I'm writing a fantasy short romantic story, how do you world build without going crazy?

Question

My story is not even going to be over 20,000 words and yet my notes are like 22 pages long already.  I've got a listing of planets, potential names for weapons, languages, the language they speak on this particular planet, other alien life forms and their names, the form of government and of course all the stuff essential to the story has to be shoved in there.  I'm a romance writer so the other important element being a romance taking front and center or at least second fiddle to the main plot.  So how do you know when to stop building?  When is enough enough?

? · Accepted Answer

As long as it's relevant at the time, then put what you need. You don't need to do an information dump about the world at every chance you get. Put what you need to to explain what you have to without going overboard. I'm sorry, I'm not fully awake so I don't know how well I'm explaining anything. But as you go along, maybe you go to a certain place, you can describe about that. But you don't have to have a back story on a certain planet that's million miles away and has nothing to do with the story. Add what you need to as you go along, just like you would with character development.

With romance in it as well, there has to be a balance and you have to determine which one you want stronger. Do you want the fantasy more so or do you want the romance more so? I think since you want a fantasy romance story, the romance should be strong. But have the fantasy just as strong because it is fantasy. Otherwise, it's just a romance story with a wanna be backdrop of fantasy. 

Hope that makes sense...

I'm writing a fantasy short romantic story, how do you world build without going crazy?

Related Questions

Trending Questions