Controlling the size of my world

[Nihilium 7th]

I am currently in the initial world building stage of a new story I'm writing and quite frankly I think its gotten out of hand. The amount of races, animals, plants and locations that I have within my world right now are on Tolkien levels. know having a large world can be a turn of for many readers so right now I am wondering how big is too big.

 

[Steerpike]

How much of it is going to impact the story, or be relevant to it? If you're exceeding that, then in many ways you're just doing it for your own gratification (and there's nothing wrong with that, but for purposes of what a reader needs it is overkill).

 

[mbartelsm]

Unless you worldbuild for the sake of worldbuilding like I do, I suggest you stick to the part and time of your world that actually affect the story you want to tell. If your story is set in a single city or city state, then there is no need to build much outside of it.
But if you do like I do, then I say go all the way, describe even the most obscure town if you can, it's all about making a world after all.

 

[Saigonnus]

I tend to overdo it on the world-building too, though not nearly to the point of worrying about every tiny little hamlet strewn about the world; there is little point really going that far since most are about the same wherever in the world you go. (a collection of small shacks, perhaps an inn and stable).

Beyond that; I feel the more you know about the world, the better as long as you don't write yourself into a corner because the rules or outline of the world constricts the story. I would suggest something like the others already have, focus on what world building you need for the story; the places, creatures and elements that will be part of the story; everything else is extraneous and probably should be kept on the back burner.

 

[Shreddies]

I don't see a problem with having a massive world, as long as you don't try to stuff it all into one story.

 

[MadMadys]

How much of it is going to impact the story, or be relevant to it?

That's the only question here that you need to answer. People often get sucked into world building and forget that the world should serve the stories/characters and not the other way around. If it isn't tied to the plot or relevant then drop it.

 

[Nihilium 7th]

That's the only question here that you need to answer. People often get sucked into world building and forget that the world should serve the stories/characters and not the other way around. If it isn't tied to the plot or relevant then drop it.

My current plan for the story is quite big and in response so is the world, I am just worrying that it will be too detailed and vivid, causing the reader to be overwhelmed.

 

[ThinkerX]

Done right, presented correctly, detail adds depth to a world, brings it alive in the readers mind.

The trick - or at least a trick - would be to make it more of an experience for the characters than an info-dump. Don't play the distant narrator; if you can avoid it don't have the info about the Great Swamp of Doom dropped by the old storyteller or scholar. Instead, have your charcters experience it, and as they experience it, have them recollect the odd snippit they've heard here and there.

 

[Deleted member 2173]

I know the feeling as well.
As long as you are getting story written I don't see an issue to create, as long as you know a great deal of it may end up "on the cutting room floor".
And you can always include the information in the special edition anniversary printing.

 

[SineNomine]

I think that, in general, you can never make it too big or detailed. The danger is in trying to actually stuff the world into your story. Avoid infodumps like the plague, and accept the fact that no one other than you will know even a tenth of the depth of this world. However, you knowing it can be quite nice. It can add a lot of veracity to the feel of the world, even when you aren't even directly letting your reader know about some podunk town two countries over, or some historical event that happened where the characters are a hundred years back, it might influence culture or speech in some small way.

 

[Fluffypoodel]

its been my experience that the more you know about your world the better off your story is going to be. I don't think that you need to map out every village and field but you as the author need to have a general understanding of the world that your characters are adventuring in. Even if the reader never sees all of it, you have to make them believe that its still there.

 

[mbartelsm]

Done right, presented correctly, detail adds depth to a world, brings it alive in the readers mind.

The trick - or at least a trick - would be to make it more of an experience for the characters than an info-dump. Don't play the distant narrator; if you can avoid it don't have the info about the Great Swamp of Doom dropped by the old storyteller or scholar. Instead, have your charcters experience it, and as they experience it, have them recollect the odd snippit they've heard here and there.

If you REALLY want people to access the information you've created then you can add annexes at the end of the book explaining the world into futher detail, a la Tolkien. You won't harm the story that way and the people who want to know more can get what they want.

I think that, in general, you can never make it too big or detailed. The danger is in trying to actually stuff the world into your story. Avoid infodumps like the plague, and accept the fact that no one other than you will know even a tenth of the depth of this world. However, you knowing it can be quite nice. It can add a lot of veracity to the feel of the world, even when you aren't even directly letting your reader know about some podunk town two countries over, or some historical event that happened where the characters are a hundred years back, it might influence culture or speech in some small way.

I've also found this to be true, it doesn't matter that no one else knows the world as well as you do, knowing it, knowing what's where and when can give your story great depth and realism (as in consistent with the world it is on)

 

[wordwalker]

Like people say, the danger isn't the size of the world but if it overstuffs a given story or delays your writing.

And:

If you REALLY want people to access the information you've created then you can add annexes at the end of the book explaining the world into futher detail, a la Tolkien. You won't harm the story that way and the people who want to know more can get what they want.

It gets better than that; appendices and things (and infodump prologues!) tick off some readers. But at some point any author needs to build a website and such, and having a vast amount of world data means you have it half written already. Your more interested fans get just the kind of followup detail to get them hungry for the next book, win/win.

 

[Devor]

I find that a bit of world-building helps me brainstorm new ideas for the direction of my story. But I also like to write in weird worlds that demand a bit of work into the way they're set up. Figure out what's necessary for your concept, then get an idea of what you need on the lower supporting levels of that concept.

The key is being willing to cut and change all the stuff you've come up with as demanded by your story. Once you make your worldbuilding elements into a favored son jammed in where it doesn't belong just because it's cool on its own, it's a problem.

 

[Catharsis]

In all honesty your created world can be as large as you want. The scale only becomes an issue if you attempt to include unnecessary portions of it into your work. Only use portions of it that you need, as in my opinion overwhelming readers never turns out too well.