How to talk about your imaginary world

[thatoneguy1]

Recently i posted a question about the magic in my world. Minutes after posting it someone called the question stupid and at first I was like Oh mah gah! Wha de heck! Thats so mean! but then I realized he was right and he probably was not being mean but just trying to help. I had asked the question in a way that would have made people ask lots of questions and made my world seem a bit shallow and simple and on top of that the comment made me realized that there were lots of gaps and nameless things in my world, so i deiced to just talk about my world and see what people had to suggest. I started typing away then stopped after realizing that I had put together almost six pages, so I deleted everything and start over. Type, type, type,...What the heck I did it again but this time a had twice as many pages. This question might be stupid as well but...yea. How would you describe your world in a way the allows people to understand the depth of it with out going on and on and on and on into forever. What things would you cover in your description and what kinds of things would you deem unnecessary

 

[advait98]

Thatoneguy, Feo wasn't saying your question was stupid, she was referring to hers. She was definitely not being mean, you just misunderstood her.

As for your question, includeall that you need help with, and the background info for that, such as what way it has a part in your story, the significance of such, etc. Include all that you feel comfortable with, but just keep in mind the word count. Not everybody wants to read a 1000 words.

 

[thatoneguy1]

Just had an OOOhh moment thank you for telling me that and thanks for the advice.

 

[Snowpoint]

The post you are talking about was hard to understand. What helps is to think hard about what the root of you problem is, and then ask one very specific question.

By trying to find that one question, I often solve my own problems before posting. Writing down my doubts and concerns as if communicating with others, I find myself using a different voice that thinks about the problem in a different way.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Don't just blurt out everything about your world to your reader in the beginning or all at once. Space it out. The reader doesn't need to know everything at once. You want to take your reader on a journey through your world, not a history lesson about it.

Just tell them what is necessary to understand at that time so the story can progress. Think about the first time you went to a new city or a place. You didn't know everything about it or where things were, you had to eventually learn these things. The same should apply to your story especially if your characters are in an unfamiliar place.

 

[The Unseemly]

I agree with Androxide Vortex, and will say that I fell for this nasty trap first. Don't get clogged up by thinking and creating your fantastic world, writing 6 pages on it, redoing it, and making it better. A good question to ask yourself is "Is there a point to what I'm doing? How will this develop in my story?".

The trick to world building is not to go nuts, and write essays on it, but to slowly incorporate it into the story, much like Androxide pointed out. If you look at it from a reader's perspective, I'll almost guarantee you that there won't be anybody willing to read a back that just drones on about the world. To make a story, you need characters, you need plot; the world is just there to provide somewhere for the adventure. I hate to break it to you, (and I'll admit - I like doing this myself) but incorporating world building into writing the actual novel tends to be info dumpy if you're just explaining the world.

Then again, don't read this and think that incorporating any background information about your world/place is a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs - personally, I like to introduce, with a paragraph or two, the area were the action's taking place, and give some minor background info. It helps the reader delve into the scenes, and get an idea of what's up ahead. An info dump is an info dump only if the info's unnecessary (and I swear someone's going to scam me for saying that).

Anyway, I hope that helped.