Worldbuilding and Readers
The rule concerning worldbuilding and lore that I like to stick to is do all the worldbuilding that my heart desires but leave it ALL OUT unless its relevant to the story. Say I wrote a piece of lore about a giant's skeleton in a valley somewhere with incredible magical power, and I slipped it into the narrative. When my story doesn't bring my character(s) to that valley, but I went off about that skeleton earlier, it’s a waste of precious word count. Take it out. Readers will be engaged in that skeleton because it’s pretty cool, yeah? They wanna see that skeleton. They want the characters to see the skeleton so they can see the skeleton. What is the magic it contains? What will happen when the characters go there and interact with the magical skeleton? How will it effect them, the plot, and the story moving forward? When the characters never end up in that valley, and never see the giant's skeleton, they will be let down. Know what I'm saying?
As a writer, you write for the readers, not yourself. Well, you can, but if you want to do anything with your work, its for the readers. You, as the writer, worldbuilder, character creator, ect ect.., and the creator of the story itself. All that is for the readers. Without readers, there's no one to read the story but you. Then all that hard work was for nothing. Implement your lore and worldbuilding as it is relevant in your story. Don't bog down the narrative with unnecessary information that has no payoff. Readers hate that. If there is a setup, good god let there be a payoff at some point. Its unsatisfying for readers to get interested in something only for it never to be mentioned or brought up again. You can't be trusted after that, as the writer. Readers wont trust that you wont do that again. They don't want to be let down again.
Rule of writing: Don't let down readers.
-E. D.
