Writing.Com General Discussion

You can go into as much depth as you like with world-building, as long as you don't do it in the story. Do it before you write your story. If you make up your story as you go along, you might have to do your world-building in the story too, but most of it will have to be removed in a later edit.

I use a wiki to do my world-building and writing (a structured wiki so things are easy to find). Creating worlds is fun and can be addictive, and there is no such thing as too much detail. However, all these notes are there to inform you so when you write your story you can be consistent. In the actual story, you only need enough detail about the world to set the scene and create atmosphere, which tends to not be much at all.

For example, two agents are meeting a person (whose actual identity they do not know) who is hiding for his life from other (opposing) agents. If I say the scene is set at a zoo, next to the hot-dog stand by the elephant and chimpanzee enclosures, that is enough to set the scene, create a mixed atmosphere and set the tension level. In my notes though, I know the layout of every bush and tree, every civilian adult and child, what other enclosures border this small crossroads (and where they are), and where each of the pathways lead - although I'm actually only interested in the route back to the main car park.

There is never enough detail for the author, but for the reader there should be just enough detail to carry the story forward, with a dusting of other detail to create atmosphere.