I was brainstorming what the next chunk I would write about this morning, and I suddenly realized that my first book almost completely ignored any mention of weather, anywhere.

I also previously thought it was weak on mentioning fashion, and going too deep into the world's history, weak on populating the planet with living creatures and people (someone could read the book and think that there was only like 40 people on the entire planet), and mentioning or telling time was mostly ignored.

What are some worldbuilding details you tend to overlook when you write?

I notice I'm particularly terrible at distance and travel time. Characters just suddenly "appear" at the right locations at the right time, largely with little consideration for how far away said location is from their previous location. I also pretty much ignore things I consider trivial or otherwise unrelated to the plot, things like you've said: weather, fashion, architecture. Unless it's important that someone look foreign, that a building have a distinct history, or what have you, I tend to not spend time on describing it.

Also realized I have almost mention of children or school or classrooms either.

My drafts are really short on anything that isn't character related. I seem to have two speeds when writing: 100% character inner thoughts / backstory / motivations and 100% dialogue. Nothing about setting or the world AT ALL. It isn't that I haven't thought about the world, because I have tons and tons of worldbuilding notes, and I can picture it my head as I write a scene, but it's never what I end up including in my drafts. I have to add that stuff in later, because it's all characters at first.SometimesI include something about my character reacting to a setting or the size of a building or the sun on her face or something, but most of the time, I ignore that stuff altogether.

Now I'm making a mental note to at least include a "note to self" when I write my scenes so I know where it was supposed to take place when I go back and revise...

I can't comment on the previous years as...my memory is shoddy...but i know THIS year...the mother is introduced but all i said about her was something like "she was crying at the funeral". never described her...never gave her a name...not until the next chapter. Heck...my main character...i never described any looks or stature. hair color? y'all don't know. eye color? wut iz eye kolur?

i did a good job describing the apartment...but then i forgot to describe the funeral home. i did good building up the guests in attendance and even a few children...but..yeah.

Upon realizing all these lack of details...it might bother me too much to continue forward and i may go back a few pages to do edits even though...i should probably just keep going forward....and just put side notes in to remind myself to add this and that at a later time...that way i can just keep pushing forward...

but...it's the slight hyperfocus that comes with my ADHD...but i doubt i will be able to focus on anything else

For what it's worth, I find that too-detailed character descriptions actually detract from the story. It's the vibe a character gives off that I tend to remember, so nowadays I prefer to use those kinds of descriptions, like, "he was a hulking bear of a man that took up half the room, and when he spoke, it was as if through a megaphone." I'll totally skip hair and eye color unless it's vitally important.

Anobi wrote:For what it's worth, I find that too-detailed character descriptions actually detract from the story. It's the vibe a character gives off that I tend to remember, so nowadays I prefer to use those kinds of descriptions, like, "he was a hulking bear of a man that took up half the room, and when he spoke, it was as if through a megaphone." I'll totally skip hair and eye color unless it's vitally important.

i usually like that route too...but when you are already two chapters in and haven't even said "she ran nervous, nail bitten fingers through the short locks of her auburn hair"....then it might be time to go back and at least make a mention of it...not necessarily an entire paragraph describing the character...but...there are ways to tell the reader what your character looks like with out having to go blah blah blah blah blah blah forever and ever.

I've read too many stories where the author spends too much time describing outfits or hair styles...gets boring for me after a while