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vgr's profile
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
@vgr

Tweets

Venkatesh Rao

@vgr

Conversational account. For work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian. IKEA builder.

Los Angeles, CA
venkateshrao.com
Joined August 2007

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    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      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.

      2 replies 0 retweets 15 likes
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    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      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.

      1 reply 2 retweets 21 likes
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    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      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.

      7 replies 0 retweets 16 likes
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    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Kelly Digges

      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 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Kelly Digges @kellydigges
      Replying to @kellydigges @vgr
      I'm having trouble with Star Wars, and wondering if you have to split it up by era in order to say anything coherent about it. The original trilogy is about cool spaceships, the prequel trilogy is mostly about politics, and the sequel trilogy gave up and is just about Star Wars.
      8 replies 0 retweets 17 likes
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    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Emily Suvada

      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 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Emily Suvada @emilysuvada
      Replying to @vgr
      This is totally it. I feel like it's a filter. The author takes a risk - nerding out over something they're genuinely passionate about - and whoever sticks around through it will have buy-in. They'll be in-grouped. Value of appealing strongly to some vs trying to appeal to all.
      1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
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    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Kevin Marks

      Non-basic id element “incluing”https://twitter.com/kevinmarks/status/1331697608042147846 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Kevin Marks @kevinmarks
      Replying to @vgr
      It's also a kind of reading for world context the way you read a detective story for clues - Jo Walton called it "incluing" https://www.tor.com/2010/01/18/sf-reading-protocols/ …
      1 reply 1 retweet 6 likes
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    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      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.

      1 reply 2 retweets 18 likes
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    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      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

      1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
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    9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      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 …

      2 replies 1 retweet 7 likes
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    10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jonathan Korman

      What to call this principle? Spice-note?https://twitter.com/miniver/status/1331675875947937792 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Jonathan Korman @miniver
      Replying to @vgr
      This is nifty and needs a name, like “spice note” or something: the fun flavor element which does a lot of the story work Star Wars: spaceship design Superheroes: costume design aSoIaF: house banners & words Agatha Christie: etiquette Wuxia: special weapons & attacks https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1331673021367480320 …
      1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
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      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted mark safranski

      Secret sauce is perhaps too broad. 🤔 This is a narrower animating thing.https://twitter.com/zenpundit/status/1331703351097090055 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      mark safranski @zenpundit
      Tolkien’s secret sauce which he began doing even before he conceived of Middle Earth in 1917 while recovering from the Somme https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1331673021367480320 …
      1:11 PM - 25 Nov 2020
      • 6 Likes
      • aeras alum, Jess Purviance Sam Dal Monte mark safranski Mike Abundo Dan Blickensderfer
      4 replies 0 retweets 6 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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          Big mood? Generator? Flywheel? Root chakra? Idiopathy? Principle needs a clear statement too: “every successful genre story has an unnecessarily overbuilt world id-element.”

          3 replies 0 retweets 9 likes
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        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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          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?

          1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
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        4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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          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

          3 replies 0 retweets 6 likes
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        5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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          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.

          1 reply 1 retweet 7 likes
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        6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Andy Raskin

          The collectible cards test. Yep. Or can it spawn a fanpedia.https://twitter.com/araskin/status/1331723171087618049 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Andy Raskin @araskin
          Replying to @vgr
          Basically can you create a commercially viable series of collectible cards — a la Pokémon, baseball cards, etc?
          1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
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        7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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          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.

          1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
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        8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 25
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          More examples: Psych: 80s references Monk: OCD behaviors Burn Notice: “When you’re a spy...” tips

          7 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
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        9. End of conversation
        1. New conversation
        2. Erik Marks‏ @rekmarks Nov 25
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          Replying to @vgr

          I think it's about the world having a coherent existence apart from the story being told. For LOTR, it's not just languages, but an entire world history and cosmology. See e.g. the Silmarillion.

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. Erik Marks‏ @rekmarks Nov 25
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          Replying to @rekmarks @vgr

          This is why I believe Game of Thrones (the show) kicked ass, and why it completely fell apart in the final two seasons (internal consistency of the setting fell apart).

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
        4. End of conversation
        1. Michael Buckley 🇨🇦‏ @michaelabuckley Nov 25
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          Replying to @vgr

          Animating force works. That which animates the plot and characters. Tolkien's was an extravagant investment in imagined peoples with histories, lineages, geographies and languages. His research was so thorough, the plot was almost overdetermined.

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