The Architect, who begins with the setting—crafting landscapes, lore, and systems until the story grows naturally from the world itself (J.R.R. Tolkien)?
The Storycrafter, who starts with a strong plot—shaping the world and characters to serve a compelling narrative arc (J.K. Rowling)?
The Psychologist, who builds from the inside out—creating vivid, complex characters whose choices shape the world and drive the story (George R.R. Martin)?
The Philosopher, who begins with a theme—exploring big ideas and moral questions through a world built to embody and test them (C.S. Lewis)?
The Engineer, who uses mechanical systems as a world scaffold - building characters, stories, and lore to support and explore those systems (Brandon Sanderson)?

Which one best describes your process? Or do you switch between them depending on the project?

EDIT: Added The Engineer thanks to CaptSatelliteJack

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

This is a fun question. In my biggest project so far, I've been more the architect, but far too disorganised for a comparison with Tolkien. I hastily framed out the world at a glance - geography, kingdoms, a few key figures, a few suggestions of a proximal history. Then I went in with the details. Every river, every one-horse backwater, every shop and its contents, restaurants with menus, books of particular interest. Then I'd finally had enough of a sense of the place that you could watch stories start to emerge, like an overfull cauldron boiling over. Those stories got incorporated into the history. Then I decided I must know more about certain geological processes and ended up laying out planetary weather systems, so I'd know where all the rain would end up. In that way I found a network of massive underground tunnels, thereby locating the site of several underground factions and their unseen battles.

It all sounds grand, but most of what I do is very low to middling. Delusions of adequacy.