# How Much Lore is Too Much Lore?



## Mindfire (Mar 20, 2015)

Pretty much exactly what the title says. How do you know when you've gone too far with worldbuilding? _Is_ there such a thing as too much worldbuilding? Do you personally prefer more lore or less? Looking for opinions on this.


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## Svrtnsse (Mar 20, 2015)

I'm not sure there's technically such a thing as too much world building. In theory you could probably go about it until the world is done, and I mean completely done, from the entire cosmos and down to the inner workings of atoms. In practice, you wouldn't be able to pull all that off within a lifetime, and probably not even several.

I think time is more important than level of detail when it comes to deciding how much world building is enough. Once the world building starts to take away from the time you could, or should, have spent working on the story set in the world, it's probably time to start thinking about slowing down.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Mar 20, 2015)

I don't believe you can do too much world building. However, I do think you can try to include too many details within the story. 

I've heard it said that we should include 10-15% of our overall world building into the story. That's a generalization, so take the percentage lightly. But, I think the premise is sound. The idea being, deep world building will show through the story because the author will know background details the reader doesn't necessarily get. That enhances mystery and the reader's sense of a larger world lurking in the background. 

I'm not a big world builder. I enjoy aspects of world building, but too much time spent on that aspect tends to steal time from plotting, story planning/structuring, and the actual writing. I do see people continually world building. It's often more fun, and less work at times, than the actual writing.


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## skrite (Mar 20, 2015)

Svrtnsse said:


> I'm not sure there's technically such a thing as too much world building. In theory you could probably go about it until the world is done, and I mean completely done, from the entire cosmos and down to the inner workings of atoms. In practice, you wouldn't be able to pull all that off within a lifetime, and probably not even several.
> 
> I think time is more important than level of detail when it comes to deciding how much world building is enough. Once the world building starts to take away from the time you could, or should, have spent working on the story set in the world, it's probably time to start thinking about slowing down.



Great answer ! I have had a similar question. How do i know when my world is ready, and when to get on with the story.


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## Svrtnsse (Mar 20, 2015)

skrite said:


> Great answer ! I have had a similar question. How do i know when my world is ready, and when to get on with the story.



Short answer: When you can start writing the story without having to stop and wonder how something in the world works.

Longer answer: There's bound to be people who have opinions or objections to the above, and I'm sure they'll share them.
Also, depending on the size and scope of the story you're writing the amount of world building needed will be different.

A slightly more involved version of the short answer might be. You've done enough world building when you know the workings of your world well enough that anything unknown you encounter can be filled out on the spot.
What I mean by this is that you end up in a situation where a certain type of monster is required, or a certain magical spell. However, you haven't created such a monster, and you don't have any such spell in the notes. Now, if you know the world well enough, you should be able to grab a random idea and compare it with your knowledge of the world and see if it makes sense. If it makes sense or if it doesn't make sense in the context of the world, then you've done enough world building. If you don't know whether the idea makes sense or not, you may have to work a bit more on the world.


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## Mythopoet (Mar 20, 2015)

No such thing as too much lore.


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## Mindfire (Mar 20, 2015)

Mythopoet said:


> No such thing as too much lore.



That's good news for me because it seems like I can't go two hours without more of it bursting out of my head. It's now gotten to the point where my characters are disputing their cultures' historical claims among themselves! D:


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## Jabrosky (Mar 20, 2015)

The problem I see isn't too much lore, but letting lore-writing distract you from story-writing. If you're spending more time working out the trivial minutiae of your setting than you are with writing or even planning your story and characters, I would say you have the old disease.


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## Mindfire (Mar 20, 2015)

Jabrosky said:


> The problem I see isn't too much lore, but letting lore-writing distract you from story-writing. If you're spending more time working out the trivial minutiae of your setting than you are with writing or even planning your story and characters, I would say you have the old disease.



But that's not my problem at all. It's not distracting me from the story, _per se_. I'm not doing it just because I want to. It's not my focus, you know? But what happens is that I sit down to write, start getting into it, and then BAM! Lore idea pops into my head and of course I have to write it down because if I don't, it's gone forever. Yes, forever. I've lost things that way before and when I do I kick myself. But then because of the way my brain works, writing that idea down leads to another idea, and another, and another. On and on until finally the Muse decides that she's done having her way with me, assures me she had a great evening, and says we should do it again sometime before leaving for parts unknown.  Once I finally recover from this, I look up and- lo and behold!- I have written page upon page of lore that of course needs to be sorted and categorized later, and the work I set out to do- the book- is yet undone. And this doesn't only happen while I'm writing. It happens _everywhere._ I keep Google Drive and Google Keep apps on my phone just so I can jot it all down wherever I am!


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## Devor (Mar 20, 2015)

In my opinion, there is such a thing as too much lore, but only as it applies to your writing style.  Carrying all that information, and still making it compelling, requires a certain kind of skill.  So to me, the question is, how much lore are you good enough to handle?


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## Mindfire (Mar 21, 2015)

Devor said:


> In my opinion, there is such a thing as too much lore, but only as it applies to your writing style.  Carrying all that information, and still making it compelling, requires a certain kind of skill.  So to me, the question is, how much lore are you good enough to handle?



I guess I won't know until I try. Lol.


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## Elrik Blackhaven (Mar 21, 2015)

I don't think there can be too much lore to rely on to assist in shaping your stories. However, as it has already been stated, it is possible to include too much lore in the story itself. Once I get the elements figured out for the story I want to write, I then determine what lore I need to establish those elements in my story. For instance, if I plan to include multiple races, I need to figure out how those races view and interact with each other, what the distinguishing racial traits are, general racial behavior, and so forth. Setting is probably the area that it easiest to get bogged down in. I generally have an understanding of how things work on many levels of my world but, I need to limit the information I include in my story to only the levels that are needed. For instance, if my story takes place in a small village and the forest surrounding it, I probably don't need to include anything about kingdom politics or influence. Possibly not even anything concerning nearby larger communities. I do need to understand how the village operates. Who is in charge, how are disputes handled, what behavior is acceptable (is magic seen as evil and forbidden) and so forth. 

Once I have what I need to establish the elements of my story, I will begin to write it. I find that the story itself will often flesh out my world as it progresses, filling in the gaps. In that way, I allow my story to guide me on how much lore is needed.


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## Philip Overby (Mar 22, 2015)

While I agree that having a lot of lore to work with in your stories is certainly helpful, I think some writers may suffer from "overspicing the soup" if that's a term. Meaning in their stories they think they are spicing it up with all this rich lore and history while they're actually making it hard to digest because there may be so many new words and places to get familiar with. Maybe the best approach I've found is revealing lore through action and dialogue when you can. As long as people aren't telling each other stuff they already know for the benefit of the reader. The Malazan Book of the Fallen series probably has the most lore I've seen in a modern fantasy series, but the way it deals with it is "Here's how it is. Let's move on." Meaning the books kind of drop you into the world without orienting you in any way. I think really good writers can do this. Gene Wolfe seems similar in this capacity. 

I guess my feeling towards lore and world-building in general now is to discover it more as I'm writing. I may have ideas for something before I write that I'll jot down. For example, in one novel I decided magic comes from a wizard's teeth. Some are born with it and some aren't. If you want to use magic and you're not born with it, you have to steal a wizard's teeth and break them apart to release the magic. It's a one time deal. So I had a character that sneaked into wizards' towers and pulled their teeth out while they were sleeping. Being that my worlds are more "chaotic" I feel I can do more over the top lore or world-building than maybe people who are doing more serious fantasy. So it depends on your style and what you hope to accomplish as a writer. 

If you want people to read your work and say, "Damn, he has a really rich history and lore in his books" then I say focus on that. Writers only have a couple of things that are their trademarks. So I say if you're good at something, you should do it as much as you can. Just be careful that you're not overdoing it and alienating people who may usually like fantasy stories with extensive lore. You want to make your audience happy. Some people don't like a lot of world-building details slowing the story down, but some do. Focus on the people that like what you're doing.


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## X Equestris (Mar 22, 2015)

I don't think it's possible to have too much lore in your head or written in notes.  The problem, as others have stated, lies in integrating that lore into the story.  The most important thing to remember is that you don't have to try to put everything you've come up with into one story.  Just include what's relevant.  You can save other things for other stories, appendices, and lore books.


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## skip.knox (Mar 22, 2015)

I do think there's a potential trouble sign here. It sounds like you are more interested in the backstory than you are in the story. So long as that condition holds, you run the risk of *writing* more backstory than story.

For myself, this usually means I have not invested enough of myself in the characters. They simply aren't as interesting to me as the geography or history or details of some cult. And that, in turn, often means it's because I haven't got enough conflict going on, the stakes for my characters aren't high enough. In short, it's like I started to watch a drama but it was boring so I switched over to the History Channel. 

I'm not saying this is the case for you. I'm just relating my own experience, in case it sparks useful thoughts.


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## Mindfire (Mar 23, 2015)

skip.knox said:


> I do think there's a potential trouble sign here. It sounds like you are more interested in the backstory than you are in the story. So long as that condition holds, you run the risk of *writing* more backstory than story.
> 
> For myself, this usually means I have not invested enough of myself in the characters. They simply aren't as interesting to me as the geography or history or details of some cult. And that, in turn, often means it's because I haven't got enough conflict going on, the stakes for my characters aren't high enough. In short, it's like I started to watch a drama but it was boring so I switched over to the History Channel.
> 
> I'm not saying this is the case for you. I'm just relating my own experience, in case it sparks useful thoughts.



This might be true in some sense. I'm probably less adept than the average writer at the whole "emotional connection to the characters" thing, while I tend to more readily latch onto abstract ideas, plot, and world building details. I tend to think of my characters more as tokens I shuffle around or puzzle pieces that have to click into place to make the plot advance, rather than actual people. If this is the root of my problem I'm not sure how to fix it. I've been trying to capture more of that human element in my writing, but with little success.


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## Nagash (Mar 23, 2015)

Alike those who answered before me, I do not think there is such a thing as too much lore. There is, however, a possibility that you prefer world building over actually writing your story - procrastinating. You have to know when to stop, and how much time to spend on your world. Take it from a world-building addict: you should always flesh out your universe, and put as many details as you want; but you must never let it step on your storytelling work, which is just as important.

Also, you should not try to include all of your lore in one story - if one book, one series, is not enough, just write another. 

I honestly love world-building. Yet, sometimes, it really does hold me back in my writing. Don't make it your sole priority.


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## Devor (Mar 23, 2015)

Mindfire said:


> This might be true in some sense. I'm probably less adept than the average writer at the whole "emotional connection to the characters" thing, while I tend to more readily latch onto abstract ideas, plot, and world building details. I tend to think of my characters more as tokens I shuffle around or puzzle pieces that have to click into place to make the plot advance, rather than actual people. If this is the root of my problem I'm not sure how to fix it. I've been trying to capture more of that human element in my writing, but with little success.



Maybe it would help if you picked a character and shared some of the thought that went into it?

::addinEdit::

It's not just about how emotional your characters are in the prose.  It's also about how exciting your characters are _to you.  _You don't always have to have the deep brooding emotional bonds.  But you should have characters that you are as happy to write about as anything else in your story.

That's going to come through if you find yourself writing more and more thrilling about the lore than about the MC who's point of view the readers are concerned with.

::/addinEdit::

Creating a character that I think is awesome takes me about a day.  I don't mean that I spend eight hours staring at a computer screen until six lines of notes makes sense to me.  But if my goal is to make a great character, I start with my placeholder, type in what I think I know, and go back to it several times during that single day.

In fact, I'm doing it today.  I'm rounding out a party of seven characters that are out to destroy these spirit monster things I mentioned in the other thread.

Two of them are the MCs, who are part of the main story that results in these spirit monsters attacking everywhere.  When things are hopeless, they split up to recruit help, in four separate stories, inspired a bit by games like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Baldur's Gate.

The first is a barbarian who's story shows what these monsters are and all the harm they're doing.  The third story is the wizard who is the first to take one of these things down.  The fourth story is the co-MC on a rescue mission to free a broken, dark brooding person she knows who's been corrupted by them.

So today I'm working on the two characters who share the second recruitment story.  This is what I had first thing this morning - it's an entirely a placeholder:

Twin Girls (16 yrs?)
Think video game / anime characters
One is Light, Bubbly, Spear-wielding Ninja Faker, Non-Combat skills
One is transformed into a powerful "mascot" creature who does all the dirty work
How does their POV build up the (spirit monster) story?

Now it's:

Two friends, 14 and 18, both women
The younger has always been the happy tag-along, easily impressed.
The older is more reserved, struggles to take an interest in things that should be over her head.
The older finds a way to explore (spirit monster) magic, maybe by stealing an item
She is transformed by the magic into a ferocious beast
The younger friend takes on the guise of a ninja who takes credit for the beast friend's actions
They continue to steal or conduct research into the magic that transformed her
Their story explores the (spirit monster) magic and offers dangers beyond the creature itself.

It's still not ready.  In particular, the younger friend isn't awesome yet.  I'll tackle it more in a couple of hours.


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## Mindfire (Mar 23, 2015)

An investigation of my notes reveals that my main character's personality has always been difficult for me to define beyond adjectives like "decisive, cunning, aggressive, vengeful, ruthless, impatient, uncompromising". And his motivation is mostly "because I'm supposed to" rather than anything really personal. Maybe if I make the goal more personal somehow...


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## Devor (Mar 23, 2015)

Mindfire said:


> An investigation of my notes reveals that my main character's personality has always been difficult for me to define beyond adjectives like "decisive, cunning, aggressive, vengeful, ruthless, impatient, uncompromising". And his motivation is mostly "because I'm supposed to" rather than anything really personal. Maybe if I make the goal more personal somehow...



One of the big ways to do that is to make him part of the cause of the big ol' plot.  For instance, if monsters are invading the world, then he would be the one who drew the map that let the bad guys open the gate.


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## Svrtnsse (Mar 23, 2015)

Mindfire said:


> I tend to think of my characters more as tokens I shuffle around or puzzle pieces that have to click into place to make the plot advance, rather than actual people. If this is the root of my problem I'm not sure how to fix it. I've been trying to capture more of that human element in my writing, but with little success.



What I've done recently is I've written a series of flash-fiction shorts about my character. After I got home from work I sat down for half an hour to an hour and knocked out around five hundred words of story about her. I don't have much of a plot in mind and I don't know where the story will lead - I'm just pantsing it.

Originally I had this grand plan about how this would allow me to put my character in interesting situations to see how she deals with them. It'd allow me to figure out her personality and her motivations.
It didn't work out like that.
It still works out though, only in a less dramatic fashion. Rather than putting Alene through the wringer in various agonizing ways, I'm just spending some time with her. I'm still getting to grips with who she is though, and I'm getting a feeling for how she sees the world. 
Overall, I feel like it's working out very well for me.

I don't know how much time you have or want to give yourself for it, but if you do have the time, I'd recommend doing it. I've been at it for about three weeks now and have 15 shorts done (Werewolf On A Train - Wattpad - you can see them there for an idea of what they're about - they're pretty crap though, but may serve as an example of what I'm doing).
I also wrote a slightly longer post about it on my blog recently: Let’s Spend Some Time Together | s v r t n s s e

Also, writing these flash-fiction pieces helps me fill out her back story as well. Even though she's not experiencing any life changing events, I'm building up a collection of little details to add to her memories.


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## X Equestris (Mar 23, 2015)

I have to second the idea of using short stories and the like to flesh out characters.


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## Mindfire (Mar 23, 2015)

Devor said:


> One of the big ways to do that is to make him part of the cause of the big ol' plot.  For instance, if monsters are invading the world, then he would be the one who drew the map that let the bad guys open the gate.



That would be difficult, considering that what caused the plot happened before he was born. It was his parents' fault. It may shed light upon the situation if I summarize: 
My MC's dad, Seth, was a Jacob-type who pissed off his older brother and had to flee for his life. His mom, Ninuka, was a Disney Princess who Wanted More and left her home in the forest to explore the outside world, dragging along her younger adopted cousin, Kaya, for the ride. That's how they met. Ninuka's protective father was not pleased that his daughter decided to up and leave and sent people to bring her and Kaya back. Which they did, only to discover that she was pregnant with my MC. Ordinarily the punishment for such a grievous dishonor would be execution, but it is against Dakari law to kill the father of an unborn child, in the fear that the stress of the event may cause the mother to miscarry. So instead they were all banished, though they were permitted to stay long enough for Ninuka to give birth and recover. They couldn't go back to Seth's home for fear of his brother, so they ended up wandering until a series of events landed them in a foreign country, living as outlaws. The story begins when Reuben is older and receives word that his grandfather has died, making him heir to the throne. He then returns to claim it, which he can legally do since all of a Dakari ruler's decrees expire upon his death unless his successor chooses to uphold them.


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## Mindfire (Mar 23, 2015)

As it stands, I think I'm trying for a kind of "searching for a home and an identity" angle with his motivation, since he's lived as an outlaw in a strange land his whole life. But that still doesn't feel quite personal enough. Maybe I need something besides his mother to emotionally connect him to this place he's never been. Perhaps a very vague early memory or feeling that he wants to recapture and thinks he will find there.


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## Svrtnsse (Mar 23, 2015)

I think that searching for a home and an identity can be a very strong motivator in itself - especially if it's something you've never had and which you're imagining will solve all your problems and difficulties.


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## Devor (Mar 23, 2015)

Mindfire said:


> As it stands, I think I'm trying for a kind of "searching for a home and an identity" angle with his motivation, since he's lived as an outlaw in a strange land his whole life.



That kind of motivation has always struck me as a difficult one to do because it's so murky and hard to get my head around.  With my characters I avoid that like the plague because I know I would just come across as rambly and aimless if I did it.

To me, I would want to give him a subplot about why he thinks he wants to go back that's more concrete and relevant to his life at present.  At the very least, something like maybe he thinks if he gets the throne, he can set up trade routes that help will help the people he grew up with.  Or else maybe punish them?  But something tangible. Tangible things are easier to deal with.


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## Svrtnsse (Mar 23, 2015)

Alene (my character), no longer has a home. The house she grew up in is still there and her parents still live in it, but it's not her home anymore. She can go there and visit, but she can't stay or settle down. She doesn't belong anymore.
At this stage in her development, this isn't going to be a major factor in her story. However, it's the kind of thing that's going to cause her to make bad decisions now and then.


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## Mindfire (Mar 23, 2015)

Devor said:


> That kind of motivation has always struck me as a difficult one to do because it's so murky and hard to get my head around.  With my characters I avoid that like the plague because I know I would just come across as rambly and aimless if I did it.
> 
> To me, I would want to give him a subplot about why he thinks he wants to go back that's more concrete and relevant to his life at present.  At the very least, something like maybe he thinks if he gets the throne, he can set up trade routes that help will help the people he grew up with.  Or else maybe punish them?  But something tangible. Tangible things are easier to deal with.



Well, he does gain a more tangible motivation in the second act, when he arrives at his ancestral home only to discover that it's in dire straits and he has to step up to defend it.


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## ArenRax (Mar 24, 2015)

Mindfire said:


> But that's not my problem at all. It's not distracting me from the story, _per se_. I'm not doing it just because I want to. It's not my focus, you know? But what happens is that I sit down to write, start getting into it, and then BAM! Lore idea pops into my head and of course I have to write it down because if I don't, it's gone forever. Yes, forever. I've lost things that way before and when I do I kick myself. But then because of the way my brain works, writing that idea down leads to another idea, and another, and another. On and on until finally the Muse decides that she's done having her way with me, assures me she had a great evening, and says we should do it again sometime before leaving for parts unknown.  Once I finally recover from this, I look up and- lo and behold!- I have written page upon page of lore that of course needs to be sorted and categorized later, and the work I set out to do- the book- is yet undone. And this doesn't only happen while I'm writing. It happens _everywhere._ I keep Google Drive and Google Keep apps on my phone just so I can jot it all down wherever I am!



I am the same. If i do not write it down immediately ill become distracted and lose it forever.This still happens even when I write it down, I love to world build and I keep going until I'm confident that I have built up the structure/plot of the story. Even then I will keep going just because I'm thinking of writing a book that basically explains the history of a character and what happened to them to make them the person they are. And everyone is right it is fun to world build.


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## SeverinR (Mar 24, 2015)

I think the more you have established the less likely you will create something that fits to perfectly the requirement for your current story.
You can have endless worldbuilding, but you should only include what is needed for the current scene of your story.
You might have majestic alp-like mountains with prancing unicorns and morning rainbows, but if the story is half a world away, going into much detail doesn't help the story your telling.

Maybe a Steven King type Cameo (from another book) occasionally might be interesting, but it can't detract from your current story to much. 
The more you know about your world the easier it is to tell your tale without having to create on the fly. Creating on the fly is difficult to give substance later on. You create with little thought and then try to justify what you created.


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## Caged Maiden (Mar 24, 2015)

Okay, I need to begin with the disclaimer that I'm a notorious non-world-builder.  I know, I know, some people can't relate.  But that doesn't mean my point is invalid.  Here's my point, now that that is out of the way.

I try to outline, honestly.  I begin with a character usually, and put them into a place and situation.  In your Finding  A Home scenario, this would be for me, a character actively doing something about their bigger problem, say running from their home and joining a guild or living as a bard, or whatever.  I know you can't do that in your story.  Anyways, my point is that by taking the focus off the too-big problem and making the focus the smaller problems (imminent starvation, the winter chill in a campground, a disease in the local water supply, bear attack, etc.) you can close the big door slowly while the MC worries about smaller problems.  That IS story.  When talking in regards to lore or history, or politics, that IS NOT story.  So it's tough to put a lot of effort into notes and a sort of world-building folder, where those elements may never be used.  

HOWEVER, by knowing all that stuff, say the geography of the whole area, the kinds of people and their personal struggles, the politics and how it affects things like road tolls, travel passes, guards, general road safety, fighting between regional nobles (that often led to crop-burning, peasant-slaying, and famine, etc.), beasts of the wildlands, weather, clothing, I mean, I could go on and on.

If you know your background information, you can write quickly and consistently.  That's always a benefit.  Nothing's worse than having to look back at what you wrote in the first chapter because you don't remember what your cathedral looks like. Did it have parapets?  Was it granite or marble?  How tall was it again?  OMG, this is my life when writing.  I never write anything down HAHA!

Anyways, as far as lore, which for this example I'm going to assume does not affect the story? i think the concept is a double-edged knife.  If you draft a ton of historical and religious material, say, you're (all writers) are inclined to make it part of the story.  And soon you end up with confusing (and sorry, but uninteresting) segments like:

MCs are getting ready to do something like storm a keep and they have a discussion about politics or myth regarding the structure or who owned it and may have cast spells in the last century. (guilty of this)

A forest flight from danger becomes an enchanted dream as the MCs stumble on some relic from the last age, hidden in a place no one would look because it's forgotten and now they have to do something with it. (still can't believe I did it)

Some long lost descendant of whomever (*cringe* I'm guilty of this one too) needs to hear all about their lineage to continue on in some direction prescribed by a wiser, older person. being who knows best.  (yeah, I did that)

etc.

Lore can harm a book, plain and simple.  If you world-build for the benefit of your stories, there's no harm in exploring deeper elements of the world, the people, and their history.  If, however, those elements become substitutions for a MC with an immediate goal and the characters he relates to, then the story becomes second to the world.  

Tim said 15% of the world-building went into the story.  If I did that, readers would probably imagine my characters on green screen, no lie.  But I think that's probably a fair figure.  When I look over my notes for some of the stories, I used about 15% in the actual "history lesson" parts (discussions about how this happened, where it came from, who those people are, how the kingdom fell, etc.).

I tend to make a lot of it up on the fly, like when I see I need to explain something.  Mostly I do that through characters: "Go tail those guys." "Why?" "That one's a priest I've had my eye on a while and he's talking to a loan shark who knows my face.  You have to do it, I can't." "Fine, I'll go listen in on their conversation, but I don't know what I'm listening for." "Anything, especially if it relates to the upcoming tribunal.  I've heard rumors they've got six priests in the dungeon and plan to burn them for working with the foreign prince."

I think it's okay to put the world-building work in, but when the information comes out, it has to be three things:

Relevant

Interesting

Plot-driving


History lessons make readers cringe.  I remember in my second book I wanted to bring a bunch of dwarves from their new home back to their ancestral temple underground.  (Don't judge me, haha) So I had all this mythology I planned to intersperse in the story, things like rites, statues that held magical secrets--each with dwarf-language chants, OMG, I can't even remember, but there were loads of them.  It was awful, looking back.  I haven't read the story since 2006 or whatever, but I'm sure it's worse than I remember.  

Anyways, with lore/ history/ politics/ religion, tread carefully.  Readers want to experience those things through the character filter.  If you present it as a narrator or in what feels like a false way, it'll read slow and unwieldy.


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## Jabrosky (Mar 24, 2015)

skip.knox said:


> I do think there's a potential trouble sign here. It sounds like you are more interested in the backstory than you are in the story. So long as that condition holds, you run the risk of *writing* more backstory than story.
> 
> For myself, this usually means I have not invested enough of myself in the characters. They simply aren't as interesting to me as the geography or history or details of some cult. And that, in turn, often means it's because I haven't got enough conflict going on, the stakes for my characters aren't high enough. In short, it's like I started to watch a drama but it was boring so I switched over to the History Channel.
> 
> I'm not saying this is the case for you. I'm just relating my own experience, in case it sparks useful thoughts.


There's a good point raised here, and I agree that every story needs characters to act against the backdrop you build. But in my own experience, deciding whether character or setting deserves more development can lead to a chicken-and-egg dilemma.

I see plot, character, and setting as three axes of story development which are together intertwined to the extent that settling on a starting point can be a challenge. The needs of your characters and plot can affect what you put into your world, but the converse can also apply in that setting can influence characters' development and plot possibilities. People grow up with values mostly reflecting their family and surrounding culture, and certain events that can spark plots are more likely to happen in certain environments. Perhaps you can choose any of the three axes as your starting point for storytelling, but you can't ignore how the other two affect it.


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