5 Worst Worldbuilding Mistakes & How to Fix Them (Writing Advice)

Learn how to fix the most common worldbuilding problems--with examples from Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, and more!

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The Anatomy of Story REVIEW:

Save the Cat Writes a Novel REVIEW:
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[J]

The worldbuilding issue I struggle with most is creating a world in which I actually finish my worldbuilding

[pthomasgarcia]

One major weakness of world-building that goes hand-in-hand with static worlds is when action only occurs in the settings where the main characters exist and concurrent motives and actions come to a pause elsewhere until a main character enters a new setting

[Lithilic]

I love how the mistakes was kicked off with a cut to the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy footage.

Something I do to help fend against static worlds is to allude to events that happened offscreen with the characters when they are on screen. The idea being to plant the seed that these characters have a life outside of what the reader is able to peer into.

[wabba]

One addition to the first point: stretching a world too thin. A half-baked world might work well within one, singular story, but if you try to turn that into a trilogy or a franchise, the inherent problems will become obvious.

[aaronlauretani]

I'm writing my own video game right now, and the biggest challenge is that the more I add, the more I feel I *need* to add. It's hard to know when to stop.

[warlawds]

Great stuff Brandon! I always wondered what the balance was with "Show don't tell" when you have things like Obi Wan talking about the Clone Wars in ANH and people genuinely enjoying little nuggets like that. And I think you covered it well. You mention it briefly to pique interest, but unless it impacts the main story, then just leave it at that.

[ShawnHCorey]

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

[ridleyformk]

9:04: For me, it's the five senses, i always seemed to forget those. Not to mention that I'm autistic and can't smell, so that sense slips away from my mind very eaisly.

[puffthefish]

Loved Half Murders, brilliant world building

[henningKO]

Good point about the sensory descriptions, I would not have thought of that. To piggyback, that is precisely what a lot of forgettable films with loads of CGI don't do. The waterfall is pretty to look at... but far in the background. No one thinks to wipe a browful of mist away, or stop and take in a deep breath of fresh air, talk over the wind, bat away a seagull, or walk and talk with some street food... because they're not actually there. With CG, that all has to be meticulously planned.

[billowspillow]

Not sure why I'm so sentimental and sappy this morning, maybe it's the holiday, but your channel and content is awesome and I hope you keep it up for a long time.

[grizzly_manbanimation]

I think the world building aspect I struggle with the most is related to info dumps. Too much being said by me, the writer and not leaving enough room for the imagination.

[c-factor_chris]

I don’t even wanna become a writer. I just enjoy this content. 👍

[szczepankalisiak]

I watch your videos to improve my skills in roleplaying games, where scenario and characters writing as well as world building are very important aspects. Thank you for your great work!

[mimilook]

From what I've learned, the BEST stories are the ones that don't focus on the world building as much as they focus on the main characters and their journeys. They're not even focusing a lot on those characters' backgrounds, but they only reveal the most important details for the current story that the writer is telling us right now. If something isn't important for the story to make it complete they won't include that. I think that this is really important for every writer to know.

[racheltheradiant]

My biggest problem with World building is that i want it to be unique, not bizarre. Sometimes i can overdo it in my attempts to not be like anyone else.😅

[thywordistruth]

My weakness is irrelevant details; it's easy for me to get caught up in a setting or backstory I'm happy about but have to tell myself to dial back details that don't contribute very much to the story.

[OrangeHand]

There's an infamously bad fantasy book (got a lot of hype on TikTok) that dumps worldbuilding info using on-the-nose lists. Imagine there was a moment early in Game of Thrones where it directly said 'House Stark's symbol was a wolf. House Lannister was a lion. House Baratheon was a stag.' And on and on. That's how bad the worldbuilding in this book is.

[jesusromanpadro]

6:53 "... is to treat your world building like you treat a character." This is why in some reviews there's a comment about the city being like another character.

I think the first time Inread this was in a review of the first Batman movie. (Not the TV one).

[basartuncel]

You keep surprising me. The insights you shared in this episode are neither things I’ve come across as advice before nor things I had ever considered. Truly valuable information! Especially the idea that “if you love the character, you’ll also love the world they live in, so focus on introducing the character first” is, in my opinion, advice that anyone aspiring to be a writer should pin to their wall. As always, thank you so much!!! (And many thanks for the credit, too.)