Conversation

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.
22
171
Plot and character are like a platform, but the centered non-basic element (non-basic as in stories can work without them) is the killer app. You don’t need any specific non-basic thing (few works develop fake languages as deeply as LOTR), but you do need some non-basic things.
5
30
More examples: - Harry Potter: “magic physics” (laws governing magical objects/beings) - Discworld: political science opinions - Hitchhikers guide: absurdist fragments of history/geography (which is why the Guide is a good prop... a cheap device to hold the fragments)
4
31
- Asimov: Laws (the 3 laws, which segue into the laws of psychohistory) - Le Guin: temporalities - PKD: simulations? Note these are not “themes” but ontological first class citizens
2
30
Another way to think about it is: non-basic elements provide a “third way” to start a story: 1. Work out the plot as an outline of beats (plot-driven) 2. Work out the characters as a set of biographical backstories (char driven) 3. Flesh out non-basic element (NBE-driven)
2
22
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.
Quote Tweet
Replying to @vgr
I'd tag these all as "worldbuilding", which there are less books on since it depends so much on the world, but plenty of talk about on panels, and in author interviews etc. I taught a workshop once about construction based on Plot, Character, Worldbuilding & their interactions.
2
10
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.
5
10
Replying to
I'm not so sure it's an entry point. I find that restaurants with better veg options are better all-around, but that doesn't mean creating a good veg menu will make you a good restaurant. IMO, world depth telegraphs better writing, but not sure it'll make you better on its own.
1
Replying to
Ah totally, causality flows in one direction. Otherwise it’s cargo-culting. Ship names released the id of Banks’ world, but you can’t fake it by doing the naming trick for your own premise. You’d have to find your own id.