Building the foundation of an urban fantasy story follows four sequential world-building steps: (1) choose your setting—the modern urban environment, whether a real city with a twist of magic or an invented cityscape; (2) define the magic system, including its source, who can use it, and its limitations; (3) establish the supernatural elements, deciding which beings (e.g., vampires, werewolves, witches) populate the world; and (4) create the rules for how the supernatural interacts with the mundane world and how aware the general population is of it.