Plot and character are in some ways the commodity elements of fiction, and how-to books spend 90% of their words on those. But good genre fiction usually seems to center a non-basic element: LOTR: fake languages Culture: names of ships Star Trek: species This seems important.
-
-
I agree these are part of world-building but a subset and importantly, overdeveloped beyond would-building needs. For eg every world needs an ontology and a naming scheme for things, but strategically centering them has an effect beyond just world building.https://twitter.com/emilysuvada/status/1331677349515988994 …
Show this thread -
Perhaps we should call them world-animations. Subsets of world building that, if adequately overdeveloped, turn into engines of plot and character. Ship names are a life-force in Culture but in most books names just “do the job” they have to in world-building and nothing more.
Show this thread -
Like J. K. Rowling has fun names too, many of which are sly word play allusions (Durmstrang = Sturm und Drang = character of the school) but they don’t animate the world the way ship names in Culture do. A mere list of ship names evokes a powerful live world for Culture.
Show this thread -
In Freudian terms, I’m thinking these core non-basic world-animators are like the id of the world, and worldbuilding is more like superego. The plot and character are the ego.
Show this thread -
I suspect working the id is the most fun part of the writing for the author. Making up languages was the fun for Tolkien. Making up absurd Guide entries was the fun for Adams. Why: you can tell they’ve overdone it relative to supporting plot/character or portraying the world.
Show this thread -
The “brand” of the work in a marketing sense flows from this id element but cannot be cynically engineered. It has to come from an animating place of genuine fun-having. Authenticity if you will. Proof-of-fun. Costly signal that the author was in an abundant/extravagant mode.
Show this thread -
Genre fiction at least (if not literary) I think has to flow from a place of abundance for it to manifest escapist potential that sucks you in. This abundance is costly-signaled by essentially peacocking an element of the world-building to extremes.
Show this thread -
I think the secret to Star Wars is actually special effects. As Lucas going on to do ILM reveals. The story is bad, the characters are not fun, and plot relies on Campbell too much as a crutch. But special effects... amazing advance for its time.https://twitter.com/kellydigges/status/1331684943336935424 …
Show this thread -
Nerd-outability as a reader filter. The right kind of reader will add to the source-abundance of the work rather than simply draw sustenance from it. I guess that’s the logic of fan-fiction/fandom. Splillover/surplus effect.https://twitter.com/emilysuvada/status/1331686380750082048 …
Show this thread -
Non-basic id element “incluing”https://twitter.com/kevinmarks/status/1331697608042147846 …
Show this thread -
A good diagnostic question, in the spirit of Alan Kay “waste transistors” principle of personal computing is “what is this story willing to waste?” What is it willing to feature “too many” of? Culture = clever names.
Show this thread -
More examples: Futurama: Silly devices/gadgets/design fiction objects Simpsons: Arguably the couch gags+intro mini-story that triggers the main story, like “they go to the fair and Homer buys 1 dumbbell” South Park: “we learned something today” faux-morals
Show this thread -
Rick and Morty: inter-dimensional cable and quick-sketched useless parallel universes which don’t do anything for the plot, like the farting-asses universe. Best example might be the brilliant pizza-universe set. There is NO good reason for this scenehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUBmEDAoGOE …
Show this thread -
What to call this principle? Spice-note?https://twitter.com/miniver/status/1331675875947937792 …
Show this thread -
Secret sauce is perhaps too broad.
This is a narrower animating thing.https://twitter.com/zenpundit/status/1331703351097090055 …Show this thread -
Big mood? Generator? Flywheel? Root chakra? Idiopathy? Principle needs a clear statement too: “every successful genre story has an unnecessarily overbuilt world id-element.”
Show this thread -
The Rick and Morty example suggests an aspect. Every instance of the id-element suggests the gestalt of entire universe. All other world-elements have to vibe with that gestalt. You can get at this by asking: what is a nominally correct non-element if the set of id-elements?
Show this thread -
What’s a ship-name that does NOT fit the Culture universe? Maybe USS Enterprise? What’s a language that does NOT fit Middle Earth? Minion language What’s a universe that does NOT fit R&M multiverse? A non-satirical universe maybe? This one is hard
Show this thread -
The flywheel aspect is important. One instance of the set should catalyze more instances. It should snowball into a gun game readers want to join in even if they lack the skill. Like ship names. Everybody has fun making up their own. Compound interest. Narrative network effect.
Show this thread -
The collectible cards test. Yep. Or can it spawn a fanpedia.https://twitter.com/araskin/status/1331723171087618049 …
Show this thread -
Based on fiction I’ve written so far and enjoyed writing, I think my thing is “philosophy gadgets” — devices that embody an abstraction. Like my strategometer: a watch that indicates when you’re thinking strategically. I have such things in all my stories.
Show this thread -
More examples: Psych: 80s references Monk: OCD behaviors Burn Notice: “When you’re a spy...” tips
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.