When working on your worldbuilding, adding a few distinct subcultures in your fictional populations can be an easy way of making the world feel richer and larger than it really is. But how do you create them?
First, a definition:
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles.
Wikipedia
Subcultures can take a lot of different forms, from something as large to other races to something as small as a family. If you’re doing a fantasy story, it could be those with learned magic, those who were born with magic, and people who do not use magic at all. So long as there is something about this group that differentiates them from the wider culture that also makes them similar to one another.
The interplay between the subcultures is what tends to make this interesting in fiction. Seeing how their values or norms conflict with or complement one another can help to make the world seem larger, and give the implication of history without having to come up with specific details that might distract from the main story you’re trying to tell.
Here are a few elements you can use to differentiate people in a subculture:
- Fashion choices
- Language
- Religion
- Food
- Stereotypes the larger society places on them
Do you use subcultures in your worldbuilding?