9 Worldbuilding Mistakes ALL Writers Make 

Setting Vs. Worldbuilding: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-foL28BACxWM.html How to Write Immersive Settings and Amazing Worlds: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-h8YZsadagCI.html

"With worldbuilding, they don't need the know every bolt of the plumbing, they just need to know that when they turn on the faucet, it'll work." amazing quote

One thing I think is worth mentioning is that while videos like these are helpful, there is a 10th rule here...stop overthinking and just write. The more we try to micromanage every detail the whole process becomes a slog. No matter what you do, there will always be a thousand 1 star reviews for your book on GoodReads. Just let loose!!

I think there are other 3 important mistakes. Do not know your genre. Do not know your setting. Do not know yourself. First mistake means, worldbuilding for romance looks different than worldbuilding for detective story. Second mistake means detective story from pseudomedieval Europe needs different kind and amount of information than detective story from pseudoprimeval Asia. And last one, every author should know himself. Does author need 1000 pages of every aspect of fictional world to run his imagination? Does author write 1000 pages of novel without worldbuildig? Answer to this and more questions is: Why not? If it is how autor works....

Typically when I come across “writing advice” I prepare to be mostly disappointed but watch anyway looking for one sliver of knowledge . This one is actually good with a lot of great advice! 🎉

As an Indie Game Developer, I start by imagining playing my games - then think what parts of the worldbuilding need to be in place for items, lore, locations, enemies and the in-game information for these things. I favor environmental storytelling - a chunk of unnatural metal standing in the middle of a grassy field begs why it looks so out of place, why it is there, and why that mirrored cube piece is floating.

That Martin quote always bugs me when it's framed as a criticism of Tolkien (which it often is; I'm not claiming that it was used that way here). It's like reading an Arthurian romance and asking why it wasn't more like a modern spy novel. They're different stories, written in different eras, with different focuses setting out to do different things. Tolkien wasn't interested in Aragorn's tax policy, so of course it doesn't come up. That's not the story being told. Lord of the Rings puts myth and idealism before gritty reality and that is intentional. It's absolutely reasonable to wonder about those details and imagine more political grit and darkness, and take that off into fanfiction or as inspiration for your own works (like Martin did). But a story can't be and shouldn't try to be all things. When an author tries to do that, they just end up with a mush.

I spent days calculating the vectors for a particular jump to figure out if it would truly be possible given all the peculiarities of my world. I had to think through whether gravity was essentially comparable, research limits of human ability if the human form were perfected, consider trajectory, velocity needs, the ideal position of the human body to make the jump, etc. In the end, it boiled down to "The end of the platform was right in front of her, and the chandelier seemed a thousand miles away. Impossible. Why did she think this was possible?" 😂

A good example of world building is the series about Thomas a train engine. The writers created the whole island before they wrote the series. They only showed the part of the island that was needed for a particular episode.

I'm going to drop this here have fun: --- Rules of thumb for storytelling --- Rules: 1. Realism is not God, but verisimilitude feeling is God. Meaning: While it's important for stories to feel believable, adhering strictly to realism can sometimes stifle creativity. What truly matters is the sense of authenticity and immersion that the story evokes in the audience. 2. Characters > Setting > Worldbuilding > Lore > etc. Meaning: In storytelling, the focus should primarily be on developing compelling characters, followed by creating immersive settings, building a coherent world, and delving into detailed lore. Characters drive the narrative and engage the audience more effectively than mere world details. 3. Imply > Show > Tell. Meaning: Rather than explicitly stating everything, it's often more effective to imply information through subtle cues, then show it through actions or scenes when it feels normal and tell when it feels normal. This engages the audience by allowing them to interpret and infer meaning themselves. 4. Every character and reader have limited perspective except for deities and the author. Meaning: Characters within the story as well as readers outside of it, can only perceive events from their own limited perspectives. Only omniscient entities like deities or the author have full awareness of the story's events and meanings. 5. Combat should feel hard and have weight rather than feel soft and floating. Meaning: When depicting combat scenes, it's important to convey the physical and emotional weight of the struggle. This makes the action feel more realistic and impactful, enhancing the overall tension and immersion of the story. 6. Description should flow rather than be bullet points. Meaning: Descriptive passages should be integrated smoothly into the narrative, flowing seamlessly from one detail to the next. This allows the reader to visualize the scene without feeling interrupted by a list-like presentation. 7. Internal consistency > external consistency. Meaning: While maintaining consistency with external rules and logic is important, ensuring consistency within the story's own established world and rules takes precedence. This creates a more coherent and immersive experience for the audience. 8. Pacing should be like the serrated edge of a knife rather than a straightforward linear or curved progression. Meaning: The pacing of the story should be dynamic and varied, with moments of intensity followed by periods of calm, akin to the jagged edge of a knife. This keeps the audience engaged and adds depth to the narrative flow. 9. Conflict is not God, but action and reaction are God. Meaning: While conflict drives the story forward, it's the actions and reactions of the characters that truly propel the narrative. How characters respond to conflict and its consequences shapes the direction and depth of the story. 10. Some characters change, others do not. Meaning: Not all characters undergo significant development throughout the story. Some may remain static, while others experience growth or transformation. This diversity adds realism and depth to the character dynamics. 11. The world itself is a character. Meaning: The setting and world of the story should be treated as dynamic entities with their own traits, histories, and influences on the narrative. They should interact with and impact the characters and events in meaningful ways. 12. Imperfection should be the norm, be it characters, perspective, outcomes, etc. Meaning: Embracing imperfection adds depth and realism to storytelling. Characters, perspectives, and outcomes should reflect the flaws and complexities of real life, rather than striving for idealized perfection. 13. Dig deeper with lore rather than wider. Meaning: Instead of superficially expanding the lore with numerous details, focus on delving deeper into specific aspects to enrich the world and enhance its significance to the story. Quality of lore is prioritized over quantity.

I loved this video. I am writing a sci-fi trilogy, absolutely no fantasy, every futuristic element has a possible (sometimes only maybe, but never 'never') way in real physics or speculative physics as to how it could work. But its main purpose is to discuss philosophy, though I think the story is interesting in itself, at least one professional reader said so. Worldbuilding: I had certain basic ideas: The aliens had found a way to make their civilisation last 10s of 1,000s of years in peace without destroying itself; they have certain metabolic dysfunctions that require them to do disgusting things by human standards; they love nature and animals. I just started writng, tellng that story. All the worldbuilding happened only insofar as our human protagonist had to see and experience their world, and all I did was make sure that everything he saw was consistent with my basic concept. I had no other 'backstory', but as I went, I found that the backstory invented itself. Future incidents merely had to not break previous things. The most significant thing in writing it, I llived in the heads of every character. "What would X say or do now?" and the story wrote itself, literally. One character contrived a devious plot that played out over half the story, but I was unaware of it until the 'pounce' moment when the payoff happened. So I agree with your basic concepts of getting the readers' interest before worrying about worldbuilding. I think: don't let the plot dictate your characters' actions, make their actions right for that character, and find a way to keep the story on track by other means, if the characters move you off course. Flexibility in world building gives you one more tool for doing this without forcing unrealistic behaviours on your characters.

I love the effort you put into this video. I realized that I have been struggling with World Builder’s Disease my whole life. I can’t tell you how many worlds I have built with no story attached at all - just for fun! It has been a unique challenge to build a world to support a story this time around. Wait am I world-building for this comment..? Anyways, great video!

My friend who loves fantasy novels took a crack at writing her own fantasy story. She was excited to get my feed back so she sent me the first couple chapters. When I tried to read it I was horrified to find that the first few chapters were completely comprised of LORE and HISTORY about this fantasy city. I couldn’t even get past the first chapter because it was so heavy with lore and exposition. I gave her notes about having a scene or hook before all of that. If I couldn’t even force myself to read my best friends passion project, a stranger is never going to give your “expertly crafted and finely detailed” 1000 year history, the time of day

What I am getting from this is that there's plenty of books and movies I should watch, regardless of whether I end up writting a book or story ever, there's lots of interesting stories for me to read and discover that I didn't know entirely a lot about 😅😇

I really appreciate the practical advice you offer and the definitions you use. Very helpful. I’ve subscribed!

You use some brilliant analogies. Thank you for a well thought out and insightful video 👍

I don't hear many people say how important it is to keep the mind-bending or physics-defying concepts to a minimum. Every fictional aspect of the story should always be examined against the natural world and all other fictional concepts. The more you pile up, the more likely you are to break your world by creating huge plot holes. Here is one small example (one of my pet peeves): You find instantaneous FTL communication technology with unrestricted bandwidth in most space operas. It kills any sense of adventure, the feeling you get when reading about a wooden ship on the high seas, not knowing what is happening where you just left and never knowing what awaits you where you are going. It kills the fog of war, which is essential in any war story. It trivializes the mind-boggling aspect of the vast emptiness of space. Don't get me wrong. There are stories where such technology is an important part of the story. But if you do not plan to take a second step and think about ALL the implications, then maybe leave it be? I could write a lot here, but some of my favourite authors (Jack Campbell and David Weber) said something like this: "It is not what your characters CAN DO that makes for a good story, but the things they CAN'T DO". Things they can't do: force you, as a writer, to find creative solutions.

I put aside my passion for writing for a long time and this video has really made me think about my passion for writing again, thanks to you I might pick up an old project or start a new one! Thank you, I find the most joy in life when writing a world of my own

This was helpful! I kinda zoned out and day dreamed about my own setting while listening to this, helped me realise i dont have a way for the audience to learn about the world (a main character etc) and you helped me to brainstorm how i want to approach it :D

I think of world-building as the reflection in the puddle that is story. It adds to the puddle but it does not change its depth much. I like to world build in the context of a scene. For example, if the scene is political, expand on the scene by adding a past or present political event to enhance the scene, especially if it reflects or sets up the current scene.

It is rare to have a personal and useful video on RU-vid. Thank you

This is great, you as a writer need to prioritize a cool story first, in the path you will construct some stuff, but don't get lost in the sauce, remember that the main course is the most important

The biggest problem I have is once I have a basic idea and setting I get caught up in event making without figuring out how the characters get to those events. I also second guess myself over everything.

I've found a huge love of worldbuilding because it fulfill my need to info dump without doing it in the story. It's nice to have the backstory in the back and I can just let the story flow organically without needing to explain everything. That being said my best works are in writing for a video game and a ttrpg (in my opinion) I think because the world buidling is such an important part before even starting the story.

Great channel, glad I just found you. Please keep up this clean, thoughtful format. I'LL BE BACK

Super helpful. Thank you my friend

I hated world building, but this video helped a lot. Thank you for the breakdown.

Just discovered your channel today. You’re pretty smart with this stuff. While I mostly focus on character driven stories since I’m making comics and that’s what comics are all about. I still liked the video and it did help a bit. I usually always have the characters learn everything for the first time so that it makes sense when people lore dump. Still loved the video keep it up 👍

A really huge thank you. I really got lost in that, and you showed an end to the tunnel. I think i’ll come back to it later, for these are precious thought. Just, if you could - and I know it can be a very painful subject - be a little merrier and spontaneous on the rhythm, it would be perfect. Because you give very good answers.

Between these videos of yours and Brandon Sandersons lectures on YT gives us new worldbuilders alot to think about. Thank you good sir!

Nice personal touch at the beginning, but 15 min. in and still no problems listed. Every story involves worldbuilding. Even if I am writing an autobiography about my family life, there is plenty I do not know or remember. A better title would have been how much should setting play a part in a story. And the answer comes down to how much scrutiny is expected. Lord of the Rings stands up to intense scrutiny; Harry Potter collapses under far less, but she never expected that much attention. Thus, it makes sense to delve further into Tolkien's world, to speculate who was more powerful, etc. Harry Potter should be left as a good read and the reader move on. Or Snape should simply go back in time and kill Tom Riddle before Dumbledore visits him in the orphanage.

You talked about building conflict into the world. I am currently working on a long-term project that will be an epic/high fantasy story, and one of the first things that got me excited about my idea was how I integrated the villains. I made them the main driver of the misconceptions and prejudice that exist; prejudice that benefits the villains. They and their magic system are twisted versions of other types that already exist. My story follows three siblings, one of whom is being pulled gradually towards the darkness, and my main character who is more powerful than anyone would have imagined. I have one non-human race, and a few human subgroups each with specific skills. Truth be told, this intire thing was sort of set off by an add I saw for the video game Endwalker; I thought I could do better and so gave it a shot.

Really enjoyed this video! Liked and subscribed. I would like to see this framework applied to the worldbuilding inherent to the postmodern/satiric/magical realist fiction of the 20th century onward that used models intrinsic to science fiction and fantasy often as vehicle to explore ideas about the world as well as fiction itself. Not necessarily in an instructional format but as an examination/deconstruction. I think it would be fascinating. This includes writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, Douglas Adams, Don Delillo, Jorge Luis Borges, John Barthe, David Foster Wallace, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, George Saunders… there are too many to name. All create interesting worlds that are separate and distinct from our own but the purposes are different and complicated.

Interesting video :) I recently started writing my own fantasy novel. I have no experience writing and didn't read much. I did watch lots of fantasy media and listened to audio books. It is funny to see your tips and think to myself "I am probably messing up a lot but my mindset is basically like the tips." I write mainly (not exclusively) from the MC's pov and, as I love worldbuilding and learning about worlds through characters in the stories, I try to write the same. I have written done a full backstory to how the universe and, in my case, 7 worlds came to be. How they have a conflict going and what is happening. Then I thought out the major plot points, the characters that will join the MC in his party and their backstories. After having generated a worldmap, decided where certain story beats would happen, I went to write. From that moment I just tried to write the story from the POV of the MC and keep in mind the limitations the world has, for instance on the magic system. I will probably never tell the reader exactly how it works but I know its limits and hope that I can keep my story consistent. The rest is basically winging it. I know where the characters will go, I know the route they are going to take, the story however I write as I go. I tried to be as fluid and real as possible. Things happen because X, instead of things just happening. It has been fun to do so far and get comments from people saying they enjoy the flow of the story as every chapter and every piece is just a continuation with small time jumps here and there. Motivations, backstories, reasoning, it all seems to be good at the moment. My friends always say I'm really god at imagining myself in someone else's shoes. And even though I have no experience as a woman, I am a guy XD, I apparently got my chapter about a girl, who's parents died and the caretaker raising her as her own daughter, pretty spot on. Made people cry apparently XD But content, certainly some stuff here that I didn't know/realize but I feel like I'm on the right track ^_^ Cheers

Well put!

This wasn't long. I enjoyed it.

Great job! 👓

I am not a writer, but I like concocting my own worlds and stories. I like the world building, but I always keep it concise. I make a rough exterior in which the story takes place, while my main focus remains on the story and characters. As a result the world is often half-baked, but I adjust things as I go along and use it to service the story, not the other way around. I always try to look at it from a viewer's perspective, not a writer's perspective - what would I find enjoyable in this as a viewer? - and often times the world building just ends up taking last place on the list. Sure, as a creator, it is fun to make an expansive world with deep complex lore and mechanics, but as a viewer that would be the dullest thing by itself. Conversely, a solid well-thought out story or likable characters, or even just meaningful themes could carry a bland and uninspired world and make for a good viewing experience.

Damn good video!!!! Thank you.

Thanks for the video. I am an amature writer and started in fanfiction, which helped anchor my imagination.

i worldbuild for running ttrpg games, and the number one thing i do while i'm pondering to filter what i'm gonna document or not is ask myself "is something specific here gonna be better than something i can improvise in the moment?" if not, then it doesn't go in my lore notes

Build a world that showcases your story, not a story to showcase your world.

Can't say I have ever had this problem, and here is why: 1. (The story comes first.) If you can't draw people into your story they will not care about your world. 2. (Don't info dump.) Mystery and Curiosity are very powerful forces which you must use to your advantage. The reader doesn't need to know everything, only enough to know why the "protagonist" is doing what he does in the story. 3. (Let the world grow.) No matter how much you have thought out your world, it will change based on the needs of your story. So write your outline and see how well your world fits the outline.

MAN it's been hard to get as nerded out into fiction as I used to as a teen now that I'm trying to write my own and I know, for a fact, there is indeed NOTHING behind the curtain in the wizard's palace besides a fellow pasty nerd.

With world building for me, my head can be very good at coming up with plot, setting, and appropriate descriptions of things, where it doesn't need to know everything about stuff but after the initial concepts and plot points it builds out the why's and what sort of effects that would have on the rest of the story, and then what plot points could that inspire, which can make a lot of depth behind the scenes only to its level of relevance, like being aware of the sort of organisations you might find in a particular town or city, figuring out what sorts of effects and motivations they might have when the mc gets there and fleshing out the details and motivations when they interact with the mc. Were the closer it comes to affecting what happens on page the more thought out i make it, also the reverse of how what happens on page effects the behind the scenes, where organisations with less of an interest in the mc/related or that has little dealings with them have less thought put into how what the central charicters do affects their motivation. I think the fact that i have a method to build up a story really helps me out over just the thing of world building. But yeah, those are only a few things that i take into consideration but it gets the point across

I'm not really a writer, I would like to if only to allow my worlds to exist to other people. I have world built since I was a kid (I was a kid in 90's), and do it because I enjoy getting lost in the creation of a thorough scifi or fantasy world.

good vid. subbed

A great video. I am writing a middle grade novel about two children who go into the Woods and find themselves in the ice age. I hope that my world building is good enough. Imagine stripping away every vestage of modern life and replacing it with a primitive hunter gatherer society. What does the landscape look like and the animals and when it's humans, how their society works. It's challenging. To help my young readers, a lot of research must be done.

Not using a toilet irritates me. The Mote in Gods Eye did use toilets and to great effect! I felt I knew the Mote world by the end of the book. It’s dated of course but the world building was subtle and powerful. Different sameness

And yes, there is a mistake in part 2's title card... Like if you picked it up 🫠

As much as I love worldbuilding - I've studied geology and later on social anthropology, the latter of which almost exclusively because I wanted something to help me flesh out my worlds better - I would myself never start with the worldbuilding, at least not isolated. I do have a little side project where I created a world froms cratch an let it relive the geological timeframe, but that is not meant to be turned into a novel. I need to start a novel out with either a plot or a character and the worldbuilding stems from that. That doesn't mean I don't worldbuild much, but I do it with a purpose. Both of my bigger porjects have expansive worlds with history, lore, politics, etc. Even a lot of stuff I would never or don't need to tell my reader. But it's there and it stems from the plot - which helps me decide to know what's worth putting in the story and what not. Sure, there are people starting out with the worldbuilding or aspects of it (Tolkien would be the most famous example that comes to mind), but I have the feeling - looking at my friends and me - that this approach is the harder one.

For my current novel I have my main two characters be teachers in a school so most of the world building is from well them teaching students that way it feels like the reader is just part of the class yet has a incite into the teachers mind

I would definitely not call ASoIaF more realistic than LotR. While it's true that Tolkien was playing much looser with elements that didn't interest him, such as trade routes or the impact of individual decrees on comm9n mens' lives, he also had the sense to not go into those details and make up something nonsensical. Martin plays it much looser with everything and a lot of times it feels like he simply throws out improbable numbers because he thinks he has to. Not to mention that Martin, despite his infamous jab at Tolkien, does not spend any amount of time explaining anyone's tax policy.

I have a worldbuilding project I am very slowly working on for a few years now. My aim is to make the world I build feel lived in, that things happened and I want to write more than one story in that world and the universe it belongs to. I take my time, having other projects aswell or just brainstorming something unrelated because my mind is just in the flow to spit something out. While in the end not every little detail has to be stuffed into one story I think as the writer I need to know why things are happening.

Interestingly the current project that I am trying to put together has been kind of the opposite where I have a story I am trying to tell that's connected to one specific location but I'm stuck in a position trying to flesh things out and make sure everything works together. My setting is small but the world building is seeping into everything from how this particular setting affects the fashion, culture, life of those who live there.

From the thumbnail, I assume at least one rule Is don’t blow everything in your world up with atomic weapons

Lord of the Rings is “Tolkien-esque”? You want a second take on that one? 😂 Someone asked George R.R. Martin for the background information on the Dothraki language in his books. He replied, “I’m not Tolkien. I made up 8 words in Dothraki. When I need a ninth one, I’ll make that up, too.” 😎 George Lucas once said that most science fiction films spend so much time designing and building their sets that directors want to show them off, but instead it should just be in the background and shot the way you’d do it if the film was set in a regular house. That’s why there are all these details in the scenes of Star Wars.

The thumbnail: "Don't let an explosion happen." Michael Bay: "Say what?"

This is a much under-discussed aspect of fiction writing (especially SciFi) - I think I've just learnt more than I did after reading the whole of "Save The Cat."

Also did some World building, but after 6 days i really needed a break

I haven't watched the full video yet, but I just kinda wanted to record my thoughts in an untainted way before I dive in. I have learned that it's best to start off small if you wanna dip your toes into world building. I've been trying to get into short stories for this very reason, so I can set up tiny little blocks of information for the larger narrative I wanna get up, kinda like The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. It's certainly possible to make a good world the first time, but you have to be careful and small with it at first.

I guess one should have at least an idea how economy in his world works. I mean, in most stories it's not needed to mention and readers in general don't ask about it, but heroes and villains have to pay for transportation, weapons, food and a place to sleep, not to mention the villains stronghold or the minions working for them.

Nothing new here for me, but I think you put many of those things good into words. I never had trouble with worldbuilders disease, since I went more with atmospheric worldbuilding then getting lost in the minutiae of the story world. The Iceberg thing regarding literature is something from Hemmingway if I remember correctly... or was that only about the narrative and not the worldbuilding? Anyway, I guess character role and PoV came easily to me because of my roleplaying game hobby. And regarding the familiar and the unfamiliar, I had read a long time an author calling that the common and the exotic, and thus that idea is also for two decades now with me.

great starting analogy(?) got me hooked on this piece. though consider me the phyllobates terribilis.

In the novel "Dune" Atomic bombs were used to make a gap in the shield wall that protected the city "Arakeen" for worms attacking the city so that the Fremen could ride them in to attack the Harkonnen army and capture the emperor.

4:23, sorry this pot is too cold and not warming up fast enough for me. I jumped out

Well as I am writing a sci fi RPG - it's all (or at least mostly) about world building. Of course there are stories here and there - but as the player characters are the main stars of the game, the really crazy stuff happens to them in game.

Ok glad im not the only who's gone ham about my world's geophysics 😅

Most world building never makes it to the final story. It's important for you to know the ins and outs of your world, but it rarely propels character arcs.

I'm going to disagree with you about Dune and the importance of Spice as it regards to the "new" release. While I think that the new Dune does a better overall job of storytelling than the original move, the original move does a far better job at setting up the importance of Spice and the fact that it's needed for interstellar travel. That said, I agree with you on all other parts.

My first novel was 1007 pages!

What novel or light-novels you create?

@ severance segment around 19:00 : * laughs in dissociative disorder and the struggles of not remembering *

Building another world, with a magic system, it's remembering to keep a tight narrative and not want to spew out every idea that flashes through my mind before the idea flames out (again) or it gets turned into another self-insert OP power fantasy (again)

In the last few months, more and more, I leaned into designing lore, over doing actuall world-building. The Worlbuilding comes to me, while writing and thats the moste important stuff, right? Actually writing? Well, if I not implement the lore bits, I created, I at least, know, how it influences characters and stuff. For example, if I disign the society for a city I think about, who rules the city, who is maybe from an old family, wich was dethroned and still play an important role in the city or narrative. You could disigne like a family tree or flesh out every character in the history of the city. But much more likely to be in youre story in the end, is maybe just a box of letters from one of the characters, whos family got dethroned. Now, I have a direct link to an important caracter and I can decide if I need to include it. If the character isnt that important, maybe I dont need the whole family tree. Disigning lore instead of huge worlduiling junks, will help you determine the junks importance, or just influences youre writing at the right point.

I made the same mistake on making a huge world but it was for a comic i never finished. Lol

i dont know much about writing books, but i know very much about writing "worlds". and writing the "building scripts" of them. by using the fourth layer/form of existance to alter dynamics that would force changes for the aimed goals. almost like writing "AI". i do that by simply rubbing my forehead. 🤣 naaaah. i can just simply do it in my sleep. i also intrigued about the idea of writing movie scripts. not sure about fiction books, but movie scripts is interesting. because many movies i watched have some very illogical dynamic or story progression. i mean natural trajectories doesnt work that way.

Greetings and Salutations I've been world building for about 102 days at the time Name: Backyard Slums Location: wild forest wild coast Population: 77 Job: Master Squirrel Hunter Thought that to purchase frostpunk for my Xbox 1 s that's what brought me here Thanks 😊

I'm starting to block channels with obscene amount of ads.

I conceived of a cyberpunk/fantasy world that I broke ground on. Essentially, inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost and mixing in a bit of the myth of Hyperion bringing fire to mankind, I conceived of a world where Hyperion was cast out of Eden and sought revenge by giving a bottle of lightning to mankind, which skyrocketed their technological development to where we join them in the present and all of the Wild has been taken over by a corporate dystopia with neon signs, skyscrapers, and only dead lands being uninhabited. And essentially, the protagonist finds out that he’s terminally ill, but the doctor’s erase his memory of receiving the news until he can come up with payment. He inadvertently sells out the way to Eden, the first and last Wild place on a mercenary mission in order to receive his results from the doctor. From there, he realizes he’s dying and his sole mission is to see something beautiful before he dies…and so he goes on a journey to Eden, where he realizes he’s profaned the last wild place by discovering it after he eats a fruit that he plucks from a tree…and he dies knowing that he has doomed Eden, regardless of the fact that he technically succeeded

I recently finished my first fantasy novel and started book 2. My suggestion to avoid worldbuilders disease is to think of your worldbuilding as scaffolding. Get your basics - general idea of the world map, social structures (religions, cultural beliefs etc)and basic history. Keep it simple in the beginning. Then write your story based off that “scaffolding” as time goes on you will realize you’ll be writing the story in tandem with your worldbuilding. You’ll be writing in two directions and over time your scaffolding will be replaced with foundation of lore that is more solid. Allow yourself the opportunity to go back and make changes. Write down ideas as they pop into your head. It took me 6 years to complete my first draft of my book because it took me that long to develop the world and write the story. Give your story room to breathe. It’ll probably flow a lot easier if you are writing and sitting in your characters perspective and not looking down like this god from on high trying to craft a narrative starting with every individual grain of sand.

To me world building, the factions, their agendas, the context and the message that I want to give is always the most important part of the story apart from the ending, I never write something without known how it would end, eve if take me years, right now, I want to write a story, but is so depressing and dark, that I really not want to, I not want to portray the victim as a antagonist, even that his actions for brutal and senseless they are, are righteous, his lose his family, his race, his planet, and want retribution, revenge, I always like to add some component of realism even if there are some fantasy elements in my story.

11:32 - Go read the appendices George....

You can use fake world building, as in you make it seem like there is alot of backstory and background, but in fact those lines insinuating deeper world building are the only things you created, so it's all a huge facade.

The Expanse books have sorta ruined ruined modern scifi for me. i LOVE your takes on in and am so goddamn obsessed myself, anyway great video

Highschool but with X is probably 40% of anime. XD

What are your advices for someone who is stuck because of being too ambitious with their worls building? ( LOL it's me). I know I should just start but I'm stopped by the feeling that my world building will be messed up

This vid was not jiveing with me for some reason and it wasn't till i got to the last point that i knew why. i love world building for me that is the story i like telling storys about worlds ! they aren't just a side dish or a stage to me but the main course and to be honest i dont think ill be changing the way i write its not a mistake its a feature but thank you anyway this helped ! i need to tell my storys for my self if an audience likes it good, if not all is still well because i told MY story MY way ! the story's i make dont just place in a world they are about that world the world is a main character perhaps the most important one i think that may just well be what sets me a part so thank you

Would most of these points, or some of the ones in the comments, apply for worldbuilding for a system like dungeons & dragons?

The iceberg method is effective in that it creates a yearning for more information from that world. Tolkien, as far as I know, went to extremes to make a big world to draw from, as his mission was to create a mythos for Britain like Finland had with their mythos. Even he could not cover an entire world, as you aren't only making the world as your character knows it today, but also what the mythos are, the pre-history, (and for him) languages, making it a truly gigantic endeavor. So, start with an intriguing snapshot of the world you imagine, and perhaps get the big lines in place behind the scenes, then write the story. If you are lucky, you get to visit the place again and can continue to elaborate, hopefully not contradicting yourself in the process.

My first dozen books just describe the medyevil world. The next three books will be the backstory of the main character's dog.

Despite many years of having a story in the works that I really care for and have put a lot of effort into to through research, imagination, and a lot of time. I'm rather critical and overthink but im also open minded so i bounce back in forth a lot on things that may or may not be necessary in my story. Eventually I created a base for my story that revolves around the eternal struggle of good, grey, and evil. Light, Darkness, and Chaos. These three aspects are relevant in nearly everything that happens throughout the whole story due to these aspects literally being Gods. Three Gods that push forward the events that take place in the world with most races worshiping Light. Most origins and history you will learn through the main character but I've write the story in a way where it always continues even after the main characters life and beyond as new main characters take over in sequels expanding on the world continuessly.

Wait! You didn’t understand all this stuff before you got into writing your first novel?

Building, no; applying, yes.

Guy Gavriel Kay, do what he does.

If you're not a comic artist and not a screemwriter, how do you show not tell as a novelist?

What if there is no story and the world building is the whole purpose?

If you describe Lord of the Rings as Tolkien-esque….😮

Star wars is fantasy though

idk who the frog metaphor tortured more: me, the english language, or the frog😭