Editing Fantasy world (section)

==Constructed worlds==
{{further|Constructed world}}
Fantasy worlds created through a process called [[world building]] are known as a [[constructed world]]. Constructed worlds elaborate and make self-consistent the setting of fantasy work. World building often relies on materials and concepts taken from the real world.

Despite the use of magic or other fantastic elements such as dragons, the world is normally presented as one that would function normally, one in which people could actually live, making economic, historical, and ecological sense. It is considered a flaw to have, for example, pirates living in lands far from trade routes, or to assign prices for a night's stay in an inn that would equate to several years’ income.

Furthermore, the fantastic elements should ideally operate according to self-consistent rules of their own; for example, if wizards' spells sap their strength, a wizard who does not appear to suffer this must either be putting up a facade or have an alternative explanation. This distinguishes fantasy worlds from [[Surrealism]] and even from such dream worlds as are found in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' and ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]''.

===Examples===
*[[L. Frank Baum]] created the [[Land of Oz]] for his novel ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' and its [[List of Oz books|original sequels]]. He was one of the few authors before Tolkien to use consistent internal geographies and histories to enrich his world.
*[[C. S. Lewis]], author of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', set that series' novels mostly in a magical land called [[Narnia (world)|Narnia]]. Lewis was a colleague of Tolkien, and their fictional worlds share several key elements.
*[[Terry Pratchett]] created [[Discworld (world)|Discworld]], a large disc resting on the backs of four huge elephants, which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, as it slowly swims through space.
*[[J. R. R. Tolkien]] created [[Middle-earth]], a famous fantasy world. He introduced several revolutionary concepts to fantasy fiction and popularized the idea of intricately detailed fantasy worlds. He wrote at some length about the process, which he called "sub-creation". Middle-earth is intended to be Earth's [[Old World]] in a fictional ancient era.
*[[George R. R. Martin]] created a [[World of A Song of Ice and Fire|fictional world]] for his novel series ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. Martin said in 2003 that complete world maps were deliberately not made available so that readers may better identify with people of the real Middle Ages who were unilluminated about distant places. Most of the story is set in the western continent of Westeros, though some are set in the Eastern continent Essos. The Southern continent of Sothoryos is also shown on maps, with a possible fourth continent, Ulthos, to its East. A map of the world is shown in the [[Game of Thrones title sequence|title sequence]] of the [[HBO]] TV adaptation, ''[[Game of Thrones]]''.
*[[Robert Jordan]] created [[The World of the Wheel|unnamed fictional world]] for his opus magnum ''[[The Wheel of Time]]''.
Due to the fuzzy boundary between fantasy and [[science fiction]], it is sometimes difficult to make a hard-and-fast distinction between "fantasy worlds" and [[planets in science fiction]]. For example, the worlds of [[Barsoom]], [[Darkover]], [[Gor]], and the [[Witch World]] combine elements of both genres and fantasy worlds may have nonexistent, powerful technology.<ref>{{cite book|last=Attebery|first=Brian|date=1980|title=The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature|page=166–7|isbn=0-253-35665-2}}</ref>