The “Write down every question you can think of” part reminded me of being at Viable Paradise and Steven Gould gave me so many questions to ask of my YA novel Aftershock (now titled Apostate). It was so overwhelming. I don’t know if my brain was ready for it lol. Like worldbuilding questions are important, but maybe I had given myself a world that was a bit beyond my abilities.
oh no! Yeah I think there is definitely value in having at least SOME level of detail about a world, but I also do agree with the iceberg theory (which I first heard from Brandon Sanderson, but I think he stole it from someone) - where you show enough of a world beneath the surface of the water that the reader can look down and go "oh, they know everything about this world, I can trust them" but it's mostly hollowed out.
I think getting questions from people isn't always the best idea for that exact reason. They may ask good questions, but that doesn't mean they are questions/answers YOU need to care about for YOUR story. As above, you don't need to have everything figured out - you just need enough for the story you tell (i.e., the tip of the iceberg) and to give the feel of a larger world (i.e., the part of the iceberg below the water, even if it's just a shell). My world's religion (and it's history and influence on the world and culture) is important for my story, so it belongs at the tip of the iceberg, solid and known, but may be completely irrelevant for another story, and can be part of the hollow.
The “Write down every question you can think of” part reminded me of being at Viable Paradise and Steven Gould gave me so many questions to ask of my YA novel Aftershock (now titled Apostate). It was so overwhelming. I don’t know if my brain was ready for it lol. Like worldbuilding questions are important, but maybe I had given myself a world that was a bit beyond my abilities.
oh no! Yeah I think there is definitely value in having at least SOME level of detail about a world, but I also do agree with the iceberg theory (which I first heard from Brandon Sanderson, but I think he stole it from someone) - where you show enough of a world beneath the surface of the water that the reader can look down and go "oh, they know everything about this world, I can trust them" but it's mostly hollowed out.
I think getting questions from people isn't always the best idea for that exact reason. They may ask good questions, but that doesn't mean they are questions/answers YOU need to care about for YOUR story. As above, you don't need to have everything figured out - you just need enough for the story you tell (i.e., the tip of the iceberg) and to give the feel of a larger world (i.e., the part of the iceberg below the water, even if it's just a shell). My world's religion (and it's history and influence on the world and culture) is important for my story, so it belongs at the tip of the iceberg, solid and known, but may be completely irrelevant for another story, and can be part of the hollow.
That’s true—other people might focus on things I don’t care about as much.