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I find myself giving versions of the same advice over and over, but it's applicable to so many situations. I call it the Sturgeon/Delany rule. Work out every last detail and implication of your n...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31709 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
I find myself giving versions of the same advice over and over, but it's applicable to so many situations. I call it the **Sturgeon/Delany** rule. Work out every last detail and implication of your new religion, _for yourself_. But then, **only include in the actual story whatever details are immediately relevant** to the characters at any given moment. That will make your world and its religion feel three-dimensional and real, yet avoid info-dumps that fail to serve the plot and characters. There is a lot of world-building that adds significant value to stories, particularly speculative fiction, but you never want to put it all on the page --that's just self-indulgent.