Creating Worlds

Tips on World-building #2

Readers are only interested in worldbuilding when they need to know it. But what does “need” look like? It can be incredibly hard to look at your world from an outside perspective and figure out what needs to go in and what can be left out.

In general, it’s helpful to brainstorm as much as you can about your world, adding pieces as things come to you–but NOT put all those ideas into the book. I like to think of it like a painter preparing their work station: you have all the colors you *could* need at your fingertips, mixed and ready to go, but as you paint, you may not end up using them all. 🎨

So how do you figure out what colors to use?

🍂 Tip #2: Outline two versions of your scene to test this.
▪️One version has all the worldbuilding that could be pertinent. Think of this sketch as the “if we loved info dumps” version. Layer in anything that could inform the scene.
▪️One version has the bare minimum. Give this version the very least amount of worldbuilding you could possibly give the reader and still have the scene make sense.

🍂 Most likely, somewhere in the middle is the right answer.

Testing versions of your scenes can be a useful exercise in how to evaluate what a reader NEEDS from worldbuilding–and when that NEED matters to what scene.

🍂 What qualifies NEED TO KNOW:
▪️explains setting to orient the reader and create atmosphere
▪️explains character motivation
▪️explains what’s happening in the plot right now
▪️describes larger problems/themes crucial to the book as a whole

🍁 If the worldbuilding is super pretty or fascinating–but not doing any of these things–chances are your reader doesn’t NEED it. Kill your darling.
🍁 If you can get away with the bare minimum version, do it. But bear in mind that every scene needs SOME worldbuilding, so the reader can visualize the scene, and your characters aren’t talking, floating heads.
🍁 The more unfamiliar your setting, the more worldbuilding work you will need to do. If your scene is set in an alien spaceship or fantastical realm, your reader will need more cues.

Evaluating each piece through reader NEED can help you avoid the info dump, bane of readers everywhere!