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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.
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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.
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Replying to @kellydigges and @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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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What to call this principle? Spice-note?
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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 twitter.com/vgr/status/133…
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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.”
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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?
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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
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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.
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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.
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