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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32992
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Different readers like different things. There are quite a few books that give worldbuilding background before chapters, in tales told over the campfire, in documents that the characters read, or elsewhere. As books get published that way, I guess that there must be readers who like to read plot-free worldbuilding.

That said, I never read those sections because I find them both boring and irrelevant to the characters and their story.

Reading your question here, I see an author who is infatuated with their imagination and has lost view of what a _narrative_ is (it narrates) and what (most) readers want, when they buy a novel (instead of the encyclopedia to a fictional world): they want to know what happens next.

I always use the example of Tolkien's _Lord of the Rings_. No other author has created their fictional world with as much detail as he has, and yet the _Silmarillion_ is not included in that novel as excerpts before each chapter. Some readers do buy the _Silmarillion_ because they want to get deeper into the world of _The Lord of the Rings_, but the majority are quite content with the novel itself and would be bored if they had to read more about the background of that narrative.

What I would suggest is that you build your world with as much detail as you enjoy, and then write your story with only as much background information as is necessary. When you are done, either see if you can enhance the reading experience by including some more background information. Get feedback from some test readers on whether this works or not. Or publish your worldbuiling in a password-protected area on your website as a special for those readers that sign up to your newsletter to be informed about future publications.

Original score: 5