When you hear the phrase ‘worldbuilding’, it may be that you think purely in terms of epic fantasy or science fiction, but it’s actually something all of us are doing whenever we sit down to write fiction, whatever the genre. Even in essentially realist fiction, there are elements of fabrication which require backstory and consideration to support, which is all that worldbuilding is. It might not be the rules of magic or the means for interstellar travel, but you need to know, say, how long your investigating lawyer has been at her firm and when that means she’ll make partner, or the opening hours for the beach cafe where she happens to meet her future love at dusk. Some of these elements will be on the page, though not necessarily consciously noticed by the reader, and some are purely for your benefi t, but they all serve the same purpose, to make your setting plausible and fully realised in readers’ imaginations. So turn to p14, then step back and have a fresh look at your work-in-progress. Does everything ring true? Could a reader understand why things are the way they are, or are you asking them to suspend logic along with their disbelief? If it’s the latter, it’s worth taking the time for a little more preparation. Just make sure you get writing eventually.
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