Do you build your world around the story or the story around the world?

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    49

Ral

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You might be writing something like Xianxia if you find yourself doing that. It is those kind of stories where the setting is pretty much in service of the plot. Where nothing is consistent. Where things just appear and then disappear. The world is just a source of young lords for the MC to slap.
 

Maple-Leaf

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The majority of my (Work in progress) stories ferment in my brain for about a year or two. As a result, the worlds they take place in are mostly thought through and solidified. The only problem I have is that, when writing the story down, I try to go in depth and give the reader the same understanding as me(who has been familiar with it for a while.) and tend to go on really long, boring rants, which leads to me having to go back and edit more than I should have to.

So if you‘re better than me (which is highly likely) and you can just not do that, then you’ll probably be fine.

I don’t have experience in this so I’m just inferring, but I’d think it’s better to write the story around the world. If you end up thinking through your story and do some world building in your own head after you‘ve already started publishing, you might inadvertently create inconsistencies because you said something that contrasts to your newly imagined world.(which might confuse people.):blobthumbsup:
 

GDLiZy

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The story takes precedence. You can't show your world when the readers won't read past your first page because the story is so damn boring.
 

zaetheiu

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Might get some hate over this one, but i think one peace is an example of a good story where the story is build around the world
 

K5Rakitan

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I'm pretty much just going on the modern world anyway, but then the world starts to evolve with the story.
 

xluminaheart

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Honestly, it depends; sometimes I have a really good idea for an AU and I think "the characters from the OG media don't suit this as well as I hoped..." and in that case I usually end up tweaking the AU, ironing out some things and making my own story to go with it. Sometimes I have a great idea for a story and then I have to think about what world I want to set it in. Most of the time, I only have a basic idea of the world, and the world expands as the story calls for it. I have some information decided ahead of time though.
 
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