As a strange god once said, writing is hard. It feels like there are near limitless aspects to consider during the writing process. With any luck, you should find answers to questions and learn new things in this collection of discussions.
Feel free...
In the Words of George RR Martin, author of Game of Thrones
"That's another thing I've tried to do in the books is to reflect the difficulty. Because it is very difficult. It's hard and you don't see that in a lot of fantasy. I don't know if you've read a lot of fantasy or not, but, you know, you look at Tolkien. At the end of the books, Sauron has been defeated and Aragorn is king. Tolkien just says 'he ruled wisely and well for 500 years' or whatever. It's easy to type, you know, 'he ruled wisely and well,' but then you start asking yourself, what does that constitute? 'Ruling wisely and well'? What was his tax policy? How did the economy function under Aragorn? Did he encourage or discourage trade? What about the class system, the rising peasantry and the burgeoning middle class, was that encouraged or put down? Did he give power to the aristocracy? The orcs, there are still tens of thousands of orcs left over the end of Lord of the Rings, did he pursue a policy of genocide toward them or did he reach out to try to educate the orcs and bring them into the mainstream and civilize them? We never get answers to any of these questions. We just get 'he rules wisely and well.' Well, what I've tried to do in showing rulers as diverse as Robert, Ned Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Daenerys Targaryen. They show people who achieved a position of power. Then what do they do with it? How do they deal with the divisions of their societies? The hatreds of their societies? The violence and crime? You know, economic matters. I try to have Danny deal with helping her grow. There was a scorched-earth policy when she took over the thing and they burned all of the olive trees, the main crops. They take seven years to regrow, so what's their city going to produce to survive for those seven years? All this stuff is interesting to me." - George RR Martin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K3H-FjEhkw
So, worldbuilding to him is
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But worldbuilding doesn't have to be that detailed and in-depth. Even though he was super detailed about his economy and political turmoil, Martin never really defines the restraints of the magic in his world (well, I'm sure he does in his notes). Bringing life to a world is about picking your battles, and sometimes just making it work as you write. Do yourself a favor and don't insult Tolkien though.
Most Importantly
The world cannot be the priority in writing. Story and character are more important than the world, as much as I hate it too. If your only focus is on the world, your story will suck. The world is flavor, the art of the art. The world is the setting, the set dressing. The world is something for the story to happen in and the characters to interact with.
You can legitimately write a story without worldbuilding at all. You cannot write a story without the story and characters. Well, not effectively and at length. Extensive building is a choice, and if that choice overshadows finishing the story, then it was the wrong choice.
The Basics
Given that harsh reality, you should start the process of worldbuilding with the story. Though, some people do it the other way around and start the story with the worldbuilding. Those people already know how to write a world bible or something similar (like D&D DM notes). If you're still learning, you probably want to start with the story first. It also puts the focus on the story first, which is always where the focus should be.
