World Building: When is the Info Not Enough?

I have blogged about info dumping in the past and how it can negatively affect one’s reading experience. And in general, I think that when ‘world building’ is the subject, we focus more on too much details and not often the flip side of it, which is also a problem: insufficient information.

This happens when you open a fantasy or sci-fi book and can hardly envision what the setting looks like, the backstory of the world, or fully understand how the world works because there aren’t enough details provided. The focus often is more on the plot and its advancement, and so you get the feeling that the book could’ve been set anywhere. It could say it’s in medieval Gddixdti Kingdom but it reads like it could’ve been in Florida 2022.

Have you ever read such a book?

I can’t really remember if I have. But what brought this subject to mind is a book that I’m recently reading. Before I picked it up, I saw a lot of bad reviews saying that the book had too much info-dumping and it was overwhelming. But I’ve read up to 50% so far, and I haven’t felt overwhelmed by the details. I really feel like we’re getting sufficient backstory and information into how the world works as we go. Many people called the start of the book slow-paced and weighed by details, but I’ve found the story to move at a pace that keeps me intrigued.

So with all the complaints about too much details, I started to wonder what the story would read like if most paragraphs that explain the world building were hacked out. How would we understand the workings of this world, the characters’ overall stakes, and what lands outside of the main setting look like?

It had me thinking about how fantasy/sci-fi authors actually live with the fear of scaring readers off with too many details. And how despite all the techniques to minimize these details and accommodate readers, some people are still going to complain that the world building is too much.

BUT—this puts authors at a risk because too little world building also means that the reader won’t feel transported as a fantasy book should make one feel. And that’ll be the feedback received then.

While I haven’t read a published book with too little world building yet, I did read an arc that isn’t yet published. The world building details were sparse, but it actually didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. I could still picture the setting well enough and had an idea of the broader world. And I actually admire the author for writing a fantasy book that doesn’t have world building details, yet still create a pretty world. Currently, the reviews have some readers praising the absence of ‘info-dump’, but many other reviewers have rated the book lowly for its lack of in-depth world building.

The bottom line for me is that if people want to read books without any history lessons, descriptions of places, etc. they should stick to genres like contemporary. Fantasy books must have world building. That is why we’re writing these books and not a contemporary mystery, for instance. (Mind you, I love contemporary books and devour a ton of them so this isn’t meant in a derogatory manner!)

Anyway, we want to flex our creativity on building complex world systems, and cultures, and unique settings, and that involves some extra paragraphs that true fantasy readers will enjoy. While long stretches of lifeless descriptions is indeed boring and not advised, we writers constantly practice techniques to make everything feel balanced for the readers.

I don’t think fantasy writers should strip their books bare of all world building details out of worry of losing readers’ interest. Or put too little that barely grazes the surface of the world they’ve worked so hard to create. I think true fantasy readers want to be transported and learn new things when they open a fantasy book. They love the explorations on why the islands in this world float over the sea, and why there are three different races in only that subterranean kingdom. They are the audience you should care about, in my humble opinion!

So no to overwhelming info-dumps, and also no to too little information!