4 ms·

I keep seeing "worldbuilding" like it's a new kind of hobby and Google Trends has the search query consistently growing over past two decades (https://trends.go

I keep seeing "worldbuilding" like it's a new kind of hobby and Google Trends has the search query consistently growing over past two decades (https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=worldbuilding https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=worldbui...). Not sure what triggered it to became so popular in recent years.

soneca 3y ago
That’s a very interesting observation and it would be nice to see people chiming in to speculate what could have been the trigger. My take is that narratives are growing kind of exponentially. We see it in videogames, webtoons, fan fiction. Even literature has many more writers than twenty years ago (even if not “published authors”, but people writing on Wattpad, newsletters, creative writing workshops, etc). More writers (amateur or professional), more fantasy writers in particular, means more interest in writing resources. And worldbuilding is a topic that it is not that much explored in other writing resources. I would even guess that if Tolkien did not actually invent the concept itself, he was the one that made it a relevant discussion topic. So it is a relatively new topic.
- Multicomp 3y ago
  Worldbuilding sits at the procrastination nexus of multiple hobbies. Fiction writers, RPG GM campaign designers, video game designers, etc. For any of those activities, the need for doing coherent and good enough setting design becomes the tempting excuse to procrastinate on doing the actual thing (plot, character, gameplay design, whatever) and 'refine the worldbuilding', because while there is a necessary minimum of setting design, the line of when you have got enough setting design and are getting into diminishing returns is not bright. Signed - I'd rather write the history of the steam dragons' colonization of the western marshes than finish my protagonist's character arc refinements today, don't worry, I'll get to him soon.
  - Tao3300 3y ago
    Nailed it. We should all be so lucky as to get big enough fanbases that a subset of mega nerds can find all the holes.
thriftwy 3y ago
Readers are less interested in plots and more interested in settings in which they take place, so at some point plot becomes redundant. It's also much harder to have an interesting plot and everybody is thoroughly fed up with all the common ones.
- bluGill 3y ago
  Plot, setting, and characters all have to come together to make the story. Different readers have different preferences, and different authors have different strengths. There is no exact rule for how much of any one you need. However fail too much in any and the whole falls apart. Do very well in one and the others can fail a little more.

soneca 3y ago

That’s a very interesting observation and it would be nice to see people chiming in to speculate what could have been the trigger. My take is that narratives are growing kind of exponentially. We see it in videogames, webtoons, fan fiction. Even literature has many more writers than twenty years ago (even if not “published authors”, but people writing on Wattpad, newsletters, creative writing workshops, etc). More writers (amateur or professional), more fantasy writers in particular, means more interest in writing resources. And worldbuilding is a topic that it is not that much explored in other writing resources. I would even guess that if Tolkien did not actually invent the concept itself, he was the one that made it a relevant discussion topic. So it is a relatively new topic.

Multicomp 3y ago
Worldbuilding sits at the procrastination nexus of multiple hobbies. Fiction writers, RPG GM campaign designers, video game designers, etc. For any of those activities, the need for doing coherent and good enough setting design becomes the tempting excuse to procrastinate on doing the actual thing (plot, character, gameplay design, whatever) and 'refine the worldbuilding', because while there is a necessary minimum of setting design, the line of when you have got enough setting design and are getting into diminishing returns is not bright. Signed - I'd rather write the history of the steam dragons' colonization of the western marshes than finish my protagonist's character arc refinements today, don't worry, I'll get to him soon.
- Tao3300 3y ago
  Nailed it. We should all be so lucky as to get big enough fanbases that a subset of mega nerds can find all the holes.

thriftwy 3y ago

Readers are less interested in plots and more interested in settings in which they take place, so at some point plot becomes redundant. It's also much harder to have an interesting plot and everybody is thoroughly fed up with all the common ones.

bluGill 3y ago
Plot, setting, and characters all have to come together to make the story. Different readers have different preferences, and different authors have different strengths. There is no exact rule for how much of any one you need. However fail too much in any and the whole falls apart. Do very well in one and the others can fail a little more.