True-fantasy Forum How much is too much

Ok, this is fantasy, so yay all of us, right? And since I'm working on a fantasy trilogy, and there is a ton of background, I thought I'd ask y'all. How much do you think is too much? As in, I now have maps for each country of my little world, a detailed glossary of terms,and three page timeline. Now, I could argue this both ways (my husband hates when I argue both sides) but I would like your opinion. If a world is created, how much is needed to make it believable? Do you think only characters need building, or is the world (setting) also a character, and in itself, a deeper character than a single person every could be?

 

Nazarea~

 

I personally believe that your world should give a feeling of life having been breathed into it. Meaning that the surroundings have character and differ from area to area in description, perhaps have creatures indigenous to them. Also you can, for some areas fabricate events that make them unique, giving them a history. i.e. "Along this stretch of land, a great rift in the earth opened, swallowing the shop district of a border town and crippling its economy. That was five years ago and the town has yet to recover.".

That is not to say that character development can't carry your story without much help from environments, it certainly can. I think that when you get to the point where you feel like it is all too much, then it probably is, and you can trim back on things that you deem negligible. I sometimes like to purposefully overdescribe most things so that I can get rid of what I feel isn't necessary until I get to the point where I feel comfortable with what I have left.

That's really hard to decide, so I will tell you my opinion, and my opinion only.

How much I have to learn in order to read a book determines if I will read the book.  Take Lord of the Rings, for example.  And please, don't harp on this, people...I have never read the book.  I want to, but it seems very daunting to me in my short amount of time t get to read.  I have read Anne McCaffrey's series, and enjoyed them immensly.  There is an entire new world to them, but when I picked one up to read it, the first chapter and a half was not definitions to new words and maps.  Another author I won't read is Micheal Chriton.  Love his movies, can't read the books.

One the other hand, my father-in-law loves Micheal Chriton books because there is so many terms and new words in them.

Just my opinion!