How to World Build Without Over Doing it?

id write that as "The magistrate was killed by the insidiously placed poison in the cup, but the maid was not for she did not share his drink." i like that kinda artsy shit >w>

True, that's fair. but as a counterpoint by leaving certain details unanswered I can then fill int he details in my head. If for example the character's race is not an important detail int he story I might imagine a black female where another would imagine a white one. And knowing struggles faced int he black community I'd have an entirely different interpretation. That kind of vast difference in how we see the same work can be exciting in it's own way

Lamby, the purpose of my leaving the lipstick detail and the poison in the cup was so that we as an audience can extrapolate that data for ourselves. Maybe even before the protagonist does. The implication being that since the maid drank from the same glass likely very recently it seems odd that the magistrate would die but she wouldn't. I do like the artsy description

personally id write that as "The magnoliawhateeverthefuckthat word is got shlayed nigga drank in the sippy cup now he sicky upp cause it filled with the sticky stuff that make you spitty up, then the maid no die cause nigga invincibel ya feel?" sorry im a shitposter

it depends which perspective the story is from then id also add that if it is a plot point then it should be left to the mc to discover to hype suspense otherwise you describe it and then detective mc finds it and its like "yeh we know that" so even in third person omniscient id still say it wouldnt be appropriate.

i will say that dropping foreshadowing hints using that the maid did it would be best but that takes some writing chops (that of which i have none ;w;)

Overdo it before writing your story, then only mention the parts that are important to the story and subtly imply the rest if it comes up.

Over doing world building isn't a bad thing. Sometimes it can be a great thing. Just take an example of lord of the rings or the hobbit. That's an example of overdoing world building. In true honesty, the most important thing about world building is how can it tie into the plot. Everything has to tie in with the plot. It's like those Illuminati memes. It can be something so ridiculous but somehow it ties into the plot. It doesn't matter how many things or what ever, as long as its somehow tied to the plot and i mean for example (This as the letter shaped r so thats why such character has such thing).