Worldbuilding is commonly used by authors to craft detailed fictional universes. For me, worldbuilding is a way to use my imagination for exploring different possibilities…not only for my creative process, but for life.
Inspired by J.R. R. Tolkien’s worldbuilding and N.K. Jemisin’s way of teaching/talking about worldbuilding, for years, I immersed myself in building fictional universes where my dreams could live full lives. However, prior to my autism/ADHD/SPD diagnosis, I thought this was just a creative endeavor. Now, I know that building my own world wasn’t just about making a foundation for my art. Worldbuilding, for me, was a form of expansive hope—a necessary imagination for being alive.
Through this process, I’ve created various “worlds” that have existed in the background of my creative work for some time…even though I’ve never published any fiction. Because whether or not I am writing the actual stories, it’s the worlds that provide room to explore the possibility of what could be, long before it becomes a properly, linear story.
I return to “worldbuilding” over and over again because it reminds me of what is also true in life: It matters to have space to envision and cultivate new possibilities, where stories and worlds intertwine and evolve together.
In real life, this approach to worldbuilding translates to an openness to new possibilities in real environments and the very real stories that come alive there. - Morgan Harper Nichols
Links
Worldbuilding: A Special Interest
A Necessary Imagination: Worldbuilding as a Form of Expansive Hope for Being Alive (on Substack)