How do you explain Worldbuilding?

[Minibit]

A surprising number of worldbuilders don't know that what they're doing is called worldbuilding!

Ever designed a new race for a story?

Ever described your character's home?

Ever invented a magic power for your character?

Ever recounted a fictional historical event?

Of course you have, you big fat worldbuilder, you!

If I gotta be succinct, I describe worldbuilding as "any act of creation to do with the setting, lore, or rules of the world your story takes place in, whether that's how a Fireball spell works, or the exam schedule of a fictional high school."

How do you guys explain it?

 

[Jorick]

In the few times I've had to explain it, I started out even more brief than your version: "worldbuilding is creating a fictional setting." This tends to lead to questions about what exactly is involved in worldbuilding, and that's when I explain that it can be everything from coming up with how exactly a world/universe was created to deciding the general fashion sense of a modern society of a world. Rather than having a broad catch-all explanation to use, I just let people ask questions (and I'll answer them of course) if they still don't understand it after getting the bare bones version.

 

[Absyinthe_Artica]

It really depends who I'm talking to, although, I really like Jorick's way of explaining it. Mine usually is very complicated. XD