worldbuilding

• world-building, world building

world +‎ building

worldbuilding (uncountable)

1. (fiction) The conception and description of a fictional world, often as the setting of a work of fiction, particularly in high fantasy and science fiction.
   • 2013 February 8, Charlie Jane Anders, “7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding”, in io9‎:

     The purpose of worldbuilding isn't just to do a cool exercise, but to give a sense of place — and all of your thought experiments absolutely have to result in something vivid and alive.

   • 2015 May 20, Natasha Pulley, “Fantasy cannot build its imaginary worlds in short fiction”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     High fantasy of the George RR Martin kind hinges on world-building. When there really is a whole world to build, and not just a historical period or a particular country, world-building does not take a few paragraphs in a short story; it takes chapters.

2. (obsolete) Scientific research into the creation of the Earth and its geological features.
3. (obsolete) The world of imagination of novelists, poets, etc.

• conworlding
• geofiction

• worldbreaking
• worldmaking

• “What is 'World-Building'? And how do you spell it?”, in Merriam-Webster‎, 2016