Creating that first draft of a story is no easy feat. Worldbuilding within your story is an entirely different monster to tackle. You might have plenty of ideas for what you want your story to be about. You might have been outlining the different characteristics you want your created world to have as you world-build. But how do you enhance both at the same time?

A good story needs to have a strong story working together with a believable, comprehensive world. There really can’t be one or the other. You could have tons of detail and backstory, but without an engaging, substantial plot, the history you create is next to meaningless. On the other hand, your story and the characters working in them might develop beautifully, but that’s overshadowed by the lack of depth to your world or confusing aspects to your character’s environment.

As you travel through each stage of the writing process (whether outlining the beginnings of your novel or adding the finishing touches before sending it off to an agent), ask yourself: am I building my story and my world at the same time?

 

Your Story and Your World

Writers tend to focus on either one or the other, but not both at once. They might create an outline of the plot, setting up the current details needed for the story. However, they neglect to lay out the details for how the society, culture, or the physics of the world works.

It might also be the opposite for you. I’ve met writers who spent years worldbuilding without ever putting pen to paper. They crafted so many details that their friends begged them to actually put them to use and get writing already. In the end, many of the details were unimportant anyway.

I experienced something like this when I was in the rewriting stage of the writing process. In the months I was editing that first draft, I came up with plenty more ideas for the plot I had come up with. There was a lot I wanted to rewrite completely, what I wanted to add, and what I wanted to improve on. I started focusing on this aspect of creating so much that one day, when I finally slowed down, I realized I had forgotten to do any actual worldbuilding.

I had beta readers come to me confused about certain aspects and details of my world because I hadn’t explained them. I was so busy worrying about plot structure and character arcs that the world those aspects lived in wasn’t fully fleshed out.

So what do you do?

 

First, assess which area you’re neglecting.

Whenever I started rewriting my book after months of editing, outlining, and planning some more, I realized I needed to do some more worldbuilding. Sure, I had fixed much of the plot and I knew now what I wanted to add and get rid of, but I hadn’t advanced the world in any way.

So, I got to work worldbuilding once more. I made sure I knew what details I needed for later when it came to worldbuilding, and I also continued outlining my plot for later to advance the story I already had.

If you discovered you’ve been neglecting your story, start outlining more of it. See what points you can connect worldbuilding information to so that your other detailing is put to good use. If you have been neglecting your worldbuilding, take a break from your story. Examine various worldbuilding elements and write down which areas you need to enhance. When you identify every important detail that you currently need, you’ll have all the necessary information for whatever aspect of your plot you’re working on.

 

[Need help editing your book? We can help.] 

 

Next, write everything down.

I personally find writing things down in a physical notebook or even on a computer very stress-relieving. It takes everything out of my head (where I can stress about it) and places it where I can continue tweaking them. With everything on paper, I don’t overthink, since I can go back, cross things out, and add notes. If there was a scene you wanted to rewrite or a worldbuilding detail you wanted to include, writing it down prepares you for including it later.

Taking notes helps you understand where you’re at with your writing. You might want to understand where to go and what to write next, and this lets you set aside time to figure out what parts of your story you should work on or what worldbuilding details you should enhance.

 

After that, research some more.

A writer’s work is never done. Not confident in where you’re at with your story? Check out various resources online that could help answer your questions. Take a short course and learn from various professionals.

Not confident with how much worldbuilding you’ve done? Set aside a few days to be creative. Research different aspects of a convincing world or culture that are are most important to your story and develop those areas. Have fun and run wild until you’re satisfied.

 

Lastly, know it’s not too late.

Just because you neglected one part of your writing process doesn’t mean you have failed. There is always a chance to go back and continue working on anything you missed. And by writing things down for later, you can guarantee preparation for anything that should come later in your researching or writing process.

The different stages of the writing process can be overwhelming, but trust yourself that every aspect of your writing will eventually come together. Neither your plot nor your worldbuilding will come to you all at once either. Adding detail is a continuous process as you write. Just continue putting emphasis on both during your writing process, ensuring that your story is not only complete but deep and impactful for your readers.

 

 

E. M. Sherwood Foster is a fiction writer, poet, and graduate student at the University of Cambridge, St. Edmund’s. She is also the creator of the Foster Your Writing blog. Her work has appeared in over twenty literary journals, including Aurora Journal, Sour Cherry Mag, and Paragraph Planet. Her chapbooks have been published by Yavanika Press (2022) and Ghost City Press (2023). You can find more of her articles here.