A Sense of Doubt blog post #3907 - Balancing World Building and Narrative Progress - Writing Wednesday 2510.29

 A Sense of Doubt blog post #3907 - Balancing World Building and Narrative Progress - Writing Wednesday 2510.29

This is going to be a quick note because it's Saturday, so I am three days behind, except that I am really only two days behind because I posted the Friday entry, #3909, because it was for Halloween.

I am behind schedule because it's the last week of the quarter for my grad school, so I have projects and exams.

And Ellory is sick. More on that tomorrow

I searched in Google my title here: "Balancing World Building and Narrative Progress."

I am reprinting the link where I found the image above and what AI generated for the search of my blog post title.

The main advice: prioritize what's necessary and use the iceberg method.

This is advice I have been trying to heed.

I have been re-reading old chapters of my current work in progress: a sword and sorcery cyberpunk mash-up.

I discovered in re-reading that I do a lot of world building in the chapters interrupting the narrative flow, dumping information on the reader.

And that's not because I do not have a "bible" for the project. I have reams and reams of notes and have spent a lot of time world building outside of the chapters.

But there's always more to do. So when I get into writing the chapters, I am still inventing and that inventive prose, exposition not narrative, finds its way onto the page getting in the way of the narrative.

Mindful of this tendency of mine, I have tried to limit the info dumps in my current redraft of the book, but the first chapter still grew into a complicated, dense mess of information despite keeping the narrative flow moving.

But that's what re-writing is for, right?

I wrote about the way the iceberg is used well in my review of this very great book:

Saturday, January 11, 2025

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3616 - JAGGED EMERALD CITY - a book review

Also, V.E. Schwab handles this issue so well in her SHADES OF MAGIC series, and I plan to write more about those books once I finish them (and I am almost finished).

I already wrote about Schwab some here:

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3893 - Writing Wednesday -A Lesson From Reading and V.E. Schwab

I collaborated on a talk about world building three years ago. Here's the posts on that:

Sunday, April 10, 2022

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2609 - Magic Systems and World Building

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2612 - Hole by Ben Tolman and other images for Community Conversations - THAT ONE THING for 2204.13

So, MORE NARRATIVE ACTION less world building info dumps.

That's all for now.

Thanks for tuning in.

Image above from:

https://spines.com/world-building-in-fiction-writing-immersive-storylines/

To balance worldbuilding and narrative progress, prioritize elements that serve the story, integrate details naturally, and use the "iceberg theory" to reveal only essential information. Introduce lore through character actions and dialogue, create a sense of mystery by revealing things gradually, and use concrete sensory details to ground the reader without lengthy explanations. 

Prioritize what's necessary

• Focus on plot and character: The story and characters must always come first, with worldbuilding serving to enhance them, not distract from them.
• "Need-to-know" details: Only include worldbuilding details that directly impact the plot or character development.
• Avoid "worldbuilder's disease": Don't get so engrossed in your world's creation that you forget to write the story. 

Integrate seamlessly 

• Use diegetic action: Show the world through the characters' interactions and experiences, rather than interrupting the narrative with exposition dumps.
• Show, don't tell: Use sensory details to immerse the reader in the world. Instead of explaining a magic system, describe how it feels, tastes, or looks.
• Weave in lore through dialogue: Use conversations between characters to naturally reveal background information and world history. 

Create a sense of depth without overwhelming

• The "iceberg theory": Know the details of your world intimately, but only show the parts that are essential to the story on the surface. Readers don't need to see every detail to believe the world is vast and complex.
• Gradual revelation: Introduce world details gradually through the narrative. Avoid laying everything out at once.
• Create mystery: Use your characters' limited perspective and introduce mysterious elements that the reader can ponder alongside the characters, making them want to learn more. 

Maintain momentum and pacing 

• Challenge characters: Introduce obstacles and conflicts that push the plot forward and create try-fail cycles to keep the story from becoming predictable.
• Use rest periods: Strategically place moments of rest to allow for character development, relationship building, and the revelation of lore.
• Focus on vital details: When writing, focus on the details that are vital to continuing the story, and add more complex worldbuilding details later as needed. 

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2510.29 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3772 days ago & DAD = 426 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.