World building is one of the most important concepts to exist in the world of fantasy and sci-fi writing and it truly does impact the way a story is, how it feels to readers, and how complex a book can become. World building, in a way, sort of provides the foundation for you before you go into the actual writing process. World building isn’t just used in books though, but also in video games, TTRPGs, and so much more. So, why is world building so important in the fantasy genre and how can you ensure you start world building the right way?
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Why Does Fantasy Need World Building?
Fantasy pretty much requires the creation of a new world in almost all scenarios. It is one of the few genres that essentially needs something different. In genres like contemporary fiction, most romance subgenres, and more, you can get away with just using a familiar setting. You might change the name of a town or something like that, but it doesn’t require you to come up with new things like cultures, languages, religions, etc… Meanwhile, fantasy effectively needs elements like these in order to make it feel more whole as a story, which is the role that world building plays in the process.
World building, when done right, can be one of the most iconic parts about a story. It immerses the reader, contextualizes magic systems, transports readers into a new realm, and more. When world building isn’t done right, however, it can create inconsistencies and it can also feel lackluster. I always find when I read fantasy that world building matters A LOT to my experience. I can excuse lesser degrees of world building, but when world building is there and done as a sort of side note to the story, that’s when I get a bit put off.
World Building and How it Helps Fantasy
In a fantasy story, world building can help create more than just a backdrop for your story. It is an active role in the book, influencing characters, their choices, and any internal and external conflicts they may face. If you want to learn about how to write about internal conflicts, check out this post!
One of the biggest things world building does is create context for your characters. Your characters will be shaped by the world they exist in. Things like their beliefs, their ideas, their culture, their practices and more are all influenced by the world they live in. For instance, in my series, The Fallen Age Saga, some of the aliens have different cultures that influence things like their names, their ideologies, and more.
The world also creates a framework for your plot and it will influence your story overall. Things like magic systems, political conflicts, warfare, ancient conflicts, lore and more are all elements that exist in worlds that can easily influence the current setting of your story.
World building also creates the immersion factor that is needed for your readers. This is a big part of any fantasy story and one of the most vital techniques you should work on with writing fantasy is to create immersion for your readers. Immersion is the best way to ensure readers are swept into your story and are invested with your characters. Even if your writing is strong, without proper and strong world building, you risk losing some readers because they may feel that your story is inconsistent or doesn’t connect properly.
When it comes to learning about world building, I recommend that you browse through my blog because I have free guides that go up all the time about world building and you can go through all of them and take notes for your own stories. I recommend starting at my ultimate beginner’s guide which is a big overview on what world building is about, so you should definitely check that out!
Mistakes to Avoid in Fantasy World Building
There are many beginner mistakes that are made in world building that you should work to avoid so that you can ensure that your story is the highest possible quality that it can be. One of those is info dumping, which is an issue that some writers have when writing fantasy. Info dumping is basically just like giving TOO much exposition and information in a single moment. The world building is great to include, but giving so much detail about random monuments and religious ideals doesn’t work if it’s not included in some form of context. If you want to learn how to avoid this mistake, check out this post!
Another mistake that many beginner world builders make is creating a world that feels empty and devoid of detail. You don’t want to create a world that could just simply be our own with a bit of a different culture. What you want is to actually have a setting that could be real, but isn’t, so you want to try and analyze the world around you and think how this would function in a new world entirely.
A third mistake that’s often made is inconsistency. If one chapter establishes one fact in your story and then three chapters later, you negate that established fact and change it without going back and changing the fact in the first place, you have created an inconsistency and this can break immersion for your readers.
The last mistake I want to note is world building but as a side note in your story. One of the biggest issues I’ve noticed in some of the newer romantasy books that are coming out lately is that the story is sort of glossing over the world building. I understand that the story is a romance, but ultimately, including fantasy and world building implies to me as a reader that your story is going to have some sort of depth to it beyond just the romance. However, often times, the story is there and the world seems to be thrown in as an afterthought. Don’t make that mistake and ensure that your story has good world building!
Conclusion
World building is a very major piece in fantasy and without world building, a fantasy story will not have enough depth, immersion, and uniqueness to it. Fantasy gives readers a sense of wonder, and that wonder is backed by world building. World building is very important for fantasy and without it, you lack what makes fantasy engaging.
If you want my recommendation for a great world building software, check out World Anvil! You can read my review on it here.
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can stay up to date with all the latest posts, book releases, WIPs and more!