14.8: Worldbuilding Q&A #1

Your Hosts: Howard, Mary Robinette, Dan, and DongWon

We invited attendees at WXR 2018 to ask us some general worldbuilding questions. Here’s what they asked:

What cultural stuff do you need to know during the writing process?
How do you treat overlaps between real-world religions and fictional religions when the fictional religions are part of the story’s fundamental conflict?
How much worldbuilding do you have figured out before you start your first draft, and how much do you discover on the fly?
What’s the point in a book beyond which you shouldn’t introduce big worldbuilding elements?
How do you ensure that the world comes through as a character of its own?
How much change to terminology is too much?

Credits: This episode was recorded live by Bert Grimm, and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Homework: What do you do about time in your universe? Spend some time considering how it is demarcated in your setting.

Thing of the week: Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik.