World-building, the kind that submerges you totally into the media you are seeing/reading/listening to, is one of those magical things that artists do and sometimes, you don’t even realize it. Done right, a world-building effort becomes seamless with the story. Done wrong, it is clunky and awkward, often full of too much exposition and erroneous detail.
If there is anything to ever know about me, it is that if something is great at world-building, whatever sins it may have otherwise (well, according to those who go looking) I will often forgive them. Worldbuild takes time and thought, and if we were all honest it is sometimes forgotten. Or it is overdone, like a steak that becomes so chewy it takes you forever to get through the first bite.
So let’s talk a filmmaker that does it right, in my opinion, and his two most recent films in a universe he crafted.
Let’s talk about Mad Max & world-building
Mad Max is a film franchise that has endured, in no small part due to George Miller and his crew. No matter how over the top it may seem, many of its elements somehow fit, somehow work. Whether it is Mel Gibson as Max using his grief to fuel his righteous anger or Tom Hardy pulling himself out of feral madness to help those who need him most, Max Rockatansky is a titular character of complexity. Even at his most simple seeming of moments, you sometimes get the feeling you never quite know Max. He’s an anti-hero at his best and worst.
But even with Max doing his road warrior justice, it is actually the world you are pulled into that works. All films in the franchise do their best to pull you in, but I would argue that Fury Road did it the best. It took what the fans knew to be true, twisted it and served it as “but did you know this?”, while newbies weren’t lost when they found themselves knee deep in strangeness.
There are three things I like to see in world-building that I’m going to cover. In this, I’m going to sprinkle in my reviews of the two recent movies, Mad Max: Fury Road & Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Here’s my rules for WorldBuilds that rock:
- You can’t lose viewers/readers/listeners
- Everything has its Reason in the World-Building
- World-Building is not the vehicle for explanation
Simple rules, right? But so breakable. They leave a lot of room for headway. If I have a good worldbuild in what I am seeing, I get goosebumpy energized from it.
- You can’t Lose People
This might sound odd but have you ever watched a film or book and thought “this jolts me out of the story”. Well, that is one example of when it goes wrong. I tried watching Rebel Moon Part 1 and like many people struggled through it. For me, it wasn’t the obvious points but the world-building wasn’t as solid as it should have been.
The other slice to this is if you bring new people into the middle of the story, how lost will they be? If I have a four film franchise I’ve written, and I give story 3 to someone, what is the likelihood of them going “What is even going on? Why is this world important? Why are they were plastic dolls as jewelry?” That sort of thing.
A worldbuild done well will craft this universe around the consumer and draw them in. It starts with simplicity. Simple things, such as how vehicles look, how characters look, and tweaking them to exploit their differences as to our reality, is what both jars you out of your reality and sucks you into the worldbuild. It also allows the creator to build upon each moment so that soon, things that seem incredible are almost expected.
In Fury Road, infamously there is a guitar player, Doof Warrior (played by iOTA ), who plays for Immortan Joe like a troubadour who follows about a King’s procession, except he is atop a massive rig of speakers. His main job? He plays. If this was in the very beginning of the movie, you would be thrown off. Instead, he appears after you get to see the incredibly insanity of the world already. He’s now another figure added on that now works to you.
This is what I am trying to say. Your worldbuild needs to matter to the reader/viewer. Immersing people is not easy (as we all know) in the unbelievable but it is doable. You do this with small details, with characters that support the unbelievable, and with a plot that allows it all to flow smoothly.
- Everything has its Reason in the World-Building
A story that goes “and then he had this hot-pink Corvette. Man, what a car. Such a car. So important to him…”, followed by a solid half-chapter of just who great this car is, well that sounds like there’s going to be a big thing about this car. Sort of like John Wick (another great world-building movie franchise).
But then you get chapters in and guess what? You never hear from the car again. Heck, why was it even there?
You can insert details into your world-building like seed-bombing pollinators. That is one way. But if you start to really emphasize something, you’d better be sure you are going to follow it up in the course of your book/screenplay. These aren’t just plot-drivers, these have to fit the tone and aspect of your book, and fit within the world you have created.
In Fury Road, Max is used for blood transfusions due to his O-negative blood. You see in his costume his wearing the IV tubes. It becomes the reason why Furiosa lives at the end after incurring terrible injuries. They emphasize this fact about Max several times in the beginning.
Another version of this is in Furiosa, which I won’t spoil, is a seed she carries from her home. She repeatedly looks at it, touches it in some way, and keeps it safe through incredible danger. Then it becomes part of satisfying end.
Both of these important pieces use the world-building to have it make sense why they are so important. And it takes them and makes them seem almost commonplace, forgettable, until they are not.
Having your world-building be made rounded with key elements to characters’ journeys but don’t make everything about that. Some things are just things and that is fine. Your world’s believability will be in what is important, and what isn’t.
- World-Building is not the vehicle for explanation
A good world-build can do two things: answer questions and leave questions. But not big questions, just little ones that get you thinking “something deeper is at foot”. Like for example, in Fury Road, you see interactions of Immortan Joe and his ‘brothers’ and wonder why. In Furiosa, you get some answers. But the answers weren’t the most important thing about either film.
So how should you combine exposition in the worldbuild frame? Well, let’s look at exposition first. LiteraryDevices.net has this to say: “Exposition is a literary device that is designed to convey important information, within a short story or novel, to the reader. Writers utilize exposition to provide essential backstory for characters, plot, and other narrative elements. This background information allows the reader of a story to emotionally invest in the narrative’s arc, characters, and action. Exposition also enhances the reader’s understanding of a literary work and encourages their connection to it.”
Now exposition and world-building often goes hand-in-hand, when done artfully. There are always 2 extremes to this: either too much or too little leaves a frustrated reader.
What world-building doesn’t do is leave enormous amounts of explanation within the answers it gives. One of the big flaws is the show and tell dilemma; how much do you show and how much do you tell. Some things, such as a historical event, are told explicitly or referenced to bluntly. Other things are shown in the atmosphere of your book or film.
When world-building begins to telling, you can feel it draining too much life from the work. A very good example where you see this often is older historical romance or historical fiction novels, where you would see details of the world, from costume to settings, bogging down the momentum. World-building isn’t always the place for exposition and there is a way to write great descriptions within the worldbuild without exposition.
When you write or work your world-building into the story, you don’t want to have long descriptions of the how and why. I mean, you can of course, but your writing will feel long-winded. I have writers I love but their mixture of exposition/world-building can be exhausting so I skim (a sin, I know).
Why I liked Fury Road and Furiosa so much is that you don’t get stuck on details or reasons. They are there and hint at much more; a character collecting toy baby dolls has darker desires while the War Boys’ devotion escalates in battle from their brainwashing. I could spend a lot of time going through details but for this blog, just know that sometimes your hints and tiny easter eggs? Those will be far more meaningful than pages of reasoning and histories.
So what do these mean for your own world-building?
Generally, if you build your frame of the story with world-building first, then story second, you might be able to figure this out faster. If you write the story first, you may have to go through and pepper in details and figure out what things mean after. Either will work. Some stories you think don’t require world-building, such as thrillers, can actually use a complex structure themselves as they are set in reality.
Try this exercise if you like to build worlds to set your story in. Take a step back from the story. Jot down details, starting with setting. Free write as much as possible first, and then go into your research to find the data you want. Do your character profiles the same way: what in this world might be making them this way? Is anything about them unusual and how is it a part of that world? Why does it fit? Any world-building should match the character born within that world. Having them be “truly unusual” can be jarring and leads to “perfect character syndrome” at times.
Do this exercise as many times as you need. Sometimes you will do it after you begin building the story too and that’s okay. But remember your details must be meaningful to the story and character, within that world.
Good World-Building Gives me Goosebumps
You know how many people have been sucked into stories not because of the plot but because of the world? I don’t have numbers but what I have noticed in writing groups is often the stories have a packed world-building mastery.
This takes some practice, some attention, and some courage. Build a world as you see it, even if it is in our reality. Our reality is just as important to build a world about for a story. And if you want to manufacture something fantastical? Then be a creator who wants some mystery to remain for your creations to discover.
And go see Furiosa or watch Fury Road again through the eyes of a student. See if you learn something.
My little list
I have a list of world-building masters and films I’ve enjoyed so here is a small one to start:
- N.K. Jemisin
- Terry Pratchett
- Sara Douglass
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Diana Wynne Jones
- Cornelia Funke
- Ursula LeGuin
- Marlon James
- Elmore Leonard
- Mad Max (film franchise)
- John Wick (film franchise)
- Joker (film franchise)
- Christopher Nolan
- Terry Gilliam
- Jim Henson