Flora/ fauna
For your world to be complete, it needs plants and animals. I confess, I create these as needed usually. Say my characters are walking through the woods. I need there to be trees, bushes, ground cover, and weeds. Maybe a chipmunk runs across their path, and birds are singing in the trees.
You could start with a list of plants and animals that are found in each region. If you use existing plants and animals from earth, then it should be easy to make a corresponding map. When I make mine, I overlay it with the North American map. But you can do this with any part of the globe. That way, it’s easy to see where each animal or plant is found naturally. This will have to be tweaked for places like mountain ranges and beaches.
After I decide what animals and plants from this world I want to use, I move on to creating fantasy plants and animals.
Flora:
When creating plants for my fictional world, I looked at field guides and foraging guides for inspiration. These guides are helpful for when you have to describe a certain plant, or if you are deciding whether a character can eat it or use it for medicine.
There are three main types of plants. Native, invasive (weeds), and horticultural. This is important to know so that you don’t have random crops growing in the wilderness. If they are native, they may grow wild, but it is unlikely that they will grow in rows.
First when creating fantasy flora, you should have a description of the plant. I say description first, because not every character will know the name of every plant in your world, but they will be able to describe it. Is it a tree, shrub, or ground cover? Does it have spiky or rounded leaves? Does it flower? Does it have vine-like runners?
Next name it. This can be a fun process. Remember there is sometimes an official scientific name and many common names for the same plant. You don’t have to know all of them, but be aware of that.
Next you should know if the plant is a perennial or annual. If it’s a perennial does it reseed itself, or are people or animals involved? What climate or region does this plant grow in? A bog plant like a Venus fly trap would be out of place on a mountainside. A cactus would be out of place in a tundra.
One of the most important things to know about plants is how they can be used. Do they have a fruit that can be eaten? What does it taste like? Are the leaves, fruits, roots, or barks medicinal? Is it poisonous? Can you use it for textiles? Can it be used as firewood?
Certain plants are used in religious ceremonies (or recreationally) for their mind-altering properties. Are they addicting? Do people abuse this plant as a drug? Is this plant widely available, or is it horded as a costly commodity?
As you can see, creating flora can be as simple as using existing plants from our world to complex. Have fun with it.
Fauna:
When creating animals for my fictional world, I looked at the Wikipedia page for North American animals. It listed every animal (I think) found in North America. From there I made a Pinterest page with all of those animals. I’ll leave the link below for inspiration.
When I created animals from my imagination, I first decided what region I wanted them to live in. I needed mostly monsters, so that’s what I mainly focused on, but I also created magical creatures as well. Because of this, I made them plot points. Like MC meets mountain squid.
Other times, I created the creatures as I needed them. For example, my MC goes into a bog. When he gets there, he is confronted by several creatures. When I was a very small kid, I was afraid of frogs. So I created a giant toad who sticks out of the mud, waiting to chomp on deer who trespass on their land. Many of the creatures I create are based on random fears I have.
When we look at our planet as a resource, we can see that there are two kinds of animals. Vertebrates and invertebrates. Those with and without a backbone. Vertebrates are further broken into mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Invertebrates are broken into annelid worms (earthworm, ect.), arthropods (arachnids, crustaceans, insects, myriapods), echinoderms (starfish, ect.), eterates (jellyfish, ect.), flatworms, mollusks, and protozoa.
Naming your fantasy animals is very important. Sometimes, people have different names for the same species. Sometimes there is a scientific name that is used. Next you’ll need a description of your fantasy animals. How big is it? Does it have fur, scales, or feathers? Does it have ears? Can you see its teeth? How fast is it?
What does this animal eat? Is it a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore? How does it hunt (if it hunts)? Does it hibernate and store food for the winter?
Consider this animal’s habitat. This will have a lot to say about its appearance. For example, animals that live in the desert usually have developed certain ways of conserving water, like a camel with its hump. Is this animal domesticated? Why did people decide to domesticate this animal? For example, dogs were domesticated to guard a camp, and cats were domesticated to keep vermin away. Has this relationship evolved over time?
What are their uses? Are they bread for a specific purpose, like to eat or to be work animals? Is this animal a threat to your MC’s way of life?
Of course, it is important to tailor the type of animals you have for the world you’ve built. For example, if your MCs live in a water planet, there probably won’t be fluffy creatures or they would drown.
Here are some blogs I found:
How to Create Plants and Animals for Your Fantasy Setting
Pinterest:
My journey as a Fantasy Writer 
This is so interesting. I have never thought about creating flora and fauna this way before, even as I wrote a manuscript that took place entirely in a forest, lol. Thanks for sharing this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great article, thank you for including my blog posts 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person