Build a world that holds together

A world is easy to start and hard to keep consistent. This page collects the habits that long-running projects settle into, and shows where Story Builder helps with each one. None of it is a rule: use what fits the story you are writing.

Where should I start? #

Small, and near the story. Create the one place where the first scene happens and the person who wants something there, then grow outward only as far as the next scene needs. A tavern, a village or a ship is worth more than a continent no chapter has visited.

A starter template switches the right modules on, so the first thing you create can be the character and the place.

How do I add a record without leaving the page I am writing? #

Link it from the text. Type @ and a name, or [[ and a name with spaces, in any description or chapter. If the record does not exist, Quick add creates a character or an entry with just that name and links it immediately. Names that matter get a proper record later; names that turn out not to matter never cost you a form.

When you do create a record from the Create dialog, the name field warns you if a record of the same kind already has a similar name, so the same person is not made twice.

Where does it go? #

An event holds what happened; each participant's role and note hold their part in it. Write the story of the event once, in the event's description, and link the people, places and groups it touched as its Participants (see relations). A character's biography keeps who they are; what they did in the siege lives on their link to the siege, and shows on both pages.

A short example. The Siege of Highgate is an event dated in the Second Age. Its description tells the siege from the first fire to the surrender. Its participants:

Ana, character, role Leader, note held the north gate until dawn.
Bram, character, role Witness, note watched from the walls and wrote the account.
The Silver Order, organization, role Participant.
Highgate, location: where it happened.

Ana's storyline now shows the siege at its date with Leader and her note, Highgate's history shows it among the chapters set there, and the event's Before & after card shows what led up to it. Nothing was written twice.

Where do ideas wait until they are ready? #

In Ideas. Capture the thought the moment it comes — Shift + I on any page — and keep writing. Later, review the inbox: link each idea to the people and places it touches, park what is not ready, discard what no longer fits, and convert the rest. Compose event turns an idea straight into an event with its place and participants, the same shape as the siege above, and Convert turns it into a character, a place or an entry. The idea keeps a list of everything made from it.

How do I know what to build next? #

Look at what is thin. A record that is still only a name, a character who never appears in a chapter, and a corner of the map nobody has described (switch on the coverage overlay) are all places where a sentence goes a long way. One sentence is enough: what does this person want, what stands in the way, who would miss them.

Treat a finished question as a decision, not a deliverable. A world is deep where the story goes.

How do I keep a long history consistent? #

Give things a life. In the Details card of a location, organization, creature, place or entry, set when it began and when it ended. With a timeline, the map then shows only what exists on the date you choose, and the Consistency check card on a record notices a chapter set in a city that has not been founded yet or no longer stands.

Record changes where they happen. The History card on a location, an organization or an entry holds storyline events: a new ruler, a changed border, a dissolved guild. The past stays readable.

How do I keep families and names consistent? #

For families, tell the family tree which relation roles mean parent, adoptive parent, partner and sibling once. It then draws the tree from the relations you already have and warns when a parent is not older than their child.

For names, describe the language a culture speaks and relate its people and places to it. New names come from the same sounds, and a name that does not fit is flagged.

Where do the rules of my world go? #

In World rules. A fact the story must keep, such as "Elves travel 40 km a day", is a rule: write the sentence as its statement, give it a speed measure of 40 km per day, and under Applies to link it to the Elf creature.

Not in quick notes, and not in an entry's description. Quick notes are your own and linked to nothing, so a rule kept there is seen only when you remember to look; a description is read only when you open its record. Keep the entry for the explanation, such as the history of the elven roads or the theory behind the magic, and the rule for the sentence that has to stay true.

Once the rule is linked, it does the reminding:

The Elf creature and every character linked to it show the rule on their Rules card, the characters marked via Elf.
A chapter with an elf in its cast lists the rule under Rules in play, beside the text.
With a scale on the map, the character's Consistency check warns when two dated chapters put an elf further apart than 40 km a day allows.

How much worldbuilding is enough? #

As much as the next chapter needs and a little more. Most of what you invent should stay beneath the surface. A world several times larger than its story is a common way for a project to stall, so when you notice you are describing more than you are writing, write the next scene and let it decide which lore earns its place.

Tips #

Ask what changes, not what exists. After any event, link two or three records it affects, each with a role.
Open the Consistency check before a long scene. It takes a second and finds the date that runs backwards before a hundred pages depend on it.
Revisit dark corners on purpose. The coverage overlay on a map shades what nobody has described.
Make a rule the second time you look up a number. If you have twice checked how far a rider goes in a day, that number belongs in World rules.

Lens — the module that switches on the consistency check.
World entities — existence dates, history and the other record types.
Relations — an event's participants, their roles and notes.
Ideas — capture, review and convert raw ideas.
Maps — time view and coverage.
Languages and names — sounds, name patterns and a word list.
World rules — the facts your world must keep, with numbers the check can read.