Worldbuilding is creative resilience

The world will include many things, but it needs one in particular: purpose. Inside the world, it needs to be really obvious what our goals are, and why we want our push our system into a new state. You fill your world with familiar storylines and tension and characters, highlighted or re-framed compared to the real world, that give everyone a real... See more

More recently, the concept of “worldbuilding” has come to the fore. The term describes the creation of fictional worlds with unique settings, histories, aesthetics, and characters. Our franchise-dominated media environment is rife with worlds and extended universes, straddling the physical and the virtual, the fictional and the real. There is a pal... See more

Worldbuilding serves as a “container,” allowing for non-linear narratives and ‘choose your own adventure’ (CYOA) paths, creating intriguing rabbit holes for audiences to explore and transformative experiences to emerge. Its rich and captivating nature not only retains audience attention but fosters opportunities for relationship building and long-t... See more

Worldbuilding satisfies the desire to “be a real maker,” J.R.R. Tolkien remarked in his 1947 essay “On Fairy Stories.” The creator should “hope that he is drawing on reality,” for the qualities of the world should aim to capture some truth, some essence of reality.