I once heard a great phrase to describe the Iceberg type thinking, and it goes something like this, "When I'm enjoying a story, I don't need to know everything. But I need to FEEL like the author knows everything."
I saw a thing once about writing and it went into how even if the reader never sees all these details, you should have them plotted out. The example was a caravan going between two cities. How much does the dragon-like beast pulling the wagons eat in a day? How long is the journey? How much space is devoted to the wagon pulling beasts food alone? How far can this caravan go each day before stopping to rest for the night?
I'm not necessarily a writer but I love daydreaming about all sorts of stories and this was an incredibly well done video with really intriguing information!
Here's to us dreamers! tbh even tho I don't have a knowledge in creative writing, I'm still gonna try cuz those daydreams just hit different lol. We can do anything if we put our minds to it!
But if you like them, maybe note them down? If not now, maybe later they`ll come handy. Maybe some time later you`ll find a note about idea which you already forgot and get a boost of inspiration from it.
I love that moment while worldbuilding where you're just toying around with ideas, trying to get the plan of something in your world, when suddenly it clicks with another idea and you realise your working your way around the shape of something else. Something you didn't plan, and that didn't occur to you before, but that makes absolute perfect sense given everything you've created already, and fills in a gap you didn't even know was there. You can see the cohesion in your ideas, and it feels like you discovered something rather than invented it. Because, like Mell said, worldbuilding is like a puzzle. You just don't know what the puzzle will look like completed, but if you keep at it, and try to look for the edge pieces, things will start to fit together.
It's even more intresting cause you're the one who create that puzzle, but even you don't know how to sold that puzzle, it's like getting lost at a maze of ideas that changes continuously and somehow find a way out.
That is the best and most accurate description of what happens to me at the most random times. Like sometimes I'm on the bus and then something just clicks and I jot it down in my sketchbook and I build off of that and go on a completely separate tangent from what I originally set out to do. I end up loving how perfectly it fits and how it also ties into the lore of the important characters and such. Describing that as a puzzle is an amazing metaphor
Your explanation of "rule of cool" really spoke to me. It's not that the rules should be ignored to put fun stuff in, but more that the rules should exist to serve the fun stuff. If you think that crazy animals are cool, don't say "yeah this world is normal and pretend that the crazy animals make sense", instead build rules around the cool things you want to put in. This inspired me to retcon a bunch of things in my fantasy world because I realized that they aren't fun, they aren't cool, and they limit me unneccesarily. Thanks!
Worldbuilder's disease is definitely the problem I struggle with the most. I'm one of those people who will create an entire constructed language so that the names in my novel will be linguistically consistent. The upside to this is that it does enhance cohesion; knowing details like how the main characters' language functions is actually quite useful in developing their culture, which in turn informs how the characters and those around them will act and react in the story.
How do you go about that? I've been struggling with whether or not I want to develop conlangs for my world. The benefits are as you said, I just don't know if I want to commit quite that hard. Plus, it's honestly just really difficult. One of the species in my world lives under water and communicate via sign language. Usually I just say they're signing and write out the translation in < > instead of quotations. But I will sometimes need to develop a sign, and if I get to the point I want, this will be in a visual medium, so that's gonna have to be nailed down by then.
@@Dracosfire14 wouldnt it be better when they communicate through sound like wales, dolphins and other sealife animals? It would be similar to human, but at the same time, different. A Communication only with hand signs sounds a little bit strange and...not very handy? And how did they communicate before creating sign language then? There has to be something in their evolution, that let them communicate before it. everything else would be strange. Creating symbols or languages arent that insane hard. It just needs some starter Knowledge about linguistics, what can easily be aquired (for example: with several starter books for linguistics or just some online research. Like: what sorts of languages are there? Wich vowels, consonants are there? where do you produce the sounds you want to use? Then use the sounds, that are produced at the same spot and so on.) When its only about signs, then its linguistics again. There are several examples in our history like the northman/Vikings symbols, which we use in some areas to that day (Bluetooth symbol for example). They evolved mostly from symbols, that matched the object it described and got broken down from there. You can take this as a rule. Hope this helps you a little bit.
@@Painsjustice "A communication only with hand signs sounds a bit strange and... not very handy?" Have you not heard of Deaf people? Sign languages aren't uncommon and they *do* constitute an actual language of their own. Sound isn't necessary for the definition of language. Language just has to be able to have some properties, like communication of meaning, metaphorical speech or even self-reference and recursion, stuff that is possible with sign languages. EDIT: I found the full list of properties that it's considered that all human languages have and that any language like ours should have. Those are Displacement (being able to communicate meaning about nonexistent and abstract notions), Reflexivity (being able to refer to the language itself), Arbitrariness (there's no connection to a language with what it describes, that's just how we interpret it), Productivity (being able to produce a theoretically infinite amount of unique messages), Cultural Transmission (Language is not innate, but inherited through cultural interaction), Discreteness (the symbols a language uses do not overlap in meaning. They are discrete) and Duality (a finite amount of symbols can create a theoretically infinite amount of meaningful messages) Another way to see it is that languages are nothing more than a bunch of symbols strung together that obey some transformation and construction rules (check more on formal languages, a whole subset of Mathematics and Logic and Linguistics. It also ties in with how the properties of language where defined above). What these symbols actually are, how they realised, and what they mean is up to interpretation, an interpretation that should generally be able to check out all the properties for languages as we know them. That's why we have multiple languages that use the Latin alphabet, whilst they all have different phonologies. Or why even Mathematics itself *can* be considered a language. There are also animals that communicate with no kind of sound whatsoever. Bees and ants are a prime example, that use movement and pheromones to communicate meaning. They are not quite languages, as they don't have the other properties human languages have, but it's not absurd to think that there could be a scenario that these *could* develop into proper languages, should ever bees or ants achieve sapience. Even one of the theories of creation of language in humans assumes that sound tried to imitate, in part, body part movements.
Meanwhile my idea of linguistically consistent names is I shuffle related words to what the character is. Wizard who wandered into the fey wild as a child? Faerie Folk -> Klof Eireaf. Circle of Stars Druid that grew up with a fascination with constellations? Star Child Druid -> Diurd D'Lih Crats. Haunted One Bard? Eno D. Etnuah. The latest one was the only one I swapped letters out to force something it resembled. Nature Domain Cleric -> Sir (C->S) Oderu Niamtan Elk (C->K). Other than that, I'd say they're pretty consistent...ly hard to remember how to pronounce. 😆
@@bigshrekhorner Did you even read what i wrote, Mate? I am studying linguistics and just wrote a scientific term paper about the roots of language and how it influences, if it influences, our cognition and i am well aware of deaf people. What an assumption gosh. His text was about a whole species that only communicates with sign language. This would be extremly unusual in nature, where every single species has a way to communiacte that is not even close to a sign language. And i didnt say (and thats important mate, pls dont assume things i did not say in that way) that sound would be the only way. OF COURSE there are several other ways of animal Communication. Sound was just an example, because it its "similar" to humans, but still different (+ it is under water, so sound kinda makes more sense then smell for most of the time) Furthermore i never said that sign language is something uncommon. It is uncommon to have a species to only communicate through this form. PLS read first and comment then, especially when you are not familiar with the topic. Edit: Btw. you have to differentiate between spoken and written language, because spoken language has nothing to do with symbols. A first form of written languages came way later then spoken languages. we tied symbols to the sounds later, but they arent needed for a language. So no, language is not just a bunch of Symbols strung together.
Didn't realize how fresh to the scene you were until I went to hit the like button. As a world builder, I really appreciate having a simple, but comprehensive list of checks I can go to when I'm stumped or swallowed. Thanks for putting it together in such a clean and charming way ^ ^
@@ecyinka You earned a sub for this one. I'm excited to see what other content you have! As a writer and novice world builder, this will be so helpful for me!
Amen, Casey. This video addressed many of the problems I have in DnD campaign creation. Thanks M. Pitcher. Your insights and clear presentation are much appreciated.
@@ecyinka IMO one of the best points you made was in the connecting structure how something like Culture, History, and Religion aren't independent aspects to focus on they instead could get sorted out as you are working on connected aspects.
A few things I love about this video: 1. The rubik's cube metaphor. It REALLY helped me stay on track and remember what was happening! 2. Your accent. It's lovely :D 3. The mentioning of my favorite series in the history of ever (The Stormlight Archive). 4. The fact that all of the tips feed into each other and work well. :) This is super cool and helpful! :D
8:35 - Since you mentioned Discworld in the beginning, I love how every book that takes place in the present leaves its mark on the world and slowly but surely the world itself changes, even though each book's story is largely self-contained. It never felt like Pratchett tried to build a world the way Tolkien or even Martin did, but Discworld nevertheless feels so real and _alive!_
Just this morning I was meditating on how fast I would trade my whole Government for one Vetinari. Or better yet, put them in front of him, explaining to them that everything is their personal problem now. I know where you live, now don't let me detain you :)
I had the same feeling as a kid reading Piers Anthony's Xanth novels. He built his worlds incrementally with each book taking part in a different region or time period with each story being self contained and stand alone, yet dozens of books later a fully fleshed out world and history was created we got to be there every step of the way. When a later book makes a reference to a different time or place we don't just know about it, it's bringing up a personal story from our history with the series.
As a fellow sufferer of Worldbuilder's Disease I'm slowly learning that it's just not possible to work out literally everything, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. Like you said, working with your reader's imagination (by giving them enough and letting them fill in the blanks) instead of against it (by dictating every detail to them) can enhance your world massively. They say two minds are better than one after all. Any chance for a part 2? Always looking for more mistakes to add to my story!
I had Worldbuilder's disease for a long time as well. But slowly, very slowly, my setting has taken shape as I learned more about the genre as a whole. Today, I'm pretty happy with my setting, and I think things are at a pretty good, though still not finished, point.
Without unpredictability comes no Chaos, with no Chaos comes no Order. If you plan out everything you are going to feel like you need to use everything which sure would be cool, but is it healthy for your story? Not knowing specific things and only teasing them or guessing them is great, especkally when you mix in a bit of Chaos
@@justsomerandomassalbinobear I am both Order and Chaos... Creator of Fate... But omnipotence is rather rare to see others who can master it. In other words... I can design stories down to the details without thinking too much about it. Endless creations upon my endless dreams.
A good strategy I've been learning to combat Worldbuilder's Disease is to take 3 or so characters at an equal level, figure out what I want them to do, and figure out what I want the power level to be. Reason being if I have 3 areas to play with I can explore a manageable part of the world, I can figure out how their 3 different abilities/mindsets work, then I can adjust the natural laws to reign in their abilities. I've found it works well for politics (3 factions in a town, each with different goals) for slice of life (a baker a cop and a gang boss walk into a bar) and of course for fantasy. The best way to visualize it is that I take 3 seeds, plant them beside each other, and let them grow into each other. Then based on their needs, and the fruit I want from it, I adjust the mulch and water.
After having for years developed my D&D setting mostly for the fun of it (as in, I have a +30,000 word long docs document of mostly summarized info about the world... plus a bunch of stuff that's just in my head), I find it very interesting to see how different of a process that is compared to how I'm worldbuilding for an actual story I'm working on. With the D&D world the goal was "make a world where no matter where my players decide to go and whatever they decide to do, I'll have an idea of what will be available to happen". Whereas with my "story based world" the goal is to frame the story. And I've repeatedly caught myself drifting into old habits when I've gone on tangents developing aspects of the world that I don't need. And so having this video as a bit of a template to keep me focused is of great help.
In your DnD world you're treating it like an open world RPG. In your book you're treating it more like a movie where the camera is locked and the ending is predetermined.
just make sure the person lives in the world and not that the world lives around the person... like if you have a story of a guy with the power to keep buffs active for forever don't make it so that buffing people is the main way they fight in the world but make it so that for example magic is the main way and there are a few buff spells. it's kinda hard to explain but hope you get what i'm saying. because if you don't you'll get a story where it feels almost artificial because all that happens looks like plot armor.
@@leeuwengames315 i get what you're saying, but also look at it this way: in a world where "buffing people is the main way they fight", who's more likely to save the world, the guy with the buffing power or the guy with some other random power? and is the story going to be about some random guy, or the specific one who saves the world? you have a point, i'm just saying that if you do have a character that seems to have "too good" of a power, it can still make sense. the story is about that guy BECAUSE he has the perfect power, and if he didn't, then the story might be about someone else instead.
I loved the tip about blurring the boundaries. Dimitri Glukhovsy did this really well in Metro 2033. The characters there try to explain the "old world" and what they say is often inconsistent with the real world, muddying the waters and making you distrust all the information he gives you about his world because it could all be only the character's beliefs and not the factual truth.
I used to make stories only based on the world and I would just be so frustrated because everything felt like an info-dump. So I took a break from writing and I started reading more and I realised the world is just decoration (for most stories). I started thinking "What world will help the story I envision come to life?". my inspiration for stories comes at random and Ill imagine a compelling and emotional scene that I want to see fleshed out. The world can be whatever I want it to be, so I twist and bend it to my liking so that it makes sense and it leads to the ending I want to see. Creating a story from the middle-end then expanding outward works the best for me it seems
I have learned to accept the fact that I am terminally ill, I will embrace worldbuilding disease till it kills me. It goes back to that point you made about cohesiveness. I love writing things out that spawn new ideas or that connect lose threads and seeing the entire tapestry of my world fill in, even if nobody else sees it. Granted I am much more down with the sickness when I’m writing for my D&D world since my players can interact with everything always all the time, I can definitely see the wisdom in chilling lit a little when it comes to my other work.
For me, The purpose of my medieval (And also renaissance and sci-fi since I have multiple time periods) fantasy setting is just a tool to help me learn more effectively. So the disease is actually the point. The more I meticulously flesh out my own world, The more I learn about our real one. And that knowledge actually sticks because I have applied it practically.
I'm like that too, I have a whole high fantasy world that I've been building since I was a kid. I rarely get to actually writing for any specific characters because I have so many (I love creating characters). I love the actual worldbuilding part and weaving everything together which sometimes spawns new ideas too. I've also incorporated elements from dreams I've had. If I actually write a full story in my world, you'd only see a fraction of the world I've created. A lot of the information will probably always be just for me.
Exactly. Every part of the world must be connected, even if I'm the only one who sees the connection, at least I worked it out ahead of time for all who ask about that detail XD
Something that may help you with your _illness_ : think that in our own world, not a single person can know everything in science, history, politics and culture. It's too much. You would need to do that for your world if you want the full icerberg, which is impossible for a single person to even hold that much knowledge.
As a world builder, I can confidently say that this is the most helpful and informative advice I’ve ever received. Definitely makes me want to create more
My guy, I have been roleplaying for 23 years. A dm for so long and the more i learned and tried the harder everything became until ive been crushed under the weight of my own stories. Thank you. F*cking Thank you. Fr. im sharing you with my community. THIS is what i NEEDED to hear.
I really like the cube metaphor for world building - I’m a slow worldbuilder myself, but I definitely know the feeling of a few squares suddenly slotting into place and changing the context of the whole thing. It may have even happened while watching this video!
I ended up scrapping my entire book idea for a comic because I’m more visual and I know I can art good enough for it (or even pay friends to help) because it didn’t work for the world building I wanted to do.
I ended up changing a core concept in my world that makes it so much better, for a while I haven't had a plot idea for it but now I got a really fun plot
Bro I'm writing a D&D campaign rn and you just gave me an hour's worth of info in like 5 minutes (I watch youtube on 2x speed because most videos talk way too slow). Your metaphors were really useful and helped me figure out a couple things that have been bugging me for a while. Thanks for making a really good, compact video. Welp, you've just earned yourself another subscriber and now I'm rewatching the video on regular speed to give the algorithm that sweet sweet watch time.
Soooo, if you want to traumatize your players a bit. Have them adventuring on the surface, when a purple worm comes and starts a battle with them. When they get it about half dead and its about to strike, have a roc come down and just grab it for a meal(considering that a roc has a 200 feet wingspan, it will be scary. As well show the interaction of fauna in the world)
As someone who does a lot of fantasizing about other worlds and would like to one day either make a comic or write a book this is good info. Most of my previous ideas had revolved around "bad guy in fantasy/sci-fi world, need to beat him, cool fights" and after about a few months I start running into the "why is this this way?" issue and start thinking of a new story, but over the last few years I’ve been really into a sci-fi idea I had after watching some space documentary and I’ve slowly been thinking about it off and on trying to figure out the why. I really need to sit down and start writing stuff out though cause I’ve kinda dead ended on the overall story and I want a bit more than what I have thought out
I mean, you can do that an still have the cool scenes if you want it that way. As the saying goes, every villain is the hero of his own story. Exploring a bit of the antagonist's view is and what is the point of conflict between the antagonist and your main characters can bring quite a bit of depth to your story. Consider Magneto (at least in most of his depictions).
I promise you that the hardest thing in the world is actually just sitting down and writing. The difficulties in the world/characters/narrative can be incredibly frustrating and take a long time to fix, but if you write, and write consistently, inspiration will come! As someone who would give the world up for writing, it can take me hours to get the first few words down. Once I'm into it, though, it almost reveals itself. Good luck making that fantasy a reality someday soon :)
@The Fifth Horseman oh yea I know, but my thought process was "fight scene, fight scene, fight scene". No lore or world building besides what would make cooler fights. I mean you could make that work, look at the expendables movies, but I couldn't get super into the story side of it.
@Willem Cahill-Chiaroni yea, im having trouble just sitting down and actually start writing. Need to get back into drawing too, haven't drawn outside of a few doodles in 3 years
I think there are two things often missed about world building. The first is that a story is read one line at a time, so page by page or game by game is how you will reveal your world to your players or readers. The second is that creating is an iterative process. You need world building to have a setting for your plot so you first create a world. You write your story and then that leads to a bit more world building, back and forth it goes world-building and story. I would lean on heavy world building because that is how you will have unique motivations and exciting developments for your plot, scenario ot story.
@@lightborn9071 Same here, to an extend. At the very least, I want to figure out early on what type of characters or theme I want to move the story with, and some of the key scenes that I want to be memorable/significant to the main story. Then from there I imagine the basis of the world itself, start from small regional and surface level, and then expand outwards as far as I want my world to extend - and once I reach a desired end, I go back again and add details and complexity along the way until I reach the small regional space from where I started - which acts as the center stage, and I fill it out with everything that is necessary to the storyline I have been parallelly imagining on the side. And lastly, I return to my core characters, I use the world I have now established in great detail, and use it to flesh out the characters fully and provide the context for their motivations, their desires, their fears, and the specific circumstances they're currently in. This bounce from small scale, to big scale, then back to small scale, tends to work great when you want to ensure a high level of consistency and relevance - as you don't hyperfocus on one area at a time but instead let each part naturally influence each other.
I'm writing a slavic fantasy novel RN, based mostly on russian mythology. And it's been astonishingly hard for me not to throw an info about everything to my future reader. I feel like the problem is that the lore of my universe is way more interesting then the main plot itself. Thank you for the video! It really helped me to understand the problem. Can't wait for more content from you!
This might be unwanted advice, but if the lore itself is interesting then maybe you can make a few key plot points hinge on discovering secrets about the world that recontextualizes previous mysteries. E.g. maybe a child is kidnapped by someone, and you have a mystery about who it is. Later, you discover that it's Baba Yaga (the only name I know from that tradition) who took the child, but you have a new mystery because you don't know why she would be interested in that particular child. So, the Lord takes your original question and turns it into a different question.
@@ianhruday9584nderstand your point. Bad example though - Baba Yaga does kidnap kids, it's one of a multitude things she does. It's not "why", it's just like Santa giving gifts or Haron transporting the dead. She's literally Russian Haron, half alive, half dead, always old, always young and truly immortal. Perhaps a metaphor for early medieval child mortality as Baba Yaga originally keeps the gate between life and death. And a teaching not to run away to the forest that may be dangerous. Baba Yaga is one of the characters who's at least maiar Tolkien wise, probably even originates as a pagan deity. There's a lot of things misterious and inhuman to her, less of a human, more of a natural force, she's not written as a character with human logic unless it's a very modern adaptation.
You might not want to hear this, but I feel like I read something similar in response to someone else having this issue once upon a time: If the lore is more interesting than your main story that you're trying to write out, maybe you're writing the wrong story? Pull a Tolkien and write your Simarilion. :) Heck, maybe then your main story will come more easily and be more enjoyable to write.
Good points. Another leaky issue: If you make water flow up-hill you may have created a situation where players will have problems and/or create problems for you. Whenever you break the real-world reality, it helps if you take a few minutes to think of how your change can be abused by players - or how it would be abused by cultures in your world. It may be far more interesting to say "The river Eyra flows uphill from Lake Tarkin to Lake Gersist" and leave it at that. This mysterious river will be more exciting than having all water misbehave.
I have to say, I adored the rubik cube framework for the entire video and how it was seamlessly used to compartmentalize your thoughts. Got yourself a new subscriber!
I've been doing world building though D&D for a long time. This is phenomenal. +1 for mentioning the expanse. Currently reading Wheel of Time and it's a masterclass in World Building.
Brandon Sanderson's "hollow iceberg" analogy is the best rendition of the classic iceberg. You create the illusion that there's more depth to be explored, and also leaving room to expand on those hints you left later if you so wish.
Give yourself and your world rules and boundaries. Nothing like having to tell yourself no, only to figure out a workaround that makes sense within that universe. The classic, "No I can't do that..... but maybe this?"
Having just finished rereading The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, I would like to add one more detail.All these authors have told a story while they’re world building. And THAT is something we can learn from them.
A good writer will give all the pieces of their world to the reader. A great writer will to do it slowly while focusing on something else. I see a lot of writers (myself included) that like to frontload lore, and that can be a slog. Never be afraid to hold things back until later, when it matters.
Your quoting of Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory had me laughing hysterically. Bravo. And excellent reasoning. I absolutely loved world-building for my RPG campaign, and to a degree I was going so far and so deep just for fun, but your advice, suggestions, and warnings are excellent.
Speaking as a sci-fi world-builder in the most trying of subgenres, speculative fiction, one of the greatest pieces of advice I can give is to decide how much you are willing to fudge reality EARLY. I have taken a FIRM 70/30 rule in favor of realism. I am willing to bend elements of real life to get an interesting story or visual, but too much can get outlandish quickly, especially as I am trying to build a world centered around politics and philosophy. If I need to mess with reality to get a space fight in the middle of an asteroid field inside of a magnetic storm, then I will, but it has to make sense within the context of the universe.
I was making a dnd campaign. All the players were on an island that was actually a dragon turtle. The inhabitants of the island helped protect the turtle. In creating the history of the island and the relationship between turtle and people, I somehow spiraled into make a population chart. For all 200 years of history. How many people died, were born, new people who washed up on the island. I stressed over making this perfect for 4 painful hours, carefully lining it up with major events on the timeline. This was not necessary for the campaign.
I would suggest that you don't start the campaign with the players. You start it with their ancestors as a series of prequels... You start the campaign as a one-shot 200 years in the past, at the beginning where the ancestors of the players were actually present and then simply skip through your timeline with a series of one-shots where the descendants of the original ancestors are present to bear witness to the events you've worked through. As an added bonus, you'll tell your players that their actions, dreams, and ideas may and will indeed impact the future of the homestead (if you're feeling generous) from which the actual campaign will start out at. I've used this method multiple times to have the players truly connect to their homestead (because let's face it. Waaaaay before the moment they hit double digit levels, they've long since departed from whatever small hamlet/back alley that they grew up in) so that they would never forget their roots, and even return to have the area prosper.
I can not stress how important this "connection" piece is. I have spent A LOT of time thinking about how the different things that I originally came up with interact with each other and really the coolest stuff came out of these thinking sessions because it pushes you to synthesis two cool things into something truly original.
Honestly i was expecting a video talking down on me about common issues which I knew about and solved, and while I dont have some of the problems in this video, it's incredibly well made and definitely earned my sub
A very nice video. Very good pacing and I really like you're cube metaphor. I agree with your PoV that while creating in-world-explanations (like with the magical creatures) this can inspire you to automatically create more consequences that all feel connected in the end. It's a really fun and rewarding part of worldbuilding in my opinion :) You also have very nice energy on screen. I'm looking forward to seeing where this channel will go from here. Keep up the great work. Greetings from a fellow world-building fanatic from Germany :)
Binge re-reading a ton of Sanderson's works right now and being inspired again, that I want to create something that beautiful. I've struggled a long time with where to start, and paralysis over what should come first. This video sets out a way clearer set of steps, it's very helpful for ADHD people like me.
Love that you talked about making things interconnected as a way to make it all feel more natural. Sanderson is a great example of how a ludicrous biome is made approachable by showing the reader how everything, from smallest critter to largest predator, has adapted to exist within it. Will be keeping an eye on your next videos!
I LOVE THE GENTLEMEN BASTARDS 4:48 unironically one of my favorite series of all time next to the seventh tower. This video is incredible for helping my brain want write too. youre incredible dude.
Randomly came across your video and many times I feel like 98% of what is said in videos like this is something I already know and not really usable this is one of the best descriptions for the problems a DM faces, how to view it, and how to work with it. I am an instant fan, love seeing videos like this.
Great video. I am starting in my very first worldbuilding project, and i really needed that video for me to understand more thing about what i need to do and how to do so. Thank you.
I am definitely suffering with my worldbuilding (I've rewritten certain parts maybe half a dozen times and still having issues lol) but let me say my hesitance to watch yet another worldbuilding video only to be pleasantly surprised by the way you described is was refreshing. I'm a visual learner so the rubix cube was an awesome way of describing it, thank you!
I found a good pace for my own world building, especially with the book that I'm working on now. I have planned out quite a bit, mostly cultural locations and geography, but I'm not going extreme about it. I like to partially discover my world as I go, and I'm more than happy to let a minor detail become a very large plot point, especially if it adds to the greater world. I've also been working on giving a progression of time passing. My book is an immortal wizard recounting his life, so I'm taking historical detail to give a sense of years passing, with the technology and fashion evolving around the main character.
I love the specific point you make around the 5:30 mark. I've seen stories where most people can use magic and there's just nothing, but I absolutely LOVE IT when a world's technology is centered around the use of the magical power they have. One specific story I love involves you seeing that the world is actively growing with the magical technology, but not in some super magic laser since, but more like "hey, we invented a flying vehicle, and we're just getting started on these things we like to call 'computers', pretty cool huh?" And the best part is it even went all the way down to light fixtures using this power and people having to go out and fix them.
I just discovered your channel and it has been a massive source of inspiration for me on my writing journey. I would love to see some of the stories you've written, and learn more about your experiences in storytelling. Usually I watch videos over 30 minutes long for information like this, but you cram so much good info into less than ten minutes. Amazing. I can't wait to see what you post next.
this video popped into my recommended, and I'm glad it did!! A couple of my friends and I are running our own "homebrew" D&D campaigns, and there are certain elements of world building that I admit to have struggled with that you have covered in this video!! Brilliant editing, and the analogy with the rubik's cube was very refreshing. Keep it up!!!
Bro this is great!! I think the biggest takeaway I got from this is that any aspect you add (I.e., everybody has magic) is gonna create a chain reaction. I think that’s honestly the best way to get over writer’s block, too - if you ask yourself questions about pretty much anything in your world, it’ll lead you to more questions, which will make your world even more in depth.
One of the ways I world build and come up with ideas is to listen to music. I think just listening to music that fits the vibe you are going for, laying down, and letting your imagination go wild is underrated. You have no idea how many cool fight scenes, dialogue, scenery, and characters you can make just by doing this. But this might just be a me thing because I spent a vast majority of my childhood listening to music and imagining the world that those instruments made. I highly recommend people do this, the best part is there almost always a song that fits what you’re looking for. Want a fantasy adventure? Look for songs that incorporate a lot of acoustic and stringed instruments. Want a sci-fi? Find songs that use techno and digital sounds. Want romance? Piano and cello. It’s amazing and it really recommend people try it
The first thing I think of when magic is introduced: So are the buildings made with magic? How did construction techniques evolve in a world where stone could be shaped with bare hands? Is wood more expensive because stone is easier to use? Would medieval poor housing even be ramshackle huts made of scrap or would they be simple mud cubes like a night 1 Minecraft house? Do nails even exist? It's such a simple train of thought but when you don't ask these questions there's a sense of diconnect when characters use magic to reshape mountains and yet live in a house that looks no different from a modern 3 bed 2 bath.
I've just recently gotten into writing and world building for D&D purposes. This is really eye opening and super helpful in many areas I've struggling with. Thank you for this wonderful insight!
For someone who only really does any writing and world building based around roleplay campaigns for my friends... I still found this really cool and well put together
genuinely rewatch this video a lot to try and stick all the points in my mind, it has helped a bunch with all of my stuff this mans videos are the best fr
I’m plagued with world builders disease often. It’s hard to balance what I’ll need with all the extra pieces of what I would I like to build out also. And I just recent started looking at the ripple effect like you mentioned of ‘ok but what else would this effect.’ and found a few jokes on my world I had to rewrite. My world is effected heavily by its origins so I was writing up a creation story and pantheon but quickly got overwhelmed trying to put too much in that didn’t cohesively work or focus on stuff that technically does not need my full attention yet. I got around that but after a bit was having some writers block I worked past and your video helped me understand why I did and how I can continue to keep writing so thank you.
As a Narrative Designer/Game Writer with Chronic Worldbuilders Syndrome, this was a *phenomenal* presentation, thank you! I'm working on a TTRPG world that has SO many things different that it's making me chronically worldbuild, and on one hand I'm trying to pump the brakes a little, but on the other hand I haven't even tried making a map of the primary settlements yet. XD
Oh now I am curious how Walter Moers (and other high fantasy authors) approached this. I absolutly feel u even I don't have any big projects I am working on I just write on little storys for myself
I feel like we need to build our world for a story. For example, if you create somewhere, there should be a reason for it to exist story-wise. You shouldn't have to create everything if it is not needed in the story now. Imagine it like a real time strategy game, the fog of war areas are not created yet. Whenever your characters needs a place, create it when it become needed. I hope it makes sense.
Na everything needs to be fleshed out. Even if just to you. Otherwise later in pitfalls of consistency happen. For example if your character is from a fun loving and light hearted family that almost perfect, but they end up having a secret heritage from a group that historically are violent and bloody, that’s got to show in the parents. Or how and why certain cultures are how they are. Is it a long standing history from many previous interactions with other cultures, a it primarily based off where they live or their ancestors lived, what kind of creatures exist. What formats do they follow, are there exceptions? Why do the exceptions get by. Do the exceptions exemplify the previously understood fundamental world or completely destroy it. For example, a world with magic where it still has the conservation of energy. But one character or creature doesn’t follow the rule? Why? How does this affect the world at large?
This is the first video I watch on your channel and I gotta say that I really like how you setup your script and how smooth your discourse is. I'll be checking out other videos on your channel!
This video is incredible, straight up. It covers so many aspects that I don’t think a lot of writers thought about when world building; including myself. Making sure that the story is consistent; but still flexible, deep and intricate; but still easy for readers/players/viewers can take in and appreciate. 10/10
I love world building for the sake of world-building and every point in this video is extremely accurate. Lately I have a problem where I don't have enough time to prep for my weekly session because I spend all my time writing historical events and dynastic politics ten thousand years in the past.
The best part about all this is that if you have any ideas that don’t quite fit into your world you can save it for another time if the concept really sticks with you.
I really think what most new authors struggle with are world building and character building. Both because too much focus is put on the story and how they want it to go. Or they have that cool idea you mentioned but fail to make it cohesive because *having* the cool thing in their story is all they end up caring about even if they don't realise that, which is usually the case.
this video is a good reminder on calming down with worldbuilding ^^;; i tend to go down rabbit holes on historical things that interest me (language, textiles, food) but theyre all small factors in the campaign i run and i end up with large holes in the story (which my players have yet to pick up on since were still early in the game but im sweating). gotta double down on building religions, since thats what the plot of my campaign is. itd be super great if you could make a video on it, i love your style of teaching, but im still gonna subscribe regardless cuz you seem like youve got some good wisdom to impart!
This is a very good introductory guide to worldbuilding. Also, I enjoyed the use of the Rubik's cube as a metaphor for the way that the different "sides" of worldbuilding need to sync up to form a cohesive whole. Excellent essay. I'll have to check out some of your other videos.
Ive been world building this one specific story and it's definitely proven to be a monumental task at first. Getting the large image down and explained then to work on refining it like scraping a steel brush on mount Everest is daunting. It's been a few months and to be honest I've had too many days where I overwork myself to migraine and sickness, but I love it so much and don't want to end it because it's so much fun to see the world function on its own. Thank you for making this comprehensive video on the process and where people can make mistakes, I definitely realized some points where I was at fault 😅 With your advice, I feel like I'm much more comfortable with this whole thing and have a clearer direction to go in. Thank you so much 🙏
This was a great video! I hope your channel will grow strong and prosperous. Seriously, your structure, around the rubix cube, was really interesting and creative, you made concise and clear points, it was great. I did have a little trouble keeping up with your pace, you were quite speedy, but nevertheless, you have earned a subscription and I am excited to see through the rest of your content.
Some of the best advice. Not only did you remind me what not to do with worldbuilding, but gave suggestions as well. I will definitely remember the “gradient” worldbuilding tip to combat worldbuilding disease & organize my world better.
Just want to throw in there a thank you. I've watched a lot of videos on worldbuilding and other things I need, but none brought me as much lucidity as you did. And what I think was the one missing key that no one else had not only mentioned but transmited: trust. Thank you!
I'm not a writer but I have been coming up with my own story of sorts just to get my mind of things, but over time I just kept adding things to it and somehow made a fun cohesive story in the style of anime. I was thinking of making it into full grown novel that I can publish some time soon. This video helped me a lot to change and correct some things in the world that I created and add some fun twists to it. Thanks for the advice 👍
I'm in the same boat I just found a cool idea and thought "hey what would happen if I made this into a story?" Which was something I tried to do in my head but they mainly end up as a few ideas and a bunch of set pieces
I absolutely loved this video. I've been slowly doing some worldbuilding for a story, and those are some of the pitfalls I don't want to fall into. It's funny that you mention the interplay between all the elements of a story. One of the things I did for practice was creating a world with very little magic and see how much the people could exploit it. Like, fire magic was useless for warfare because it takes years to be able to do the equivalent of a spray can and a lighter, but you could enchant certain materials to remain hot for a year, which means wizards could get hired to create hotsprings and fuelless steam engines.
Excellent video. The professionalism, editing, and script were all top notch. The engaging rubix cube metaphor and creative application made a solid outline that kept the flow of the story. Edit: I had a suggestion about some sort of background but I think the one you have actually adds a bit of character and you've already tried different backgrounds in other videos. You have a unique style and the narration was easy to listen to. Looking forward to binging whatever content youve posted
honestly the biggest thing about worldbuilding for me is actually providing a scientific explanation. having a fantasy world based on science to the point you believe it very well could be real. making it cinvincing AND realistic. i truly dont like reading stories or settings with aspects so out there. it really takes me out of the story and makes md go 'literally how. how is that logical' i like knowing everything there is to know about a series and it actually angers me the less i know. i dont get more interested in the series, i get LESS. i can create my own fantasy world if i have to theorize on half of another person's. it's basically my world at that point,the og author's story nothing more than a writing prompt. and thats sad. because it isnt just a writing prompt, it's something theyve spent many months on.
An excellent lesson, Sir! Just within 10 minutes and I am pretty sure you could go on for hours, offering even more useful detail. But you don't need to, since you spun a very convincing web, connecting relevant points with ease and elegance. Love your tempo, too :)
I really like the aspect of going away from laws of nature that we know. When I try to think of settings, I come up with nice ideas and then find myself in trouble to explain them scientifically. But yeah, sometimes it can just be magic. Or a mineral that doesn't exist in our world. Like, say you want to give the moon a different colour - or maybe two moons and each has its own colour. Our moon does not shine itself, it's the sun which is reflected. But your moon could radiate light of it's own. Or it could have this special mineral which swallows a part of the light spectre and therefore only appear in a specific colour. Or the moon could just be a source of magic itself. And the magic just so happens to be green.
World building is a really difficult task. I like the rubix cube analogy, because just like a rubix cube, you are always only a few steps away from success, but it rarely if ever looks like it, and sometimes something can look good from certain angles but be deceptively far away. In a story I am working on, the worldbuilding was kinda ehh for a while. A whole load of it just didn't make sense for the first few months of writing. To sum up as quick as possible, in this story there is a sort of connected dimension to our one, that has an analogous planet that is full of furries (anthropomorphic characters are cool) who can use magic. Humans can't. The history of the story starts somewhere around the 1700's-1800's, when a portal between worlds first opened. Fast forward to when the story takes place, the two worlds are at each others neck, because in the furry world there is a dude who is essentially a living nuke, who only needs a picture of a place that is accurate to just delete it. The human world wants to remove all the portals to keep the nuke guy out, as if he put his eyes on the human world he would have far more of a stranglehold, as they have less overall power, and the furries don't want the portals to be removed. But for a while, I didn't really have a reason why beyond them not being able to export magical items, so I got to thinking about the history. Why did they not have civilisation before humans contacted them? I mean they existed before then so why? The first step to figuring it out was developing the magic system, that there is something called mana which the human world does have in very small amounts, but the furry world just naturally has a shit ton of. The portals allow for mana to flow through them, increasing the amount in the human world and decreasing the amount in the furry one. Then it clicked, there needed to be some threat that only is a threat when there is enough mana around. Something that would force the furries to be nomadic, to not be able to build up significant civilisation, and the answer I came to is mana titans. Giant fuck off creatures that when mana is low, lay dormant. And this perfectly answered why the furries would want to keep the portals open so desperately. Like they want their towns and cities to not get trampled. This also answered a bunch of other problems I had, but this is the most significant and easy to explain. Overall I do think the advice is solid.
You could also do the twist the other way around Like have such giants be on earth, but they are dormant because of low mana But now that the portals are open, mana is increasing and the earth giants are waking up
I really love the cube metaphor and how much information it lets you put into a ten minute video. I got more out of this than some hour-long video essays on the topic. Wonderful work! You earned a sub.
That's some really good advice. I've been worldbuilding for a long time, and it still feels like I'm a novice. The thing is that once you get to a certain level of expertise then you wan't to go beyond it because worldbuilding is endless. Very wise to pull back and conserve your strength where it matters most. Subscribed.
As an ypung author (13) and someone who has been born with a intense creativity and imagination while still staying logical, I can say that all these points are things I just wanted to do. Ive only started worldbuliding 7 years ago and onlt started writing 3 years ago and Ive already seen how to improve my world. Im still buliding it, its never ending. I even incorporated myself into it and added a lot of lore. To those who are trying to worldbulid: This man's tips really do work. Ofc it will be hard to do it and a lot of the elemants in my own world comes from other stories. And creativity doesnt come as easily for some but use other stories as a starting point. Good luck on world buliding everyone!
Imagine my astonishment when I looked down to subscribe and saw the number 19k next to it. The quality of this video is amazing! If you had 190k, 500k, 1m, whatever, I would not have been shocked! You lay everything out clearly and concisely, you very obviously know what you are talking about, and the cuts don't detract from your flow of speech in the slightest! Easiest sub I've ever given!
this video really helped right my own board game campaign. i tend to fall into the trap of adding more and more without fleshing out what already exists. its really fun crafting your own world and cultures and kingdoms
As someone who has a idea, a concept which I wish to bring in reality, this video helped me quite a lot. I have weird hobby of imagining myself as a different person, traveling in a fantasy world, falling into the rabbit hole called "lore" and experiencing different kinds of emotion. I just find it very fascinating. I have been thinking of writing a book for a while, But the question came, "how do i begin?". Like every story has a prologue but how exactly am I supposed to begin this prologue, A prologue which doesn't feel like some kind of extra but an actual part of "My story" as a whole. To keep it short coz I know if I don't stop now, I will probably end up writing a whole essay. So to make it short I have a story, a really cool story in my mind but I have no idea where to begin but I think I can probably find an answer to it soon.
As a world builder who has created an expansive world over the years and is not trying to turn that into a table top game, this video is very refreshing. I like to world build as a hobby and now that I have a focused project to work on I have strained myself many times trying to get everything to work in a game setting. This has helped narrow my focus a good bit, thanks.
It’s a lot easier to worldbuild with multiple people I’ve found because they’re extra eyes will double check your ideas so they stay consistent with previous things. Having other critics around saying what’s good or bad or doesn’t matter is so useful as well.
As somebody who makes stories constantly, I appreciate this video so much. You basically explained everything I've been trying to explain for years now, and I'm so glad that I'm not the only person who thinks world building should be all crazy nonsense. I know people who put dragons in their stories, but never expand on the idea of what dragons would do to a society, and it always drives me crazy. If dragons just appeared one day, it would cause SO many things to change, but I see people put them in stories for the coolness alone. I always try to make stories where the various elements all fit together in such a way that rather than introducing new things to the story, I instead try to use the things I've already established to create new plot details. My biggest rule for world building is one I say all the time but until now I'd never heard anybody else talk about, that being "how would your universe influence the story, or even itself?"
I have a fantasy world that started out as just a magic system which I decided needed to be part of a story. This story was originally a modern fantasy but then I changed it to be an "otherworld" type story so I would have more control over the worldbuilding. The actual plot of this story I've gone back and forth on but recently I decided it would be partially a tale of adventure. I'm still working on more plot details and conflict for the story.
Honestly, I feel like worldbuilder's disease can also generally be called the storyteller's disease lol. It's especially relevant to worldbuilding, but the urge to plan out every single tiny little idea you have is a terrible thing so many struggle with across genres (and by so many, I mean me *specifically* btw).
Excellently put, especially your last point. It's easy to overlook how big of a role an author's existing reputation can play in the reception of their work, regardless of the qualities of that work in a vacuum
Such a great video, and explains one of the biggest issues with world building in a way I've never heard before. You are pointing out an issue I didn't even realize I was struggling with.
Tip for people with worldbuilding disease: Don't scrap ideas. If you made your world too big and complex, save your ideas that don't work for a later project where they'll work better.
A fantasy world does not have to be realistic, it just has to be *consistent.*
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it's because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't.” -Mark Twain
which is what I would call realistic in a story
It can even be consistently inconsistent
@@Brindlebrother Absolutely, just look at Terry Pratchett
@@SingingSealRianathe word is verisimilitude
I once heard a great phrase to describe the Iceberg type thinking, and it goes something like this, "When I'm enjoying a story, I don't need to know everything. But I need to FEEL like the author knows everything."
An acceptable corollary: 'or at least I need to believe the author knows what they're talking about.'
I saw a thing once about writing and it went into how even if the reader never sees all these details, you should have them plotted out.
The example was a caravan going between two cities. How much does the dragon-like beast pulling the wagons eat in a day? How long is the journey? How much space is devoted to the wagon pulling beasts food alone? How far can this caravan go each day before stopping to rest for the night?
@Zanfitto Ain't that the fucking truth😂
@Zanfitto How dare you call me out like this
@@daefaronmad respect to the authors you can clearly feel do this
I'm not necessarily a writer but I love daydreaming about all sorts of stories and this was an incredibly well done video with really intriguing information!
Here's to us dreamers! tbh even tho I don't have a knowledge in creative writing, I'm still gonna try cuz those daydreams just hit different lol. We can do anything if we put our minds to it!
me too😁
But if you like them, maybe note them down? If not now, maybe later they`ll come handy. Maybe some time later you`ll find a note about idea which you already forgot and get a boost of inspiration from it.
We can dream with logic now 🧐
@@katebank14 And even because if you don't write down the time you will erase those interesting or not interesting ideas that you could use.
I love that moment while worldbuilding where you're just toying around with ideas, trying to get the plan of something in your world, when suddenly it clicks with another idea and you realise your working your way around the shape of something else. Something you didn't plan, and that didn't occur to you before, but that makes absolute perfect sense given everything you've created already, and fills in a gap you didn't even know was there.
You can see the cohesion in your ideas, and it feels like you discovered something rather than invented it.
Because, like Mell said, worldbuilding is like a puzzle. You just don't know what the puzzle will look like completed, but if you keep at it, and try to look for the edge pieces, things will start to fit together.
It's even more intresting cause you're the one who create that puzzle, but even you don't know how to sold that puzzle, it's like getting lost at a maze of ideas that changes continuously and somehow find a way out.
@@tuitui2683 Yeah it's almost as if the world the world is building itself through *you* sometimes
This comment thread is gold
In fact, the author discovers himself as he writes.
That is the best and most accurate description of what happens to me at the most random times. Like sometimes I'm on the bus and then something just clicks and I jot it down in my sketchbook and I build off of that and go on a completely separate tangent from what I originally set out to do. I end up loving how perfectly it fits and how it also ties into the lore of the important characters and such. Describing that as a puzzle is an amazing metaphor
Your explanation of "rule of cool" really spoke to me. It's not that the rules should be ignored to put fun stuff in, but more that the rules should exist to serve the fun stuff. If you think that crazy animals are cool, don't say "yeah this world is normal and pretend that the crazy animals make sense", instead build rules around the cool things you want to put in. This inspired me to retcon a bunch of things in my fantasy world because I realized that they aren't fun, they aren't cool, and they limit me unneccesarily. Thanks!
Either the world informs why, or the beasties and the like inform how.
Worldbuilder's disease is definitely the problem I struggle with the most. I'm one of those people who will create an entire constructed language so that the names in my novel will be linguistically consistent. The upside to this is that it does enhance cohesion; knowing details like how the main characters' language functions is actually quite useful in developing their culture, which in turn informs how the characters and those around them will act and react in the story.
How do you go about that? I've been struggling with whether or not I want to develop conlangs for my world. The benefits are as you said, I just don't know if I want to commit quite that hard. Plus, it's honestly just really difficult. One of the species in my world lives under water and communicate via sign language. Usually I just say they're signing and write out the translation in < > instead of quotations. But I will sometimes need to develop a sign, and if I get to the point I want, this will be in a visual medium, so that's gonna have to be nailed down by then.
@@Dracosfire14 wouldnt it be better when they communicate through sound like wales, dolphins and other sealife animals? It would be similar to human, but at the same time, different. A Communication only with hand signs sounds a little bit strange and...not very handy? And how did they communicate before creating sign language then? There has to be something in their evolution, that let them communicate before it. everything else would be strange.
Creating symbols or languages arent that insane hard. It just needs some starter Knowledge about linguistics, what can easily be aquired (for example: with several starter books for linguistics or just some online research. Like: what sorts of languages are there? Wich vowels, consonants are there? where do you produce the sounds you want to use? Then use the sounds, that are produced at the same spot and so on.)
When its only about signs, then its linguistics again. There are several examples in our history like the northman/Vikings symbols, which we use in some areas to that day (Bluetooth symbol for example). They evolved mostly from symbols, that matched the object it described and got broken down from there. You can take this as a rule.
Hope this helps you a little bit.
@@Painsjustice "A communication only with hand signs sounds a bit strange and... not very handy?"
Have you not heard of Deaf people? Sign languages aren't uncommon and they *do* constitute an actual language of their own. Sound isn't necessary for the definition of language. Language just has to be able to have some properties, like communication of meaning, metaphorical speech or even self-reference and recursion, stuff that is possible with sign languages.
EDIT: I found the full list of properties that it's considered that all human languages have and that any language like ours should have. Those are Displacement (being able to communicate meaning about nonexistent and abstract notions), Reflexivity (being able to refer to the language itself), Arbitrariness (there's no connection to a language with what it describes, that's just how we interpret it), Productivity (being able to produce a theoretically infinite amount of unique messages), Cultural Transmission (Language is not innate, but inherited through cultural interaction), Discreteness (the symbols a language uses do not overlap in meaning. They are discrete) and Duality (a finite amount of symbols can create a theoretically infinite amount of meaningful messages)
Another way to see it is that languages are nothing more than a bunch of symbols strung together that obey some transformation and construction rules (check more on formal languages, a whole subset of Mathematics and Logic and Linguistics. It also ties in with how the properties of language where defined above). What these symbols actually are, how they realised, and what they mean is up to interpretation, an interpretation that should generally be able to check out all the properties for languages as we know them. That's why we have multiple languages that use the Latin alphabet, whilst they all have different phonologies. Or why even Mathematics itself *can* be considered a language.
There are also animals that communicate with no kind of sound whatsoever. Bees and ants are a prime example, that use movement and pheromones to communicate meaning. They are not quite languages, as they don't have the other properties human languages have, but it's not absurd to think that there could be a scenario that these *could* develop into proper languages, should ever bees or ants achieve sapience. Even one of the theories of creation of language in humans assumes that sound tried to imitate, in part, body part movements.
Meanwhile my idea of linguistically consistent names is I shuffle related words to what the character is. Wizard who wandered into the fey wild as a child? Faerie Folk -> Klof Eireaf. Circle of Stars Druid that grew up with a fascination with constellations? Star Child Druid -> Diurd D'Lih Crats. Haunted One Bard? Eno D. Etnuah. The latest one was the only one I swapped letters out to force something it resembled. Nature Domain Cleric -> Sir (C->S) Oderu Niamtan Elk (C->K). Other than that, I'd say they're pretty consistent...ly hard to remember how to pronounce. 😆
@@bigshrekhorner Did you even read what i wrote, Mate? I am studying linguistics and just wrote a scientific term paper about the roots of language and how it influences, if it influences, our cognition and i am well aware of deaf people. What an assumption gosh. His text was about a whole species that only communicates with sign language. This would be extremly unusual in nature, where every single species has a way to communiacte that is not even close to a sign language. And i didnt say (and thats important mate, pls dont assume things i did not say in that way) that sound would be the only way. OF COURSE there are several other ways of animal Communication. Sound was just an example, because it its "similar" to humans, but still different (+ it is under water, so sound kinda makes more sense then smell for most of the time)
Furthermore i never said that sign language is something uncommon. It is uncommon to have a species to only communicate through this form. PLS read first and comment then, especially when you are not familiar with the topic.
Edit: Btw. you have to differentiate between spoken and written language, because spoken language has nothing to do with symbols. A first form of written languages came way later then spoken languages. we tied symbols to the sounds later, but they arent needed for a language. So no, language is not just a bunch of Symbols strung together.
Didn't realize how fresh to the scene you were until I went to hit the like button. As a world builder, I really appreciate having a simple, but comprehensive list of checks I can go to when I'm stumped or swallowed. Thanks for putting it together in such a clean and charming way ^ ^
appreciate the comment!
@@ecyinka Genuinely surprised this guy has so little subs
@@ecyinka You earned a sub for this one. I'm excited to see what other content you have! As a writer and novice world builder, this will be so helpful for me!
Amen, Casey. This video addressed many of the problems I have in DnD campaign creation.
Thanks M. Pitcher. Your insights and clear presentation are much appreciated.
@@ecyinka IMO one of the best points you made was in the connecting structure how something like Culture, History, and Religion aren't independent aspects to focus on they instead could get sorted out as you are working on connected aspects.
As a writer it's always helpful to have reminders and apparent no-brainers in your back pocket. Reinforcements such as these are priceless
especially the stagnant part 🤣🤣.
Eloquently put
A few things I love about this video:
1. The rubik's cube metaphor. It REALLY helped me stay on track and remember what was happening!
2. Your accent. It's lovely :D
3. The mentioning of my favorite series in the history of ever (The Stormlight Archive).
4. The fact that all of the tips feed into each other and work well. :)
This is super cool and helpful! :D
You are adorable! I love your humor. Subscribed!
@%Black Rose% you're looking at just the surface of the iceberg.
Tolkien’s son published the Silmarillion after his death…so false statement misinformation to say he planned to publicize it. Not a great start.
KALADIN STORMBLESSED
It's spelled Rubik's
8:35 - Since you mentioned Discworld in the beginning, I love how every book that takes place in the present leaves its mark on the world and slowly but surely the world itself changes, even though each book's story is largely self-contained. It never felt like Pratchett tried to build a world the way Tolkien or even Martin did, but Discworld nevertheless feels so real and _alive!_
Discworld is one of my favourite series, ive always found the world so incredibly interesting and I'm so glad it was mentioned in this
Just this morning I was meditating on how fast I would trade my whole Government for one Vetinari.
Or better yet, put them in front of him, explaining to them that everything is their personal problem now.
I know where you live, now don't let me detain you :)
I had the same feeling as a kid reading Piers Anthony's Xanth novels. He built his worlds incrementally with each book taking part in a different region or time period with each story being self contained and stand alone, yet dozens of books later a fully fleshed out world and history was created we got to be there every step of the way. When a later book makes a reference to a different time or place we don't just know about it, it's bringing up a personal story from our history with the series.
As a fellow sufferer of Worldbuilder's Disease I'm slowly learning that it's just not possible to work out literally everything, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. Like you said, working with your reader's imagination (by giving them enough and letting them fill in the blanks) instead of against it (by dictating every detail to them) can enhance your world massively. They say two minds are better than one after all.
Any chance for a part 2? Always looking for more mistakes to add to my story!
working on a part 2 already. not necessarily mistakes but just as relevant 😁
I had Worldbuilder's disease for a long time as well. But slowly, very slowly, my setting has taken shape as I learned more about the genre as a whole. Today, I'm pretty happy with my setting, and I think things are at a pretty good, though still not finished, point.
Without unpredictability comes no Chaos, with no Chaos comes no Order. If you plan out everything you are going to feel like you need to use everything which sure would be cool, but is it healthy for your story? Not knowing specific things and only teasing them or guessing them is great, especkally when you mix in a bit of Chaos
@@justsomerandomassalbinobear
I am both Order and Chaos... Creator of Fate... But omnipotence is rather rare to see others who can master it.
In other words... I can design stories down to the details without thinking too much about it. Endless creations upon my endless dreams.
A good strategy I've been learning to combat Worldbuilder's Disease is to take 3 or so characters at an equal level, figure out what I want them to do, and figure out what I want the power level to be.
Reason being if I have 3 areas to play with I can explore a manageable part of the world, I can figure out how their 3 different abilities/mindsets work, then I can adjust the natural laws to reign in their abilities.
I've found it works well for politics (3 factions in a town, each with different goals) for slice of life (a baker a cop and a gang boss walk into a bar) and of course for fantasy.
The best way to visualize it is that I take 3 seeds, plant them beside each other, and let them grow into each other. Then based on their needs, and the fruit I want from it, I adjust the mulch and water.
After having for years developed my D&D setting mostly for the fun of it (as in, I have a +30,000 word long docs document of mostly summarized info about the world... plus a bunch of stuff that's just in my head), I find it very interesting to see how different of a process that is compared to how I'm worldbuilding for an actual story I'm working on. With the D&D world the goal was "make a world where no matter where my players decide to go and whatever they decide to do, I'll have an idea of what will be available to happen". Whereas with my "story based world" the goal is to frame the story. And I've repeatedly caught myself drifting into old habits when I've gone on tangents developing aspects of the world that I don't need. And so having this video as a bit of a template to keep me focused is of great help.
In your DnD world you're treating it like an open world RPG. In your book you're treating it more like a movie where the camera is locked and the ending is predetermined.
@@AdrianW3D Although there's always room for re-adjustment!
just make sure the person lives in the world and not that the world lives around the person... like if you have a story of a guy with the power to keep buffs active for forever don't make it so that buffing people is the main way they fight in the world but make it so that for example magic is the main way and there are a few buff spells. it's kinda hard to explain but hope you get what i'm saying. because if you don't you'll get a story where it feels almost artificial because all that happens looks like plot armor.
@@leeuwengames315 i get what you're saying, but also look at it this way: in a world where "buffing people is the main way they fight", who's more likely to save the world, the guy with the buffing power or the guy with some other random power? and is the story going to be about some random guy, or the specific one who saves the world?
you have a point, i'm just saying that if you do have a character that seems to have "too good" of a power, it can still make sense. the story is about that guy BECAUSE he has the perfect power, and if he didn't, then the story might be about someone else instead.
I would really love to get access to that document.
I loved the tip about blurring the boundaries. Dimitri Glukhovsy did this really well in Metro 2033. The characters there try to explain the "old world" and what they say is often inconsistent with the real world, muddying the waters and making you distrust all the information he gives you about his world because it could all be only the character's beliefs and not the factual truth.
The hardest of making something realistic is that anything you add that isn't in reality, is gonna scramble down easily
I used to make stories only based on the world and I would just be so frustrated because everything felt like an info-dump. So I took a break from writing and I started reading more and I realised the world is just decoration (for most stories). I started thinking "What world will help the story I envision come to life?". my inspiration for stories comes at random and Ill imagine a compelling and emotional scene that I want to see fleshed out. The world can be whatever I want it to be, so I twist and bend it to my liking so that it makes sense and it leads to the ending I want to see. Creating a story from the middle-end then expanding outward works the best for me it seems
I am not a writer at all, but I really love to hear authors' approaches and techniques. You got yourself a new subscriber.
I have learned to accept the fact that I am terminally ill, I will embrace worldbuilding disease till it kills me. It goes back to that point you made about cohesiveness. I love writing things out that spawn new ideas or that connect lose threads and seeing the entire tapestry of my world fill in, even if nobody else sees it. Granted I am much more down with the sickness when I’m writing for my D&D world since my players can interact with everything always all the time, I can definitely see the wisdom in chilling lit a little when it comes to my other work.
For me, The purpose of my medieval (And also renaissance and sci-fi since I have multiple time periods) fantasy setting is just a tool to help me learn more effectively. So the disease is actually the point. The more I meticulously flesh out my own world, The more I learn about our real one. And that knowledge actually sticks because I have applied it practically.
I'm like that too, I have a whole high fantasy world that I've been building since I was a kid. I rarely get to actually writing for any specific characters because I have so many (I love creating characters). I love the actual worldbuilding part and weaving everything together which sometimes spawns new ideas too. I've also incorporated elements from dreams I've had. If I actually write a full story in my world, you'd only see a fraction of the world I've created. A lot of the information will probably always be just for me.
Exactly. Every part of the world must be connected, even if I'm the only one who sees the connection, at least I worked it out ahead of time for all who ask about that detail XD
Something that may help you with your _illness_ : think that in our own world, not a single person can know everything in science, history, politics and culture. It's too much.
You would need to do that for your world if you want the full icerberg, which is impossible for a single person to even hold that much knowledge.
As a world builder, I can confidently say that this is the most helpful and informative advice I’ve ever received. Definitely makes me want to create more
My guy, I have been roleplaying for 23 years. A dm for so long and the more i learned and tried the harder everything became until ive been crushed under the weight of my own stories. Thank you. F*cking Thank you. Fr. im sharing you with my community. THIS is what i NEEDED to hear.
I really like the cube metaphor for world building - I’m a slow worldbuilder myself, but I definitely know the feeling of a few squares suddenly slotting into place and changing the context of the whole thing. It may have even happened while watching this video!
I did not just got a good advise my brain made up some weird worldbuilding ideas while watching XD
I ended up scrapping my entire book idea for a comic because I’m more visual and I know I can art good enough for it (or even pay friends to help) because it didn’t work for the world building I wanted to do.
I ended up changing a core concept in my world that makes it so much better, for a while I haven't had a plot idea for it but now I got a really fun plot
Bro I'm writing a D&D campaign rn and you just gave me an hour's worth of info in like 5 minutes (I watch youtube on 2x speed because most videos talk way too slow). Your metaphors were really useful and helped me figure out a couple things that have been bugging me for a while. Thanks for making a really good, compact video.
Welp, you've just earned yourself another subscriber and now I'm rewatching the video on regular speed to give the algorithm that sweet sweet watch time.
glad i could help! here’s to emotionally destroying your PCs🥂
@@ecyinka I wouldn't say destroying... just tenderizing a little ;)
Soooo, if you want to traumatize your players a bit. Have them adventuring on the surface, when a purple worm comes and starts a battle with them. When they get it about half dead and its about to strike, have a roc come down and just grab it for a meal(considering that a roc has a 200 feet wingspan, it will be scary. As well show the interaction of fauna in the world)
@@SkadiaXD you remind me of the Warcraft 3 Abomination when you say tenderize 😅 Nice to MEAT you! 🔨 🍖
As someone who does a lot of fantasizing about other worlds and would like to one day either make a comic or write a book this is good info. Most of my previous ideas had revolved around "bad guy in fantasy/sci-fi world, need to beat him, cool fights" and after about a few months I start running into the "why is this this way?" issue and start thinking of a new story, but over the last few years I’ve been really into a sci-fi idea I had after watching some space documentary and I’ve slowly been thinking about it off and on trying to figure out the why. I really need to sit down and start writing stuff out though cause I’ve kinda dead ended on the overall story and I want a bit more than what I have thought out
I mean, you can do that an still have the cool scenes if you want it that way.
As the saying goes, every villain is the hero of his own story. Exploring a bit of the antagonist's view is and what is the point of conflict between the antagonist and your main characters can bring quite a bit of depth to your story. Consider Magneto (at least in most of his depictions).
I promise you that the hardest thing in the world is actually just sitting down and writing. The difficulties in the world/characters/narrative can be incredibly frustrating and take a long time to fix, but if you write, and write consistently, inspiration will come! As someone who would give the world up for writing, it can take me hours to get the first few words down. Once I'm into it, though, it almost reveals itself. Good luck making that fantasy a reality someday soon :)
@The Fifth Horseman oh yea I know, but my thought process was "fight scene, fight scene, fight scene". No lore or world building besides what would make cooler fights. I mean you could make that work, look at the expendables movies, but I couldn't get super into the story side of it.
@Willem Cahill-Chiaroni yea, im having trouble just sitting down and actually start writing. Need to get back into drawing too, haven't drawn outside of a few doodles in 3 years
I think there are two things often missed about world building. The first is that a story is read one line at a time, so page by page or game by game is how you will reveal your world to your players or readers. The second is that creating is an iterative process. You need world building to have a setting for your plot so you first create a world. You write your story and then that leads to a bit more world building, back and forth it goes world-building and story. I would lean on heavy world building because that is how you will have unique motivations and exciting developments for your plot, scenario ot story.
I usually first start with the main characters and some key scenes and build the world around that😄
@@lightborn9071 Same here, to an extend. At the very least, I want to figure out early on what type of characters or theme I want to move the story with, and some of the key scenes that I want to be memorable/significant to the main story. Then from there I imagine the basis of the world itself, start from small regional and surface level, and then expand outwards as far as I want my world to extend - and once I reach a desired end, I go back again and add details and complexity along the way until I reach the small regional space from where I started - which acts as the center stage, and I fill it out with everything that is necessary to the storyline I have been parallelly imagining on the side. And lastly, I return to my core characters, I use the world I have now established in great detail, and use it to flesh out the characters fully and provide the context for their motivations, their desires, their fears, and the specific circumstances they're currently in.
This bounce from small scale, to big scale, then back to small scale, tends to work great when you want to ensure a high level of consistency and relevance - as you don't hyperfocus on one area at a time but instead let each part naturally influence each other.
I'm writing a slavic fantasy novel RN, based mostly on russian mythology. And it's been astonishingly hard for me not to throw an info about everything to my future reader. I feel like the problem is that the lore of my universe is way more interesting then the main plot itself.
Thank you for the video! It really helped me to understand the problem. Can't wait for more content from you!
This might be unwanted advice, but if the lore itself is interesting then maybe you can make a few key plot points hinge on discovering secrets about the world that recontextualizes previous mysteries.
E.g. maybe a child is kidnapped by someone, and you have a mystery about who it is. Later, you discover that it's Baba Yaga (the only name I know from that tradition) who took the child, but you have a new mystery because you don't know why she would be interested in that particular child. So, the Lord takes your original question and turns it into a different question.
@@ianhruday9584nderstand your point. Bad example though - Baba Yaga does kidnap kids, it's one of a multitude things she does. It's not "why", it's just like Santa giving gifts or Haron transporting the dead. She's literally Russian Haron, half alive, half dead, always old, always young and truly immortal.
Perhaps a metaphor for early medieval child mortality as Baba Yaga originally keeps the gate between life and death. And a teaching not to run away to the forest that may be dangerous.
Baba Yaga is one of the characters who's at least maiar Tolkien wise, probably even originates as a pagan deity. There's a lot of things misterious and inhuman to her, less of a human, more of a natural force, she's not written as a character with human logic unless it's a very modern adaptation.
@@annasolovyeva1013 fair enough. I don't know Eastern European folklore very well.
You might not want to hear this, but I feel like I read something similar in response to someone else having this issue once upon a time: If the lore is more interesting than your main story that you're trying to write out, maybe you're writing the wrong story? Pull a Tolkien and write your Simarilion. :) Heck, maybe then your main story will come more easily and be more enjoyable to write.
Thats not a bad thing. Personally i find myself going back to AsoIaFs contemporary and spinoff stuff about its world than the plot itself.
Good points. Another leaky issue: If you make water flow up-hill you may have created a situation where players will have problems and/or create problems for you. Whenever you break the real-world reality, it helps if you take a few minutes to think of how your change can be abused by players - or how it would be abused by cultures in your world. It may be far more interesting to say "The river Eyra flows uphill from Lake Tarkin to Lake Gersist" and leave it at that. This mysterious river will be more exciting than having all water misbehave.
Unfortunatly your players will thing a lot longer than a few minutes about how to exploit it.
I have to say, I adored the rubik cube framework for the entire video and how it was seamlessly used to compartmentalize your thoughts. Got yourself a new subscriber!
That iceberg speech was brilliant.
Yeah, I suffer from Worldbuilders Disease. I love including small details.
I've been doing world building though D&D for a long time. This is phenomenal. +1 for mentioning the expanse. Currently reading Wheel of Time and it's a masterclass in World Building.
Brandon Sanderson's "hollow iceberg" analogy is the best rendition of the classic iceberg. You create the illusion that there's more depth to be explored, and also leaving room to expand on those hints you left later if you so wish.
Give yourself and your world rules and boundaries. Nothing like having to tell yourself no, only to figure out a workaround that makes sense within that universe. The classic, "No I can't do that..... but maybe this?"
Really think this channel has tons of potential. Can't wait to see how far you go
I thought the same
Having just finished rereading The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, I would like to add one more detail.All these authors have told a story while they’re world building. And THAT is something we can learn from them.
A good writer will give all the pieces of their world to the reader. A great writer will to do it slowly while focusing on something else. I see a lot of writers (myself included) that like to frontload lore, and that can be a slog. Never be afraid to hold things back until later, when it matters.
worldbuilding is necessary and required for telling a good story
For a rather small creator, you present extraordinarily well! Was expecting to see 100k + subs! Glad to get in on the ground floor :)
0:26 god I love storm light art work. I'm such a nerd for this so I really appreciate it
"We can't know every detail of the world"
BY THE POWER OF MY STAND!
*IMPROV!!!*
Your quoting of Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory had me laughing hysterically. Bravo. And excellent reasoning. I absolutely loved world-building for my RPG campaign, and to a degree I was going so far and so deep just for fun, but your advice, suggestions, and warnings are excellent.
Speaking as a sci-fi world-builder in the most trying of subgenres, speculative fiction, one of the greatest pieces of advice I can give is to decide how much you are willing to fudge reality EARLY. I have taken a FIRM 70/30 rule in favor of realism. I am willing to bend elements of real life to get an interesting story or visual, but too much can get outlandish quickly, especially as I am trying to build a world centered around politics and philosophy. If I need to mess with reality to get a space fight in the middle of an asteroid field inside of a magnetic storm, then I will, but it has to make sense within the context of the universe.
such an interesting process 🧐 might have to try that sometime
I was making a dnd campaign. All the players were on an island that was actually a dragon turtle. The inhabitants of the island helped protect the turtle. In creating the history of the island and the relationship between turtle and people, I somehow spiraled into make a population chart. For all 200 years of history. How many people died, were born, new people who washed up on the island. I stressed over making this perfect for 4 painful hours, carefully lining it up with major events on the timeline. This was not necessary for the campaign.
I would suggest that you don't start the campaign with the players.
You start it with their ancestors as a series of prequels...
You start the campaign as a one-shot 200 years in the past, at the beginning where the ancestors of the players were actually present and then simply skip through your timeline with a series of one-shots where the descendants of the original ancestors are present to bear witness to the events you've worked through.
As an added bonus, you'll tell your players that their actions, dreams, and ideas may and will indeed impact the future of the homestead (if you're feeling generous) from which the actual campaign will start out at.
I've used this method multiple times to have the players truly connect to their homestead (because let's face it. Waaaaay before the moment they hit double digit levels, they've long since departed from whatever small hamlet/back alley that they grew up in) so that they would never forget their roots, and even return to have the area prosper.
I can not stress how important this "connection" piece is. I have spent A LOT of time thinking about how the different things that I originally came up with interact with each other and really the coolest stuff came out of these thinking sessions because it pushes you to synthesis two cool things into something truly original.
Honestly i was expecting a video talking down on me about common issues which I knew about and solved, and while I dont have some of the problems in this video, it's incredibly well made and definitely earned my sub
A very nice video. Very good pacing and I really like you're cube metaphor. I agree with your PoV that while creating in-world-explanations (like with the magical creatures) this can inspire you to automatically create more consequences that all feel connected in the end. It's a really fun and rewarding part of worldbuilding in my opinion :)
You also have very nice energy on screen. I'm looking forward to seeing where this channel will go from here. Keep up the great work.
Greetings from a fellow world-building fanatic from Germany :)
Binge re-reading a ton of Sanderson's works right now and being inspired again, that I want to create something that beautiful. I've struggled a long time with where to start, and paralysis over what should come first. This video sets out a way clearer set of steps, it's very helpful for ADHD people like me.
Love that you talked about making things interconnected as a way to make it all feel more natural. Sanderson is a great example of how a ludicrous biome is made approachable by showing the reader how everything, from smallest critter to largest predator, has adapted to exist within it.
Will be keeping an eye on your next videos!
I LOVE THE GENTLEMEN BASTARDS 4:48 unironically one of my favorite series of all time next to the seventh tower. This video is incredible for helping my brain want write too. youre incredible dude.
Randomly came across your video and many times I feel like 98% of what is said in videos like this is something I already know and not really usable this is one of the best descriptions for the problems a DM faces, how to view it, and how to work with it.
I am an instant fan, love seeing videos like this.
Great video. I am starting in my very first worldbuilding project, and i really needed that video for me to understand more thing about what i need to do and how to do so. Thank you.
I am definitely suffering with my worldbuilding (I've rewritten certain parts maybe half a dozen times and still having issues lol) but let me say my hesitance to watch yet another worldbuilding video only to be pleasantly surprised by the way you described is was refreshing. I'm a visual learner so the rubix cube was an awesome way of describing it, thank you!
I found a good pace for my own world building, especially with the book that I'm working on now. I have planned out quite a bit, mostly cultural locations and geography, but I'm not going extreme about it. I like to partially discover my world as I go, and I'm more than happy to let a minor detail become a very large plot point, especially if it adds to the greater world. I've also been working on giving a progression of time passing. My book is an immortal wizard recounting his life, so I'm taking historical detail to give a sense of years passing, with the technology and fashion evolving around the main character.
1:19 “And then trying to build every single aspect of your world.”
Me: *sweats nervously* 👁👄👁
I love the specific point you make around the 5:30 mark. I've seen stories where most people can use magic and there's just nothing, but I absolutely LOVE IT when a world's technology is centered around the use of the magical power they have. One specific story I love involves you seeing that the world is actively growing with the magical technology, but not in some super magic laser since, but more like "hey, we invented a flying vehicle, and we're just getting started on these things we like to call 'computers', pretty cool huh?" And the best part is it even went all the way down to light fixtures using this power and people having to go out and fix them.
I just discovered your channel and it has been a massive source of inspiration for me on my writing journey. I would love to see some of the stories you've written, and learn more about your experiences in storytelling. Usually I watch videos over 30 minutes long for information like this, but you cram so much good info into less than ten minutes. Amazing. I can't wait to see what you post next.
this video popped into my recommended, and I'm glad it did!! A couple of my friends and I are running our own "homebrew" D&D campaigns, and there are certain elements of world building that I admit to have struggled with that you have covered in this video!!
Brilliant editing, and the analogy with the rubik's cube was very refreshing. Keep it up!!!
Bro this is great!!
I think the biggest takeaway I got from this is that any aspect you add (I.e., everybody has magic) is gonna create a chain reaction. I think that’s honestly the best way to get over writer’s block, too - if you ask yourself questions about pretty much anything in your world, it’ll lead you to more questions, which will make your world even more in depth.
One of the ways I world build and come up with ideas is to listen to music. I think just listening to music that fits the vibe you are going for, laying down, and letting your imagination go wild is underrated. You have no idea how many cool fight scenes, dialogue, scenery, and characters you can make just by doing this. But this might just be a me thing because I spent a vast majority of my childhood listening to music and imagining the world that those instruments made. I highly recommend people do this, the best part is there almost always a song that fits what you’re looking for. Want a fantasy adventure? Look for songs that incorporate a lot of acoustic and stringed instruments. Want a sci-fi? Find songs that use techno and digital sounds. Want romance? Piano and cello. It’s amazing and it really recommend people try it
The first thing I think of when magic is introduced: So are the buildings made with magic? How did construction techniques evolve in a world where stone could be shaped with bare hands? Is wood more expensive because stone is easier to use? Would medieval poor housing even be ramshackle huts made of scrap or would they be simple mud cubes like a night 1 Minecraft house?
Do nails even exist?
It's such a simple train of thought but when you don't ask these questions there's a sense of diconnect when characters use magic to reshape mountains and yet live in a house that looks no different from a modern 3 bed 2 bath.
I've just recently gotten into writing and world building for D&D purposes. This is really eye opening and super helpful in many areas I've struggling with. Thank you for this wonderful insight!
I’m wrapping up a 5-year campaign that I started at age 22.
Naturalistic worldbuilding will take your worlds to new heights.
For someone who only really does any writing and world building based around roleplay campaigns for my friends... I still found this really cool and well put together
genuinely rewatch this video a lot to try and stick all the points in my mind, it has helped a bunch with all of my stuff this mans videos are the best fr
I’m plagued with world builders disease often. It’s hard to balance what I’ll need with all the extra pieces of what I would I like to build out also. And I just recent started looking at the ripple effect like you mentioned of ‘ok but what else would this effect.’ and found a few jokes on my world I had to rewrite. My world is effected heavily by its origins so I was writing up a creation story and pantheon but quickly got overwhelmed trying to put too much in that didn’t cohesively work or focus on stuff that technically does not need my full attention yet. I got around that but after a bit was having some writers block I worked past and your video helped me understand why I did and how I can continue to keep writing so thank you.
As a Narrative Designer/Game Writer with Chronic Worldbuilders Syndrome, this was a *phenomenal* presentation, thank you!
I'm working on a TTRPG world that has SO many things different that it's making me chronically worldbuild, and on one hand I'm trying to pump the brakes a little, but on the other hand I haven't even tried making a map of the primary settlements yet. XD
Oh now I am curious how Walter Moers (and other high fantasy authors) approached this.
I absolutly feel u even I don't have any big projects I am working on I just write on little storys for myself
I feel like we need to build our world for a story. For example, if you create somewhere, there should be a reason for it to exist story-wise. You shouldn't have to create everything if it is not needed in the story now. Imagine it like a real time strategy game, the fog of war areas are not created yet. Whenever your characters needs a place, create it when it become needed.
I hope it makes sense.
you described a chekhov, if something exists in detail, it means you should use it at some point in your story
Na everything needs to be fleshed out. Even if just to you.
Otherwise later in pitfalls of consistency happen.
For example if your character is from a fun loving and light hearted family that almost perfect, but they end up having a secret heritage from a group that historically are violent and bloody, that’s got to show in the parents.
Or how and why certain cultures are how they are. Is it a long standing history from many previous interactions with other cultures, a it primarily based off where they live or their ancestors lived, what kind of creatures exist. What formats do they follow, are there exceptions? Why do the exceptions get by. Do the exceptions exemplify the previously understood fundamental world or completely destroy it.
For example, a world with magic where it still has the conservation of energy. But one character or creature doesn’t follow the rule? Why? How does this affect the world at large?
This is a great video! The editing and pacing is very nicely put together, and I enjoyed all the tips! Keep up the great work
This is the first video I watch on your channel and I gotta say that I really like how you setup your script and how smooth your discourse is. I'll be checking out other videos on your channel!
This video is incredible, straight up. It covers so many aspects that I don’t think a lot of writers thought about when world building; including myself. Making sure that the story is consistent; but still flexible, deep and intricate; but still easy for readers/players/viewers can take in and appreciate.
10/10
I love world building for the sake of world-building and every point in this video is extremely accurate. Lately I have a problem where I don't have enough time to prep for my weekly session because I spend all my time writing historical events and dynastic politics ten thousand years in the past.
The best part about all this is that if you have any ideas that don’t quite fit into your world you can save it for another time if the concept really sticks with you.
I really think what most new authors struggle with are world building and character building. Both because too much focus is put on the story and how they want it to go. Or they have that cool idea you mentioned but fail to make it cohesive because *having* the cool thing in their story is all they end up caring about even if they don't realise that, which is usually the case.
this video is a good reminder on calming down with worldbuilding ^^;; i tend to go down rabbit holes on historical things that interest me (language, textiles, food) but theyre all small factors in the campaign i run and i end up with large holes in the story (which my players have yet to pick up on since were still early in the game but im sweating). gotta double down on building religions, since thats what the plot of my campaign is. itd be super great if you could make a video on it, i love your style of teaching, but im still gonna subscribe regardless cuz you seem like youve got some good wisdom to impart!
This is a very good introductory guide to worldbuilding. Also, I enjoyed the use of the Rubik's cube as a metaphor for the way that the different "sides" of worldbuilding need to sync up to form a cohesive whole. Excellent essay. I'll have to check out some of your other videos.
2:59 "...What a lovely man!" hahha
Ive been world building this one specific story and it's definitely proven to be a monumental task at first. Getting the large image down and explained then to work on refining it like scraping a steel brush on mount Everest is daunting. It's been a few months and to be honest I've had too many days where I overwork myself to migraine and sickness, but I love it so much and don't want to end it because it's so much fun to see the world function on its own. Thank you for making this comprehensive video on the process and where people can make mistakes, I definitely realized some points where I was at fault 😅
With your advice, I feel like I'm much more comfortable with this whole thing and have a clearer direction to go in. Thank you so much 🙏
This was a great video! I hope your channel will grow strong and prosperous.
Seriously, your structure, around the rubix cube, was really interesting and creative, you made concise and clear points, it was great.
I did have a little trouble keeping up with your pace, you were quite speedy, but nevertheless, you have earned a subscription and I am excited to see through the rest of your content.
Some of the best advice. Not only did you remind me what not to do with worldbuilding, but gave suggestions as well. I will definitely remember the “gradient” worldbuilding tip to combat worldbuilding disease & organize my world better.
Just want to throw in there a thank you. I've watched a lot of videos on worldbuilding and other things I need, but none brought me as much lucidity as you did. And what I think was the one missing key that no one else had not only mentioned but transmited: trust. Thank you!
I'm not a writer but I have been coming up with my own story of sorts just to get my mind of things, but over time I just kept adding things to it and somehow made a fun cohesive story in the style of anime. I was thinking of making it into full grown novel that I can publish some time soon. This video helped me a lot to change and correct some things in the world that I created and add some fun twists to it. Thanks for the advice 👍
Good luck with the future book 👍
I'm in the same boat I just found a cool idea and thought "hey what would happen if I made this into a story?" Which was something I tried to do in my head but they mainly end up as a few ideas and a bunch of set pieces
I absolutely loved this video. I've been slowly doing some worldbuilding for a story, and those are some of the pitfalls I don't want to fall into.
It's funny that you mention the interplay between all the elements of a story. One of the things I did for practice was creating a world with very little magic and see how much the people could exploit it. Like, fire magic was useless for warfare because it takes years to be able to do the equivalent of a spray can and a lighter, but you could enchant certain materials to remain hot for a year, which means wizards could get hired to create hotsprings and fuelless steam engines.
Excellent video. The professionalism, editing, and script were all top notch. The engaging rubix cube metaphor and creative application made a solid outline that kept the flow of the story.
Edit: I had a suggestion about some sort of background but I think the one you have actually adds a bit of character and you've already tried different backgrounds in other videos.
You have a unique style and the narration was easy to listen to. Looking forward to binging whatever content youve posted
honestly the biggest thing about worldbuilding for me is actually providing a scientific explanation. having a fantasy world based on science to the point you believe it very well could be real. making it cinvincing AND realistic.
i truly dont like reading stories or settings with aspects so out there. it really takes me out of the story and makes md go 'literally how. how is that logical'
i like knowing everything there is to know about a series and it actually angers me the less i know. i dont get more interested in the series, i get LESS. i can create my own fantasy world if i have to theorize on half of another person's. it's basically my world at that point,the og author's story nothing more than a writing prompt. and thats sad. because it isnt just a writing prompt, it's something theyve spent many months on.
Tiny tip: Plot holes are where you keep the fanfiction
Don't try and think of everything, keep it free and fun for the readers as well 😊
An excellent lesson, Sir! Just within 10 minutes and I am pretty sure you could go on for hours, offering even more useful detail. But you don't need to, since you spun a very convincing web, connecting relevant points with ease and elegance. Love your tempo, too :)
I really like the aspect of going away from laws of nature that we know. When I try to think of settings, I come up with nice ideas and then find myself in trouble to explain them scientifically. But yeah, sometimes it can just be magic. Or a mineral that doesn't exist in our world.
Like, say you want to give the moon a different colour - or maybe two moons and each has its own colour. Our moon does not shine itself, it's the sun which is reflected. But your moon could radiate light of it's own. Or it could have this special mineral which swallows a part of the light spectre and therefore only appear in a specific colour. Or the moon could just be a source of magic itself. And the magic just so happens to be green.
World building is a really difficult task. I like the rubix cube analogy, because just like a rubix cube, you are always only a few steps away from success, but it rarely if ever looks like it, and sometimes something can look good from certain angles but be deceptively far away.
In a story I am working on, the worldbuilding was kinda ehh for a while. A whole load of it just didn't make sense for the first few months of writing. To sum up as quick as possible, in this story there is a sort of connected dimension to our one, that has an analogous planet that is full of furries (anthropomorphic characters are cool) who can use magic. Humans can't. The history of the story starts somewhere around the 1700's-1800's, when a portal between worlds first opened. Fast forward to when the story takes place, the two worlds are at each others neck, because in the furry world there is a dude who is essentially a living nuke, who only needs a picture of a place that is accurate to just delete it. The human world wants to remove all the portals to keep the nuke guy out, as if he put his eyes on the human world he would have far more of a stranglehold, as they have less overall power, and the furries don't want the portals to be removed. But for a while, I didn't really have a reason why beyond them not being able to export magical items, so I got to thinking about the history. Why did they not have civilisation before humans contacted them? I mean they existed before then so why?
The first step to figuring it out was developing the magic system, that there is something called mana which the human world does have in very small amounts, but the furry world just naturally has a shit ton of. The portals allow for mana to flow through them, increasing the amount in the human world and decreasing the amount in the furry one. Then it clicked, there needed to be some threat that only is a threat when there is enough mana around. Something that would force the furries to be nomadic, to not be able to build up significant civilisation, and the answer I came to is mana titans. Giant fuck off creatures that when mana is low, lay dormant.
And this perfectly answered why the furries would want to keep the portals open so desperately. Like they want their towns and cities to not get trampled.
This also answered a bunch of other problems I had, but this is the most significant and easy to explain.
Overall I do think the advice is solid.
must have felt so good to finally solve the problem 😁
You could also do the twist the other way around
Like have such giants be on earth, but they are dormant because of low mana
But now that the portals are open, mana is increasing and the earth giants are waking up
I really love the cube metaphor and how much information it lets you put into a ten minute video. I got more out of this than some hour-long video essays on the topic. Wonderful work! You earned a sub.
That's some really good advice. I've been worldbuilding for a long time, and it still feels like I'm a novice. The thing is that once you get to a certain level of expertise then you wan't to go beyond it because worldbuilding is endless. Very wise to pull back and conserve your strength where it matters most. Subscribed.
As a God, I agree with this video.
As an ypung author (13) and someone who has been born with a intense creativity and imagination while still staying logical, I can say that all these points are things I just wanted to do. Ive only started worldbuliding 7 years ago and onlt started writing 3 years ago and Ive already seen how to improve my world. Im still buliding it, its never ending. I even incorporated myself into it and added a lot of lore.
To those who are trying to worldbulid: This man's tips really do work. Ofc it will be hard to do it and a lot of the elemants in my own world comes from other stories. And creativity doesnt come as easily for some but use other stories as a starting point.
Good luck on world buliding everyone!
So cool ! :D
I'm worldbuilding for my new D&D campaign right now, and this video is very helpfull, so thank you very much ! ^^
hope your players enjoy it 😁 glad i could help
Imagine my astonishment when I looked down to subscribe and saw the number 19k next to it. The quality of this video is amazing! If you had 190k, 500k, 1m, whatever, I would not have been shocked! You lay everything out clearly and concisely, you very obviously know what you are talking about, and the cuts don't detract from your flow of speech in the slightest! Easiest sub I've ever given!
this video really helped right my own board game campaign. i tend to fall into the trap of adding more and more without fleshing out what already exists. its really fun crafting your own world and cultures and kingdoms
As someone who has a idea, a concept which I wish to bring in reality, this video helped me quite a lot.
I have weird hobby of imagining myself as a different person, traveling in a fantasy world, falling into the rabbit hole called "lore" and experiencing different kinds of emotion. I just find it very fascinating. I have been thinking of writing a book for a while, But the question came, "how do i begin?". Like every story has a prologue but how exactly am I supposed to begin this prologue, A prologue which doesn't feel like some kind of extra but an actual part of "My story" as a whole.
To keep it short coz I know if I don't stop now, I will probably end up writing a whole essay.
So to make it short I have a story, a really cool story in my mind but I have no idea where to begin but I think I can probably find an answer to it soon.
0:48 I rarely hear people mention The Expanse, got me immediately interested
As a world builder who has created an expansive world over the years and is not trying to turn that into a table top game, this video is very refreshing. I like to world build as a hobby and now that I have a focused project to work on I have strained myself many times trying to get everything to work in a game setting. This has helped narrow my focus a good bit, thanks.
thank you so much for captioning your video!! it helped me enjoy your video a ton more than i would’ve without them. cool video!
It’s a lot easier to worldbuild with multiple people I’ve found because they’re extra eyes will double check your ideas so they stay consistent with previous things. Having other critics around saying what’s good or bad or doesn’t matter is so useful as well.
As somebody who makes stories constantly, I appreciate this video so much. You basically explained everything I've been trying to explain for years now, and I'm so glad that I'm not the only person who thinks world building should be all crazy nonsense. I know people who put dragons in their stories, but never expand on the idea of what dragons would do to a society, and it always drives me crazy. If dragons just appeared one day, it would cause SO many things to change, but I see people put them in stories for the coolness alone. I always try to make stories where the various elements all fit together in such a way that rather than introducing new things to the story, I instead try to use the things I've already established to create new plot details. My biggest rule for world building is one I say all the time but until now I'd never heard anybody else talk about, that being "how would your universe influence the story, or even itself?"
I have a fantasy world that started out as just a magic system which I decided needed to be part of a story. This story was originally a modern fantasy but then I changed it to be an "otherworld" type story so I would have more control over the worldbuilding. The actual plot of this story I've gone back and forth on but recently I decided it would be partially a tale of adventure. I'm still working on more plot details and conflict for the story.
Honestly, I feel like worldbuilder's disease can also generally be called the storyteller's disease lol. It's especially relevant to worldbuilding, but the urge to plan out every single tiny little idea you have is a terrible thing so many struggle with across genres (and by so many, I mean me *specifically* btw).
Excellently put, especially your last point. It's easy to overlook how big of a role an author's existing reputation can play in the reception of their work, regardless of the qualities of that work in a vacuum
Such a great video, and explains one of the biggest issues with world building in a way I've never heard before. You are pointing out an issue I didn't even realize I was struggling with.
Tip for people with worldbuilding disease: Don't scrap ideas. If you made your world too big and complex, save your ideas that don't work for a later project where they'll work better.