start by examining a specific event. Maybe this event is the catalyst for the protagonist. Maybe it's a world altering event that affects the entire story universe. You'll start by defining the situation and how this event impacts the world. A post apocalyptic world is a great example of a story world that would benefit from this approach. Sociological begins by exploring the society and then building a world around that. What makes the society unique or important? Who holds the power? How does the society operate? This works best for story worlds that don't feel like the world that we're currently living in, dystopian societies, are a great example of story worlds that would benefit from this approach. Character focused is when you choose a main character, usually your protagonist and start with their origin story. Describe their familial history. What elements of the story directly impacts their daily life? This approach works well when you already have a strong main character established and works well no matter the genre. The historical approach is when you start by exploring what happened in the beginning of your world. Or defining the major historical events that are establishing the world your characters are living in present day. If your story is realistic or historical fiction, understanding the social climate and the major historical events that have happened are currently happening or will happen before the end of your story is crucial and will require you to do your research of the period. For example, if your story is set during the Cold War, it's important to understand what the world looked like during that time. If your story is set during the rapture described in the Bible, it's important to speculate what led up to this moment in your world. The hard approach starts by establishing a world that is believable and grounded by filling in concrete details and rules that define it. Ask yourself, what are the most important details about my world that I don't want up for interpretation? What man made and natural laws must my character abide by? This approach is for writers who have a strong understanding of what characters can and cannot do. This approach is for writers that understand how the things in their world work and prefer a more logical approach to world building. For story worlds with strong magical systems, the hard approach allows you to define the most important rules and limitations. This approach makes things easier for your readers to visualize and buy into, because the concepts that might otherwise be hard to wrap their minds around are clearly defined, concrete rules and are transparently written. Finally, the soft approach only defines the details that are needed to tell the story. For writers who want to leave room for inferencing and imagination, this approach allows readers to critically think and draw their own conclusions about your world. Writers who don't desire to explain everything, who want to create a more peculiar and unconventional world. This approach allows you to consciously lean on the unknown. It's still very intentional, but it removes the pressure of having to have all the answers and lets you intentionally withhold information that you want to leave up to your readers to interpret. If none of these approaches speak to you, it's okay to allow your story world to manifest on its own. As you write, you don't have to follow a set structure or outline, or spend a lot of time trying to design a world. You can lean on instinct and just write. You may realize later that your method actually does fit into one of the approaches we've just covered. But before choosing an approach, it's a good idea to ask yourself, how much creative freedom do I want? Do I want the reader to know exactly how the world I've built works? Am I more invested in my characters, the events, or my world? How deeply you'd like to build your world will help you to choose the approach that works best. Think like a reader. What questions might readers have about your world? And remember that you don't have to have all the answers. When we approach world building with critical thinking, it helps us to determine what is important to the story line and what's just general information. Often our story world is influenced by the real world. Not everything about your world has to be an original thought. Creating a list of research questions can help you to learn more about societies, so you can draw parallels. History helps us explore cause and effect over time. Because a war happened, this is how it impacted the economy when this political figure died. This is how the government was impacted. You can also explore different effects for similar causes. How would different natural disasters impact the same region? In this lecture, we've covered ways to approach world building. In the upcoming lecture, we will dive deeper into other things you can consider when world building. 6. World-building Considerations: World building considerations. There are hundreds of questions that could be asked and answered when you're world building. Some questions are genre specific, some may not be relevant to your plot at all. Every question posed in this lecture will be included in the free world Building Reference Guide that's found in the project section of this course. Please do not feel like you need to pause the video to take notes after we address each question. This downloadable and printable PDF was created to aid in your planning and world building process. And it should be used as it best serves you, not as a laundry list of questions that need answers. Before you can begin writing, I have sort of the questions into broad topics to help keep you organized. And it's the same way I will be presenting them in this lecture. First up is history. What is your world's origin story? Providing a backstory for your world adds dimension and makes your world feel more tangible to readers. Here's some questions that you can ask yourself. Was your world always the way it is now? Most worlds will have a big bang, so to speak. An event or period of time that caused major or notable change to the world. This change will directly affect the people or other life forms and how they live or see the world. What are the most notable events that shape the present? Here is an opportunity for you to create a visual timeline or jot down major historical events in the planning process, your world may not have experienced any traumatic events, but remember that these are things that can bring change to the economy, the people, and the geography. Next we'll discuss social construct concepts created and maintained by human societies and not by nature. What are you trying to say about society or the human condition through social constructs in your writing? This ties directly to your premise and theme. If you don't know the answer to this question when you start designing your world, these should help you have a better idea of what your books commentary will look like. I've created sub topics for the category of social constructs, since this section will give you a lot to ponder. First up, let's address government and politics. Most worlds will have a form of government or a political structure that maintains order if your world allows for free reign, I'd like you to consider how that impacts characters, decisions without rules or boundaries. While this increases the chances for conflict, it also makes it harder to establish rules and therefore expectations for your reader. The inhabitants of your world will likely have free will and therefore shape their own independent existence. So what keeps the world balance? Keep in mind that your world doesn't have to subscribe to an existing form of government. Either it could be a fabricated structure or one that is a mixture of existing governments. How does the collective feel about current leaders? For example, if your people hate their leader, will they abide by the laws or try to overturn the person in power? Let's move on to hierarchies. Does your world have a class system? If there's a wide gap between social classes, you could use that to create tension and conflict. Ask yourself, are classes allowed to communicate or do they live separately? Is it frowned upon to mingle or build relationships between classes or is there animosity between them? Regarding economy, what does the commerce system look like? Does your world have any unusual careers? How is wealth procured? How hard is it to obtain? What does the gap between the wealthy and the poor look like? In this section, we'll discuss laws put in place to maintain order within society. We'll discuss natural laws and laws of physics later. Are there any important laws for readers to be aware of? Are they considered fair by the general population? Or is your society oppressed by its leaders with rights? How are they secured and protected? What rights are the people of this world fighting for? Next, let's discuss culture and customs. Describe the cultures that exist in your world. Are there any historical events that have shaped the culture? What customs or traditions exist? Are there any unique social norms that your inhabitants abide by? When it comes to religion, does the collective believe in a higher power? What are the primary religious or spiritual beliefs accepted by the collective? Regarding education, how is it structured? Is it institutionalized? Does everyone have access to it? How valuable is education in your world on race? How is it defined? Do any intelligent, non human races or species exist in your world? Does race cause division or conflict when developing gender and gender roles? How does gender fit into your world? What genders are recognized? And are there gender specific norms or defined roles? What languages are spoken? If you're constructing a language, describe it. What's the origin? How has it evolved over time? Is translation required for the readers to understand commonly used words or phrases you've created? Are there any nonverbal forms of communication, such as telepathy or unique nonverbal gestures that exist? What technology exists in your world? Are there any restrictions? Does technology follow the physical laws of the real world? Does artificial intelligence exist? And if so, how does it operate in your world? Have any conflicts arisen because of these technological advances? Here are some interesting miscellaneous questions worth exploring. How does the collective view labor? How are romantic relationships approached? What are standard birth practices? How does your society view or handle illness, rather they be physical ailments or mental illness? Are you creating anything new? How are health crises dealt with in your world? Covered a ton around social constructs. Now let's discuss geography. Here we'll talk about the five themes. Location, place, human environment, interaction, movement, and region. Let's begin with location. Where is your world? Does it take place on Earth or is it in an alternate Earth or planet? For the real world, what is the absolute location, Countries, states, towns, or street addresses for world you've created. Name your setting and describe the most relevant locations to your story line. Place describes the physical characteristics, the landscape. Are there mountains, rivers, beaches? How does the climate influence where people live or events that can occur? If your world defies the laws of physics, how does that impact the plot? Are there any unique species of plants or animals? How do natural resources or the terrain impact the plot? In terms of weather, describe normal conditions and seasons. How does weather impact plot with human characteristics? We're referring to things that are man made, like architecture. How else do inhabitants use the land? How do people move around when it comes to transportation in a world you've created? Can people teleport or are there unique modes of transportation available? Are there special visas or passports needed to cross borders? The next theme is human environment interaction. This refers to how the inhabitants of your world impact your world's ecosystem. You can also look at it as how the ecosystem influences your characters and their potential decisions. Are there any environmental issues in your world? How have the inhabitants adapted, modified, negatively impacted, or improved their environment on movement? What modes of transportation are available? How are resources being allocated? How do characters communicate and share ideas long distance? Finally, when considering formal regions, this refers to the official manmade or natural boundaries in a geographical region. If your story is based on the real world, you might only need to mention important cities for worlds you've built. This theme may contain a lot more information. Creating a map might be a great way to visualize your world and see the geographical layout to refer to as you write, especially if you're creating a new world from scratch. Now that we've covered the geography, let's talk more about the people or the inhabitants for a more inclusive perspective. What unique qualities do your characters possess? Describe their quality of life. What do they normally do in a day? Continuing on, how are characters affected by things like love and loss? How is success and failure defined? Are they lacking anything? What do they fear the most? Knowing the answers to these types of questions can also help you to define goals for your characters or create points of conflict. Is there anything the reader will know about the world that your characters won't? When world building, often people think of worlds that incorporate rules and elements that don't align with the real world. From the first lecture of this course, you know that this is not always the case. I would still like to cover fantastical elements because there are interesting questions and topics that you can explore. If it fits your genre, what supernatural limitations do characters face in your world? What are the most important rules? Does your story have an alien species or other non human life forms that you've created? Magic allows you to take your writing to new realms. But not all stories need magic in order to do that. If you're writing in a genre where this is applicable, I hope these questions open new doors for your world building process. If your story includes magic, ask yourself what is the source or origin of it? Can it be controlled? Are characters born with magic or is this ability learned? How does magic impact your plot? Is there a system of magic in your? If so, define how it works and its limitations. How does it impact your society? Are there specific laws for practicing magic that your characters must abide by? Lastly, we'll cover some miscellaneous questions and ideas to consider when world building that don't fit neatly into the categories we've covered in this lecture. If you had to describe your world in one sentence, what would it say? What real life examples inspired your story world? What is most important to your society? What sources of conflict or tension exist in your setting? Now that we've covered the overarching ideas that will help you with creating an immersive story world. You're ready to begin using the resource in the project section of this course. After you've filled in the blanks to the topics that are relevant to your world, I'd like you to estimate how much of your world you'll need to reveal to readers in order to tell your story. They only need to know what is relevant to your plot. You may only use 50% of what you explore through this resource. I'd like to know what's your favorite part of your world you've created and why. Feel free to share that in the discussion section of this lecture. If you can think of anything else worth exploring that we haven't covered, feel free to share that with your peers here as well. World building is an exploratory process that may never feel complete. Focus on crafting the details that have a meaningful impact on your characters and how they experience their world. We've discussed numerous topics and related questions to consider as you build your story world. Not all topics will be relevant to your story or what you desire to reveal to your characters explicitly. Don't feel pressure if you only answer a few. Readers will only know what you reveal to them. Choose wisely. 7. Tips and Best Practices for World-building: We have learned so much but there's still one lecture left in this course. So let's continue. Last but certainly not least, I will give you 20 tips and best practices to rock world building number one is to be story focused, not world focused. Remember, you're telling a story, not describing a world to your reader. The purpose of the world is to compliment your story line. Your world can be rich, vivid, and captivating. But if your plot isn't, your readers won't be invested in your story. While world building and storytelling go hand in hand, your readers are looking for a story to read, not a world to marvel at. Number two, keep your world building notes organized. It's a good idea to keep a journal dedicated to your world or use something digital, like a private wiki such as Nuclino. If you want something offline but still digital, you can create folders for your documents. Number three, double check information for historical accuracy. Whether your story is set in the past, in a real place, or during a real historical event. Consider researching the period thoroughly, even if you lived in that place, or during the time period or event that you're writing about. This research is to ensure accuracy of information that is relevant to your setting and to advise characters. Decision making number four, read up on real societies and old civilizations. Some of your favorite story worlds may have been inspired by real life civilizations. The world you create doesn't have to be developed from scratch. Most societies were not built on original ideas or concepts. Anyway, They were inspired by existing societies before them taking the good and improving upon it. Reading up on the history of ancient civilizations and mythology, as well as world history, can help inspire your world by helping you to develop a society that is familiar but still new. Number five, always ask what if. By asking this simple question, it can help you to develop your characters, world, and plot. For example, if you're world building a futuristic society, you're tasked with speculating what happens between now and the time your book is set. What advancements occur in technology? How does a social construct change? What history altering events led us to this moment? If you're writing about a fictional society, you can ask yourself, what events could alter present day society in this world? How would characters be affected? If you're writing is inspired by real historical events, then you can speculate the ripple effect of a moment in history. Number six, be careful of tropes and stereotypes. This goes for story plots and characters as well. But when world building, even if the world is completely fabricated, be mindful of the harm stereotypes can have on real world cultures and groups. The easy example of this is the portrayal of people with dwarfism throughout literature. Number seven, spell out the rules of your world. Yours may have clear and explicit boundaries on how things work and don't. It's important to explore this system and the logic behind the rules, as well as the consequences for breaking them. Number eight, make sure all created systems are logical. Yes, your world may defy laws of nature and science, especially if you're writing fantasy or science fiction. But if you're creating a new system, such as one for bartering, or a complex system of traveling through space and time. It might be helpful to do your research on how existing systems work as you build your own. If its operation is consistent throughout your story and you're able to make sense of it, then while readers may not love it, they'll likely accept it. Number nine, leave an air of mystery. Readers like to think for themselves. If the information about your world does not directly impact your characters, I would consider omitting it, give readers something to infer or wonder. You don't have to explain every little thing without action, There's no reaction. There's no need to spew facts about your world if they're not relevant to the plots progression, even if they are intriguing. Number ten, let it be messy. World's building can be chaotic and exploratory. Don't be afraid to write down all your ideas. Not everything you record will be used in your final draft. But don't let great ideas slip away because they don't neatly address the element that you're exploring at that moment. Number 11, don't overplan. Mapping out your entire world before you start writing is a personal preference. My advice is to embrace the possibilities and be open to discovery, even if you do. If you start writing and something isn't aligning, you can revisit this part of your world later. Number 12, don't assume that bigger is better. You can have a five page world building journal that has some interesting ideas but little substance. World building is about storytelling and if the things about your world you choose to share don't directly impact your characters, then it's useless. Fluff Tip 13, create a unified space for all world building related documents. If you're world building with a team, using collaborative work space apps like Discord. Can allow for multiple collaborators and file type uploads. If you're doing this on your own and prefer typing, creating folders and subfolders inside of a drive can help keep you organized. If you prefer writing by hand, dedicating a journal or a binder with tabs with a table of contents can help keep your ideas organized as well. Number 14. Be open to different creative assets. World building doesn't have to be limited to a written document. You can create a map of your world, A digital reference guide with terms compile inspiring images in a board. Using Pinterest include sketches, diagrams, or concept art drawn up of unique parts of your world. Or you can even create explanatory video aids. Do whatever helps you to visualize the world you're creating, so you can best translate that to readers through your writing. 15, hire a professional if you choose to include maps or concept art in your final publication. Hire a professional to help. If you're both a writer and an illustrator, that's such a gift. Most of us aren't. Yes, I'm sure your mock ups are creative and beautiful in their own way. But the artwork that you include for the reader should be professionally perfected to enhance your reader's experience. 16. Once you've chosen how to start building your world, it's also a good idea to set goals for yourself. The way I do this is by creating a task list of all the things I'd like to explore about my world, and setting a deadline for each. If you're in no rush to finish, you don't have to set a deadline. But season writers know how important it is to set goals to help you remain focused and productive. 17 show, don't tell about your world. Backstory is a common area where writers often tell their readers about their characters past rather than slowly and naturally reveal things. To build a world that is realistic and engaging, you have to provide high level imagery. Transport readers into your world by painting a picture for them that engages their five senses. Your world may be entirely new, but it can still feel familiar and realistic to them if you are specific and intentional about the sensory details that you include. Number 18, start with the most exciting part in the lecture world building, how to get started. We talked about many different ways to approach this planning process, even if it's just starting with your favorite thing about your world. This can avoid you becoming overwhelmed. No idea is too small to begin with. Whether you start with language or landscape, it doesn't matter. Start the exploration process from your favorite part is a fabulous way to maintain momentum and motivation. Number 19, establish genre up front. We know that genre is important to establish because it dictates some of the parameters of your world up front for your readers. If you don't know the genre of your story yet, it's best to make your pick and do your research before you even begin world building. This can also help you with understanding the tone and the mood of your world. And tip number 20, create a world worth living in. How do you know if you've achieved that? Well, when it's time to breathe life into your characters, is their existence meaningful? Are they able to navigate the world that you've created and make choices that are worth your readers following? 8. Conclusion: I've had the pleasure of world building over 100 story worlds for my own passion projects and clients combined. These best practices have helped me to grow as an author and a writing coach. During my freelancing career. I hope you feel more prepared to overcome obstacles and more empowered to do the hard job of creating an immersive and exciting story world for readers to be captivated by and your characters to navigate. My hope is that you now feel more prepared and inspired to create a story world of your own. World building should be fun. And as you've learned in this course, there are many ways to approach this process. Don't forget to download the free World Building Reference Guide from the project section. If you found this course useful, please leave me a positive review. If you have any private questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me via e mail at Novel Writing for Beginners@gmail.com Again, my name is Nia Hogan, and I wish you all the best as you begin world building for your next novel. Happy Writing. 9. NEW! Bonus Content: I hope you found much value in the fundamentals of world building. I'm back with some bonus content to help you explore your world in a different way through a new project created exclusively for this course. I hope you find it helpful and thank you so much for joining me again in the classroom. If you're interested in learning a little bit more about why this project was created, you can pause here to read a little bit about my personal story. The resource that you're about to see is a chart to help you draw out the details of a place or a time that is important to you or nostalgic. This exercise is not intended to replace the original project that goes along with this course, but it is here to allow you to explore a world that is important to you in a different way. Is also going to be a blank chart provided that you can use digitally or print out. Additionally, I have created an area for you to create a mood board and to jot down some notes like we mentioned in the course. I want to thank you again for taking the time to complete the fundamentals of World Building and also for checking out this bonus project that I've created for you. I hope that you've had a fun time thinking about a place that is meaningful to you and I hope that you've been able to flex your skills just a little bit more. Please feel free to share your project in the project section of this course to receive feedback from me or your classmates.