The VVD Post

Early in 2026, VVD - a platform and toolkit built for storytellers and worldbuilders - put out a call for contributors to write articles for their Expert Series on Substack. The brief was open: any topic touching on writing, worldbuilding, creativity or inspiration, at whatever length felt right. Full credit and ownership would stay with the author.

The reach gave me pause. This was not a small platform.

I took up the challenge. The article I submitted argued something I believe and that I think is under-discussed in worldbuilding communities: that a world is not a backdrop. It must carry the same pressure as the characters who move through it. It must have consequence. It must push back.

VVD selected it as their April 2026 article. It drew considerable attention, particularly on Instagram, and was shared widely across the worldbuilding community.

A second invitation followed. Worldbuilding Must Carry Silence, published in July 2026, extends my argument. Where pressure gives a world weight, silence gives it depth. My article examines what it means to withhold. To trust a reader with incompleteness, and why a world that explains itself entirely is a world the reader has already seen the whole of.

VVD maintains a strong presence on Instagram at @vvdworldbuilding, where both articles were shared widely across the worldbuilding community. Jonathan B. Edvane can also be followed on Instagram at @jbedvane.