Thoughts on Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding can be be one of the most fun and most difficult parts of writing. Building a believable world is hard. However, this post isn't only going to be about regular worldbuilding. I'm also going to make a case for why we should consider making more abstract worlds and the benefits they bring to a novel.

Worldbuilding is hard

Building a believable world isn't the easiest thing to do. Just look at our world. One country has so many parts and nuances. And if you even start thinking about a planet, it gets overwhelming quickly. That's why I can't blame Star Wars a bit for going simple with all their planets, even though it would be nice to see more diversity.

But that doesn't mean it's not worth the effort. A well-built world can make the whole fantasy/sci-fi/urban fantasy novel come to life. And on the flip side, a sloppy world can shatter the suspension of disbelief. I'm not saying you have to go J. R. R. Tolkien on your world. We can't all spend our lives building one world. But you can give it some thought.

Worldbuilding tips

• Start with the basics. Government, climate, people, the sort of stuff you would answer on a school paper about a country or you could find in the Wikipedia sidebar.

• Write it all down. Any time you have a thought about your world, writing it down in your notebook or document, wherever your notes are. Especially at the beginning, it's okay to ramble around a lot. Just brain dump everything you're thinking out onto the paper. You can sort through it later and eliminate any ideas that won't work or you changed your mind about.

• Work on the places your story is set first. If most your novel is set in one city, spend most of your time building that city. If it's in a continent, build up that continent first. The place where your story takes place needs to be the best built part of your world.

• But don't forget the rest of it. Whether you know a little or a lot of the rest of the country or planet, don't forget to build it up a little too. Readers can tell when your city or country is floating in a blob of white, with nothing holding it up. Most of the things you learn about the rest of the country probably won't come in, but it's like backstory. Knowing all that extra stuff with add flavor to your writing that readers can sense.

• It's okay not to go overboard. There are so many worldbuilding questions to answer out there, you could spend months simply answering questions to build your world. I don't know about you, but after a while, I get bored of answering them. I suggest picking and choosing which questionnaires will help you most and stick to those.

• Be original, but not too original. Have you ever read a book where the world was just plain weird? There's a place for weird worlds, which we're going to talk about, but most of the time, it feels like the author just decided to grab a bag of their favorite worldbuilding elements and stuff them all together, whether or not they worked. Just think it through a little, please.

• Avoid/twist cliches. We've talked about cliches here before, so you can go read that article if you want all my thoughts. But there are plenty of worldbuilding cliches to avoid or twist such as- medieval Europe fantasy worlds, forests everywhere, evil races (ogres, goblins, and such), and maybe even absolute monarchies.

Abstract world? Why you should consider it

First, allow me to explain what I mean by an abstract world. This isn't an official term, instead one I invented. (Feel free to use it.) What I mean is a world that doesn't have set rules, doesn't obey the rules of our world, doesn't even always make sense. Some examples include Terry Prachett's Discworld, Douglas Adam's world in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, Riddle and Stewart's The Edge, and C. S. Lewis's Narnia.

As you can see, what all of these worlds have in common is they're kind of wacky, weird, or don't seem to have any rules. And that can work, if you do it right. We'll get to that in a minute. For now, I want to make an argument for occasionally writing more of these types of worlds.

I was recently reading Light the Dark, a book full of essays by authors talking about their writing inspirations. One man, I forget who, talked about how C. S. Lewis inspired him. And he made an excellent point in his essay. He said he loved how Lewis's world didn't have any rules (this doesn't mean Narnia is any less awesome). If he wanted a faun, there was a faun. A lamppost in the middle of the woods? So be it. And he thought we should have more worlds like that. Worlds where we don't worry about the mechanics of how magic works and where it gets the energy from and all that. Worlds that are simply magical without any rules or worries.

And I loved that thought. Of the worlds I mentioned above, what do we love about them? Their abstract nature. Discworld has some sort of wacky rules, but I have no idea how they work and that's the fun of it. Wonderland has been an inspiration for many writers because it is so wonderfully crazy and senseless. One of the most important rules in Hitchhikers is never leave behind your towel. They don't make sense, and that's what makes them magical.

Building an abstract world

Now, not everyone can have an abstract world in their novel. It won't work for some stories, plus it has to be done right or the whole thing just comes off as weird, not magical in any way. (Like the world in Brandon Mull's Five Kingdoms. That was just weird.) It has to be done right or not at all.

Part of the magic comes from the rules of the world. They only seem to make sense to the characters within the world, not to us. Think of Wonderland. In the books, there is some sort of rules to the characters, but Alice doesn't understand them because it's a nonsense world. 

Another part of the magic is that anything can happen, no matter how weird. The Edge is a world that has a giant cliff with no known bottom. In Hitchhikers Earth is demolished to make way for a space highway. In Wonderland, cards and chess pieces are alive. It's magic because it's impossible, and that's what we love.

The best way to do this is not think about it too hard. Just go for it and let your imagination free. But you also need to stay inside the world you've created, so don't wander too far. Unless it works. You can also never go wrong with a bit of satire about your genre too.

Building an abstract world isn't an exact science, and I've personally never done it before. So there could be more concise articles out there. I'm just going by what I've read in other people's books. If you have any thoughts on how to create one, please share it down below.

Final thoughts

The point of this post isn't to encourage everyone to ditch building great fictional worlds and go for nothing but weird but magical worlds. I just want to encourage people to maybe stop thinking so hard about creating worlds. It's suppose to be fun, not a chore. You could even add just a touch of wackiness to your world, a little element that makes people smile, as long as it works with your story.

So go forth and create fantasy, sci-fi, and the like worlds. Make them serious. Make them silly. Make them real, make them ridiculous. But most importantly, make it yours. And have fun.

Let's talk! What do you think about fantasy worlds? Should there be more abstract, nonsense worlds? What's your best worldbuilding tip? And what is your favorite abstract world? Tell me in the comments.

Suggested Posts:

Literature Tropes: Are They Good or Bad?
Cultures to Inspire Your Fantasy World