World Building - What it is and How to Do It

World building. You've probably heard of it before. It's a necessary part of the writing of every book. Also, world building means something different to every person. For some people, it's the creating of the actual world (Mostly in fantasy and sci fi. Thus world building.), while for others it's something quite different. The creating of all of the characters and their personalities, working on the locations and the reason that the world is the way that it is. Something that often comes with world building however, is the common "disease" known as world building disease. It doesn't happen to everybody, but it is fairly common in the world of writing. It is when you are working on writing up a world, and you just can't stop. It's more of a compulsive type of thing than a "trying to get my world perfect" kind of thing.

Sometimes it is hard for them to stop. They are literally building their world and characters for years on end, dreaming up details that will never, ever be used in the actual book. And sometimes all of this brainstorming and world building is for a single book too, not a series, or even a trilogy. I personally think that the reason for World Builder's Disease is because it gives the person a sense of accomplishment - like they actually completed something. In my honest opinion, I think that too much world building stifles my creativity. I can't create something on the spot, and that causes me to not be creative. Same with outlining. If I have too detailed an outline, then I tend to follow the outline and forget about being creative. Because I already used up all of my creativity on the outline. And readers can see that. Anyways, until next time, Write On!