Are you ever daunted by worldbuilding? The sheer size of building a reality bound by its own laws, cultures, and magic? Rejoice, for there’s a method to help. Enter the worldbuilding iceberg!
The iceberg method doesn’t reveal everything at once. It teases a small portion, then dives in by the layer.
A detailed, immersive world emerges that can spellbound readers and glorify the Hero’s Journey.
“If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”
The Iceberg Method
An author should ask what a character needs. Reveal your worldbuilding iceberg through character hobbies and passions.
Keep descriptions simple to how they perceive the world. This reveals both cultural and character information.
Weave tidbits about the world here and there. Small hints that paint a picture. This keeps boring info dumps to a minimum, and maintains strong pace.
Authors know the whole worldbuilding iceberg, but only the tip is disclosed. There’s the temptation to disclose everything, but this can overwhelm or bore the reader.
Worldbuilding reveals are done gradually.
Readers experience a world through their own eyes. Given the liberty to extrapolate, readers feel free and immersed in a world.
This strengthens a setting, which is consistent and lives beyond the pages of a book. It also leads to trust in an author.
Learning Curves
Readers are unfamiliar with a fantasy setting. It takes time for readers to become ‘experts’ in a world. This is the reader’s learning curve.
The simpler the setting, the lower the curve.
For middle-grade or YA, learning curves should be low. For adults, longer curves are ideal. Epic fantasy, like with Brandon Sanderson, have bigger curves.
Make a list of your world’s attributes. Consider things like:
- race
- culture
- magic
- technology
- marriage
- politics
- religion
- lore
- ongoing or current wars
- natural resources
- weather
- economics
Now break your lists into known and unknown details. The known are things readers can see in the story.
Unknown details are things behind the scenes that round out the story and complete it.
Readers don’t need to understand or see the unknown details to enjoy or be immersed in the story.
What are your thoughts on the worldbuilding iceberg method? Do you use it in your work? Leave your reply in the comments below. Thanks!