Fleshing out- Pre-existing or grown?

I like stories with a good backstory or at least universe worthy of its own prequels and spinoffs.

The problem is that should I write down every possible detail in the backstory and/or setting, or should I just write a simply story and let it accrete backstory and spinoff elements.

Take the Transformers for example. While the story started out as more or less to simply to sell toys, it has accumulated ever more backstory over several different series.

But what I fear with this route is that while it is less taxing on any one author, it can lead to situations that I didn't exactly plan for and possibly something that I don't like.

So what do you have to say, write it with as much complexity or start with a simple and hopefully Grow the Beard .

Depends on your preferences as a writer. Either can work, or be flawed. The former can make things appear more like a travelogue while the latter may end up more irregular.

When the Worldbuilding of a work takes on a life of its own it becomes organic, naturally flowing and immersive, something that can easily make a much more relatable work that doesn't require endless pages of manuals, expanded universes or talks with experts/the author(s). This comes at the cost of consistency as like reality a world that takes a life of its own is full of irregularities, inconsistencies and outright contradictions.

One of the better examples of this was Star Wars. Prior to the Expanded Universe craze, it had a world that grew on its own accord full of cryptic references, bizarre conversations and ideas about things that didn't relate to the plot directly and more. It didn't require us to know how far the Kessel run was or how many Stormtroopers the average Star Destroyer carried or whatnot. It came at the cost of consistency as several very famous Retcons showed.

But that can't be said that full manual-requiring, fully planned world construction can't be done well. Tolkien is one of the best examples of this.

edited 7th Jul '11 7:43:51 PM by MajorTom

I find it very fun to build a world—sometimes more fun than to actually write it out. Right now, I've built an entire setting off the concept, and potential quirks in, demonic contracts, even though the only story I've so far written in it deals with a character whose contract has been broken. The risk here, of course, is in never actually writing the stories.

Assess yourself. Will building the world in too much detail keep you from actually writing the story? If so, you should probably just start writing. After all, you can edit later once you've figured out stuff about the world.

I'm of the "make-it-up-as-your-current-story-demands" idea, but at the same time I don't see why you can't flesh things out along the way. Make the references as you go along, and then later you can pick and choose what will become relevant and what stays as background material.