Notebook.ai

How unique should a world be if the focus is on characters?

@carterevan0 group forum 2 comments schedule
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@carterevan0 group

My world, Oricha, is basically just earth. The only differences I've got so far are as follows: There are multiple races; humans, kits (cat-human hybrids), buns (rabbit-human hybrids), angels, and demons. Angels and demons can use light and dark magic, respectively, which I'm still building on. There's no family lineage or parents, characters are dropped into the world already being their age (no aging) with basic knowledge and all the abilities a teen or young adult would have. The land that formed is different (unsure how to explain it atm). Aside from that, it's pretty much the same as our world. However, this world is more about the characters and their relationships and problems. Is this world unique enough considering it's not anywhere near a focus point? Or should I continue trying to make it different?

person_off
Deleted user

Something I think always helps with worldbuilding (for me particularly), is that you don't need to describe everything about the world of the character. I used to be really bad at this, and I would always just explain some stupid little detail that didn't need to be there or had nothing to do with the story at that moment.
In my opinion, you shouldn't mention those extra little things (like multiple races) unless it's already being talked about. And it also doesn't need to be in a lot of detail. If I saw "Matt walked through the streets, avoiding humans, kits and the likes as he walked", I'd just assume kits is another species. You can obviously explain it further down the line if you need to, or even do a little note at the bottom about what kits are (if you're planning to publish it online for reading).
I personally struggle to read books/stories that are so focused on describing things. Like a character spots a plant and then there's a whole paragraph just explaining the plant's species and how it got where it got. It just feels so unnecessary and can be really jolting if it's out of nowhere (that's why I hated Lord of the Flies).

Of course this is just my suggestion, and it might not work for you. Someone might have a better idea for you.