As my cinematography professor once said, “Keep it simple, stupid.” You’re so right, Simon. Don’t let the weight of your own world building/lore crush your readers.
It's an easy mistake to want to demonstrate to the reader how much effort you've put in to your research and planning, and to shoehorn in every detail.
Super useful! Guilty as charged for turning my protagonist into an unwitting guide in the sci-fi novel I'm writing. Planning to cut the exposition about 'genetic enhancements' and 'floating cities', and let the readers discover world-building through the characters' experiences. Thank you!
It's very satisfying once you find ways to do that. The example for me I always find useful to remember, especially in terms of genre fiction, is that a flying taxi might seem cool and exciting to us, but for people living in that world...it's still just a taxi. And taxis are generally not exciting.
Simon, you’re right, world building can take on a life of its own. For my first novel I spent one to two months focusing on world building. I have tons of notes, many of which I never used. Now I spend enough time to sketch out the critical stuff and add to it only as needed.
I started worldbuilding for my fantasy story out of the blue.
Had a first version of the story, but decided to go back and take another good look.
I was getting more and more serious and wanted the story to at least be consistent.
So I let a website generate a world map, and mapped out countries' borders within the continents.
From there, I picked a starting point for the story and started building the world around that starting point.
Weirdly, it didn't stay to that. Before I knew it, I had set up the whole politics of the valley and why everything is the way it is. Accords that were signed, the main cities of the valley, and the main reasons for them being there.
But my main characters would join the army.... So how does the army work? What units are there? How does the army work and how is it set up....
Well... uhm, the army is instructed by the government.... -_-'
Okay, okay, then how does the government work? Where did it come from?
Wait, I have an idea for the founding of the country, so I know what the culture and beliefs of the people are. Wait? I need to find a reason for the religion to be there. What are their goals, their doctrine? What is their influence? And of course, how will the religion impact the culture, how does it impact the army, how does it influence the valley?
But the country doesn't live in a vacuum, so what impact do neighboring countries have on it? What does it do to its economy? And what impact does that have on different classes within the country? Is the effect noticeable between parts of the country? And if not, is there resentment?
I now have a nearly fully worked out continent of 3 countries, with all their own internal and external conflicts. They all have their own government systems, faiths, rituals, and ways of life.
There is also another country that has a complete conception story as the race that lives there is vastly different from humans, and wanted to map out how their culture formed, their moral code, their faiths, if any, etc, etc.
I think I have about 65% of the world mapped out and documented with detailed conflicts, locations, animals, and supernatural stuff, how the soul works, how it reincarnates, the universe, an extra universe layer, dimensions, I can go on.
This is a bit excessive, maybe, but I enjoy it. The story was what paved the road before, but I noticed that it prevents, or at least makes it difficult, to keep a story consistent and believable.
It can also cause stuff to fall out of the sky and make long plotlines difficult to either set up or remember.
But that is just from my experience as a noob writer XD
In the end, I guess it is just a matter of "do you enjoy worldbuilding" and how you do it.
I still write my story while building the world. But I am building the world faster than the story progresses, so I come up with stuff that is far away that I can mention now in the story, and hit on it much later :)
But its probably also very different for every type of story.
My story will get the characters to travel the world, meet lots of different people, and find many different locations. The world is slowly going to crap, so many conflicts will be mentioned or even joined by the characters.
So it's probably a lot to do with what the story needs, and how deep you want to make it.
Absolutely. If you enjoy doing it, then go for it. And, as you say, different stories require different levels of world building. If you have a travelogues-style story, then you're going to need to know about the world the characters are moving through. It's all about what is relevant and necessary.
That said I think was can sometimes overestimate how much is needed, and how much the reader needs. A lot can be done with inference - but again, it depends a lot on the characters. Some character will be ignorant of the history of where they live, while others will be scholars, and that will likely dictate how much YOU need to know prior to writing. And so on.
As my cinematography professor once said, “Keep it simple, stupid.” You’re so right, Simon. Don’t let the weight of your own world building/lore crush your readers.
It's an easy mistake to want to demonstrate to the reader how much effort you've put in to your research and planning, and to shoehorn in every detail.
Super useful! Guilty as charged for turning my protagonist into an unwitting guide in the sci-fi novel I'm writing. Planning to cut the exposition about 'genetic enhancements' and 'floating cities', and let the readers discover world-building through the characters' experiences. Thank you!
It's very satisfying once you find ways to do that. The example for me I always find useful to remember, especially in terms of genre fiction, is that a flying taxi might seem cool and exciting to us, but for people living in that world...it's still just a taxi. And taxis are generally not exciting.
I love this. Keep it simple.
Simon, you’re right, world building can take on a life of its own. For my first novel I spent one to two months focusing on world building. I have tons of notes, many of which I never used. Now I spend enough time to sketch out the critical stuff and add to it only as needed.
Sounds like a plan. Although sometimes the unused stuff can still resonate and be 'felt' by the reader, even if it isn't used directly.
Definitely! I've had that happen. A lot of the worldbuilding never showed up directly on the page, but as you said, "It's felt there." Thanks
In which Simon reduces an entire university term of writing classes into a doodle...
Ha!
What a great summary of world-building, and a resounding yes to drip feeding, not indo dumping.
Thanks, Lisa.
Cool graphic! “Food scene” advice is legit.
When in doubt, do a food scene.
I started worldbuilding for my fantasy story out of the blue.
Had a first version of the story, but decided to go back and take another good look.
I was getting more and more serious and wanted the story to at least be consistent.
So I let a website generate a world map, and mapped out countries' borders within the continents.
From there, I picked a starting point for the story and started building the world around that starting point.
Weirdly, it didn't stay to that. Before I knew it, I had set up the whole politics of the valley and why everything is the way it is. Accords that were signed, the main cities of the valley, and the main reasons for them being there.
But my main characters would join the army.... So how does the army work? What units are there? How does the army work and how is it set up....
Well... uhm, the army is instructed by the government.... -_-'
Okay, okay, then how does the government work? Where did it come from?
Wait, I have an idea for the founding of the country, so I know what the culture and beliefs of the people are. Wait? I need to find a reason for the religion to be there. What are their goals, their doctrine? What is their influence? And of course, how will the religion impact the culture, how does it impact the army, how does it influence the valley?
But the country doesn't live in a vacuum, so what impact do neighboring countries have on it? What does it do to its economy? And what impact does that have on different classes within the country? Is the effect noticeable between parts of the country? And if not, is there resentment?
I now have a nearly fully worked out continent of 3 countries, with all their own internal and external conflicts. They all have their own government systems, faiths, rituals, and ways of life.
There is also another country that has a complete conception story as the race that lives there is vastly different from humans, and wanted to map out how their culture formed, their moral code, their faiths, if any, etc, etc.
I think I have about 65% of the world mapped out and documented with detailed conflicts, locations, animals, and supernatural stuff, how the soul works, how it reincarnates, the universe, an extra universe layer, dimensions, I can go on.
This is a bit excessive, maybe, but I enjoy it. The story was what paved the road before, but I noticed that it prevents, or at least makes it difficult, to keep a story consistent and believable.
It can also cause stuff to fall out of the sky and make long plotlines difficult to either set up or remember.
But that is just from my experience as a noob writer XD
In the end, I guess it is just a matter of "do you enjoy worldbuilding" and how you do it.
I still write my story while building the world. But I am building the world faster than the story progresses, so I come up with stuff that is far away that I can mention now in the story, and hit on it much later :)
But its probably also very different for every type of story.
My story will get the characters to travel the world, meet lots of different people, and find many different locations. The world is slowly going to crap, so many conflicts will be mentioned or even joined by the characters.
So it's probably a lot to do with what the story needs, and how deep you want to make it.
Absolutely. If you enjoy doing it, then go for it. And, as you say, different stories require different levels of world building. If you have a travelogues-style story, then you're going to need to know about the world the characters are moving through. It's all about what is relevant and necessary.
That said I think was can sometimes overestimate how much is needed, and how much the reader needs. A lot can be done with inference - but again, it depends a lot on the characters. Some character will be ignorant of the history of where they live, while others will be scholars, and that will likely dictate how much YOU need to know prior to writing. And so on.
This is incredible!
Fascinating!
Thanks, Pranav! Glad it's useful.
https://mirrorvisions.blogspot.com/2025/06/chirona-word-opera-1st-draft.html
this future world