Poor worldbuilding can weaken your plot.

It affects readers’ ability to immerse themselves in your story and character development.

While character growth should not hinge upon external events alone, the world that they live in will naturally influence their journey when it’s intentionally developed.

Strong worldbuilding is crucial to your story. To learn more about how to create a believable setting, check out this blog post.

Today, we’ll review 6 common worldbuilding mistakes that can limit the depth of your plot.

Avoid these mistakes to create an immersive world for your readers and characters to play in.

I’m thinking about books that provide pages of historical and cultural background to explain how the world came to be in the present. 

Usually, I don’t need to know all of these details, at least not right now. 

And, how am I supposed to remember all of it anyway?

Not only does excessive background information overwhelm your readers, but it also slows down your pacing. 

Anything that pulls readers out of the front story (your main plot) better have an excellent reason for doing so.

If not, your story and its pace are coming to a screeching halt. 

If I can’t get through your pages of worldbuilding, I’m not likely to pick up your book again.

But, I need to explain this intricate world for my readers to understand the conflict, you say.

There are other ways to do so with more finesse.

First, consider when and where your readers need to know world-specific details.

You don’t want to hit them over the head with a crucial bit of info that’s a shock. 

However, sprinkling your worldbuilding throughout the story so that readers discover the world alongside your MC is easier to digest and more relevant to your front story.

Consider how you can naturally weave details of your world into the dialogue, action and setting.

Challenge yourself to present key information in a single paragraph or sentence.

Note your character’s reactions to the world around them. Their actions and interactions can tell readers more about your world’s culture and conflicts than directly dictating it to your audience.

Yes, we know that an intriguing story is character-driven, not plot-driven, which is to say that your characters better have captivating internal conflict influencing the plot.

That being said, we can’t deny the fact that we are all influenced to some degree by the world around us. Your characters are too.

So, when developing an immersive and realistic world, consider what rules and customs will influence your characters and the plot.

The rules within your world will shape your characters’ daily lives, their struggles and to some degree the journey that they are on.

Your characters’ beliefs and motivations will naturally have been influenced by the way they were raised. They may be on a journey of change, but they’ll have started with what was handed to them by their environment.

A world without rules or where the rules are easily broken without consequence is frustrating for your readers. 

Your audience will only suspend disbelief for so long before they’ve determined that the writer was lazily writing to their own whim and fancy.

When worldbuilding, consider how the rules of magic, technology and society affect daily life.

What consequences occur when these rules are broken? 

Some consequences may be formal, like those presented by the politics in a society, while other consequences may occur on a personal level. 

A small townsperson’s sneer at the newly arrived inhabitant from the big, bad city can speak volumes about what these characters disapprove of.

Remember that the ripple effect of minor rule-breaking could influence large-scale conflicts.

Just as your characters’ internal goals and fears will naturally influence the trajectory of their journey, so too can a well-thought-out world provide realistic pain points for your characters to experience.

If your story could take place in any old fantasy or sci-fi world or any city on Earth, then you don’t have a memorable setting.

Your goal is to add a unique perspective through your setting.

Overused fantasy tropes and descriptions of France focused on the Eiffel Tower will not draw your readers in.

They’ve heard it all before. There’s nothing new to fuel their intrigue.

Even a familiar setting can be presented afresh when you consider how your main character’s perspective will tinge what they see.

Use sensory details to build a rich world that feels new, even when it’s not. 

Ensure that everything is presented through your MC’s eyes. 

Not everyone focuses on the same details.

One character may see the opulence of your fantastical kingdom while another focuses on the disparity of those living at its fringes.

How does your character’s view of their home shape the tone of your novel?

Bring your world to life through their perspective.

I know, yawn! We’ve heard the phrase “show, don’t tell” so many times.

And yet, it’s one of those reminders that we all need every so often.

I find that especially when we are working with a story in a larger-than-life setting – a fantasy world spanning kingdoms with their own unique cultures, for example – we can fall into the trap of trying to cram all of our worldbuilding into our exposition.

And what is the result?

A world that feels flat.

So, how do we solve this problem?

Again, we need to determine when to “show” key elements of our setting through the character’s actions and interactions.

What they see as they’re travelling is just the tip of the iceberg.

An immersive world gathers information through all of our senses.

Your character’s decision to avoid going outside past 6 pm reveals quite a bit about the dangers they might encounter. And they didn’t have to tell the reader outright.

Subtext can also support you here.

Could your readers learn something about the setting through a conversation or even your MC’s thoughts?

Readers are detectives who will pick up on implied tensions and cultural aspects within your world.

I’ll keep on saying it, your readers are smart. Let them figure it out on their own

Worldbuilding is thrilling!

As writers, we love immersing ourselves in the setting and all of its details.

We will always know far more about our worlds than the audience.

It’s difficult to hold back for the sake of our plot when we have so many goodies that we want to share with our readers.

However, when we include details that don’t impact our main character, more likely than not, it harms our plot.

Some writers are prone to tangents, eloquently presenting the breathtaking history, culture and views of their world, forgetting to drive the plot and our MC’s growth forward.

To decide whether a worldbuilding detail will distract from your core story or enhance it, ask yourself:

If I remove this detail, will the plot be unable to move forward? Will my readers be confused?

If the detail doesn’t affect my protagonist, should it be included?

An honest understanding of your purpose in sharing information about your world is necessary to ensure it serves the story, not detracts from it.

I know that some of us are pantsers and we’d rather get right into the business of writing.

Still, when we don’t take the time to consider at least the basic structure of our world, we risk confusing the readers and crafting unrealistic settings with rules that don’t hold up.

Readers are suspicious. 

They need you to prove that whatever event you’ve crafted makes sense within the prescribed parameters of your world. You risk frustrating your audience when details pop up seemingly out of nowhere.

When the elements of worldbuilding, such as geography, history and cultural expectations, are thought up on a whim, what often happens is a story without consistency. 

Writers fall into this trap when they realize that their character is meant to do or see something that they hadn’t planned so they need to force it into place.

It’s obvious. It doesn’t make sense. Your readers will clock this frayed thread a mile away.

You don’t need to spend hours detailing an intricate setting. What you can do instead is consider the journey your character is going on and ask yourself:

What do they already know about their world that influences their perceptions?

What will they encounter that will influence their world view?

As my characters move from each location, do they have a logical means of getting from point A to B?

Ensure that any event, interaction or perspective influenced by your setting is relevant. 

It should make sense based on what has previously occurred in the story.

When you glide over this planning stage, you risk the need for extensive revisions after the fact.

Take a short time out from writing to build a stable and realistic world for your characters.

Worldbuilding doesn’t need to be stressful.

There are numerous online resources to help you.

Inkarante can guide you through developing a map of your world. 

Campfire Writing helps you with an in-depth worldbuilding system so you don’t need to worry about missing crucial details.

Take advantage of these tools so that you can enjoy the process of storytelling, confident that your world is authentic and immersive, just the way your readers like it!

What struggle do you face when crafting your setting?

Have a worldbuilding tip or resource?

Share it in the comments.

Need to do some research to create your immersive setting? This blog post shares key steps to guide you through a novel research process that is organized and concise. Check it out!

Talk soon!

Julia