Did someone say worldbuilding?
Because I am all about worldbuilding. Like, I sometimes make up political systems and currency standards for fun.
... It's actually kind of funny, considering how much of a worldbuilding nut I am, that the worldbuilding in Grassblades is pretty... shallow? I don't know if that's the right word - I mean, I put a lot of thought into what pieces go where and stuff, but compared to some of the other worlds I've built, Grassblades is shallow as a teaspoon. It relies a lot on context-clues and visuals to convey what the world is like, and doesn't really explain much, or even go into how the world functions. It just does. It might be because it is centered very heavily on its characters and their internal goings-on; since the overall conflict is so heavily character-centric, I've only worldbuilt enough for my characters to have solid ground to stand on.
... Which can be a good thing; it certainly prevents me from going on long info-dumping tangents. If I don't have the information, I don't have the urge to share it either.
Because that's the thing. Building worlds is fun. Inventing new and interesting things is fun. Figuring out the minute details of how everything fits together is fun. But info-dumping? Info-dumping is a terrible thing to do to your readers. Less really is more when it comes to sharing your worldbuilding with your readers.
It's like... When you build a house, you level the ground and build the foundation and the framework, all the load-bearing walls and the drainage and you insulate and you make sure the roof doesn't leak - but when people come to visit you, they step inside and all they see are floors and wallpaper and kitchen counter-tops. They don't see the rest - and if you've built your house right, they shouldn't. If the insulation's peeking through, you've done a shoddy job.
A few things I feel are worth keeping in mind when worldbuilding:
The world exists beyond your characters
When I read a comic - or experience any work of fiction, really - I love getting the feeling that the world isn't just popping into existence as the characters walk by. That it exists beyond them; that there are things happening in the world that have nothing to do with the characters, but happens anyway. I love the feeling of a larger world. Books on shelves in libraries the characters visit that have no relevance to the main quest; festivals that go on around the characters by aren't directly related to them; political systems or conflicts that the characters are not at the center of, etc., etc.
It lends a sense of solidity to the story, and makes it feel more grounded. It's the worldbuilding equivalent to drawing people in the background of scenes set in a city; if all you drew were empty streets, the world would feel empty. It doesn't take much - just a hint or mention here and there that there is stuff happening in the world that doesn't immediately impact the main cast. A hint is enough for me to believe that when the characters walk out of a specific place, that place doesn't just fold like so many theatre backdrops.
'Believable' is more important than 'realistic'
You don't need every gritty detail to show, or an in-depth psychological profile on every single character that shows up; you don't need functional architecture or the exact schematics of every machine or gadget or weapon. A world with cars and electricity and television isn't better than a world where whales fly and people use candy for money - it's just more familiar.
You can have your flying-whales-and-candy world work just fine, as long as you construct it in a way that allows the reader to believe in it. Make it solid, give it a sense of purpose and a sense of place, and let the readers immerse themselves.
Castle Waiting does this beautifully. It's a world where fairytales are real - where there really is a bird laying golden eggs, where giants dwell in far-off lands, dwarves tunnel under mountains and gryphons roost in castle towers. It's got curses and water-spirits and ghosts. Heck, the main setting is the castle of Sleeping Beauty, after Sleeping Beauty's left to marry the Prince, and her castle staff just kinda get on with their lives. And it works, because none of that is allowed to just be window-dressing. It's all relevant, and it all matters.
You don't need to tell us everything
Really, you don't. Even if you spent a month figuring out the exact nature of the election process in your imaginary faux-democracy, unless your story is entirely about a political election, we really don't need to know all of it. And you definitely don't need to give us a lecture about it. Give us enough to understand what's happening and why, and leave the rest to context and nerdy extra material separate from the main story. The same way people roll their eyes at dramatic mid-fight monologues in anime, your readers will roll their eyes if you stop the progress of the plot just to give them pages of text explaining itty bitty details. It slows the pacing down!
Your characters inhabit the world; they know all this already
This ties into the previous point, but it's what I call the "As you know, Bob"-trope. It's when two characters have a conversation that basically amounts to them going
A: "Oh, here's this thing we're both intimately familiar with, let me explain it to you!"
B: "Thank you for explaining this thing I have known since childhood to me - let's make sure the people in the back heard you."
A: "It's the least I could do to move the plot forward."
... bonus points if any of them actually SAY "I know that!" out loud. People don't do that. Sure, they can discuss something they both know, but they won't be giving a detailed lecture on the precise details of it to each other; they'll believe they both know what's going on. And readers aren't stupid; give them enough context clues, and they can figure it out on their own.
Breadcrumbs are your friends
So, you've got a massively complicated concept you need to explain to your readers - something they need to know before the end of the story. Here's the kicker - you don't need to explain it all at once.
It's okay to give them the beginnings of an explanation here, and then a few more details there and there, and then bring it all together right when it becomes crucial. Scatter the information like the breadcrumbs of Hansel and Gretel - don't drop the whole bakery all at once. You've got time and space - use it. Spread things out, and you will be able to avoid the info-dumping trap.
