anthropology and worldbuilding

Ask an Anthropologist: How Much Worldbuilding Do You Really Need?

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Next Edition of Ask An Anthropologist About Worldbuilding Live Q&A – February 3rd 2026

Submit your questions before the stream in the comments section by clicking here

What’s the right amount of worldbuilding for your story? Maps, architecture, magic, religion, language, myth? The answer… it depends.

In this clip from our last episode of the Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding livestream, I break down how to decide what’s essential for your story, whether you’re writing a 6,000-word short or the first book in a multi-volume epic.

Want help with your worldbuilding? Join us on February 3rd and I’ll field your questions. Can’t make it that day? Put your questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to address them. Click here for the next livestream episode (or watch the replay if you’re seeing this after February 3rd)

Live Tonight: How Anthropology Makes Your Worldbuilding Feel Real

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Tonight at 7pm (Denver, CO Time), I’ll be livestreaming and fielding questions about how to use Anthropology to build fictional worlds.

If you’re a writer or creative struggling with worldbuilding or, if something in your fictional world doesn’t quite fit, this is the place to bring all your questions. You can join live and ask questions in real time, or if you can’t make it, drop a question the comments ahead of time, and I’ll do my best to address them during the livestream.

Watch live here: As an Anthropologist about Worldbuilding

Some possible avenues of discussion include:

• Building believable cultures and societies
• Using anthropology in fantasy and science fiction
• Worldbuilding through dialogue and character interaction
• Power, resistance, and social systems in fiction
• Avoiding shallow or stereotypical cultures
• Making fictional societies feel real without exposition dumps

This livestream is about all of you. Quite of few of you have followed my work over the years, and I wanted to do something to give back. And, if people find this useful, I’d love to do a recurring thing.

Hope to see you tonight!

Michael