Last updated on April 24, 2021
I’ve been writing a lot about worldbuilding. I love the world I created for my own novels. It has a rich history, with political intrigue, economic conflict, and religious sectarianism. The cities and kingdoms are mapped out in detail.
One of the things any worldbuilding novelist struggles with when writing is how much detail to include in the novel. While editing a novel today, I had to delete thirteen paragraphs of beautiful prose describing the main character’s entry to a city. I struggled with these edits.
This is an example of the writing advice “kill your darlings“. That is, even if it is beautiful prose that you love and are proud of, if it doesn’t fit the story, take it out.
Beautiful but Boring
My beautiful paragraphs described the smells of late-summer aromas of scrub oak and dry grass, midday sun glinting off four gilt domes, massive city walls rising up like a mountain range, scent of spices and sight of brightly colored silks in the bazaars, the line of succession of the emperors.
OK, the first four descriptions are good, with sights and scents. They really gave a feel for the world of the novel. The line of succession of the emperors might have been too much. In any case, none of it was working with the way the story was going. The entire section was just getting the character from one place to the next. It’s like a date with a supermodel: beautiful but boring.
I inserted some of the description into other scenes, preserving some of the scene-setting. About half of it ended up on the cutting room floor. I copied it to another file and saved it in case I need it later, but I don’t foresee any scene that will be able to use it. I have killed my darlings.
When writing, keep the story in mind. The work you do while worldbuilding is interesting and fun, but when writing the story, you have to focus on the characters. All the worldbuilding in the world won’t make a story interesting if the characters are flat. The reason for the worldbuilding is to give life to the characters. The reader doesn’t need to know all the details of the world, but those details inform the writer, letting them know how characters interact with the world and those around them.
