One of the most persistent obsessions of my life is fascination with fictional worlds. In fact, it could be said that most of my interests eventually one way or the other stems from or leads to worldbuilding. It is all encompassing interest that subsumes and integrates over my experience and learning. In its most direct form it manifests through indulging with science fiction, fantasy and other speculative fiction books or other media. But there are also more indirect ways.

Definition

For the sake of readers that are not familiar with the term, worldbuilding is word used to describe process of creating setting in which given speculative fiction story (like science fiction or fantasy) takes place. Although it could be said that any storytellers, even ones writing realist fiction, engage with worldbuilding, it is speculative fiction where worldbuilding is visible full front and celebrated explicitly. Worldbuilding could be also treated as its own artform disconnected from any specific stories. In fact there are niche hobbyist groups who create their own fictional worlds for their own sake. ¹

Worldbuilding in my life

(Section in construction)

(Description of my early encounters with speculative fiction and then how it developed further)

Worldbuilding as engaged learning

Practice of worldbuilding could be used as integrative learning experience. When we want to learn certain subject, it could be hard to really acquire knowledge if topic is disconnected from other things we already know or understand. But when we put the subject in wider context and connect to different subjects we retain this new knowledge more throughoutly.

Worldbuilding as lens and prism

(Section in construction)

(I want to use here metaphors of lens and prism to show how worldbuilding can help us see real world better or in different way)