W = Worldbuilding

 

In my last post, we discussed books as a vacation from reality, so today I want to talk about what makes it so easy to step from one location to another: worldbuilding. 

Worldbuilding is exactly what it sounds like: using literature to design an imaginary world. A good book should have the ability to take you somewhere, but a good author makes sure that's a place worth going. Worldbuilding is a more obvious concept when it comes to fantasy and science fiction, but it should be present across all genres.

Worldbuilding is a setting: mountains, deserts, or vast oceans, skyscrapers or quaint villages. But it's more than that. Is it simply enough to say someone is in a room, or do you want to know what the room looks like that that someone is in? It's the old adage of "show, don't tell."

Worldbuilding is culture. How do the characters interact socially with others, with economy, with the government? Is there religion, is there art? The more culture a character has access to, the more realistic the character becomes. People are more than just personalities. People are also products of their respective cultures.

Worldbuilding includes a vivid setting and a culture for the characters, but it should also include language. Now this is where it gets complicated. Tolkien invented multiple languages in the creation of Middle Earth to bring his fantastical characters to life, and many fantasies do include foreign languages even if it's just a few phrases here or there, to separate their world from ours. But even if your contemporary novel is written entirely in English, it's important to keep in mind not everyone speaks English the same way. The Southern United States is different from the North, and Australia is different from the United States. Sometimes it's as simple as slang, like the British saying 'bobby' instead of 'cop' or someone saying, "No, I ain't," instead of "No, I am not." Language, and how we use it, matters, but there are plenty of books that forget to include any of language's little idiosyncrasies.

Worldbuilding is an important talent for an author to have if they want to make sure the reader feels transported.

Can you name any books with great worldbuilding? I myself am partial to The Broken Earth trilogy and the Silo trilogy.