I’m very proud of my city of Grastelyn. Its government is what I call a “snobtocracy” – the privilege to rule is judged by hereditary electors based on a candidate’s achievements in the arts and sciences. It’s sophisticated yet effete, and allows me to engage in lots of intrigue and light satire.

And I made it all up myself.

But what of the surrounding country? Initially, I had a few scattered nobles, and a main farming community totally separate from either faction, and the more I read, the more this rang as wrong, wrong, wrong. Totally unviable, too.

That’s just a small taste of my problems with Thalidia, Mark One. Inevitably, it all came down to amateurish worldbuilding based on not enough grounding.

So, here’s a tip: when your creativity comes up stupid, always remember that history is a well you can go to: millenia of human experience ripe for the drawing.

The history can’t be had as-is, of course. No, not even if you’re Guy Gavriel Kay. It makes for a predictable and derivative telling, particularly if you’re not Guy Gavriel Kay. You still have a creative engine, and research is only its fuel.

But with footing in reality, odds are your story will become that much more real.