Your expectation on a scifi/fantasy

[CheertheSecond]

When you begin reading a fantasy/scifi that was recommended for immersive world building, what do you expect? Anything you want to be fleshed out?

 

[DannyTheDaikon]

I expect to get attached to the world as much as to the characters.

I want to see a living world, with depth and history. I'm expecting a fleshed out deities (if there are), myths and legends. Basically what Tolkien did.

 

[Satansoul]

After reading "The Legendary Mechanic", I won't settle for any other sci-fi/fantasy novel...

 

[SailusGebel]

No infodumping.

 

[LilRora]

I think the first thing I want (and to a degree expect) is for it not to be explained in much detail. Many stories, especially isekais, attempt to give an explanation how the whole world looks, and that isn't strictly a bad thing, but it takes away from the unknown and the mystery.

Some other stories don't really reveal how the whole world looks like, but present it all in an unsophisticated way that robs it of the wonder of an alien world - and that, again, isn't exactly a bad thing, it works very well in contemporary and slice of life stories, but in other cases may just grate with the tone of the story.

What an immersive worldbuilding entails to me is its locality - it doesn't attempt to explain what's going on in general, or somewhere far away, if focuses on then and there, and the whole wider picture is for the readers to figure out, as if they were a participant in the story themselves.

If there's something I would want fleshed out, it would probably be the history. Ideally not presented directly, but shown through locations, events, and characters. Every buffon can say there was a huge war somewhere, but if there was, it has to have left a ton of traces and remains visible to the readers, not only in the world itself, but also in the characters' behavior and words - that's way harder to do, but it makes a huge impact. Same thing with religion, with culture.

 

[Zirrboy]

I would want the world to develop from 'world building' points rather than be made up of them, like I want a character story to develop from the plot points that drive it rather than introducing new ones at convenience. You can set as many over the top cornerstones as you feel like, but the bulk of interest has to stem from their results, so to speak.

If your central feature is that everyone lives in a giant tower because the ground got flooded in long ago history and the way that matters is that everything takes place in buildings, I'm not sold. A society that strongly regulates use of space and has little notion of privacy to allow better sharing is a start, but it's still something I was able to think of on the spot. If you want to really, really get my hooked, surprise me with something I should've thought of.

Then there's consistency. What do all those people eat? I want an answer, but not a one and done explanation for the sake of closing the plot hole. It defines life there, and I want to be able to feel it does.

Now it's important to note that I don't think it's helpful to strictly and only follow that top down approach in creating the story, even in your own head. If you have a 'result' that you just want to have no matter what, go for it. There's no single most realistic consequence no matter how elaborate the setting, and if it really doesn't fit, change the rest. Reader me wants causality, but I'll take the interesting illusion thereof over a predictable adherence to it any day.

 

[l8rose]

With fantasy, I want it to actually feel like fantasy. The fantasy should smack me in the face in the first few chapters (for example, if the fantasy story has cat people then the author has gotta show me the cat people, don't wait until the PoV wanders off into some distant place to show me the kitties). World building is another thing but I don't want paragraphs and paragraphs of info dumps to tell me about things that have nothing to do with the story. It's great that the author has a comprehensive story about how the world was made and how these gods became those gods and how sentient life sprung into being but what does it have to do with the character we're following around?

With Sci-Fi, I kind of want it to be grounded more in realism. There are some exceptions to the rule (like unobtanium) that are needed to make the sci-fi science work but it shouldn't veer off into the "just cuz" explanations. That being said, things don't need to be overexplained. The average soldier is not going to know how a laser gun works. I guess that's kind of the same as fantasy, the info-dumping/world-building has got to be realistic and relevant.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

How does the world work? What cultures are there? How well fleshed out are the magic systems/power systems? How do the rules of the universe(physics, science, gravity, religion, etc.) effect this reality?

 

[georgelee5786]

a good story

 

[CheertheSecond]

a good story

 

[georgelee5786]

Sorry I'm a natural prick.

Ahem. For sci-fi I expect just working logic. No huge complex science things that probably wouldn't work in reality, but not brushed over like it is nothing. For fantasy I generally expect, or hope for, a high fantasy world like LOTR with various races and preferably a millennium or two for lore.

 

[TsumiHokiro]

Careful world building.

 

[J_Chemist]

I want Elf Booba.

 

[Cipiteca396]

I expect info dumps.

I expect whimsy, but not a trace of mystery.

I expect everything in the world to have a reason for existing. Even if it's just, "Oh yeah, Pablo over there thought it would look prettier like that."

There should be a focus on people, and perspectives. Assuming we have aliens or at least other races, they should have their own cultures and unique racial issues. Even if humans are the only creatures allowed, they should change based on what world they're on, or what continent, or what city.

There should also be a focus on (magi)technology. A person designed something to do this thing- maybe it ended up being used for something else, but it still has a purpose. If there's some great disaster looming, or an event that everyone is aware of, some brat somewhere should have or be in the process of inventing a solution.

The core of Sci-fi is creating a detailed and plausible explanation for everything. The core of fantasy is to stretch the imagination, to ask a question and answer it in the most outrageous way possible.
Combining the two is an exercise in futilely spending years in worldbuilding to ask a question, answer it with a smile, really think about what you just did, and then apply the answer to everything.

 

[AbnormalVAverage]

Mmm, I modeled some of my writing style off of Phillip K. Dick. Realism mixed with moments of surrealism and a hint of comedy. Most people say my first chapter really hit their pulse, but, I do almost no exposition at all. Better to let things unfold naturally.

 

[KuruKinaar]

I love seeing world building throughout the story, not all at once in the beginning within some prologue. Following the main character, they should be learning how their world/universe works, the laws, the social structure, and more. That's one of the main points of a main character, especially in science fiction and fantasy, is to follow them and learn with them and experience with them. It should be equally balanced between the narration telling us and then showing us.

I also expect to see realistic traits in science fiction - a lot of similarities in our universe and time period implemented and expanded. If there is some degree that the reader can relate in a social structure or law, then it's going to feel more immersive.

 

[QuercusMalus]

Mmm, I modeled some of my writing style off of Phillip K. Dick. Realism mixed with moments of surrealism and a hint of comedy. Most people say my first chapter really hit their pulse, but, I do almost no exposition at all. Better to let things unfold naturally.

If you like Phillip K. Dick, you might want to check out James H. Schmitz.

 

[AbnormalVAverage]

If you like Phillip K. Dick, you might want to check out James H. Schmitz.

That has a rhythmic quality to it.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Something with an original world. If I see 'everything changed when the dungeon towers appeared' then I instantly drop

 

[QuercusMalus]

That has a rhythmic quality to it.

He really only did short stories. I recommend 'The Demon Breed' as a good example. He does a good job of high level world building- just broad strokes, but in the course of the story you get a glimpse of the recent human history, how the government works, a bit of behind the scenes in how the government operates, and finally, how a group of neutral-hostile aliens views humanity.