Fundamentals of Worldbuilding | Philosophy, Gardeners Vs Architects, & Worldbuilder's Disease
How do you build a world from the ground up? What are the different methods people use? What is Worldbuilder's Disease and why is it bad? In this episode of the Way of Worldbuilding, we discuss these questions and others on the road to starting our own worldbuilding project. #worldbuilding #sciencefiction #fantasy #alternatehistory
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00:00 | Introduction
4:52 | Table of Contents
5:27| My Approach
7:33 | The Worldbuilding Pyramid
10:01 | Gardeners vs Architects
11:50 | Worldbuilder’s Disease
16:41 | Other Reasons to Worldbuild
20:51| Conclusion
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Where can I sign up to volunteer for corpse disposal?
Why I write my fanfiction, I usually follow this steps. Create basis for my world/changed existing one/interpet it. Start story. Add to world my own things, that don't contradict my basis. For example, in MassEffect fanfiction in System Alliance is fully alien colony, that joined for protection. One from many independed colonies that were left after Geth-Quarrian War, because Citadel couldn't support it.
I would not go in either extreme regard world builder disease. On one hand we in fact do have cases when someone stuck in limbo of indefinitely expanding detal, what never would be used in story what do not exist. But on another hand disregard to detail also is a problem. It is most viable in case of AAA media, what do not spend sufficient time to actually build the world and not everything must be explained, or exist to justify pension. To use simplest example. When you do adventure, it is good to have a map. So events during adventure would make sense. Even if you never explain or show it. Those details add up indirectly. Anyway, there is a middle ground. You should delegate at leas portion of time to at least try write portion of the story. Even if it is just a set piece. But also have time to create the living world.
Say @TemplinInstitute your new series about world-building and the examples about "gardeners" and "architects" made me wonder about my own preferences. I found myself less drawn to creating characters and their story plot, and more interested in making up the world itself, i.e., the "world-building" and "setting" parts of the upside-down pyramid. I'm more interested in the "architect" role due to my interest in reading real-world history and being more interested in reading the world-building info/lore behind tabletop role-playing games (and their video game counterparts, including first-person shooter and real-time strategy video games). Basically, I am more interested in learning and thinking of ideas for what type of world-building settings that could serve as backdrops for other peoples' characters and story plots.
HELP WHAT IF I ONLY CARE ABOUT SETTINGS ND NE ALEINS ND WORLA..FUCK CHARACTERS! THAT'S NOT A DISEASE..IT a question of taste and preference! So why do you say that?
I've had the "disease" for about 35 years. To date, I have created 6 fully fleshed out settings for fiction, and probably four times that many for TT/VTT roleplaying purposes. Safe to say the disease and I are now fully inextricable from each other. And you know what? While I haven't yet published any of my fiction, it so often leads me to collective storytelling that has brought joy and passion to my friends around the roleplaying table that I don't think I am missing anything.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with worldbuilding simply for the sake of worldbuilding. One thing I might suggest, only if you're interested, is to open up your created worlds to somebody who might be interested in creating a story there. I'm not saying you have to or are in any way obligated to. But it could be very interesting for you and the person creating the story.
@@amateurcrastinator9523 I immediately had the exact same thought. There could be a writer out there who could put in their own effort and help create a story that never would exist if both remain in isolation.
I would say that using a setting in a TTRPG is equivalent to having it published, just to a much smaller audience and not for money. World builder's disease would be more like spending so long making a map and fleshing out the histories of various kingdoms that you never get around to making a story line for the players to follow or NPCs for them to interact with.
@@fakjbf3129Fair point. As someone who studied and then taught literature professionally for decades, I think I give primacy to the published novel, but in 2023, I think that assumption is losing ground. This KZhead series is evidence of the growth of Worldbuilding as a "genre", which is a bit of a stretch, but is at least a fun notion to consider.
In the beginning I was doing it to write a story, but over time I realized I get far more joy and fulfillment from building the world than writing a novel or drawing a manga/comic. I’ve written small short stories or come up with TT campaigns, but really for the past 5 years now I’ve pretty much just fleshed out my world for my own enjoyment, and I really don’t see myself putting this world to rest any time soon
Thanks for the shoutout! Awesome breakdown, I'm sure a lot of new writers will get great use out of this! -Benji, showrunner
Your robot is pretty cute. You don't have to say that I said it but, could you tell him so?
Oh it will! I've been working on my own sci-fi setting for many years, and it is enticing to hear that what I have been doing with no training whatsoever has ben technically correct: First build the world, then build the setting, then the characters. I am at the point now where I am fleshing out the main and secondary characters, and some significant stories for each, both separately and together.
For the Brandon Sanderson clip, that's exactly the context it's in. it's also more than that, in his class he actively focuses on practical advice for making a living with your writing. The class isn't just "How to write a good story" but also covers things like how to find an editor, what to look for in a publisher, how to get people interested in your book, and other more industry specific things. So from that lens it's vitally important that people don't get so caught up in making things perfect they never get around to finishing anything at all.
Made this comment and then saw you made it better
I was very confused why a clip of Brandon Sanderson was used an example of someone cautioning over worldbuilding. The man is not against people spending a lot of time worldbuilding. It's just odd XD
@@MistbornTaylorif felt like someone just wanted to take a cheap shot because it fit their narrative.
Thanks for expanding the context for those of us who haven't seen the class! I've listened to Sanderson's podcast about writing some, and the episodes I listened to all seemed focused on writing techniques, understandings, and pitfalls. I love that his class is about becoming a published author and considering writing from that lens.
For me, worldbuilding is not escape from the world that is, but inspiration on applying how to create the world that could be. Stories and parables have at times been the catalyst that have both broken and forged technologies and civilizations in real life, and very much continue to do so. Delightfully curious to see more.
^ this, so fundamentally this
Star Trek is the most obvious example, but yes! All the yes!
May your creation inspire innovation and benefit to our world
The Worldbuilder's Disease section hits me sooo hard. I spend probably a quarter of my free time worldbuilding and have only a few drafts of short stories, and a few roleplaying settings, but it never really had a purpose, or goal, as it were. But this video helped me realize that the process, the journey of creating a world, can be a fulfilling goal in and of itself, and for that I am very grateful.
2 months late but yes, very vindicating for me to hear others share the perspective 🙏
I am one who loves wordbuilding for the sake of worldbuilding. I am not concerned with any one person within the world. I think of myself as a speaker of the world itself. What is it, when is it, how is it, and why is it? I love placing the dots on a page, with which the audience can then connect into stories unimaginable even to me.
Same here, and also I think it might be one of the better ways when playing games like D&D with friends. I create the world, but together we create the narrative. In those cases, when a DM also likes to write the entire narrative it'll feel like railroading the story. As a second thing....I've got a few world building books here, but those are the best books i've ever read. No singular story with a main character, but stories about cities, lands, cities, weather paterns, mysteries and world wonders. It's unfortunate that there aren't a lot of those books but when they are they are often a nice addition to my collection.
I also worldbuild for the sake of worldbuilding ! I don't write stories, or create a world for D&D, I've just mostly been creating characters since a very young age and has worked on their specific world for a very long time now. I would just love to find resources for worldbuilders who just worldbuild without stuff about making a story or anything along with it, I just love creating worlds and while I only have a very few of them they're all different and I like them very much :):)
The introduction is basically is me, wanting to leave this life and go to a new one of my making
"- that this place kinda sucks and you could do better." That's how you finish a fucking pitch, I am hooked after that intro.
@@DetectiveLance same!
I never want to do that. My worlds have bad events unfolding lol
Same here
Our own world has its flaws, but if you think about it does any world we have built in our minds not have it’s own? Does suffering not exist there too? I believe that as much as there is fun to be had in escapism, the true value of world building is the ability to imagine something better. We can change our world for the better, and the first step on that path is to imagine a world much like our own, but just that little bit kinder. Individually we might not be able to change much, but every little, tiny, minuscule change you make adds to the pile. One act of kindness, one piece of litter picked up, one person given a hot meal, just you showing up and being around your friends and family, it all counts. Like snowflakes in an a avalanche.
Even Tolkien wasn't exclusively an architect. In the original Hobbit, Bilbo's ring was just a magic ring. The idea of the One Ring came later.
The Hobbit and his already existing mythology weren’t even supposed to be in the same setting originally.
The hobbit was written as a story for his kids which he loosely based around his world building project, which was ultimately just a means to further pursue his conlanging project. Kind of funny how that worked out.
HIW HIW can I be one of those few brilliant ppl.mentioned at 20:50?? I won't settle.for anything less.
@@leif1075 Practice, endless curiosity, and a striving for truth in your world (not literal facts, but instead the truths of emotion, existence, struggle, etc) would seem to be required at the very least. Tolkien constantly edited and revised his ideas. He incorporated his passions, learning, his own experiences, and shared experiences into the core of his world. And of course, the world he built feels alive and speaks to our core ideas of what it means to exist in a world with good and evil, heroism or stoicism in the face of adversity, and so on.
Worldbuilding and storytelling is a deeply personal journey. There are as many ways of creating worlds and stories as there are people creating them. Guides, such as those laid out by Sanderson and Martin are great and very useful. They can give you ideas and get you started. But ultimately, you have to find the method that works for you. You can follow Sandersons advice to a T. You can ignore every bit of it. You can take bits of his and Martins, combine them, and make something that comes from both. Whatever you do, make sure it's a world and story YOU are happy with.
I adhere to the Tolkien method. I first spend decades of my life becoming a linguistics professor and getting trauma in a war, before I start writing on one of my projects
@@HansHammertime It worked well for him.
I think I remember seeing somewhere that Tolkien started by building the Elvish language Quenya and then asked what sort of people spoke this language? Their culture? Their history? And building out from there.
Gosh, that segment on Worldbuilder's Disease was exactly what I've been trying to articulate for years. Worldbuilding should NOT have to play second fiddle to everyone because NOT everyone is trying to write a damn novel! In the comments of all those posts and videos talking about worldbuilding being second to story, you'll still have tons of people saying "Well, what if I want to worldbuild for it's own sake". And that's how they should approach it if need be! I will craft the most intricate world in my head and my google docs and I really don't give a damn if it doesn't produce a book immediately. The creative process is fulfilling enough on it's own.
If someone talks about second to story they are probably talking advice and priorities for writing a story. Critiquing their advice on the basis of how it would work for someone wanting to just make a worldfor its own sake is pretty dumb. It is like critiquing driving school teacher for telling people to stick to speed limits because you are formula 1 driver and following that advice in race would make you lose.
Rule one of world building: What do they eat.
That intro is one of the best bits of writing in Templin's history.
Gods that INTRO! That nearly made me shed a tear at how poetic, but also comforting for me, it was. World building has always been my way of escapism from real world troubles, and it feels so nice to be seen by that intro. Edit: now that I've finished watching the whole thing, gosh this whole video speaks to me to such an incredible level. I agree with practically everything you've discussed.
yeah, the Intro is a bomb
Bit long though
Escapism produces trite crap. It doesn't create truly complex worlds. A world without suffering or conflict is a dead one with no value. I work out my real world troubles through world-building and creative writing. I work on them instead of trying to simply escape them.
I think the biggest thing that the "World Builder's Disease" concept misses is that the world can BE the narritive, look at Dinotopia, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, One Piece, and even Lord of the Rings itself to an extent. All these stories are about exploring worlds to some degree, which isn't possible without extensive attention to detail.
Eh, I would say that's not necessarily an example of the world being the narrative, but rather exploration being the narrative. The important part is not necessarily what the character's explore, but how what they explore effects them. And those types of stories, the world is typically only Built out as much as necessary to continue the story of characters. While the locations are important to those stories, I would argue that the characters that they need in those locations are far more important, and to create those characters you won't really need a loose outline of that world. "World building disease" is the result of not being able to kill your darlings. It's easy to think that every intricate detail is necessary to your story about exploration, it's hard to realize that most of those details are completely irrelevant to the story that you're trying to tell (unless it's like, a fictional travel log or something I guess).
one piece? 🤢
I think One Piece is a poor example to be honest. The world building is all extremely situational to drive the plot
Your river metaphor reminded me of reverse-mountain from One Piece. It doesn't work like it does in our world, or even how other rivers work in their own so the characters are utterly shocked when they encounter it. I think it works just as a mystery, but it also has the outline of an explanation that will likely be complete near the end of the tale. Then we'll laugh.
It begins
In D&D world building I have always felt that I strike a good balance between gardener and architect, building my world in broad terms while using games to build up the more minor elements as they become important.
Aaaaaa can’t wait to see this entire venture completed! So creative and informative
Commenting 4 algorithm
I’m doing my part 🫡
Hm, this was indeed quite the heterodoxic way to introduce this worldbuilding series. I quite like it.
The intro was flawless! I had to watch it twice. I think Brandon Sanderson isn't wrong in the context of writing a story, but sometimes you just want to worldbuild for the sake of it and that's perfectly valid. If you are having more fun writing about elf biology than writing the main plot (and assuming you do this as a hobby and not a job) don't let anyone stop you.
I’ve been in Sanderson’s class. It’s at BYU (if you can get into it with the insane waitlist lol) and it’s a creative writing class. So he was more speaking to how to be an author rather than the kind of world-building people like DM’s do for dnd which is more open ended because of the nature of having players with choice.
Totally love this first video !! 9:30 Funny thing, but the opening crawl of most Star Wars movies reminds me of this pyramid. It starts with the galactic political situation in the first paragraph, then the more precise local situation of protagonist organisations implied in the story in the second paragraphe, and then the immediate situation of characters in the third one. Organisations are rarely named in the 3rd paragraph, and characters rarely in the 1st. I think it's what makes those movies so anchored in their Universe without seeing the rest of the Galaxy, while also starting "In Medias Res". 18:42 OH OH OH, It's Santa Claus' fleet, arriving on Earth full of gifts for the nice Earthling children, and trash compactors for the naughty ones.
The first 3 and a half ish minutes of this video are perfection
As a contrast to worldbilder's disease, there is also storyteller's disease, where trying to fit a sprawling wonderful fictional world into the restricted plot of a story results in a cut down and barebones setting. Its lack of depth destroys any immersion, in turn harming the story it was intended to support. By only ever exploring the few elements the story touches on, the world becomes a shell for the story; a hollow, only skin deep shell. Interesting worldbuilding is what I look for in fictional writing, and seeing it being treated secondary to hero's journey no. 9'453'347 is just a shame. For me, worldbuilding and storytelling grow best as symbiotes. One isn't more important than the other and both can just as well stand on their own. Basically, I agree with you on pretty much all points and will follow this series with great interest.
Thank you SO MUCH for the World Builder's Disease section... I have it and it doesn't feel like a disease at all. It feels like a super power that gives me massive worlds from which to pluck a story.
A wonderful exploration of getting started with Worldbuidling.
I've worked on and off one two different worlds on a pure world building way, i took a top down "architect" style on these two settings. When i started writing a small novel, i started with some characters interacting, then i asked, well where did they come from. Going for the "gardener style," till i reversed it and started building the world, its factions and small bits of history. I love world building, i design worlds because i want to, to perhaps one day for other people to use to create their own stories, using my plot hooks and interwoven political nature of the world. or i might use the world to jump start a DnD campaign.
Very much looking forward to this new series! And yes, the Brando "Writing Guru (blessed be his name, give praise lol)" Sando clip was from one of his worldbuilding lectures for a college class - lecture 5 or 6 I think. They are posted in full on his YT channel. Also I petition for a collab episode with Hello Future Me and Tale Foundry sometime during this series! The internet will tremble at the combined worldbuilding might of you three!
It's nice to hear the perspective that worldbuilding isn't solely to support a story. I like to generate random worlds with the GURPS Infinite Earths rulebook, and then fill in some detail about them. I never intend for them to get any use in a story or game, but it's a fun creative activity.
First off, that intro went way harder than it needed to, like that was awesome! (I especially loved the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Warhammer bits) Secondly, as for how I worldbuild, I'd say I'm a mix of gardener and architect, maybe moreso an architect. There have been times where a character or faction has evolved in a way that surprised me in my world. I also love how you tackled Worlduilders Disease, I always thought it was kinda bs but also maybe something to be wary of nonetheless.
The tip of how the pyramid represents how much of the world matters to your story at face value really helped me think. I was making a comic, and I had the problem that I got carried away with the worldbuilding, which gets kinda dark for a lighthearted comic where Gradients are the only way you can tell it wasn't made in MSpaint (Indo Pak nuclear war, Miami and Jakarta lost to the sea, it is 2056).
This really resonated with me as a writer. World building is tough and it's easy to get lost thinking up every single detail you think you need to share. How much exposition, context etc without it all turning into a boring thesis going nowhere. With my 1st story, I've loosely gone with the Gardener approach. My 1st chapter introduces the MC and the where/why things are happening around her, but flip-flops back to glimpses of what has happened on the planet prior to the current moment. I wanted to draw the reader into what is happening but also sprinkle in some of the world's state and the events that had come to shape it the way it was presently. I tried to establish enough to get started by having everything, initially, just through her perspective.
I don't think the gardener/architect divide is about how you present the world to your audience, but about the creative process before (or, depending on your method, while) writing.
@@boobah5643 You’re exactly right
I would also cover backstory in level two of the story pyramid. It gives context to the personalities in the same way that the setting gives context to the events. To take Discworld as an example, because I’m currently reading it, Rincewind is a mage, sort of, who failed out of the Unseen University. To understand his story, you need to have a sense of why he failed out, which requires a general understanding of Unseen University. So UU world-building informs Rincewind’s narrative, but it’s intermediated by backstory rather than setting. I’d also recommend Discworld as an absolute masterclass in how worldbuilding, setting/backstory, and narrative are all mutually supporting. Pratchett is fantastic at all of them and uses them to make the books far more than the sum of their parts.
This was an amazing video can't wait for the actual series❤
Hell yeah!
And so it begins
From the New Shogunate to the Templin Institute with love ❤
A solid start to this series. I can't wait for more
How fortunate that you've released this video right as I'm building a crossover between the Lancer TTRPG and Mass Effect. The idea started out as fanfiction, but as I keep thinking about it, it transformed into building a history of cultures clashing, mingling and changing.
For me worldbuilding is storytelling. I’ve been doing it for 30 years, started long before there were all these resources and opinions. Just do what feels right…you really nailed it here. Good job!
I greatly appreciate you saying that while you have your opinions on things, this is still not THE way to do. So often I see writing "advice" given as an absolute. Drives me utterly bonkers. Looking forward to this series! Oh and, prepare yourself for the many who will come up saying "I'll write the story for you!" Trust me, you'll get more that a few.
This is beautiful. I love how thought out this video is.
World builders disease seems great advice to make sure you actually write a story. Like many, I tried my hand at writing (was terrible at it), but I was great at avoiding this by drawing maps, designing sigils, coming up with Gods 😅
I love building worlds. I build some on my own. And I have the same problem you have. I'm shit at writing a story. It always just feels wrong. I love building the world and have thousands of ideas on what things look like. I personally have found one method of world building extremely interesting. And I have not heard about it talked yet. The organic creation I call it. A while back I build a world for my friends to play D&D in. I build kingdoms, cities and rulers, history and religion, races and cultures. So big things. The things you would read about on the Wikipedia article of the country. Then I plopped the players in this world and said do whatever you want. Basically from that point on, they meet people and went to places I made up on the spot. There was a merchant who sold a valuable herb named dragon root. But he had no idea what is was, only that adventures paid good money for it. It just randomly grew in his cellar. So I expanded on that. And the herb was usually only found in Der nests of dragons. Due to is usually only growing on the discarded eggshells of dragons. The merchant was unaware, that he had build his house on an old dragon nursery. Or the party wanted to drink after receiving a big sum of money from the king of the lizardfolk, but the normal beer most taverns would have was not strong enough. So they decided they wanted booze. I quickly whipped up a drink (translation from German) scalebrew. Which was made from the shed scales and skin of the inhabitants. It was strong and sweet due to the mixing with honey and herbs. I could list many many more things. But I think you get the idea. It's really cool to see the world through the eyes of the people living in it. And gives you another perspective. I usually just look down from the top and write a history for things and important characters. But that misses the dwarf who couldn't grow a beard and was very ashamed of that, so he grew out his her and tied it together unter his chin. So that it looked like a beard. (feel free to steal that. It was very good fun) Or the noble couple who always try to invite other on the kings banquet to a three way but once someone agrees they always chicken out. It's the little things that make a world that much homier. And I can't get those without "boots on the ground". It brings the world to life. And it will change your outlook on stuff. Yes its not easy. You need a group of good players. You will need to be able to come up with things on the spot. But it was always good fun.
Love the critical take on the popular methodologies of worldbuilding. Most videos on the topic seem too much like edutainment and offer, at most, a cursory look into the breadth of scope that comes with worldbuilding
The world buidling pyramid is kind of like how I approach a story when making a story. Glad their are others who feel or see it the same way.
I think the bottom up method is great. Figuring out as you go really helps your mind keep flowing without going through road blocks trying to figure out the bigger picture
There is an entire universe in my head that I have never been able to write into words. I look forward to this series.
This whole video is so cool to me, it really puts into words what I thought about the way "world-building advices" are given on KZhead. I started as a "gardener", writing about 150 000 words of a story without doing any world-building before, and today I'm full architect. Not even writing stories anymore, and only creating the world, with hundreds of pages about it in a drive. And I surely don't consider myself to be sick with "world-building disease". I just love creating political systems, ideological systems, factions, religions, philosophies, etc. It is telling a story in itself for me, in a way even more satisfying than "real" stories
I find that worldbuilding for the sake of worldbuilding with no early narrative goals is a very liberating thing to do. Besides, the line between world building and narrative is blurry at best. Writing a story in your world is basically looking at details (characters, locations, histories) through a magnifying glass. World building is just writing's bigger brother.
Thank you for mentioning the various fields that one can dabble in! Deep respect from Anthropology!
I had a draft template of a novel I wanted to write about Humanity post Earth in the 2100s and this vid from the Institute certainly helps the framework. If I have interpreted it properly from one aspect, narrative at the core with world building to support it rather than the other way around.
The way I understood it, if that works for you, that's just fine, but don't get confused into believing that one method rules them all, even for your own writing. Though in that latter case, it just might.
With that time to dust it off and check Central narrative character The world it is set in aka three Solar Systems orbiting each other as a tri mega system and the factions to each individual Solar System The culture narrative
I really appreciate what you said about "worldbuilder's disease", because I've been worldbuilding alternate histories in my head and notes for decades now, but I was never able to make a story or narrative within the world I made. It made me feel conscious that I could not make a story with the world I made. Yeah, I did research a lot on colonial economies, national legislatures, world leaders, mass movements, demographics, diplomacy, etc. to make the alternate universes I'm making as realistic as possible while remaining entirely fictional, but I never managed to even begin writing down a story. Doing so usually requires me the aid of another person who's better at storytelling than worldbuilding and can use the world I make to craft a story. It's a great mental and creative exercise, IMO, and it helps me in doing actual historical research by giving me that sense of discipline (read: fixation) into finding and reading primary and secondary sources.
Thank you for this! I have apparently been sick for 3 months! But now I know better thanks to you.
I explicitly have a handful of world/story concepts that I've set aside in a special corner of my mind, ones that I do not intend to ever fully make into a cohesive thing or even a full story. It's fun to have something you can come back to without expectations, and/or as a tool for examining worldbuilding in general.
Some of the best worldbuilding I've seen recently completely breaks the communities norm: Bill Making Stuff, Boylei Hobby Time and Gameyy Builds, they're each miniature makers/scratch builders and each time they create a new diorama or mini from their world they create new lore to justify it's existence. A narrative does form after awhile, especially with Gameyy's world, but for the most part you're experiencing the world in a way I've never seen done before. HIGHLY recommend any other worldbuildera to check them out and see how they incorporate the traditional world building techniques into a unique narrative.
The bits of your worldbuilding have already made me excited about this project and I am even more excited for it's future now that it has started.
Fantastic. As a long time Dungeon Master, I cannot wait to see this series.
THANK YOU for pointing out that Brandon Sanderson's philosophy and method isn't the Be-All-End-All of creative writing!
Man that was one hell of an intro!
I remember listening to that same Brandon Sanderson lecture a few weeks ago and having the exact same reaction to the disease part. It felt weird to do two lectures on the subject of worldbuilding and then take a few minutes to randomly discredit the whole practice halfway through. Though I guess I'm not the intended audience anyway. Looking forward to this series!
Long live the institute!
I hope this series touches on "cooperative worldbuilding" working on things and writing with your friends or even complete strangers. More fun than it is successful.
I find it amusing how we have the similar philosophies of worldbuilding. I will be interested to see what you do and how your world shapes out.
I like to think I'm an architect but when I start writing I'll fudge the world building here and there to better fit my story. Half and half i guess. I love that you are going to do this and everyone is going to at least get a refresher on the topic. The world building disease hits me and once I notice I'm getting it I'll start writing the story. A bit of a mental check for when my world is finished cooking.
First off..Great intro! Second, clear and concise delivery. Worldbuilding, for me, started when I was just out of high school. It arose from my passion on wanting to become a DM of a Homebrew D&D campaign. However, the friends I had been playing with soon disbanded. Some to college some married, and some moved away. I knew it would take time to develop a viable campaign setting anyway, so I preceded. My first attempt failed. I didn't like how it was evolving so I scrapped it. I should mention that I start with a "Genesis" cosmology approach. I needed to know how my world came to be, what hominids and creatures/monsters and even flora existed. I didn't like the D&D magic system so I would have to create my own. I had other hobbies and interests so I shelved my worldbuilding until I bumped into an old friend who had become a DM. That rekindled my interest in WB. After around 10 years, I realized I would never get a group together to play but I kept at it anyway. There was other uses for WB such as novels, scripts, video games etc. However, I wasn't a writer or a programmer. In truth, I just liked doing it. 5 more years went by and I felt it was consuming my life so I shelved it again. 5 more and I'm now thinking I actually want to write a novel ... which of course led me to see this. BTW subbing & liking ♥🗺👷
I am so glad you started this series. I have always loved world building from a young age.
I'm an architect of a garden. I create worlds and characters, then let them go off and do their own thing. If I don't like where it's going, I change it up, then run the "simulation" again. I just put people in different situations to see what they'd do, so in that way, I think I identify more with the gardener, but architect-ing is a necessary part of it.
many times I have shared my world building online, I tend to get one question that frustrates me to no end, even though I know it comes from a place of care, "what's the theme? why is this an element in your world building? what reason dose it serve in the story?" problem is, there is no story to my world building, its worldbuilding for the sake of world building. and that frustrates others I have noticed. I have a handful of small stories, that have come about from my world building, but they are not always the focus. so this video was nice to hear someone else has a similar view point. so thank you for the video
Ok but why is the introduction so badass?
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one out there who worldbuilds yet isn't a writer. I am an artist, but I only started linking my worldbuilding to my art about 3 weeks ago lol. I created my world when I was about 13 & I'm now an adult, I love the fact that my world has grown with me, it has gone through name changes, different magic systems, new & old conlangs of varying quality & it's only now beginning to feel like a more fleshed out world in my mind & recently in my art. Excited to watch this series & get new ideas!
Been worldbuilding my whole life and this is fun to watch. released 3 games and currently writing a novel as well so its always inspiring to see how other people go about doing this.
That first Speech was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the not so subtle nod to 40k. Truly the abyss of lore.
As someone who has taken that class from Sanderson, you are correct that his advice of prioritizing narrative over world building as where to focus your skill development was given in the context of pursing traditional publishing
You writers are better than anything Hollywood has to offer.
Really good video man, it really helped me form my thoughts on my own world building project, thanks for the ideas and keep up the good work!
Finally, I can start writing my scifi/dystopian/fantasy book series.
For me when world building, I used to do it as a form of escapism as world's that I could enter and experience for myself, recently starting to write some down as stories due to that I couldn't find the type and style of story I actually wanted. Where as one of the first parts of that being figuring out if you interact with the world how it would respond and why it would respond that way along with to keep everything consistent, so that I know what type of response would be typical to certain actions, allowing for a flow that seems like it would be appropriate given the circumstances rather than just what I happen to feel at the time. So realistically in the pyramid of world building i start off with the initial idea, figure out the rough setting of everything, world building to explain why the setting is the way it is as well as adding details like the more important places, name's, why those places are important and general philosophies. Then from there I can use that as the framework to build out any needed info from there as the narrative needs it. That being an oversimplified version of the conceptual thinking that my head has gotten quite good at but yeah
16:40 Absolutely agree! There are many people out there who do worldbuilding for the sake of worldbuilding and are not interested or maybe even incapable of writing a story that would be interesting or fun to read. If I take it to the extreme, they may have all the characters, story plots and details figured out... but as notes and bullet points. 19:00 "I can't write a story worth a damn" hits home... worldbuilding is fun and I love doing it and hell, even laying out the outlines for different possible stories within that world is fun when I'm in the right mood... but actually writing the story into a finished product is extremely hard, frustrating and mentally exhausting to a point that I most of the time don't even try.
I just started thinking about writing for a book I want to make. Maybe a series, and I’ve already jotted down some ideas. I can’t wait to learn what else I can use to make a fleshed out world and characters.
Awesome video dude! 😎 it is the right step forward to something great!
There are plenty of stories out there where the narrative is prioritized and the worldbuilding just feels like an afterthought; some of these stories are even fairly fun to experience in the moment. But I have a hard time thinking of one I'd want to go back to a second time, or revisit years, decades later.
Nice shout out to Tale Foundry. They're good, and with a similar spirit and intent.
I think good worldbuilding is very underrated in our current age. Many of the best stories are character driven, but so many of the stories that go for character-driven narratives make that the only important point they focus on. The newer Star Wars shows is a good example of this. "This story is about MANDALORIAN, doing cool things. Where is he doing those cool things? Uh, desert town I guess! Why is he doing it there? Well, because it's neat?" It's like the worldbuilding is just an afterthought, and is treated as set-dressing for the more interesting drama that could be created. But the reason people love Star Wars isn't just the characters, it's that those character inhabit a really interesting world, one filled with sand-worms, and psionic space monks, and evil authoritarian empires city-scape planets. Worldbuilding doesn't always have to be the most important thing. But in the same way it's not wise to build a skyscraper on sand, it's also not wise to construct a massive, intricate story on a poorly made world.
What got me started on worldbuilding and writing were video games like Stellaris and Mount & blade. I started writing down stories for the empires or factions in my headcanon and then began to put them on paper. And that helped me to branch out and do other projects.
I've always approached my worldbuilding as an explore, rather than as a writer. Currently, I have no intention of writing some epic story, sure maybe one day, but right now my focus is on exploring the setting of my world, fleshing out the cosmology and history. My overarching goal is to develop a setting in which many stories can be told, rather than one. I have over a decade of experience in collaborative storytelling, both in text format on where we literally wrote stories as a group, and in the realm of table top gaming where as a DM you build the setting, set up a scaffolding of a story, and release your players upon the landscape to build whatever they want or to simply tear it down to build an entirely new narrative. World building disease is literally the goal, because the more I explore and develop the world and it's setting, the more potential stories can be told later.
Great intro. I'm so hyped for this!
You know, believe it or not, they inspired me to create my own story, my own world. I'm still polishing the details, but I know I can do it.
❤ Perfect start to the series
I find the advantage to having detailed world building and a living world functioning with proper cause and effect it that when you start having your characters interact with the world it is easier to have them act with choice and agency with the world as a character naturally reacting back. This allows you to avoid the Deus ex Machina or and then effect and makes the story have weight, especially if one of the reactions the world can have back are dangerous or even fatal.
3.38 - A perfect end to an epic introduction hahaha!
I LOVED this video. As someone who is new to world building and definitely has "worldbuilding disease" this really resonated with me. Excited to check out more of your videos!
I've had the disease since I was in Elementary school, staying up and passing all my stealth and move silently checks to listen to my parents and their friends playing 2ed D&D. Then I would spend all the next day at school writing, drawing, and daydreaming about places far more interesting than the mundane of reality. I'm thirty-five now, and still creating. The worlds matter to me more than what they're used for.
Templin institute really leveling up with this series
14:50 One thing to keep in mind with Brandon Sanderson is that he is talking about world building as a secondary factor to writing and publishing fantasy novels. As you said early in this video, the plot of a character may indeed not involve a whole lot of the overarching world at large, so from a writing point of view, it makes sense that the character development would come first and foremost. Otherwise if your goal is to build a world, worldbuilders disease is kinda the whole point of worldbuilding. This point of view will always be extremely dependant on your goal.
When I was in advertising strategy, we were always told to build a metaphorical box for creatives. Gives them a limitation to work within and the work will be more focused. That's my imperfect metaphor for World Building. You create technological limitations like space don't have some magic gravity generator. How does that create new stories? One of your characters die when they the force of a hard burn puts too much strain on their heart. I'm pretty sure that became a plot device in the Expanse.