World Building - When To Stop

[DonnaDuck]

I just came to a rather blunt realization last week that what I had been writing for my dark fantasy WIP was not actually part of the story but, in fact, world building. Cool, not a problem (really). So I'm continuing on my world building path and I was wondering, where do you draw the line?

I know, obviously, it's up to the individual and how much the story demands of it but I ask you, how did you know when to stop the world building and start the writing? I wrote something like 4 or 5 pages on my world's version of a teddy bear. It's such a miniscule piece of the world but holy god, the information wouldn't stop coming! Not that I'm complaining but on the backslide, I'm also OCD so I can get caught up in this rather easily. I can get on the track of remaining everything from trees to bugs and get so caught up in that that I don't write the story.

I'm also wondering where to stop substituting things. Again, I know, individual tastes but at what point did you just say 'oak tree' instead of Wibbywallow Branch? The "teddy bear," for instance, is made from something similar to alpaca fur but I didn't want alpaca in the world so I created this hybrid alpaca/llama/sheep thing but the more I start creating things, the weirder "normal" things seem, like an oak tree, in comparison to made-up pieces of the world.

I know I need to pick and choose my battles with this one but I'm interested to know how everyone else knew to stop their worldbuilding and start their writing.

[mscelina]

I don't stop really. I figure the more I do with a new world, the better it will work for the story. If I have a brainstorm in the middle of a chapter that fires up that light bulb over my head then I'll just go ahead and write it,l then copy and paste the whole thing into my worldbuilding files. I start writing with a fairly extensive world anyway--religion, population breakdowns, monsters, other critters, geographic and weather issues and politcal situations. So, since all of that is done right from the get-go, it doesn't make me paranoid to add in more as I go.

[Ervin]

Personally, I didn't start world building untill I reached page 40, and the I only started gradually, occasionally throwing in a few facts to give the reader a very foggy picture. But my world is historically modified in the 16th century, geographically it's the same as todays world, but politically it's completely different. England and Greece dominated europe, and china dominates asia. The names and geography are familiar to the reader, so he/she probably ends up making assumptions in the beginning, imagining that it's the same old 16th century earth. But later in the story the reader realizes that things are very different.

Basically you don't have a complete picture of the world untill you get about 80% in, and by that time, the key points in the plot begin to come together. I'm not even close that far in yet :P

That's how I do it.

[DeleyanLee]

I only build what I need for the story as I come across the need for it in the story. That's it, nothing more. But, then, most of my worldbuilding is based in research, which is generally 95% done by the time I decide I'm actually writing the book, so *shrug* it's no big shakes.

[badducky]

The most important part of your world are the characters moving through it.

Stop world-building. Start character-building.

Start really writing.

[sassandgroove]

It is easy to get caught up in details. Sometimes I don't know a part of the world that needs building until I encounter it in writing. Like paper. Do they have paper? How would they make it? Even if how they make it doesn't come up in the story I feel I need to know, to be consistent in my levels of tech. Anyway, other times I world build when I have writer's block. It knocks the block out of place. One thing I am writing on the side are excerpts from their religious scripture. Again, it may not come up, but it would be cool if a character can quote it, and it will keep the religion consistent.

[ReneC]

If you're writing a milieu story, a story that's going to immerse the reader in the world you've created, then don't stop. How much detail do you suppose Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson or Terry Brooks have put into the worlds they've created? I'd imagine there are reams of material that was never included in the stories. If you're writing anything like that, dive right in and don't worry about it, the story will come out of the world-building.

If it's anything other than a milieu story, you should probably keep perspective. How much detail is needed for the story? Do you really need five pages about your world's version of the teddy bear? Unless the teddy bears will have some significance in your story, you probably don't need that much detail about it. Unless you're going to spend a great deal of time writing about the setting, you only need enough material to make it believable for you.

[DonnaDuck]

While I don't think the teddy bear is anything pivitol at the moment, the more details I spurn in this world, the more story ideas within it I conjure. I have my main story and then maybe 5 or 6 branch off from different stories made from the details of that main story that I never intended to be there initially. So while it may not be important to the main story, it could certainly become fodder for something else. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise!

[HeronW]

Keep the WB stuff for anecdotal stories in a separate edition. This is part of the WIP, it's what your chars are familiar with so it not a waste--it's part of fleshing out their culture, beliefs, customs, politics, etc. Keep the best most relevant parts of the WB for the WIP.

[NicoleMD]

I do most of my world building after the first draft. Then I draw up about 20 pages or so about the world, formatted like a wikipedia article with pictures and such. I even wrote an ad jingle for one of the stores in my story, which incedentally opened up a big piece of culture I would have never stumbled upon. In world building, randomness is your friend, and things that seem insigificant can give birth to tons of insteresting details.

Nicole

[bluntforcetrauma]

I just give what needs to be given as I go along. People like to add their own ideas when they read. It personalizes the story.

[Paichka]

I have several huuuuuuge documents in my WIP folder that relate to my world. These are their names:

1) The History of Cair Tallas
2) Religion in my World
3) Songs of Cair Tallas
4) Timeline

Plus a powerpoint presentation (20 slides) of detailed regional maps, heraldry for my noble familes, castles, etc. Another powerpoint presentation describing clothes & armor.

Plus a document named "The Bin", where I cut & paste anything my beta says is unnecessary backstory. Sometimes I find a way to reinsert it elsewhere, sometimes it's just dead. Either way.

Yeah, I'm just a touch OCD.

[IdiotsRUs]

If you're having fun with it, go for it. Just don't put it all in the story.

For example, I'm 120 pages( 1/3 of the way in) into a book at the mo. I've discvered how many prongs hold the wicks in the lanterns, that X's knife has a sheath made of lath wrapped in leather, but Y's is different ( can't remember how), what colour the sheep are and their habits, how tall the sheep corrall is, the exact construction method of the houses, exactly what clothes they are all wearing, including material and cut and how expensive they are, what the soup is made from, and how they prepare it etc....If a seal splashes in the bay I'm treated to a paragraph on how seals are rare here but are very common a thousand miles away. I DON'T CARE! I'm all for world building ( I love doing it too), but for the gods sake, be subtle, show the world, don't tell me about it.

Because, not much has actually happened. Someone turned up in a strange way, someone else got bitten and a third person has become the obligatory Secret Heir to Something or Other. I don't have much of a clue about their personalities, but I can tell you what their underwear is made of. That's it, apart from the world building. For a hundred pages!


Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Carry on, nothing to see here.

[Inky]

I never begin world building until 300 pages in.
Why?
Any new characters, most red herrings, plots and sub-plots, and a host of details have, by 300 pages, surfaced on paper, or by way of my notes. Now, NOW, I know what I need to flesh out, make plausible, what magicks are necessary, political and religious issues that are flapping in the wind a bit, if more words are necessary to the three languages that have grown to the point of having their own notebook....details, details, details.
But, do all this before page 1?
Blech.
Then I wouldn't wanna write the story.
I prefer blank paper/screen & my mind to run free. The 'world', or parallel universe in my case' builds better when I'm writing the actual story than if I were to try & plug in all the holes before the story was ever flesh & blood.

Because my books are a series, the world building won't ever stop. If you continuously have ideas to add to your 'world', do so.

Oh, and another keen tool for world building are those programs that enable you to add medieval castles, Inns, and whatnot to mountainous, forested--etc.,--landscapes. Then, you can actually walk through your world, even make it raining or snowing, which enables you to word paint a scene even better.

[Ruv Draba]

I just came to a rather blunt realization last week that what I had been writing for my dark fantasy WIP was not actually part of the story but, in fact, world building. Cool, not a problem (really). So I'm continuing on my world building path and I was wondering, where do you draw the line?
I have two answers, and they're contradictory and I believe in both.

Answer 1: For each location you write, also write about something that could happen there - or don't develop it. This event must advance the plot or change a main character and be different from whatever you've written before. I.e, it can't just be a random encounter or a cool place that you'll find a use for. If it's the latter, put it on a card or in a scrapbook and file it.

Answer 2: Each new location must be cooler than the last -- i.e more interesting, more moody, more quirky and original -- even if you can't think what to do there. When you find you're not writing cooler, but more of the same, stop.

Answers 1 and 2 are contradictory but mutually complementary too. Answer 1 makes sure that things are useful. Answer 2 ensures that you make the most of your world ideas. If you're satisfying either answer 1 or answer 2, chaaaarge! If you're satisfying neither, then really stop. :)

I'm also wondering where to stop substituting things. Again, I know, individual tastes but at what point did you just say 'oak tree' instead of Wibbywallow Branch?
I don't substitute things at all and I strongly suggest that you don't either! I think that substitution is the worst of both worlds. If you're thinking 'oak' but call it Wibbywallow then you lose all the symbolic power of oak -- that they're old, that they're symbols of fertility, that they're typically thought of as male and have hints of sentience, and occasional symbols of nobility or religious devotion. Wibbywallow conjures none of these things - and no imagery either. But if you use Wibbywallow and think oak then you lose opportunity to innovate.

So, my suggestion: if you mean oak, say oak or use a linguistic variation that keeps it traceable: eich, eik, aichs, chêne, quercia, roble -- and keep the linguistics consistent. If you're using Norse or Italian or Spanish variations (say) then vary them consistently. You can find such words from www.babelfish.altavista.com (http://www.babelfish.altavista.com) and some etymology of the word oak from www.etymonline.com (http://www.etymonline.com).

Or build your own language and your own ecology and symbology and present these in the world instead. I might write this sort of design note The Wibbywallow matures in 10 years, and stands around 15m high. It seeds annually but its seeds are small heavy and sharp and must gestate beneath the skin of a living creature before being ejected eventually. It achieves this by dropping them from great heights whenever creatures cross over its roots. Wibbywallow is therefore a symbol of bad luck and in some places, indescriminate and wanton fertility. But among the forest people, Wibbywallow is used in weaponcraft and is a symbol of vengance.

I believe that the key to fantasy is symbology. If you spend any time on mystical or unusual elements then they should be a symbol of something important in the story. So if you mean to use the symbology of oak, then borrow the language of oak too. If you want to use new symbology then you can invent new language for it.

Hope this helps.

[ink wench]

Lots of good responses already, but here's my take. I get caught up in the research more so than the building. I could spend all my time researching (it's what I do for a living, after all). But at some point I get antsy and want to write. That's when I know I've had enough. My world usually turns out to be woefully incomplete, so the world building continues simultaneously with writing. Sometimes that means I need to go back and revise because I've screwed up, but that's ok. My characters' stories drive their world, not the other way around.

As for your other question, don't name anything that already has a name. If you create it, you get to name it. If someone else (including nature) already created it, then use the name it's got. Anything else is annoying and distracting.

[yanallefish]

Personally, I'm in the camp of those who want to know as much as possible about their worlds. I haven't stopped world-building Kritter yet; there are still too many ideas! And the advantage is, I've a reference point to look back at. (Hell, I've a folder*G*).

[Gray Rose]

Wow, you guys scare me. I can never build a world separately from my characters' POVs... It's like I have myopia. I know the feel of my world very well, but the individual features only come into focus when a character sees them. All my worldbuilding is either in the novel already or in the character sketches. I think the closest I came to a worldbuilding file was the piece where my MC walked me through his house. He told me he forced a whole village to make a carpet for him. That's when I realised he's an art buff (in addition to being a cruel bastard).

[dirtsider]

The only reason why I'm world building this time 'round is because the first stab I took at this WIP, I ended up putting it aside because it meandered and I lost interest. Now I'm doing the research so I have something more solid to build on. Some of the stuff that I have, I'll probably read as I'm working on my WIP or end up not using at all. But the stuff I have lined up to read will be useful to read before I actually put the work in. It's giving me ideas.

[zornhau]

The only reason why I'm world building this time 'round is because the first stab I took at this WIP, I ended up putting it aside because it meandered and I lost interest.

Perhaps you should concentrate on those aspects of WB that generate the conflict for the novel.