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aldersprigFirst, a disclaimer:
Normally, I world-build accidentally: I start writing a story and then end up building a setting around it.
This works decently for me, but it ends up with a couple problems, the biggest of which is artifacts of old ideas hanging around (seems like that part in the Matrix where they meet the vampires, etc.): is it Calenta, Calenna, Catenna? And shouldn't that be an initial K anyway?
Sometimes I start with a mood, or a specific scene - Emrys being forced by his vow to kneel for Shahin, for instance - or a feeling. That determines certain things: if the mood is oppressive-government-control, there must be an oppressive government. If a vow forces someone to their knees, then vows have that power.
A lot of times, the worldbuilding comes from a question or a plot bunny or just an idea that appeals to me. That stuff is organic, and sometimes it Tribbles, grows out of control, and is hard to track.
Sometimes, I answer questions, and those questions set things in place, and lead to more questions. For instance, right now I'm pondering how a sexist, tightly-gender-bound matriarchal monarchy (Tír na Cali) handles transpeople (Carefully).
But before you get more than a few drabbles in a world, there a few questions even I like to answer first (after you've picked a broad genre, of course)
What is the scope of the magic or science? For instance, can it:
How far-reaching is your government, and how powerful?
And what form of government is it, and is it benign or malevolent or... other?
To be fair, that last one can be hand-wavey for a while in, say, urban fantasy, if you're talking about the governing body of your magical group, not the government of the real-world-like "normal world."
As a note, while urban fantasy is often set in "a world just like our own, except xx beneath the surface," I've read some interesting books where the world is NOT just like our own in some critical ways, and/or the magic is overt, not at all beneath the surface.
And as a second note, in any urban/modern fantasy setting, or cyberpunk/Shadowrun-like setting, you'll have to figure out the scope of both your magic and your technology...
...which is where I am. And, because it's a post-apocalyptic setting...
...First I have to figure out how badly everything was ruined, then how long ago it was ruined, and then how much they have built back up, and in what directions.
That being said, I think the magic is totem-based, with superimposed animal spirits and some *ahem* non-animal spirits.
Normally, I world-build accidentally: I start writing a story and then end up building a setting around it.
This works decently for me, but it ends up with a couple problems, the biggest of which is artifacts of old ideas hanging around (seems like that part in the Matrix where they meet the vampires, etc.): is it Calenta, Calenna, Catenna? And shouldn't that be an initial K anyway?
Sometimes I start with a mood, or a specific scene - Emrys being forced by his vow to kneel for Shahin, for instance - or a feeling. That determines certain things: if the mood is oppressive-government-control, there must be an oppressive government. If a vow forces someone to their knees, then vows have that power.
A lot of times, the worldbuilding comes from a question or a plot bunny or just an idea that appeals to me. That stuff is organic, and sometimes it Tribbles, grows out of control, and is hard to track.
Sometimes, I answer questions, and those questions set things in place, and lead to more questions. For instance, right now I'm pondering how a sexist, tightly-gender-bound matriarchal monarchy (Tír na Cali) handles transpeople (Carefully).
But before you get more than a few drabbles in a world, there a few questions even I like to answer first (after you've picked a broad genre, of course)
- Is this on Earth? If not, where are we?
- Sci-Fi offers in-and out-solar system, in- and out-galaxy, space ships, asteroids, and the question of whether or not they've ever heard of Earth (Star Wars for a "no"; Star Trek for a "yes.")
- Fantasy offers: second-world, a place that is in no-way Earth (Middle Earth); a place that one travels to FROM earth (Narnia); a place that is disturbingly earthlike but the countries have different names (too many to name).
Science Fantasy (Darkover, Pern) offers... lots of options, mostly combining the first two.
- Sci-Fi offers in-and out-solar system, in- and out-galaxy, space ships, asteroids, and the question of whether or not they've ever heard of Earth (Star Wars for a "no"; Star Trek for a "yes.")
- Cure disease
- change someone's appearance
- Travel long distances quickly or instantaneously
- shift between universes
- Kill
- Make someone love you; make someone obey you.
To be fair, that last one can be hand-wavey for a while in, say, urban fantasy, if you're talking about the governing body of your magical group, not the government of the real-world-like "normal world."
As a note, while urban fantasy is often set in "a world just like our own, except xx beneath the surface," I've read some interesting books where the world is NOT just like our own in some critical ways, and/or the magic is overt, not at all beneath the surface.
And as a second note, in any urban/modern fantasy setting, or cyberpunk/Shadowrun-like setting, you'll have to figure out the scope of both your magic and your technology...
...which is where I am. And, because it's a post-apocalyptic setting...
...First I have to figure out how badly everything was ruined, then how long ago it was ruined, and then how much they have built back up, and in what directions.
That being said, I think the magic is totem-based, with superimposed animal spirits and some *ahem* non-animal spirits.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 12:25 am (UTC)Hmmm.
I was just having a conversation with someone about how very very much we wanted to read fiction that was the post-post-apocalypse, and showed some detail about how society was rebuilt in ways that were at least sometimes intentional on the part of the rebuilders. And not "Male Domination: The Survivening" which seems to be every other highly-advertised book lately.
What if some modern-day peoplefolk you'd like to know (or their other-world spiritual equivalents) - some people whose voices haven't been justly recognized among the history-myths of modern nations - were in at the 'planning' stages of a society - the equivalent of the constitutional convention on a shipwreck beach? And then of course their ideas got radically altered and twisted and deconstructed and updated over time, because that's what happens, but there's still that undercurrent of a different base. Like the memetic equivalent of a genetic founder effect - put things through a bottleneck, and they diverge again but from a subtly different starting point.
(In my personal opinion, valuing your creative free spirits, deeply-focused problem-solvers, intellectual second-guessers, and argumentative peace warriors is pro-survival for a society in a rapidly changing physical environment.)
So, I guess I'm suggesting two things as components in your world building: a 'founder effect' partly from people you'd admire if they were alive here today, and some internal evidence of intentional efforts to build and mold a certain type of society (through children's games, engraved tablets, teaching songs, whatever).
>> hat being said, I think the magic is totem-based, with superimposed animal spirits and some *ahem* non-animal spirits. <<
Ohhhh. Interesting.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 12:39 am (UTC)There's a founder-effect sort of thing in Inner Circle/Circled Plain and in another story called COlonize Earth that I haven't written yet.
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Date: 2016-10-03 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 12:53 am (UTC)Lyn's Planners 'verse does have some of that in it, though IIRC most of the stories take place in the pre-apocalypse or the apocalypse, not the post-post-apocalypse as you suggest.
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Date: 2016-10-03 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 01:12 am (UTC)-capriox
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Date: 2016-10-03 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-03 04:05 am (UTC)I have a similar set of questions after genre, myself! I start with "is this Earth?" and then if it's fantasy go into a sort of fusion of magic-scope and magic-source. How is magic done, and how much can it do? (Basically, I sort it into three general scope categories: alter the fabric of reality, typical "sorcery" level like Harry Potter, or less tangible things like prestidigitation or glamours.)
I almost never set it on Earth so that's an easy "no", and I already knew that I wanted it to focus on bonded animal companions, so that covers the means of doing magic. A follow-up question there is "what are the restrictions on having magic?" - which in this case was answered by having to go through a special, often life-threatening ritual to form the bond and gaining a visible mark from it.
Then, since I wanted it to be vaguely steampunk-level in technological feel but heavier on magic, I've taken technologies and substituted parts of them with magic users. e.g. horseless carriages powered by enchanted wheels.
I'm not as government-focused as you, so I usually just pull that out of nowhere when it becomes necessary and pattern it off of some vague cultural template similar to the feel I want. In this case, very loosely Victorian England.