I am a fiction writer, and I'm designing several worlds for my various novels. As it so happens, I really like designing worlds. I seem to like it so much, that I'm beginning to wonder if I'm carrying the worldbuilding too far.
Since I'm designing all this for novels, there comes a point where I have to stop making everything so different, and start focusing on what is the same. If absolutely everything is different, the reader won't have a clue what is going on, unless I include exhaustive information and backstory - things that are just going to bore the reader. How do I know when world development has gone too far?
For example, today I found myself occupied trying to find new names for the months of my fantasy world. I'd love to have these, because mentioning times such as 'October' and 'July' just don't sound right next to 'elves' and 'magic.' And yet, changing the month names would confuse the reader as to when things are going on, unless I tell him in the beginning (aka, info dump). Not to mention the fact that naming the months really has nothing whatsoever to do with my story.
I want my world to seem as real as possible, but at the same time, I want to know where to draw the line. How can I do this?