World-Building SF

What is World-Building Science Fiction?

World-Building is both its own sub-genre and a term used in the writing world to describe the task of creating a complete fictional world. World-building is a huge part of all Science Fiction (and Fantasy) stories.

World-building is a big task that involves more than just describing setting--although this is important. World-building describes how the world works, and aspects like these are important:

Biology, specifically of alien races

History and timelines

Politics and religion

Civilization's development

Technological development and its consequences

Setting (i.e. ecology, geology, astronomy, architecture, populations)

Cultures.

Stories within the World-Building sub-genre tend to be quite expansive. To a degree, all science fiction requires a certain level of world building; indeed, all speculative fiction requires world building to create something different than the ordinary. However, if a book is categorized in the World-Building subgenre, then extra emphasis is given to building a completely new world, with the rules often highly divorced from "reality." Often a huge level of detail filling out the "new world" is given.

Readers will notice the level of research done by the writer to create the fictional world. Usually, the worlds are unusual. Alien races and an evolved humanity that is nearly unrecognizable tend to populate these worlds.