Introduction

Welcome to the warmth of June, Authors of Tomorrow! I hope you’re out enjoying the weather before it gets unbearably hot. Summer is a fantastic time to explore, spend time with friends and family, and gather inspiration for your fictional worlds. Whether you’re making memories to share around a campfire or researching settings for your stories, this season offers endless opportunities. To help you prepare for those tales, today we’ll focus on balancing world-building and plot momentum.

The Dance of Detail and Drama

The balance between world-building and plot momentum is one well known to many science fiction and fantasy authors. All authors spend time building their world, even if it’s similar to our own, and sometimes we over complicate how much detail we put into the story. So let’s look at some ways to balance this dance of detail in the drama.

The World-Builder’s Dilemma

World-building is a cornerstone of Science Fiction and Fantasy, captivating both writers and readers alike. The allure of these genres often lies in the intricate worlds we create and explore. From detailed cultural studies to awe-inspiring landscapes, world-building offers a vast range of possibilities.

Science Fiction and Fantasy writers often emphasize world-building because it creates immersive environments for readers to explore, revisit, and even inspire fan-fiction. However, this unique challenge requires balancing the creation of these immersive worlds with maintaining reader engagement.

Info dumps can overwhelm readers with excessive details, disrupting the narrative flow and diminishing immersion. We’ve talked about this before in

The cognitive science behind reader attention spans and narrative immersion reveals that readers are more engaged when information is seamlessly integrated into the story. By understanding these principles, you can craft compelling worlds without sacrificing plot momentum.

The “Need-to-Know” Principle: Precision in World-Building

Gone are the days of drowning readers in encyclopedic world-building. The modern approach is surgical—delivering exactly what readers need, exactly when they need it. Think of world-building like a skilled surgeon, not a fire hose of information. Your goal isn’t to overwhelm, but to illuminate.

The “need-to-know” principle is about timing and relevance. Imagine your protagonist is a cybernetically enhanced warrior navigating a post-apocalyptic landscape. Do readers need to know the entire history of cybernetic augmentation on page one? Absolutely not. But when that character encounters a critical moment where their augmentation becomes crucial—that’s your moment.

Filtering Through Character Perspective

Characters are your primary lens for world-building. They don’t experience the world as a textbook; they experience it through their immediate needs, fears, and experiences. When the Elf King faces the Dark Overlord, he doesn’t recite a history lesson—he reacts based on his cultural conditioning, his personal history, his immediate survival.

Consider how a character’s background naturally filters world information:

• A soldier might notice tactical elements of a landscape
• A merchant will understand economic undercurrents
• A mystic will perceive magical resonances others might miss

This approach transforms exposition from a lecture into an organic discovery.

Creating World-Building Checkpoints

Narrative structure isn’t just about plot progression—it’s about strategically creating moments of world exploration. These are your world-building checkpoints, carefully placed breathing spaces where readers can absorb the complexity of your universe.

Strategic Transition Techniques

• Chapter Breaks: Use transitions to subtly introduce new world elements
• Scene Shifts: Leverage changes in setting to reveal cultural or environmental details
• Downtime Moments: Character reflections can be rich ground for subtle world-building

Case Study: Frank Herbert’s “Dune”

“Dune” remains the gold standard of complex world-building. Herbert didn’t dump information—he wove it through Paul Atreides’ journey. Each revelation about Arrakis, about the Fremen, about galactic politics emerges through character experience and immediate narrative tension.

Key “Dune” world-building strategies:

• Introducing alien concepts through character reactions
• Using dialogue to hint at deeper cultural complexities
• Embedding technical details within character motivations

The Rule of Relevance: Every Detail Earns Its Place

Here’s the brutal truth: not every fascinating world-building detail deserves to exist in your final draft. Each element must prove its worth by serving one of three masters: plot, character, or theme.

Exposition Cutting Techniques

1. The Relevance Test: Ask of each world-building detail:
   • Does this advance the plot?
   • Does this reveal something critical about a character?
   • Does this illuminate a core theme?
2. World-Building Inventory Create a tracking system for your world details:
   • What has been revealed
   • What remains hidden
   • Potential future reveals

Revision Strategies

During revision, become a ruthless editor. That fascinating five-paragraph explanation of your world’s magical system? If it doesn’t serve an immediate narrative purpose, it goes. Save it for your personal notes, not your manuscript.

Balancing Act: Suspense and Exposition

Remember, world-building isn’t about information—it’s about invitation. You’re inviting readers into a living, breathing universe. Each detail should whisper, “There’s more to discover,” without shouting, “Let me explain everything!”

Your world should feel like an iceberg: what readers see is merely the tip. The vast, intricate complexity lurks just beneath the surface, promising deeper discoveries with each page turn.

Final Thoughts

World-building is about enticement, not exhaustive explanation. Entice your readers with glimpses, hints, and precisely timed revelations. Make them hunger to know more, not overwhelm them with a feast they can’t digest.

Your job isn’t to explain everything. Your job is to make readers care enough to keep turning pages, to make them feel the world is so rich and complex that they can’t wait to explore more.

Craig Alanson: Author Spotlight

Introduction

Craig Alanson has written 24 books across multiple genres, from young adult space operas to a fantasy trilogy and audio dramas on Audible. Before diving into full-time writing, Alanson worked on financial reports for a large IT services company, a far cry from the wild intergalactic adventures he creates today. After self-publishing, he quickly built a dedicated readership, allowing him to quit his day job and focus entirely on storytelling.

One of his most popular works, Expeditionary Force, was a finalist for an Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year and even landed on the New York Times bestseller list. His ability to weave humor, high-stakes action, and deep world-building into fast-paced stories has solidified his place as a must-read sci-fi author.

The Expeditionary Force Series

Expeditionary Force is a space opera packed with chaos, humor, and high-stakes survival. The story follows Joe Bishop, a U.S. Army sergeant, and Skippy the Magnificent, an advanced Elder AI with an attitude, as they navigate a galaxy teeming with hostile alien species. Their mission? Keep humanity alive while breaking a few universal laws along the way.

One of the biggest strengths of the series is how Alanson balances world-building with plot momentum. Despite the sprawling setting, the story remains grounded. There’s always a reminder of home and why they’re fighting. The pop culture references scattered throughout aren’t just thrown in for laughs; they help bridge the gap between the known and the unknown, making alien tech, interstellar politics, and complex scientific theories easier to digest.

Skippy and Joe’s dynamic is another key element that keeps the story moving. Alanson doesn’t just dump information through Skippy in endless exposition. Instead, he makes Skippy give, withhold, or hint at details as they become relevant. This not only controls the flow of information but also drives the plot forward, ensuring that key revelations come at the most crucial moments. The balance between Joe’s street smarts and Skippy’s limitless intelligence keeps their interactions lively while grounding the story in relatable problem-solving.

Another layer that keeps things interesting is the constraints placed on Skippy. Sure, he’s absurdly powerful, but Alanson makes sure he has limitations that prevent him from fixing every crisis effortlessly. These restrictions ramp up the tension and keep the stakes real, ensuring that even with advanced alien tech at their disposal, survival is never guaranteed.

Other Works

While Expeditionary Force is Alanson’s most well-known series, he’s also written other books worth checking out:

• Ascendant Series – A sci-fi series that follows a young protagonist discovering extraordinary abilities while navigating a world of uncertainty.
• Aces – A stand-alone novel that blends adventure, survival, and Alanson’s signature humor.

Conclusion

Craig Alanson has built a reputation for delivering action-packed, laugh-out-loud sci-fi stories with well-developed worlds and engaging characters. His ability to balance world-building with momentum makes his books hard to put down. Whether it’s Expeditionary Force or one of his other works, Alanson consistently delivers high-energy storytelling that keeps readers hooked.

Writing Exercise: The Iceberg Approach

The goal of this exercise is to practice the strategic revelation of world-building details through character perspective while maintaining plot momentum.

Setup (2 minutes)

1. Choose one of these scenarios:
   • A character enters a magical marketplace for the first time
   • A space traveler lands on an alien planet
   • A time traveler arrives in a different era
   • A newcomer enters a unique subculture in our world
2. Create a quick character sketch, including:
   • Their profession or background
   • One immediate goal they need to accomplish
   • One personal problem they’re dealing with

Part 1: The Iceberg Foundation (5 minutes)

Write down 10 fascinating details about your chosen world. These can include:

• Cultural practices
• Environmental features
• Historical events
• Technological systems
• Political structures
• Magical/scientific principles

This is your iceberg’s underwater portion—knowledge you have but won’t necessarily reveal all at once.

Part 2: Character Lens (3 minutes)

For each world detail, mark:

• 3 details your character would immediately notice (based on their background)
• 3 details they’d be completely oblivious to
• 4 details they might pick up on if relevant to their goal

Part 3: Scene Writing (5 minutes)

Write a 250-300 word scene where your character enters this world and pursues their immediate goal. Follow these guidelines:

• Reveal only 3-4 world details total
• Each detail must either:
  • Advance the plot toward the character’s goal
  • Reveal something about the character
  • Create an obstacle the character must overcome
• Filter each revelation through your character’s unique perspective
• End with a moment of tension or decision that pulls the reader forward

Upcoming Events

Here are three writers’ events happening in June 2025:

1. Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference – June 16-20, 2025 (Draper, UT)
   This five-day conference is perfect for writers and illustrators looking to refine their craft. It offers intensive workshops, keynote speakers, and networking opportunities with industry professionals.
2. Midwest Bookish Fest – June 27-29, 2025 (Minneapolis, MN)
   A festival designed to support both indie and traditionally published authors. It’s a fun, inclusive event that goes beyond book signings, offering panels, discussions, and opportunities to connect with fellow writers.
3. IABX Children’s Book Festival – June 7, 2025 (Roselle, NJ)
   A fantastic event for children’s book authors, featuring workshops, book signings, and discussions on writing for young audiences.

Resource Roundup

• Book recommendation: “Steering the Craft” by Ursula K. Le Guin – Particularly chapters on pacing and narrative control
• Software spotlight: World Anvil’s new timeline feature for tracking when worldbuilding elements are revealed to readers
• Podcast: “Writing Excuses” Season 10, Episode 20 on “How Do I Write a Story, Not an Encyclopedia?”
• Article link: “How to Build Narrative Momentum Without Losing Depth” in from Famous Writing Routines

Conclusion

As you continue your writing journey this summer, remember that world-building isn’t about drowning your readers in every detail of your fictional universe—it’s about strategic revelation. Like Craig Alanson demonstrates in his Expeditionary Force series, the magic happens when you present just enough of your world to entice readers while keeping your plot moving forward. Your characters are your best allies in this balancing act, filtering information through their unique perspectives and immediate needs. So before you add that fascinating five-page history of your magical system, ask yourself: Does this serve the story right now? If not, save it for later or keep it in your notes. Your readers will thank you with the most valuable currency they have—turning the page to discover what happens next.

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