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.
-
-
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 -
-
-
Probably tangent to your overarching thesis here but, I'm going to lay it in here just in case: for animation work there are production/budget benefits to having a trope like the R&M example: story generation, dialogue recording, art creation is simplified and streamlined.
-
It's a set formula gag (and an absurdist one at that) so they can save time/money for use elsewhere in the story-writing process by including this. Same thing for the art (backgrounds are nearly identical--just swap the framed pictures). Dialogue can be bulked into a session.
- Show replies
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.