Another Thing Fantasy Writers Should Keep Track Of Is How Much Of Their Worldbuilding Is Aesthetic-based.

another thing fantasy writers should keep track of is how much of their worldbuilding is aesthetic-based. it's not unlike the sci-fi hardness scale, which measures how closely a story holds to known, real principles of science. The Martian is extremely hard sci-fi, with nearly every detail being grounded in realistic fact as we know it; Star Trek is extremely soft sci-fi, with a vaguely plausible "space travel and no resource scarcity" premise used as a foundation for the wildest ideas the writers' room could come up with. and much as Star Trek fuckin rules, there's nothing wrong with aesthetic-based fantasy worldbuilding!

(sidenote we're not calling this 'soft fantasy' bc there's already a hard/soft divide in fantasy: hard magic follows consistent rules, like "earthbenders can always and only bend earth", and soft magic follows vague rules that often just ~feel right~, like the Force. this frankly kinda maps, but I'm not talking about just the magic, I'm talking about the worldbuilding as a whole.

actually for the purposes of this post we're calling it grounded vs airy fantasy, bc that's succinct and sounds cool.)

a great example of grounded fantasy is Dungeon Meshi: the dungeon ecosystem is meticulously thought out, the plot is driven by the very realistic need to eat well while adventuring, the story touches on both social and psychological effects of the whole 'no one dies forever down here' situation, the list goes on. the worldbuilding wants to be engaged with on a mechanical level and it rewards that engagement.

deliberately airy fantasy is less common, because in a funny way it's much harder to do. people tend to like explanations. it takes skill to pull off "the world is this way because I said so." Narnia manages: these kids fall into a magic world through the back of a wardrobe, befriend talking beavers who drink tea, get weapons from Santa Claus, dance with Bacchus and his maenads, and sail to the edge of the world, without ever breaking suspension of disbelief. it works because every new thing that happens fits the vibes. it's all just vibes! engaging with the worldbuilding on a mechanical level wouldn't just be futile, it'd be missing the point entirely.

the reason I started off calling this aesthetic-based is that an airy story will usually lean hard on an existing aesthetic, ideally one that's widely known by the target audience. Lewis was drawing on fables, fairy tales, myths, children's stories, and the vague idea of ~medieval europe~ that is to this day our most generic fantasy setting. when a prince falls in love with a fallen star, when there are giants who welcome lost children warmly and fatten them up for the feast, it all fits because these are things we'd expect to find in this story. none of this jars against what we've already seen.

and the point of it is to be wondrous and whimsical, to set the tone for the story Lewis wants to tell. and it does a great job! the airy worldbuilding serves the purposes of the story, and it's no less elegant than Ryōko Kui's elaborately grounded dungeon. neither kind of worldbuilding is better than the other.

however.

you do have to know which one you're doing.

the whole reason I'm writing this is that I saw yet another long, entertaining post dragging GRRM for absolute filth. asoiaf is a fun one because on some axes it's pretty grounded (political fuck-around-and-find-out, rumors spread farther than fact, fastest way to lose a war is to let your people starve, etc), but on others it's entirely airy (some people have magic Just Cause, the various peoples are each based on an aesthetic/stereotype/cliché with no real thought to how they influence each other as neighbors, the super-long seasons have no effect on ecology, etc).

and again! none of this is actually bad! (well ok some of those stereotypes are quite bigoted. but other than that this isn't bad.) there's nothing wrong with the season thing being there to highlight how the nobles are focused on short-sighted wars for power instead of storing up resources for the extremely dangerous and inevitable winter, that's a nice allegory, and the looming threat of many harsh years set the narrative tone. and you can always mix and match airy and grounded worldbuilding – everyone does it, frankly it's a necessity, because sooner or later the answer to every worldbuilding question is "because the author wanted it to be that way." the only completely grounded writing is nonfiction.

the problem is when you pretend that your entirely airy worldbuilding is actually super duper grounded. like, for instance, claiming that your vibes-based depiction of Medieval Europe (Gritty Edition) is completely historical, and then never even showing anyone spinning. or sniffing dismissively at Tolkien for not detailing Aragorn's tax policy, and then never addressing how a pre-industrial grain-based agricultural society is going years without harvesting any crops. (stored grain goes bad! you can't even mouse-proof your silos, how are you going to deal with mold?) and the list goes on.

the man went up on national television and invited us to engage with his worldbuilding mechanically, and then if you actually do that, it shatters like spun sugar under the pressure. doesn't he realize that's not the part of the story that's load-bearing! he should've directed our focus to the political machinations and extensive trope deconstruction, not the handwavey bit.

point is, as a fantasy writer there will always be some amount of your worldbuilding that boils down to 'because I said so,' and there's nothing wrong with that. nor is there anything wrong with making that your whole thing – airy worldbuilding can be beautiful and inspiring. but you have to be aware of what you're doing, because if you ask your readers to engage with the worldbuilding in gritty mechanical detail, you had better have some actual mechanics to show them.

More Posts from Wayfaring-wynn and Others

1 year ago
[id: digital comic of a child laying flat on their back amongst rubble, their eyes lifeless and glasses broken. the text says, "I'm dying."

"Cute cat": a fluffy cat stares up, residing outside a scratchy, rough building on a sidewalk. 

"Barbed wire.": two children look up a wall with barbed wires, a ball caught neatly in between. 

"Is my life flashing before my eyes?" is written out in white text against a black background.

"Severed hand": the person looks down, their shoes peeking from the bottom of the panel. in front of them, a child's severed hand lies on the ground, blood splattered from beneath the rubble. 

"Crying baby": a parent smiles to comfort their crying child on a hospital floor. behind them, a doctor walks past. 

"Smug soldier": a soldier stands, resting their hand on the butt of their rifle, looking down. their eyes are blocked out by black scribbles. 

The remaining panels are in plain text, reading: "I'm sorry, body. I'm sorry arms, legs, eyes and heart. I couldn't give you enough. They didn't let me give you enough."

In red text: #strikeforgaza

Grey text: #freepalestine 

/end id]
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!
GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!

GLOBAL STRIKE FOR GAZA BEGINS TODAY!!!

To participate:

During the 21st - 28th of January...

Do not shop/online shop

Skip school/work if you are able to

Be present & active on social media and uplift Palestinian voices

Draw, write, sing, create art for Palestine

Repost & boost Palestine related content on social media

Educate yourself about the issue

We have been asked to strike during these days by the lovely & hardworking journalist Bisan from Gaza. Let's all try our best for a people being tested with the harshest conditions imaginable. The occupation must be held accountable.

We're in this together!!

1 year ago

DO NOT, AND I BEG OF YOU, DO NOT STAY SILENT. ISRAELI HAVE MASSACRED INNOCENT PALESTINIANS IN RAFAH, THEIR SAFE SPACE, THEIR CAMPS WHERE THEY WERE RESIDING. ITS A FUCKING MASSACRE. INNOCENT LIVES HAVE BEEN TAKEN, JUST LIKE THAT. MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN HAVE LOST THEIR LOVED ONES JUST LIKE THAT. AND IF YOURE STILL SILENT, SHAME ON YOU. SERIOUSLY.


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1 year ago

The original percy jackson series is about cycles of abuse and neglect, right. Were introduced to percy as a kid who has clearly been left behind by a school system that has given up on him, restless and unengaged and self-defetist because hes been given nothing that works for him and no one even tries to meet him where he is. Then hes told no, listen, your neurodivergence is amazing and you just need to be given something that actually utilizes your unique palatte. And thats obviously the uplifting idea rick wanted for his kids, right. But once we get to know chb the same cycles are happening there too. There are kids "left behind" there too for one reason or another, because their parents dont want to claim them, because their parents werent important enough to get a cabin. Do you get it, all the kids who dont fit the most common neurotypes get shoved into the same closet. Kids are being left in a cruel world to fend for themselves without the tools they need. Theyre dying because no one bothered to accommodate them. Its such an obvious parallel that the first chapter introduces a teacher whos written to be especially hard on percys disability and she turns out to literally be one of these monsters trying to kill him. Meanwhile sally jackson tells him she named him after Perseus because she wanted a redemption for a hero whos story ended in tragedy. Meanwhile every book in the series replicates a greek myth step for step until the moment they break the cycle. Annabeth, playing Odysseus, is talked down from her hubris and grounded by her friends. Percy, playing Heracles, meets someone wronged by the original Heracles and rights his wrongs by refusing to go down the same selfish path as him. Monsters are reborn because they are--as the books explicitly call them--achetypes. These kids are stuck inside the cyclical nature of mythology because thats what happens to mythology, it gets retold over and over again. But these are the kids who have to live it. The series ends with percy being offered immortality and he rejects it because he wants to use his godly favor to force them to break their cycle of neglecting their kids. The series ends with a declaration that we cant keep letting this happen. The very first book offees the same choice. It ends with percy refusing to keep the head of medusa as a spoil of war, refusing his heroic reward. He lets his mother have the head and use it to kill gabe. Isnt that fucking crazy for a kids book? Gabe wasnt a Monster. He wasnt going to Turn to Dust and Disappear in a narratively convenient way. He was a living breathing mortal dude and percy and his mom killed him without remorse. Break the cycle of abuse!!!! Dont let this happen again!!! Anyway thats why the original percy jackson series is Hey where are you going with our breadsticks

9 months ago

one of the biggest things I can advocate for (in academia, but also just in life) is to build credibility with yourself. It’s easy to fall into the habit of thinking of yourself as someone who does things last minute or who struggles to start tasks. people will tell you that you just need to build different habits, but I know for me at least the idea of ‘habit’ is sort of abstract and dehumanizing. Credibility is more like ‘I’ve done this before, so I know I can do it, and more importantly I trust myself to do it’. you set an assignment goal for the day and you meet it, and then you feel stronger setting one the next day. You establish a relationship with yourself that’s built on confidence and trust. That in turn starts to erode the barrier of insecurity and perfectionism and makes it easier to start and finish tasks. reframing the narrative as a process of building credibility makes it easier to celebrate each step and recognize how strong your relationship with yourself can become


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9 months ago

your competition isn't other people.

it's your procrastination, your ego, the unhealthy food you're consuming, the knowledge you neglect, the negative behavior you're nurturing and your lack of creativity.

compete against that.


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1 year ago

Maaloul is a Palestinian village in Galilee. In 1948, it was destroyed by the Israeli armed forces and its people were expelled, so they headed either to Lebanon or to the neighboring town of Nazareth. Since then, the former residents of Maaloul were only allowed to visit it once a year on the anniversary of the occupation, so it became a tradition to organize a picnic in the same place on that day.

The people of Maaloul village fled from it under the fire of Zionist gangs in 1948. This is a wound that will not heal. The people of the wound cling to it because it may one day chart the way back. The villagers visit the ruins of their village once a year to celebrate over them. It is an amazing insistence on clinging to the land and its memory. We were able to carry our wounds in our bags because the wound prevents forgetting. That memory, which was written in blood, is more lasting than all the ruins and all the artificial countries.

Via itszaynalarbi

8 months ago
Kagome Higurashi, Just A Normal Teenage Girl Growing Up In Japan In The Early 2000s

Kagome Higurashi, just a normal teenage girl growing up in Japan in the early 2000s


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11 months ago

T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land was a Gloomy Prophecy about Gaza?!

Millions of people are preparing to celebrate the festive Adha Eid soon, while Gaza is drowning in death, depression, despair, and pain.

Thinking about my family in Gaza desperately trying to escape death on a daily basis and the magnitude of destruction inflicted on beautiful Gaza, the melancholic whispering of T. S. Eliot's famous lines from his masterpiece The Waste Land echo in my head and shatter my soul. They go:

"Unreal city I had not thought death had undone so many"

What could be more hellish than living in constant fear for your life? Why should having food and water be a daily struggle? How could the world be desensitized to this extent? How did my beautiful Gaza turn into a Wasteland on the watch of the world as a whole?!

I am desperately trying to relocate my family to Egypt temporarily, hopefully, until the war is over. Your help saves lives.

Please Donate, reblog and Share with your friends.

Donate to Death chases my family in Gaza; help me save them, organized by Mahmoud Khalaf
gofundme.com
People say: "Family always comes First," and to that, I say: "Amen!".… Mahmoud Khalaf needs your support for Death chases my family in Gaza;
T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land Was A Gloomy Prophecy About Gaza?!

@el-shab-hussein @ibtisams @sar-soor @90-ghost @nabulsi


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