r/worldbuilding vs r/writing
Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.
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Related to r/worldbuilding
Related to r/writing
Worldbuilding lore room vs writing craft room
r/worldbuilding’s public description invites artists, writers, gamemasters and others who create new worlds and universes. r/writing’s directory text is discussions about the writing craft.
writing is larger (about 3.4M, rank #300) than worldbuilding (about 1.9M, rank #571). Recent activity shows worldbuilding posting much more often (~95 posts/day vs ~15). worldbuilding’s sample mixes text with images, galleries and links and uses lore, question, discussion, visual, map and prompt flairs; writing’s sample is essentially all text with discussion, advice, beginner question and resource flairs.
Rule titles: worldbuilding requires worldbuilding context and DIY effort; writing limits posting work and self-promotion and wants thoughtful posts useful to a broad writer audience. SubMouse already compares writing with WritingPrompts and Screenwriting; this pair is specifically worldbuilding versus craft discussion.
- Choose r/worldbuilding for lore, maps and invented-setting posts under its context and effort rules.
- Choose r/writing for prose craft discussion under its thoughtful-post and limited self-promo rules.
- Both sit outside the current Top 100 cut; writing-vs-writingprompts and writing-vs-screenwriting are separate curated pages.
Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-07.
r/worldbuilding
Worldbuilding - Explore Every Impossibility
For artists, writers, gamemasters, musicians, programmers, philosophers and scientists alike! The creation of new worlds and new universes has long been a key element of speculative fiction, from the fantasy works of To…
- Members
- 1.9M
- 7-day growth
- +1.4K
- Posts/day
- 94.9
- Directory rank
- #572
- Created
- Nov 23, 2009
- Submissions
- Text or links
Sample mix: text posts 52%, images 21%, galleries 18%
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- Be kind to others and respect our purpose.
- All posts should include worldbuilding context.
- Put in some effort.
- This is a DIY community.
- We allow non-disruptive advertising.
- The Full and Comprehensive List of Rules
Open r/worldbuilding on SubMouse
r/writing
Writing
Discussions about the writing craft.
- Members
- 3.4M
- 7-day growth
- +2K
- Posts/day
- 30.3
- Directory rank
- #300
- Created
- Jan 25, 2008
- Submissions
- Text or links
Sample mix: text posts 100%
Topics: Writing
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- Posting Work
- Self-Promotion
- Posts should be thoughtful and useful to a broad community of writers
- Submission Calls Requirements/AMAs
- Civility
- Call-out threads and genre/literary-bashing
Open r/writing on SubMouse
Supported differences
| Aspect | r/worldbuilding | r/writing |
|---|
| Public focus (from each community’s public description) |
For artists, writers, gamemasters, musicians, programmers, philosophers and scientists alike! The creation of new worlds and new universes has long been a key element of speculative fiction, from the fantasy works of To… |
Discussions about the writing craft. |
| Size r/writing is larger in our directory (about 1.8×). |
1.9M members |
3.4M members |
| Posting activity (our sample) |
94.9/day |
30.3/day |
| Common post types in our sample |
text posts 52%, images 21%, galleries 18% |
text posts 100% |
| Topic tags on SubMouse |
n/a |
Writing |
| Selected rule titles (short names we collected) |
Be kind to others and respect our purpose.; All posts should include worldbuilding context.; Put in some effort.; This is a DIY community.; We allow non-disruptive advertising. |
Posting Work; Self-Promotion; Posts should be thoughtful and useful to a broad community of writers; Submission Calls Requirements/AMAs; Civility |
Rules and posting patterns we can verify
worldbuilding short titles include: be kind to others and respect our purpose; all posts should include worldbuilding context; put in some effort; this is a DIY community; NSFW content requires special care; non-disruptive advertising allowed. Common flairs include lore, question, discussion, visual, map and prompt.
writing: posting work; self-promotion; posts should be thoughtful and useful to a broad community of writers; submission calls/AMAs; civility; call-out threads and genre/literary-bashing. Common flairs include discussion, advice, other, beginner question and resource.
Where this comparison comes from
Public descriptions and member counts from SubMouse’s safe-for-work directory. Short titles only. Related curated pages: writing-vs-writingprompts, writing-vs-screenwriting.
Members and public descriptions come from SubMouse's safe-for-work directory (as of 2026-11-09 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-11-02. Posts/day and post types are shown where recent activity is available. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order.