Different worldbuilding approaches
Using the top-down worldbuilding approach, an author begins by creating a general overview of the world, defining broad characteristics such as the world’s inhabitants, history, geography, and time era. From there, they develop the rest of the world in further detail. Worlds created using this approach are usually well worked and integrated, an example of this would be George R.R. Martin’s “The Known World”, where the story is mainly set on the continents of Westeros and Essos.
When using bottom-up worldbuilding, the author will focus on a small part of the world initially. This location, whether it be a town, school or institution, is given the lion’s share of the authors attention, with details such as the history, geography, politics and social norms of that specific location all being very well established early on in the text. The surrounding areas are then described in a lower level of detail.
The primary world is our world, Earth. A fictional world might take place in the real, primary world but often has a theme that serves as a differentiating factor between our world and the fictional one. Usage of this concept in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was great because it allowed her characters to move around and interact with real people in real places, therefore allowing the audience to better relate to the cast of characters. Having the characters share a world with the readers also allowed Rowling to appeal to readers by using manifestations of real life concepts like friendship and love. In particular, the manifestation of love in Rowling’s work is powerful enough repel even the strongest of spells. This idea of using real life concepts in works of literature is nothing new but when used correctly it can foster a bleeding of ideas between the fictional world and our primary world, creating a truly immersive and real experience for the reader.
The secondary world is a fictional world, a completely imagined realm. Science-fiction and fantasy genres usually have a secondary world. Creation of an entirely new world allows the author greater independence to model and shape their world to suit the current narrative.
A uchronia is a world that is supposedly ours, but at a hypothetical or altered point of time. This can include altered historical events. The most famous example of this is J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of Arda, the primary setting of The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and other works. Tolkien was unhappy with the lack of traditional English folklore in his time, noting that many ‘traditional’ stories he heard were adaptations from Norse folklore. Thus he set about creating the world of Arda, borrowing heavily from European folklore, but with the intent of making his stories the unofficial history of Britain.
Beginning with the creation of many different languages from which he derived character names, Tolkien spent years building the world of Arda with detail upon detail. Using an integration of both top-down worldbuilding or bottom-up worldbuilding, Tolkien first created a fully formed world with its own history and geopolitics. He then went on to write multiple disconnected works, all set in the same world, many works which he even left unfinished. In his own words, he wanted to show
…there is more to the world of a story than the story itself, that its scenery is not a
mere stage prop…
Links
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311253604_Tolkien_and_Worldbuilding
Questions
How important is an integrated, consistent narrative if the author does not provide enough information for readers to come to their own conclusions?
Why do you think some authors choose to leave on purposefully unresolved issues in their texts?
Cool topic choice Rayyan, this was incredibly informative! I was a big Harry Potter kid so I found your discussion of worldbuilding in the series particularly interesting, especially the usage of the ‘primary world.’ One of the aspects that made the HP series so cool when we were younger was that the magical world coexisted with ours, almost parallel – we were part of something fantastic, albeit as ‘muggles.’ Regarding your question, I think a consistent and integrated narrative is really important for creating an immersive experience. Although it’s always fascinating when fans come up with theories and conclusions to resolve gaps and ambiguities in the narrative, I find that incompleteness in worldbuilding usually just weakens the experience. Nice work!
This was a pleasure to read Rayyan, very thoughtful and well-written! I’ve generally tended to think of all fantasy under one umbrella but this distinction between different types of worldbuilding is very fascinating. This maybe explains the near-universal appeal of Harry Potter–the familiarity of our world becomes a bridge to the ‘foreignness’ of the other world which can ultimately make the other world even more cherished than our own. I was a latecomer to the Harry Potter universe but it felt very natural when I arrived at it, almost like a homecoming–it felt like Rowling was using our world to anchor readers and make the leap between universes more seamless.
Part of the thrill of fantasy, I think, also lies in the slow process of finding your bearings in a new world and discovering the universal matter of life, the things that transcend the particular realm in time and space you inhabit. And equally, part of the wonder of primary worldbuilding is that it opens our eyes to the magic in our mundane world… every wall can become a potential platform 9 3/4, a portal to Hogwarts
The idea of primary worlds also reminds me of the genre of magical realism which I’ve heard of as an interesting medium between fantasy and pure ‘realism’. I haven’t read too many books in this genre yet but two of the authors I want to get to are Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende who dress up our primary world in surreal clothing to convey something about reality in a veiled, coded way. This is a sidenote but I’ve heard magical realism is strongly associated with authors who wrote in countries with limited political and social freedoms (Marquez and Allende are both from Colombia and Chile). Perhaps surreal and fantastical elements acted as an outlet for them to escape the confines of reality and a vehicle to make a stronger commentary than any ‘real’ story could (and also potentially to get away with saying things they couldn’t in a not-so-surreal story). Clearly lots to think about but really enjoyed this post!
This was a very interesting read. Great work Rayaan!
Alright so for the first question, I agree that an integrated and consistent narrative is crucial for creating a believable and immersive fictional world. While leaving some aspects of the worldbuilding open to interpretation can enhance the reader’s engagement and encourage them to think critically about the story, an inconsistent or poorly developed world can ultimately derail the entire story. Readers need to feel that the fictional world is authentic and well-thought-out in order to become invested in the story and the characters within it. Therefore, it is essential for the author to provide enough information to ensure that the worldbuilding is coherent and cohesive. Being a huge fan of horror and zombie flicks, the recent show on netflix, ‘The Last of Us’ (based on a game of the same name) is one great example of a truly exquisite fictional world.
Regarding the second question, authors may choose to leave unresolved issues in their texts for a variety of reasons. One possible reason is to encourage readers to engage more actively with the text and to draw their own conclusions. By leaving certain plot points unresolved, authors can prompt readers to think more deeply about the story and to come up with their own interpretations of what might have happened. This can create a sense of ambiguity and intrigue that can be compelling for readers. Additionally, leaving some issues unresolved can allow for the possibility of sequels and who doesn’t love a good sequel ;))
I was amazed by the information you’ve presented, Rayyan! I think it is very important to analyze setting in a text as it can give many clues about the characters, genre, and so much more.
To answer your question, I believe that a consistent narrative is very important to ensure reader engagement with the text. In fact, it can give the reader clues for further analysis, including foreshadowing events, which provides them with a sense of suspense.
As for your second question, I just wanted to say that as much as I might get annoyed from unresolved issues in a story or text, as much as I do end up liking it due to the suspense it leaves me with. I think that authors, however, have to be careful because it might be the case that unresolved issues can ruin a reader’s experience. However, if done the right way, unresolved issues can help with the theme of the text, or can leave it up to the reader to interpret a certain character in their own way. It can also be the case that it foreshadows events in future seasons.
As someone who grew up reading fantasy books for pleasure, I found this post very interesting. A lot of fantasy books start of with an image of a fictional map. From my experience with books with fictional worlds, in the beginning, it can be difficult to adjust to the occasionally convoluted names of the towns and characteristics/powers of the extraordinary characters. But once enough context is given, you become absorbed and feel as though this world that just exists in words (or graphics in the case of movies/shows) is a reality – and that you are part of it. It is a feeling that is worth all the initial confusion. It was also very interesting to read about the different techniques authors use to introduce the worlds they built, so thank you for that! I think authors may leave some unresolved issues regarding their worlds in order to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. Also, it can be a smart way to make room for a sequel/prequel, as many books have nowadays.
I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy books growing up, and the world-building within these books was my favorite part. To read the process of how these authors may have created these worlds is so interesting, thank you Rayyan. The world in Hunger Games, is the one that stuck with me the most, because while it is completely utopian, you cant help but notice the similarities between it and the real world
Very Interesting topic Rayyan, this was extremely fun to read!! I actually never really thought about the different types of imaginations and fantasy in separate contexts because they all seemed connected and pretty much the same. These “worlds” are perhaps the key element to fiction stories because they allow the reader to escape in their own space where they can apply their creativity, knowledge, and ideas and live the experience of the story. This is what makes it different to every person and I find that truly fascinating.
With regards to your second question, I think unresolved issues, though may seem annoying are one of the biggest successors of books. Although I am not a huge fan of reading, I can surely say that they encourage more creativity application and discussions with others. Everyone can sort of get to have their own ending according to what they believed and understood from the book, which provides a fun experience for everyone!
The information provided, along with the video were super fascinating!!
I think that an integrated, consistent narrative is important for any written work, as it helps readers to understand and follow the story being told. It allows readers to engage with the narrative as a whole in a meaningful way, and it can make the reading experience way more enjoyable. However, if an author does not provide enough information for readers to come to their own conclusions, it can be frustrating for readers and may leave them feeling confused or unsatisfied with the story. It’s important for authors to create a balance between providing enough information for readers to understand the story and leaving enough room for interpretation and imagination. If an author wants readers to draw their own conclusions, they should provide enough clues and context for readers to make informed inferences or guesses, which can be done in several different ways.
Great work, this topic is extremely important to discuss, can’t wait to discuss further about in class on Thursday!
Ah! The fascinating tale of the world inside a novel. Yet, do writers really create such worlds?
That was my question while reading your post, Rayyan. As a writer myself (albeit an unproven one), I would like to propose a different method of looking at the world-building of any particular novel. I do not particularly believe that writers invent such worlds; rather, they discover them through introspection within themselves and extrospection of the world around them. Thus, it is through the filtering and fusion of these insights through one’s own senses that one may be able to discover a world within another world. As such, it is not an invention; rather, it is the discovery of a world that only the writer can see, as the saying goes, “The world you see is not the world that I see”.
Thank you very much Rayyan!! The subject you chose to explore in your blog piques my interest immensely. I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately, especially dystopian fantasy, and that has made me value the setting even more. In general, world-building can increase your emotional attachment to the setting and the characters you are reading about or watching. I read the short novella “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin over the winter break. In this short story, Le Guin—who is well recognized for her philosophical works in the fantasy and science fiction genres—discusses Omelas, a dystopian country that masquerades as a utopia. Omelas has a futuristic setting, but Le Guin doesn’t go into great detail on the technological developments there. She goes into great detail, for instance, on the values and social structures of Omelas, but she leaves it up to the reader to decide whether or not a utopian future would include automobiles. This, in my opinion, was an intriguing idea because it raises doubts about future projections and the viability of technology in a utopian society. Is technology there to help people live more comfortably and leisurely or is it there to allow them to accomplish more in the demanding capitalist society in which we already reside? Le Guin also makes no mention of the world outside of Omelas, so when you learn about the people who left Omelas, you have to assume the worst and worry about what awaits them.
I genuinely enjoyed reading this post because I am not the biggest fan of fantasy books, and I was not familiar with the concept of world-building. This blog gave me a new perspective on reading, and it made me consider reading fiction. Growing up, I gravitated more towards non-fiction because that is what I was exposed to most of the time and it just felt easier to read, but now I will definitely give fiction a shot.