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.

Swap sides New comparison 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.

In our directory, writing is larger (about 3.4M, rank #300) than worldbuilding (about 1.9M, rank #571). Activity samples show 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: +1.8K
Posts/day: 94.9
Directory rank: #571
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: 15.3
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	15.3/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. Our sample 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. Our sample 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 rule titles and activity samples SubMouse collected. 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 2026-11-02 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-10-26. Posts/day and post-type mixes appear when we have an activity sample. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order — communities outside the current Top 100 open in the info tool instead of a full community page.