Worldbuilding

[Holland]

Personally, I have an overarching universe with consistent worldbuilding guidelines that all of my stories, in all media forms, take place in. I obviously only explain the parts that are relevant to that particular story when I'm working on a new project. In addition, the backstory of each individual character becomes a part of the canon universe and influences aspects of the worldbuilding details that I haven't gotten to yet, etc. Even side characters get some degree of extrapolation to ensure they can canonically fit into the rules of the universe and influence of the characters around them/etc.

(This is just what works for me. I work with stories 24/7 & love mixing them together, so it doesn't make sense for me to worldbuild from the ground up for every single project.)

To answer your questions: One of my favorite parts of worldbuilding is getting into the details of each culture and how the characters in them have influenced them, as well as how the logic of the worldbuilding rules have restricted or grown them. I think the only true pitfall to worldbuilding is letting the opinions of others (including excessive research into "how to" or "what not to"-type books and articles) stop you from building the world your story needs and deserves. And as far as sci-fi and fantasy go, I'm a firm believer in science fantasy c;