World building is a major part of the writing process, especially in more speculative fiction genres like fantasy and sci-fi. However, a lot of people may not know what world building actually is and may miss out on essential world building knowledge before they start writing their series. I always encourage writers to world build before they even start writing their book, so here are ten beginner world building mistakes that I’ve noticed and that you should avoid before you start writing your own books.
Mistake 1: Breaking the World
The first and most prominent mistake I’ve noticed beginner fantasy writers make is creating a world but remaining extremely inconsistent with the world. For instance, there are set rules in society, in the magic system, in the laws, etc… but these rules are broken constantly and it seems like they have no genuine bearing on the story itself.
The world mechanics and the way things operates feels inconsistent and at times, this can break the immersion factor for readers. You cannot establish a rule and then break it without any reasonable world-based explanation. This is a problem I’ve seen sometimes.
My recommendation is that you create a document or write on a piece of paper the major laws, rules, restrictions, limitations, etc… of important world elements and keep that with you when you’re writing your story. If in doubt, refer back to the rules and see if what you’re writing fits in with them.
Mistake 2: Info-Dumping on Readers
The next major mistake I’ve seen–and I’ve been seeing this A LOT in new releases–is the problem of info-dumping on readers. I cannot express how annoying this is in world building. Yes, you’ve worked really hard on this world of yours, so don’t just dump paragraphs of world information on me! Integrate the world building into your story, show how the world building is engaged in the actual narrative, use dialogue to deliver information without it sounded super exposition-like. You don’t want your characters to sound like NPCs telling your readers things, so make it feel natural. Imagine how you would speak in real life and interpolate that onto your world.
Info-dumping is a bad, bad practice and although it can be done sometimes and that’s fine, overdoing it or delivering all the world building through info dumping is a problem and you need to avoid doing it frequently.
Mistake 3: Shallow Cultures
The next mistake is the fact that many stories unfortunately make as well is the idea of cultures being very shallow in their story. The culture–beyond a few things like maybe some clothes and the language–is not given any defining characteristics. There are no cultural norms, customs, guides, taboos, rules, etc… it just feels like a random person living in, say America, but with a cool fantasy name attached to their ethnicity. This is a mistake in world building because you want to make your culture feel distinct. You’ve spent so much time crafting a name and ideas around this culture that you want to make it shown that there are distinctive elements to it.
Mistake 4: Ignoring Geographical Influences
The next mistake I notice frequently is the ignoring of geography and how it influences the world. For the most part, geography plays a big role in the way things are done in a country. A nation that lies on a large coast will likely have lots of trade with other nations through shipping. Nations that are built on mountainous terrains will have more tribal structures in their society and there may be lots of differences from village to village. Countries with fertile river valleys will have more agriculture (see Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt).
Geography also plays a role in things like language. People from the northern United States don’t speak the same as people from the Southern United States but they also don’t speak the same as people in Appalachia or people along the Rocky Mountains or people in New England. You see just how many differences there are in the United States alone? And within each state there are differences! Geography plays a HUGE role in the way a nation acts.
Mistake 5: Faltering on Religion
Oh, boy, this is a big pet peeve of mine. Even if your society does not follow a religion (i.e., they’re atheist) that’s fine. But make it clear to me, please. And if your society does have a religion, you need to make that clear to the reader. Religion, in the real world, plays a big role in nearly everything. People reference religious texts, religious ideas, religious rules, deities, etc… all the time in real life. Most people adhere to at least some form of a religious system, even if they are very loose adherents. At the end of the day, you want to showcase something similar in your fantasy story and through your world building.
Designing a religion for a fantasy society is something that I advocate for often and designing a deity or deities for that religion is something that you want to work on and focus on as well. You want to work on the idea of the religion in your fantasy world and actually integrate it into the narrative. Don’t just include some religious swear words–include prayers, rituals, greetings, etc…
Mistake 6: Ignoring the Economy
A lot of the time, I see fantasy worlds ignore the idea of the economy and how money works in the society. The economy quite literally drives the world around us today and every society has some sort of economy, whether it is developed or developing.
Designing an economic system depends on what sort of society you’re building. Your world can rely on the barter system or an economic currency-based system. You can have jobs and have ways people can get jobs. There can be trade-based economies as well. There’s a lot of different things you can do to make your economy make sense.
Mistake 7: Brushing Over Technology
Another big thing that I see a lot of worlds ignore is the idea of how advanced the world’s technology is. For instance, if your story is a sci-fi, what sort of weapons do people use, how do people travel, etc…? What about in fantasy? Does this society have siege warfare and use things like a trebuchet? In my series, The Fallen Age Saga, Books 1-3 take place a few years from our current year and the technology has advanced in a few aspects, especially in terms of the military technology. Weapons are very advanced compared to the ones that we have today and so are the military uniforms. However, after Book 3, technology regresses quite a bit (I won’t say why because that would be a big spoiler).
Keep the technology consistent with your world otherwise you risk breaking the reader’s immersion and making Mistake #1 happen in your story. Also, brushing over technology is not the best practice because technology is what defined how advanced our societies became as humans.
Mistake 8: Forgetting to Create History
The world is full of history and things that happened in the past that define our present and will continue to define the future. If you have a world but you completely ignore history that defines how the world is today, then you are missing out on contextualization and creating a living, breathing world. Additionally, the world will feel like it just popped out of nowhere, which isn’t what you want to convey to your readers.
You want to show your readers how the history of the world is actually integrated into the modern-day events and how the history actually shapes the interactions of the world. Was there a war that defined the borders? Was there a plague? Something had to have happened to make the world the way it is now. Countries did not pop up out of a void.
Writing lore for your world is a great way to tell yourself as the writer about what the history of your world is and you can then integrate that into the overall story.
Mistake 9: Not Going into Conflict
Conflict can explain many things beyond just war. Although war is one of the major conflicts that defines the world, beyond war, there is also the idea of political tension, natural disasters, societal issues, revolutions, environmental changes, etc… The real world is full of these things and it wouldn’t feel authentic to create a fantasy world without some of these elements too.
For instance, in my series, The Fallen Age Saga, most of it revolves around war but there are lots of societal changes and issues, civil wars, revolutions, conflicts, natural disasters, and more that all add onto the intensity and the darkness of the world. Conflict drives a lot of society and without conflict, most of the world around us would not exist. As terrible as that may sound, it’s pretty accurate. Borders today did not exist 300 years ago for a reason.
Mistake 10: Confusing Magic Systems
The final mistake that I feel is a big deal is the problem of magic systems in fantasy stories. Magic systems are really important to fantasy and it’s sort of what makes fantasy the way that it is. However, the problem with some stories these days is that the magic systems being presented are confusing, illogical, or do not hold any real bearing on the world.
This is pretty similar to Mistake #1, but I want to highlight it specifically as well. When you design a magic system, think of it like this: Who can use this? Who can’t use this? Why to both of those questions. Then, what happens if someone uses this? What are the consequences? What are the rules of society regarding this? And finally, how does the magic work?
Focus on the ideas of limitations more than just how the magic works. For example, in my series, The Fallen Age Saga, there are many magic systems present with the main one being called Mage Arts. There are a lot of limitations on this in that literally one species in the universe can use it properly, only some of that species can perform it at the highest level, and overdoing the magic can quite literally kill someone if they are not built for it.
Conclusion
World building is something that I think takes a bit of time to practice and get down, but this is why I actually recommend you world build sample worlds so that you can practice the skill for the world in your story. World building is an art and I really think that if you appreciate it and work on it properly that you can ensure that your story is great and has an equally great world as well.
Furthermore, the ten mistakes I listed in this post are not all the mistakes, but these are common ones that I have personally observed in stories I’ve read over the many years I’ve been reading books. Don’t skip out on these things, because it can make your world feel a bit empty and hollow.
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 don’t miss out on any book releases, WIP updates, posts, cover reveals, and more!