Worldbuilding is an essential part of any work of fiction. But especially for science fiction or fantasy, it’s the lifeblood of storytelling. But when worldbuilding fails, it can wreck your whole story, and leave your characters feeling pointless. Here are seven deadly sins of worldbuilding.
- Not thinking about basic infrastructure.
- Not explaining why events are happening now.
- Creating fictional versions of real-life human ethnic groups, that never go beyond one dimension.
- Creating monolithic social, political, cultural and religious groups.
- Inventing a history that is totally logical.
- Not really giving a strong sense of place, like what it smells like after it’s been raining.
- Introducing some superpower, like magic or insane tech, without fully accounting for how it would change society.
These are all the things I tend to ask questions about when people want to World Build. It’s a good list! You should read!
Great article! I love putting myself through tests like these to make sure I’ve made something solid.