World Building: All-Seeing vs. Blind

[Thar]

I've had this thought on my mind for a while now. As someone who's always wanted to write a fantasy novel, I was always under the impression that the entire world needed to be created before a story could be told in it. That being said, I couldn't help but think there could be another way to approach it. Seeing as world building is quite the task especially for a first-time writer of said genre, I figured since it's "fantasy" maybe there's no need for a pre-determined world for a story to be written.

 

The question I'm asking is: Can a world be built from scratch where the reader learns of the world from the character's eyes? My vision is that this character is as simple as they come: a traveling salesman walking along a dirt road with no horse, no map, and no weapons; just a large sack of goods and a dismantled stand for setting up at the next town to conduct his business. He knows nothing of this town or any town rather, just his hometown where he grew up not allowed to wander outside the boundaries. His journey unfolds as the world does, and the reader is just as clueless as he is.

 

Thoughts? Ideas?

[Yui]

That's totally fine, if not a very good idea. You don't want to dump too much info on the readers all at once or they'll get overwhelmed and possibly lose interest, and not knowing what something is or does adds to a sense of mystery some may find enjoyable. It would also help that our protagonist doesn't know how these things work, so characters could explain things to him - and thus, the readers - and it would be totally believable within the story. There's no bad reason to do it as far as I'm aware, so what's the harm? :)

[Thar]

That's totally fine, if not a very good idea. You don't want to dump too much info on the readers all at once or they'll get overwhelmed and possibly lose interest, and not knowing what something is or does adds to a sense of mystery some may find enjoyable. It would also help that our protagonist doesn't know how these things work, so characters could explain things to him - and thus, the readers - and it would be totally believable within the story. There's no bad reason to do it as far as I'm aware, so what's the harm? :)

 

My thoughts exactly, but the main thing I'm implying is that not even the writer knows the world beyond what the character sees. Basically, the writer just makes it up as they go and as things get built, the plot begins to expand into areas where the character, as well as the readers AND the writer, wanna dive into and develop in their knowledge of the world.

[Yui]

My thoughts exactly, but the main thing I'm implying is that not even the writer knows the world beyond what the character sees. Basically, the writer just makes it up as they go and as things get built, the plot begins to expand into areas where the character, as well as the readers AND the writer, wanna dive into and develop in their knowledge of the world.

Oh. I've done this before, and it's kind of fun to be honest. You get to watch your world grow and develop on its own, but you should probably lay down some basic mechanical things such as how magic would work (if at all) and whatnot so that you don't end up contradicting yourself down the line.