A Guide to World Building


How to World Build: In Brandon Sanderson’s worldbuilding lectures, worldbuilding is divided into two parts: physical and cultural.

Physical worldbuilding includes aspects of the world that would exist even without humans present such as terrain, climates, animal and plant life, cosmology, etc.

 Cultural worldbuilding is things created by humans such as architecture, history (common heroes and villains), government (monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, anarchy), laws, rights, justice system, caste system, gender norms, race relations, prejudices, education, jobs, culture (beliefs, holidays, special ages like 16 or 18), romance (how is sex, marriage, etc. treated), art, sports, entertainment, clothes, values, technology/weapons, magic, science (its capabilities and who has access to it), economy, landmarks/wonders, philosophy, food, folklore, languages, etc.

 However fun worldbuilding might be, it is imperative that career writers don’t worldbuild for ten years. Extensively develop what will be used in the story by looking for friction points between character, setting, and plot and building there. For example, if your character is rebelling against an oppressive government, develop the government, its laws, its weapons, and the rights it grants its citizens. Don’t worry so much about elements that don’t affect the story. As for research, do 75% or even 50% now and consult an expert while revising.

 Note: I find it easier to cowrite the character and the world - build one for the other.




Avoid Worldbuilding Mistakes:
  • Magic not affecting the world (its government, weapons, beliefs, etc.).
  • One religious or political belief being homogeneous.
  • Creating a world too similar to Earth.
  • Including diverse characters for the sake of a diverse cast. Make their race essential to the character’s role in the story, give them a full character arc, and make more than one of them (unless it’s not necessary to your story).


How to Incorporate Your World: Always consider the learning curve for the genre you’re writing in, but don’t begin your novel with a massive infodump or proper names. Introduce your main character, then what they want, then who they are in the larger world. To begin introducing your world, find a conflict to show the character dealing with the world. Don’t show characters talking about things they already know, choose to mention things about the world that matter to your character and organically incorporate them through dialogue, description, action, and thought. Answer the readers’ questions about your world to gain their trust. Also, don’t underestimate the power of little details here and there that make the world feel real.

Remember, the goal of world building is to immerse readers in a different world. People want to believe it’s real, so give the illusion of an iceberg under the water. This will take practice, but don’t be discouraged. Published authors are not gods - they’re people like you and me. They didn’t use black magic to gain success, they worked hard and chugged forward. You can too.



Resources:
Brandon Sanderson’s Latest Worldbuilding Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v98Zy_hP5TI&t=1924s

Ellen Brock’s Worldbuilding Bible (I never use the entire thing and my answer to most of the questions is a sentence long): https://ellenbrockediting.com/worldbuilding-bible-template/

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