Before summer holidays i decided to try to start writing a book, or at least, a long and engaging story. I wrote some months ago a short fanfic and the few people that read it like it very much.
However, writing something original sure is much harder. I was about to start writing before noticing i would need some world building beforehand. I started brainstorming what fantasy races, cultures, etc… i want. I took some notes in Obsidian of how i want the world & characters to be: Their flaws, their strengths… Writing fanfic is much easier in my opinion, you have already all the fleshed out characters and detailed world.
Anyway, i didn’t write a single line of the actual story and feel like i am wasting time planning everything about the world. It can be frustrating.
Did you guys get stuck world building too? What approach do you have with it?
I’ve never done “complete” worldbuilding (cause it’s never been that interesting to me) so maybe I’m out of my depth here. I do enjoy worldbuilding when I tweak something about “our” world: adding soulmarks, magic systems, etc. It gives me a base to start with, and then I can extrapolate things from there. What would change? What would stay the same? Human greed and fallibility always shape the world, even if you have supernatural elements or beings in your story.
But my worldbuilding is usually “start writing and figure things out as I go along”. Sometimes you only realize what your story/world needs when you’re writing and run into a roadblock.