Why Worldbuilding Is So Hard And How to Make It Easy

I used to be so confused as to why people often skip the step of worldbuilding. From the characters to the world itself, I think that it is more fun than writing the story itself. The thing that I’m starting to understand is that, depending on the project, it can take a lot longer than you anticipate. Like, a lot longer. There are so many things to explore in the halls of imagination that you can easily get lost. I mean, the whole point of worldbuilding is to get to the story. I hate to admit this, but I started the year annoyingly optimistic. By now I thought I’d be in a completely different place with my writing projects and I’m having a hard time grappling with how easily time slips through our fingers. But what these last eight months have taught me about worldbuilding is that the deeper you go, the more you get to learn about the universe and yourself. SO! Let’s start talking about the pitfalls of worldbuilding and how we can make it work for us in the long run.

Ask the hardest questions, like is this world even worth it?

I have a book called The Promise of Forever that will probably never see the light of day again because it has nothing to do with the universe I’m creating. The same goes for my precious collection of fanfiction work. Even the freewriting gigs I do on the side have no worldbuilding aside from the basic outline of the general area. If you are going to balance between passion and freelance, we are going to have to get specific on which projects need a year of worldbuilding, and which ones need an hour.

Ask yourself: Is this idea connected to a bigger world?

In my humble opinion, a project that you can tie back to our world needs very little worldbuilding aside from basic research. If your story is a stand-alone novel taking place in Miami, Florida, it’s not too hard to look up:

• General climate

• Major Locations within the city

• Specific details tying to the general feeling of the area (i.e. clothing, local attitude, transportation, etc)

In a matter of minutes, you’ll have a Wiki page talking about everything from the history of its founding to the pastelitos they sell at the local bakery. I don’t care if you have never been there and are assigned to write a 100k novel, there is no reason why you shouldn’t have what you need to write the entire book after about a week maximum. And yes, I mean a full seven days of research and sifting between what works for the story outline and what is just fun facts.

What if my story takes place in a fictional city in a real place like Miami, Florida?

The best thing about fiction is that it doesn’t have to be exactly like it, just similar. When I write about Miami, I don’t the real downtown Miami. I make up streets and replace empty parking lots with buildings owned by brooding billionaires. The balance between being authentic and a tourist pretending to be a local is very delicate. If you don’t know the place you are writing about, again, do your research. Pick your favorite scenes that you’ve thought about for your story and start your worldbuilding from there. Envision the details of the places you will be staying in the most. When I write about my sexy Miami billionaire, I already know he will have an office, a penthouse apartment, or a mansion (or both), and at some point, we will be going to a fancy outing like a restaurant or company meeting. Knowing where you are trying to go in your story will narrow your focus and give your worldbuilding a specific purpose.

But what if my story doesn’t take place in our world completely, or at all? What if the world itself is completely fictional?

*cracks knuckles* And here is where I have been for the last eight months. Here’s why.

First, ask yourself: Is this story idea connected to a larger universe?

Can you see the idea you are creating being a part of a larger universe? Is this a story that has one movie or six? Is it worth doing the deep diving on Elven history if it’s only a 10k light novel? As writers, we are only as valuable as how fast we can dish out our content. That doesn’t only include our wpm (word per minute) but also the quality of the words we write.

If we are writing fantastical fiction from a void, we are going to write from a basic human standpoint. If we write for every single fantastical world, we will drive ourselves mad. That is why we must ask, is it worth it?

I started out the year trying to write a simple 50K web novel. It was a romance that took place in a different world, but it felt like home. I made the mistake of making Gods in this fictional world and thought it would be fun to give them each a personality. The more research I did into the already large collection of Gods that exist in our world, the more questions I ended up having about how high the cosmos even goes on the scale of creation. That is what led me to make my one and only universe that I will use for all of my projects forever and ever. To some that may seem like an insane and unrealistic thing to do. To me, it just makes sense.

How will I know what I will write in the future? I barely know what I want to write now, never mind fifteen years down the line.

Ah, but isn’t that the most important part? How do you expect to sustain your career if you run out of stories? And if you are a fiction lover like me, how many universes are you willing to create every time you come up with another idea for a story? When I asked myself this question I knew the answer automatically. Once. So that made me ask a deeper question. What do I like to write? What can I see myself always writing about and how can I make it fit into one universe? Well ten realms and 30 deities later, I’m happy to say that I have achieved the impossible. These are some of the things I focused on the most:

• What is the start of creation in this world?

• Is there one god or many gods?

• Does each god have their own planet that they rule in one solar system or do they have dimensions that are connected?

• How do these planets come into existence?

• Is it just one planet or many?

• What is the list of fantastical creatures that I want to write about?

• What is the timeline of evolution? Do these creatures just sprout out of the ground?

• How many stories can I get out of this?

That is the most important question to always circle back to. If you put in eight months of work to only get a handful of stories, then you are wasting your time. I firmly believe that the heart of every story lies in its characters and their dialogue. Start building your universe from the characters you want to see living in it. Build stories around the Gods and how they interact with each other like in an old Greek play. Make up rules that are enforced and make the stakes high when those rules are broken. Pull from everything you can get your mind in front of. Here are a few good places to start.

• World Mythology (not just the Greeks and the Romans)

• How does our world work through a scientific lens and a spiritual lens (not religion)?

• What are the most fascinating parts of life to you?

• What are the most captivating parts of fiction that you want to implement in your own world?

• How deep are you willing to go?

This is the last question I am going to leave with. You are not any more or less of a writer because you don’t make Star Wars-level storyboards. The level of storytelling that you choose should be relevant to the projects you are working on. Plain and simple. If you want to be a nutso with crazy eyes like I’ve been trying to absorb all this world has to offer (more on that in The Spirit Rehlm), then I applaud you. It is not easy to worldbuild and even harder to stop once you have a good momentum going. But from one writer to another, I encourage you to take the leap into the unknown and imagine the world of your dreams. One that is full of wonder and feels like home.

I look forward to seeing you in whatever form I appear next. Until next time!

About the Author

Crystal Cabrae is a storyteller who specializes in writing dystopian, romantic, and adventurous worlds for animation and fantastical fiction. She is a proud graduate of Full Sail University, AMDA, and New World School of the Arts. Her six years of acting training in both New York and Miami gives her a unique perspective when approaching her characters. She has a passion for sharing how to create stories with the world and inspiring the storyteller that lives within all of us. Follow her on IG or Pinterest to know the latest.