Building a new world is no easy feat, it's easy to make mistakes that undermine the stories we’re trying to tell. I know I’ve made my fair share. 

In this quick article we’ll look at a handful of common worldbuilding mistakes, as well as some advice on how to avoid them. These are all things I consider important to think about when building my world, and hopefully you will too.

One more thing, remember that all rules are meant to be broken. It’s your world, your story, and ultimately your rules. Don’t feel like any of the below are set in stone or need to be absolutely adhered to. I like to think of it more as a guideline to consider, but everything is flexible if you have a good reason.

Mistake: Not Knowing How Much Worldbuilding You Need

First off, it’s important to keep in mind your purpose when building your world. Some might be doing it for the sake of building a world, and that’s great. But, many others do so in order to tell a story; the world serves as a setting to drive that story. Whether that’s in a book, a game, or in a tabletop game with friends the end goal of storytelling is largely the same. In these cases it’s important to remember the world serves the story, not the other way around. You only need enough of your world built out to effectively tell your story. It’s easy to focus so much on building the world that we forget the goal we originally had when we set out. If your story is about a specific kingdom detailing the lifestyle of a culture far to the east might not be the best use of your time. That is, of course, until that kingdom and culture interact and now it becomes relevant to the story. 

Solution: Know Your Goals Ahead Of Time

The solution here is to know ahead of time what your goals are. If you’re writing a book, for example, then you only need as much of a world that serves to tell your story. Having a full backstory for how the gods began might be far more than is needed. It may be enough to simply mention gods exist in your world and leave it at that. Knowing the story you’re trying to tell can help you focus on the elements that actually matter to your story.  Before getting started, think a bit about your story and which pieces of the world are required to understand it. Those are the areas that you should focus on the most. This not only saves you time, but helps lead to a more focused story. Most stories don’t benefit from having an over-explored world.

Mistake: Making a World Too Similar

Many people fall into the classic mistake of building a world that is all too similar to one we’re already familiar with. Tolkein’s Middle Earth is probably the first example many of our fantasy worlds would bring to mind. Now, that’s not entirely bad, some familiarity is okay. Still, there needs to be something that separates your world from the others. Something that makes it interesting or unique. 

Solution: Focus on What Makes Yours Unique

The key here is to really focus on what makes your world special. If you have a fairly generic fantasy world, but metal is extremely rare, focus on that. How does that affect the world, how would cultures differ due to this limitation? That’s what makes worlds interesting and helps separate them from the thousands of others. It’s the but in “generic fantasy world but…” that helps build unique and interesting stories. 

Mistake: Not Thinking About Core Systems

While nothing is set in stone, I think one of the most important things you can do at the very start of building a world is to consider the implications your core systems have on that world. By core systems I mean those big, far-reaching aspects that drive cultures; things like magic or religion.

A lot of people will state the fact that there is magic in their world, but then won’t explore the implications of it. Depending on how you structure your system, it can make a profound difference in the world. 

For example, a world where everyone can do magic is probably going to look a lot different than one where only a select few can. The same goes for religion; a world that is deeply religious will likely be drastically different than one that is distrustful or even outright hostile towards religious groups. 

Solution: Plan At The Start

The reason I think it’s important to think about these early is due to their effect on cultures and societies. As noted above, changing how one of these systems works can lead to a vastly different world. Figuring out how these systems work early helps you make informed decisions later on in your process. As an example, consider a world where religion is shunned and very few practice it. If you’re later building out the government for a nation it might not make sense for them to be a theocracy. Or, maybe it does, but now you need to have a good reason to explain why they are. 

These sorts of deviations from the expectation can set up interesting storytelling opportunities. It all comes down to knowing ahead of time how these systems behave though. Having these systems fleshed out to some extent first can help you create a consistent, logical, and interesting world.  

Mistake: Maps Are Unrealistic 

Maps are often a key part of any world, but one that is often done incorrectly. It’s not enough to just plop down rivers and deserts and call it a day. These formations have rules to their creation and behavior. Water always runs downhill, so it would be weird to see a river flowing over a mountain. Having glaring mistakes in your world or descriptions of it can take a reader out of the fiction. There’s always a bit of suspension of disbelief at play in works of fiction, but too many unrealistic elements can be a turn off. I also find it to look sloppy, one thing I strive for in my worlds is for them to be at least semi-plausible. The basics of mapmaking feel very much like low hanging fruit that pushes me towards that goal. 

Solution: Learn The Basics

You don’t need an expert cartographer to create convincing maps. A little bit goes a long way and will be enough to start creating drastically more realistic maps. Start by just learning some basic rules for large features like rivers, mountains, forests, and deserts. Here’s an example of a great article on the basics of using rivers. It’s a quick read, but it gives you all the information you need to create convincing rivers. 

You don’t need to spend a ton of time and become an expert by any means. A couple of minutes spent researching can help you avoid the biggest mistakes and improve your mapmaking significantly. Knowing a bit about how rivers and other features form makes a huge difference in getting their placement and behavior right. 

Mistake: The World Feels Static

It’s always important to keep in mind that worlds and their peoples are not stagnant. They’re changing things, constantly being shaped by those that live in them. Both events in recent history and those far in the past change how societies act and react. 

A lot of people approach building their worlds as more of a snapshot than a living thing. This can lead to a world that doesn’t feel alive, or one that feels a very surface level. You certainly don’t want to go overboard with details, but having some hints at the changing world can help a lot in getting rid of this feeling. 

Solution: Think About How The World Changes and Its History

It can help to have a rough idea of a timeline in your world's history before getting too far into the specifics. You don’t need specific dates or too many details, knowing that the war of the giants happened in the distant past is likely enough to understand how that would affect a society. At this stage I like to focus more on the big events, things that had a direct impact on shaping the world. As I drill down into the specific countries or cultures I can explore more specific events to them.  

Short term events also matter. For example, if you’re running a tabletop game and the players loot and pillage a town then the next time they go there they should be treated accordingly. It would be weird to see them treated as heroes (unless something happened in between visits of course). This is a pretty obvious example, but highlights the need to consider recent events and people in the world react to them. 

A word of caution though, it’s easy to get caught up here and add too many details that aren’t really needed for the story you’re trying to tell. My advice is to focus on the elements that are important to your story and focus only on fleshing those out. If, for example, you had a specific law that was central to the plot of your story then it might be a good idea to detail the specifics that lead to it being written. Outside of that, you probably then don’t need to detail the entire justice system or the schooling that a lawyer might need. Focus on what’s important. 

Mistake: The World Feels Small

Lastly, one thing I think is critical to a believable world is the feeling that it exists outside of the context of the story. While the story is the central focus, it's not the only thing happening in your world. There are other people, other stories being told. We don’t necessarily need to know the specifics of those stories, it’s often enough to know that they exist. Without these extra details, a world can feel sort of one-dimensional. While the world serves the story, the world also needs to exist outside the story, or at least needs to seem as such. 

Solution: Drop Hints To Your Larger World

Adding little details to show a larger world doesn’t have to be overly involved. In a lot of cases offhand comments in conversations can do exactly that and still feel natural. A good example is in the original Star Wars movie. Early on, it’s mentioned that Obi-wan fought in the Clone Wars. We don’t really get more details on what the “Clone Wars” are (not until much later at least), but it’s enough to add a layer to the world. It gives us just enough to imagine something, but leaves the specifics up to us to fill in. 

When writing a backstory for a character you might reference them growing up in the forests of Rhymwood. What is Rhymwood? Who knows, I just thought it sounded cool. What it serves to do is flesh out my world and get your imagination working. Rhymwood might not be relevant to this story, this passing remark is the only time it's mentioned. But, it opens up the door to perhaps be explored later.