Fantasy Worldbuilding with Kylie Chan | GenreCon 2025

Develop rich imaginary settings that your readers will be eager to explore in this Gold Coast GenreCon satellite event.

There are three parts to building a great story: plot, setting and character. This workshop helps you to develop a rich imaginary setting that your readers will be eager to explore. Kylie will guide you through the realms of history, imagination and creativity and give you an outline that will allow you to build a complex world full of political, economic and social nuance. This workshop will help you to identify some of the pitfalls of clichés in worldbuilding and give you the tools you need to build a world that anyone will be excited to visit.
    

Learning outcomes

In this workshop, participants will:

• Create a believable, nuanced world for your genre fiction.
• Explore the impact of geography, history and social pressures on the societies you create.
• Avoid pitfalls and cliches in worldbuilding.
• Create a realistic and refined world that will engage and enthrall your readers.

Format

This is an in-person workshop with a focus on writing craft; it will be held at Helensvale Library on the Gold Coast. This workshop is suitable for writers of all levels and writing backgrounds.

About Kylie

Kylie Chan has a BBus in information technology, an MBA in IT, and an MPhil in Creative Writing. She started out as an IT consultant and trainer specialising in business intelligence systems in Australia, and then had her own consulting business for ten years in Hong Kong. When she returned to Australia, Kylie wrote the bestselling nine-book Dark Heavens fantasy series, followed by the Dragon Empire science fiction series. Her 2023 speculative novel, ‘Minds of Sand and Light’, explores the theme of artificial intelligence and its possible impact on society. She is a full-time writer based on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

For more information about Queensland Writers Centre’s Program of Events and answers to FAQs, please visit: www.queenslandwriters.org.au/program-info