Glossary

Audience

Any person or group that experiences a fictional world but did not participate in its creation.

Bottom-Up Approaches

Bottom-up approaches to worldbuilding begin with the detailed micro-level, such as a single character or location, and build from those towards more macro-level elements such as planet-wide geography. This is in contrast with top-down approaches, which seek to first create the larger framework of a fictional world before filling in the details.

Immersion

The ability of an audience to accept fictional elements as presented and transport themselves metaphorically into a fictional world.

Infodump

An overwhelming amount of world-specific terminology or information about a world thrust at an audience all at once.

Internal Consistency

The degree to which a fictional world adheres to its own established rules and logic.

Mythopoeia

The act of creating fictional mythologies. Also considered a genre in which mythologies play a central part.

Real World

The world in which we collectively reside.

Rule of Cool

The idea that an audience will accept minor internal inconsistencies, misplaced elements, immersion breaking, or other generally avoided elements in worldbuilding as long as those elements or narratives are entertaining or cool enough.

Threshold of Credibility

The subjective level at which the majority of an audience will accept elements within a fictional world and immersion is not broken.

Top-Down Approaches

Top-down approaches to worldbuilding emphasize the creation of a larger framework first (such as the planetwide geography or sociopolitical climate before delving into more detailed elements. This is in contrast to bottom-up approaches.