quarantine 'em

Now, you can't just literally invent an ENTIRE universe because ultimately all fiction is inconsistent with reality. Which means sooner or later you are entitled to say "didn't think of that" or "didn't work that out". But you do need to invent more than you show

And by "you" I mean "me". You can write whatever/however the heck you like. But I've found this approach to work for me

BUT! Worldbuilding is not storytelling. True, some people love the Discworld Companion and the Lord Of The Rings appendices. These are not stories

Not everything you invented for your fictional universe should be revealed in the space of the story. In fact, as little as possible should. Cut, cut, cut to the bone, the necessary fundamentals. KEEP IT ALL. Just don't put it in there

Again, speaking for myself only, but: I'm not enthralled by a limitless imagination. I'm here to see your ability to execute. Whether in a novel environment or a straightforward one

And it may be that wide swathes of your universe cannot be explored in the form of a story. This may mean that they never come to light. Too bad! Except actually it's not too bad! Ideas are cheap and you have a million of 'em

The film "The Matrix" is a tremendous example of this concept in practice. The film shows a single, finite story in what is very clearly a significantly larger universe

Other parts of the universe, not crucial to the story, are mentioned but not shown: ships other than the Nebuchadnezzar, the city of Zion. Obvious questions are raised but left unanswered because they strictly don't need to be, like: WHY is Neo?

(And despite all of this there's still a whole bunch of worldbuilding and exposition in The Matrix. Think of any long conversation between Neo and Morpheus, particularly the first Construct scene. But the exposition is EXECUTED compellingly)

The Matrix presents a heavyweight universe with a lot of moving parts. Less than half of it is actually demonstrated in that first film, but... as viewers, we get the impression that if we asked the follow-up questions, there would be good answers

And those answers are not required to support the stripped-back story. We don't need to see either the beginning or the conclusion of the machine war. Neo's story is sufficient, it opens, it closes, DONE

But then we get the sequels... Dissecting the sequels is a BIG job. No single thing went wrong there. But they seemed more excited about exploring more of the Matrix universe than about telling the next story

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Architect scene. Here, we learn that Neo exists to encapsulate the errors introduced by the human need for free will/choice, and that he is part of a repeating cycle of destruction/recreation. He then CHOOSES to break that cycle, ending the war

This basic concept is SOLID. This is the core of a single, solid movie. Act one: Neo has questions: why does he exist, and why is the war not over? Act two: Neo finds out he is part of a repeating destructive cycle. Act three: he breaks it

But there's so much other stuff going on in the movies that this solid core gets stuck in a terse infodump with the Architect, without even the compelling CGI Morpheus used for HIS infodumps, or Neo's nervous breakdown reaction

And this other stuff is... not necessary. Mildly interesting but not crucial. The Merovingian and his backstory with Seraph, programs producing children, Zion internal politics, the Kid subplot...

And more to the point: to reveal a fact like "Neo is part of a repeating cycle of destroyed and recreated Zions/Matrices" is easy to do in one line of dialogue. To reveal it through organic storytelling, and to have its revelation have impact, takes screen time and work

Most of a movie, in fact! For me to say "The Matrix is a virtual reality which subdues humans while machines leech their energy" is equally easy. But that sentence is not a movie. I hope you can see the distinction I'm drawing between having the idea and executing the idea

Ideas are cheap and plentiful. Have a million of them. But choose to execute few, well

Build a big universe. Tell a small, COMPLETE story. People are still interested? Find the next story

[looks at own work] Oh, and, uh, there's kind of an edge case where the smallest possible story in the universe you've built involves burning that entire universe down

The Matrix sequels could have been worse. At least they grew the universe. The Star Wars sequels are properly, properly stuck right now