Brandon Sanderson - 318R - #4 (World Building)
Why Writers Stack Exchange recommends it
Writers Stack Exchange answerers point people to it when asking about worldbuilding, avoiding worldbuilder's disease, and how to open a story with both character and setting.
Recommended by 3 people across 2 different months, 2018 to 2025.
What it is
A recorded BYU creative writing lecture from January 2016 in which Brandon Sanderson covers worldbuilding, including the iceberg analogy, how much to invent versus show, epic fantasy prologues, and writing characters unlike yourself. It is filmed classroom footage with timestamped sections and student questions.
What people said
Recommends user29032 · 2018-05 · Writers Stack Exchange · on “I am overplotting my story - how can I figure out what is necessary and cut out what isn't?”
I assume that this is your first attempt at a novel, and that you are suffering from a strain of "worldbuilder's desease". Brandon Sanderson has dedicated one of his lectures [this video] to the problem, you may want to check it out. Usually the affliction is worldbuilding too much, but in your case what has happened is that you apparently love plotting and characterization so much, that you have done it so excessively that you have lost sight of the story you want to tell. Worldbuiling, plotting, and characterization are all fun and valid endeavours, but in writing they serve a purpose: that of telling a tale. There are jobs in other industries where all people do all day is create worlds (e.g.
Recommends Amelia · 2018-05 · Writers Stack Exchange · on “How to open a novel?”
This lecture series from Sanderson has a lot of good insight in it. Specific to your question, in this episode on world building he talks about how to open a story while engaging with both character and setting right away. (He also discusses the epic fantasy prologue which might not be relevant to your genre). [this video] In the example of the girl searching for the egg, he opens with the girl engaged in direct action (scaling a wall) that speaks to both setting (to steal an egg from a giant monster that lives on top of a cliff) and character motivation (to feed her family). I found the way he broke down what was compelling about the hook to be helpful. While the advice is epic fantasy specific,
Recommends user54012 · 2025-06 · Writers Stack Exchange · on “Worldbuilder Syndrome: How to Avoid It?”
Brandon Sanderson has given several lectures about worldbuilding (for example [this video] ) and they are great lessons. He compares worldbuilding to an iceberg, there’s a part floating (what ends in the book) and a bigger part hidden under water (what the writer “should know” about the world). The problem is that creating that full iceberg can sometimes lead to worldbuilding disease, and the writer can’t finish their work. Sanderson suggests three methods to avoid this: 1. What You See Is What There Is This approach avoids creating a vast "hidden" iceberg. Everything the author develops finds its way into the book. If the plot needs a monster or a spell, it's created and used. J.K. Rowling emplo
Cites user29032 · 2018-05 · Writers Stack Exchange · on “How to open a novel?”
When you want to write the beginning of a novel, there are two helpful analogies to guide you through the process. The first analogy is that of: Waking up When you begin to wake up, you are within yourself and then slowly become aware, first of your physical sensations, then your surroundings, you begin to think of what you are going to do first (sit up, get dressed), and then plan the day ahead. Waking up in the morning is like the familiar, everyday version of waking up in a different world. You come from your dreamworld and at first you will have to orient yourself and reaffirm who and where you are. This is an automatic process and quickly, but in essence it is the same as if you woke up
Cites Liquid · 2019-03 · Writers Stack Exchange · on “How many elements can you focus on during worldbuilding?”
Possibly related: How can I get readers to accept more than 1 "buy" in worldbuilding? [LINK] Worldbuilding is a tireless art; that's what our brother site Worldbuilding-SE is for, and why as a writer you can actually catch the infamous Worldbuilder's disease [LINK] . A lot has been said on the topic. Brandon Sanderson, in the podcast Writing Excuses and in his lessons ( here, example [this video] ) suggests focusing only on three-to-five aspects of the worldbuilding of a given novel , unless one is willing to spend 30 years in crafting the next Lord of the Rings series. His advice is, roughly speaking: choose a subset of your world and characterize it well. For a novel, one could focus on weaponr