I been working on my settings for over a year at this point, and yet I never seem satisfied. Whenever I try to work through magic, there's always something I find that doesn't make sense, and the same is true for the history of my world. I sometimes wonder if I'm obsessing too much over details that no one cares about, or if I just haven't gotten things right yet?
If you enjoy world development, then there's some value in it in and of itself. If it's taking away from writing, there may be a problem (assuming you'd rather be writing). If you've been working on it for over a year, I think there's a good chance you have way more than anyone is going to care about. An author needs to know more about the world than the reader will necessarily find out, but I think it is easy to get lost in world-building. If you haven't started writing in the world yet, starting that process is a good way to sort through various problems you may be having in world-building, and to find out what is important and what isn't.
There is such a thing as "World Builder's Disease". Worldbuilding is fun, fascinating, and difficult, which can be a lethal combo. Are you creating the story alongside the world? I do the same thing with one of my settings, endlessly revising and filling in blanks. I've fully fleshed out things that will probably only receive passing mention in the actual story. I don't really mind, I'm having such a good time with it. But if it is getting in the way of telling your story, you should probably just say "I have enough", push it aside, and force yourself to write. Exploring a setting via characters will lead to many interesting discoveries.
Sounds like your stuck in world builders hell and it happens to a lot of people, especially those who are building a planet from scratch. You've done enough and it could be that most of this stuff will never come up in your book. I would start writing now and as you edit you can see what works and what doesn't. Some people write with a blank canvass and some don't but I think a year of world-building is more than enough, I just hope your characters and plot are as well fleshed out. The character is the thing you should be obsessing over if anything at all. Get it written. Then get it right. Its not written in stone. Your manuscript can be edited even after you've finished it. I am someone who often stresses about the planning stage because I think I have to get it perfect first time - I forget the beauty of editing and the gift of time. Best of luck
I've actually started my first draft, and I've been thinking through characters longer than I've been thinking about the world. The problem I've run into is that a lot of the plot has to do with the relationship between different countries, and I want to make sure I have the history between them thought out enough.
I think you're asking us a question only you can answer. How can we possibly tell you if you're over-thinking it or not? You more or less have your answer all ready when you say certain things don't make sense. If this stuff is important to your story then you need to build those elements.
Sometimes things in the real world don't make sense either. Take World War I for example. It started with a minor incident and all of a sudden the whole world is on fire. Or the Emu War in Australia (you'd never guess who won! ) Or global warming. Lots of mystery. At least for some people . Same with the events in your book. For some people things may be a mystery while others may have a perfect understanding about every little detail. So, if your characters think something's not explained, that may be just them. So if you make that scene from their point of view, you won't have to have an explanation because these characters don't know it. You don't have to spell everything out in the book anyway. Two countries can be at war, just because they hate each other and want to grab each other's territory. Things can be really simple.
I believe that if your writing gets the readers emotionally invested, then regardless of the degree of detail that you think you have, there will be those seeking more and more. Those people may look past inconsistencies, but they may also become disillusioned. I don’t think that too much world building detail is an achievable state. But it is a part of the writing process that can take too much of your attention and become oversaturated in your text. Look at GRRM, the amount of thought he puts into ASOIAF is immense but people are still starved for more. He world built places that neighbour places that will never appear in the story, and people still want more. Other thing is that what does and does not make sense to you is not necessarily the same to others. Sometimes you should leave puzzles for the readers to put together. Other times it could be just crumbs that have no need for sense. Lacklustre world building can be part of world building in the same way that pause is part of music. That’s another reason why GRRM is adding detail to story wise irrelevant places instead of continuously piling on top of the major backdrops.
