Worldbuilding is a key component to fiction writing, but to what extent you construct your fictional world can vary greatly. Some stories are set in exotic fantasy locales with thousands of years of history, fully mapped geography, and unique languages. Others are relatively contemporary settings with just a few “changes” to explain to readers. All levels of worldbuilding between the extremes are valid, but regardless of a world’s depth it must be internally consistent and coherent to readers.

A story with great characters set in an inconsistent world rarely works. An internally consistent world has checks and balances. If your history includes a major climatic event characters in the present should know about it and be influenced by it. The creatures of your story should be part of a stable ecology; what other creatures balance them to prevent overpopulation or extinction? Having multiple moons orbiting your world will effect tides and significantly brighten the night sky. Every choice should have some effect on what happens in your story.

A great example of setting’s influence is Asimov’s short story Nightfall, which takes place on a planet in a solar system with six stars that keep the whole planet continuously illuminated. The population of world without night fears the dark and has no concept of other stars in the universe, that is until a great eclipse event occurs… Your world may be made up of many tiny pieces, but like a puzzle they must all touch and connect with one another to form the big picture.

It is equally important to provide a world that’s coherent and relatable to readers. Taking the time to develop a unique language is great, but expecting your readers to translate sections of your text to follow what’s going on is not. Something as complex as a new language must be introduced slowly to give readers time to internalize terms. The same can be said for expansive geography with dozens of place names or detailed histories covering more events and people than your primary story. Find a way to relate details to the real world readers already know, or edit it down to just the essentials. What parts of your world can be used to best inform the reader? There may be large sections if your word that are better left unmentioned, or at least saved for a sequel. It’s ok to casually namedrop something without detailing it’s back-story; the focus should be on keeping the reader engaged in the main narrative(s) without losing them to tangents.

The Wheel of Time epic fantasy series is a good example of this issue. Jordan had a lot of great ideas and described his world in beautiful detail, but there’s still a general feeling that he “needed and editor.” Creating and describing a world with incredible depth is great, but it should remain secondary to the story being told. In a large setting like WoT my suggestion would be to tell multiple related but distinct arcs. Rather than write a single marathon series do multiple trilogies set in the same world. Robin Hobb has done this masterfully with her 11 books set in the Realm of the Elderlings. While strongly connected with shared characters, the books are grouped into trilogies that can easily be read alone.

With any worldbuilding the point is to build it for your readers. If they don’t need to know something to support your story, then you probably don’t need to tell them. But whatever you do write should internally balance and make sense to your readers. If you need to mention some extra detail to bring other pieces together, do it in a way that adds that depth without distract from the main story. Your readers will enjoy your setting more and want to return to it later.