Creating Worlds

Tips on World-building #3

When’s the right time for some worldbuilding?

Once you’ve crafted your world, and you know what pieces need to live in each scene, how do you layer them in–without exposition coming out in one long info dump?

🍁 Splitting up worldbuilding into manageable pieces is key. Not only does it save your reader from giant blocks of text–it saves your scene, too. Context IS necessary to convey the full meaning of the scene. But huge chunks of context stop the forward-moving story dead in its tracks. It can kill your pace, and it can kill the tension you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

🍁 Dialogue and action work to move the momentum and plot forward.
🍁 Exposition looks backward; it halts forward momentum and pauses plot.

So where should pieces go?

🍂 Tip #3: Connect worldbuilding to POV.

▪️As this scene is happening, where might the POV character naturally think about their world?

Info dumps can feel unnatural because most of us don’t stop to review EVERYTHING that’s made our world what it is. Instead, reflection is prompted by stimuli–spotting or hearing something, one thought triggering another–that cause us to reflect briefly, before we resume action.

🍂 Ex: Looking out my window right now, I see hills of golden grass. This makes me think of how our hot, dry Californian summers have led to terrible wildfires this year, so many the air is often orange with smoke. The whole world feels tinged amber, the sun rusty and tired. And then I remember I have work to do, and I get back to it.

If that was a piece of worldbuilding, it would inform a reader of setting and lend atmosphere to my “scene.” It flows out of my natural thought progression and then back into the real world.

▪️Does it feel like the POV character?

The jarring effect of an info dump can be because of author voice: a very snarky character is suddenly revealing swaths of backstory in an informational tone, in beautifully formed sentences. How would the CHARACTER think?

If you need to deliver information, filter it through POV. How would this character feel about it and relay it?

🍁 Connect worldbuilding to your character’s thoughts, and you’ll have a road map for where to place each piece! 😄