Ten Dos And Don’ts Of World Building (From a YA Fantasy Author)
World building is a skill every writer has to master at one point. Many authors perceive world building as a skill SFF (sci-fi and fantasy) authors need to master, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. World building is necessary for every book or story, and helps set the scene for your tale.
Unsure where to start with your story’s world building? Here are ten worldbuilding dos and don’ts every author needs to know!
#1 DO Develop A Concrete Backstory
If writing was like construction, then world building would be when you set the foundation. It’s when you place the building blocks of your story and establish a proper setting for you to work with. This might look like a complex world with several different realms for a SFF writer, or the layout of a haunted hotel for a horror writer.
The magnitude of your world building isn’t important. It’s the quality that matters. This is where you answer all those unnecessary questions you need to know in order to write your story.
What does the layout of the building your story centres in look like? What do your characters look like? Why do your characters act the way they act? Why does that one character have a burn mark behind their ear? Where do the mythical creatures in your story come from? Where do humans come from?
These details might feel redundant and annoying for an author ready to jump into their WIP, but they will help you create a consistent story in the long run.
Need help figuring out how to get started with your world building? One good technique is writing down everything you know and then moving forward.
For example, my YA fantasy WIP The Traitor’s Throne takes place in a realm of mages, so my first step for world building was establishing the different countries/areas in the realm, what the realm looks like, what special thing makes it the realm of mages, what are the other realms (this can be anything between a simple name to detailed worlds) and any lore.
This can look a lot simpler for a non-SFF author. A high school rom-com would like just need a bit of background information about the school, a concrete map of the school’s layout that you can follow during the story, and maybe fun facts about different teachers, students, or classrooms.
The art classroom could be allegedly haunted by the ghost of a local painter who went to the school, or the principal could be a funny looking fellow who wears bright socks.
Keep in mind your world-building doesn’t have to ‘be relevant’. It doesn’t matter if your readers are never going to know about that ghost or the principal’s bright socks, the only thing that matters is that you establish a concrete image of your world in your head.
This might seem like an overwhelming process, but it can actually be a fun way to get the ball rolling for a WIP you want to work on, and allows you to let your imagination run free without worrying about ‘what will my reader/editor think’.
#2 DON’T Tell Your Reader Everything
Is world building important in order to establish a proper setting for your world? Yes! Do your readers need to know everything about your world? No!
When introducing your world building to your WIP, it’s important to follow the iceberg rule. Just like an iceberg, a fraction of what you know about your world should make it into your story. Did I take the time to create names for every different country in the realm of mages? Yes! But do my readers need to know about those countries, even if the story is set in the capital? No.
One easy way to understand whether or not an aspect of your world building needs to be introduced to your readers is by following the three onlys mentioned in this blog.
Your world is only a backdrop to your story—if a detail doesn’t help further your story or benefit your character, you don’t need to mention it.
Give details on a need-to-know basis—don’t info dump about unnecessary aspects of your world! This is the easiest way to ruin your reader’s immersion.
Deliver your information only in scenes—show, don’t tell. Nobody wants to read long passages about a certain aspect of your world. Instead, show them those details. A small example of this from my WIP, The Traitor’s Throne:
Tell—“The children of the twelve families were the most powerful mages in Redina. They were trained in both magic and war strategies ever since the ripe age of five and spent their entire lives slaughtering the evil Yokai tormenting Redina’s people, yet her grandmother thought it was a good idea to send Amaya off to contend against them for the throne.”
Show—”She was to compete against the children of the twelve families for the throne. Mizuki excitedly hugged Amaya at the declaration, but her grandmother’s warm embrace wasn’t enough to thaw the cold fear Amaya felt. The children of the queen’s court were the most powerful mages in Redina, and Amaya was just a traitor’s daughter with a Puppeteer’s gift. So how in Amida’s name could she contend against them for the throne?”
#3 DO Create Laws And Boundaries
Whether you’re writing a cute romance or scary science-fiction, it’s important to establish some laws and boundaries in your world. This can be anything from ‘he can’t meet her from 10 to 12 on Fridays because they have different classes’ to ‘the cyborgs can function and reattach severed parts of their body so long as that part’s chips aren’t damaged’.
Your readers don’t necessarily have to know about these rules, they just exist to establish boundaries for you as a writer. If you do ever mention these rules, try to casually drop them in conversations or connect your rule with your protagonist’s short term goals.
Remember not to overdo your laws or rules. Establishing boundaries is important, but you also need to consider whether or not this law/rule is relevant to your story and whether it really needs to be there.
Using the previous examples, you really need to consider why it’s relevant that he can’t meet her during that time on Fridays. Maybe she sits beside someone he doesn’t like during that class, maybe there’s an urgent thing he needs to tell her but he can’t because she’s in class.
And remember, knowing your limitations are important, to know what your characters can or can’t do, but it also helps you establish realistic loopholes that work for your story.
He pretended that their homeroom teacher wanted to speak to both of them to get her out of class.
#4 DON’T Info-Dump Unrealistically
This sort of ties into the first don’t, but outside of flooding your readers with information about your world they don’t really need to know, it’s also important to consider whether the information you do tell them is relevant.
For example, the previous experts from my novel both established a certain piece of information—Amaya’s going to compete against mages who are stronger and more skilled than her, and this terrifies her but excites her grandmother. However, the first expert also established information my readers could do without, like the mention of evil Yokai, the age the others started training, and their accomplishments.
Including relevant information is important, but you also need to consider whether or not your character would actually have access to this information, and how would they know about it. For example, how on Earth could Amaya know that her competitors started training at the age of five?
There’s always more than one side to a story, and it's important to keep this in mind while worldbuilding. Establish what your character does or doesn’t know about a certain scene before you write it, and then think about how this information would impact the scene you’re working on.
If you want to make things interesting, you could also mention another character’s take on the situation in another chapter.
#5 DO Paint A Detailed Image Of Your Character
It’s important to establish a clear image of what your character looks like throughout the book, but try to make your descriptions realistic. A vivid description of how your character’s eyes looked like the ocean will definitely get your point across to your readers, but would your protagonist really notice their eyes from across the room?
When writing about your character’s physical features, always try to be subtle. Your readers are more likely to recall a simple feature of theirs that is mentioned casually throughout the book than that one long passage you wrote about their eyes.
Keep in mind that it’s important to avoid info-dumping your character’s features while writing. If your focus is on their eyes during one scene, don’t describe their entire face right after that. The goal is to paint an image in your reader’s head, not create a list.
#6 DON’T Be Afraid Of The Cliches
Writers will often shy away from certain elements of world building because they consider them ‘cliche’. While I understand the need to make your story and world stick out amongst the sea of books your readers might read, it’s also important to consider whether or not your readers will really care about the cliches.
For genres like romance and horror, readers often love a good cliche trope that’s done right. Sure, there might be a hundred different books with a nerdy protagonist and popular love interest or a masked killer who is targeting a group of friends. But it’s important to consider what makes your book stand out in these cliches.
Maybe the protagonist works as a part-time model at the lover interest’s father’s company, or maybe the masked killer used to be part of the friend group and threatens to expose them for a crime they committed.
Cliches can be boring, but they can also be very exciting when you use them the right way.
Don’t be afraid to employ a few cliches in your book, especially if you know how to use that trope to draw your readers in.
#7 DO Have Familiar Aspects
It’s important to establish a unique world for your book, but it's also just as important to create familiar aspects of your world. For example, SFF readers are more likely to get excited by your world when you casually mention that regular humans exist in your book.
A great example of this would be Harry Potter, and how J.K Rowling created a world of magic that regular humans could have access to.
Draw inspiration from the world around you. I saw a post by @thewritersgarden on Instagram recently that mentioned something about caterpillars not knowing that they’re going to be reborn into butterflies when they’re in the cacoon, and my mind immediately went to why people didn’t think to use this as pixie lore yet.
A few writers on bookstagram agreed with my thoughts and mentioned how peculiar it was that we didn’t think to draw inspiration from things that actually occur in real life.
Readers get excited at the prospect of being able to experience your story in real life, even if they know it’s not possible. Most children are clever enough to know they’re never going to get a Hogwarts letter, but that didn’t stop us from waiting for a letter on our eleventh birthday.
#8 DON’T Restrict Your Imagination
It’s good to have familiar aspects in your story, but it’s also important to let your imagination run free. Especially if you’re writing SFF.
Create the most bizarre creatures, give your characters unique powers people have never seen before, and make your cliche tropes have a spin so unique it inspires other writers. Let your imagination run free because that is the essence of world building.
In order to create laws, prevent info-dumping, and establish familiar aspects you first need to create a unique landscape to work with. An easy way to do this is by jotting down any random ideas you get for your story, and then surfing through them to see what fits your WIP and what doesn’t.
#9 DO Save Things For Later
Pacing is one of the most important aspects of world building. Once you have established what your reader needs to know for them to have a clear image of your world and its backstory (or at least the backstory that is relevant to the plot) it’s then important to establish when you’re going to reveal what information.
An example of this from my WIP, The Traitor’s Throne, would be: as mentioned above, Amaya finds out that she needs to compete against the children of the queen’s court for the throne, but I refrained from mentioning what the competition will look like, how many stages it will have, etc.
This is because it helps build tension and suspense, but also allows me to fledge out my worldbuilding and pace it in a way that draws the reader in.
Once you’ve established your world building, consider making a quick layout of when you reveal what aspect of your world.
#10 DON’T Forget The Basics
When world building it is important to take the basics into consideration. Writers often don’t realise that things they consider obvious can actually be confusing to their readers. This can be something as simple as the weather or scenery or as complex as why your character has a certain power/skill.
Your readers don’t know your world as well as you do, so it’s your job to teach them everything they need to know to have a clear image of your world, its scenery, and the characters.
One easy way to establish the basics without sounding redundant is by taking your names into consideration. When people think of Leigh Bardugo’s Ice Court or Elfhaem in A Cruel Prince, the first thing that comes to mind is a cold court, or a place full of elves or mythical creatures.
The same can be said for your character names. While a character named Layla could be represented as Arab, a name like Nazeera would easily paint an image of an Arab or Middle Eastern woman in your reader’s heads.
When establishing the complex aspects of your world building, remember to take some time to flesh out the basics as well.
#11 DO Have Fun With Your World Building!
One thing to always remember when world building is to let your imagination run free! Create the most bizarre worlds, shape your characters into unique cliches, use weird place names that get stuck in your reader’s heads. Remember, your first goal as a writer is to create a story that you enjoy. So have fun with your world building!
Want to learn more about me and my writing journey? Visit my social media pages under the handle @hayatheauthor where I post content about my WIP and life as a teenage author.
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