A theory:
Is there any such thing as ‘bad’ worldbuilding? I’ve read that the only bad worldbuilding is when it hurts the progress of a story. But what about when somebody starts adding pointless stuff after their story is already done, stopping them from writing another story? Or what if they start adding stuff so obscure, they’ll never ever use it? What if they get so obsessed with worldbuilding, they can’t have a square kilometer of land without some kind of attraction/description attached to it?
I suspect everything we create for our stories—every single thing we worldbuild—should have something to do with at least two other already existing things in our story, or be accompanied by two very good reasons. That should help tighten the vision while keeping focus on the plot, and simultaneously activate the ‘synergy between rules’ to make the world seem more ‘alive’, as I was talking about here. (Yes, even my crimson moon has two reasons for existing. lol.)
So we have to make tough choices. Like, I wasn’t going to include dragons at all. Until something in my head ‘clicked’ and a set of mystic dragons worked very well as the fitting puzzle-piece for a particular part of the story.
I really like floating continents (ever since I played Final Fantasy VI). But there’s simply no room in my story for one this late in the plot development phase. Adding one now would be stretching it and would in no way enhance the plot. But that’s just the way it goes.
Anyway, there’s always the next story…
A deviation:
Until now, I had been fairly diligently following Eliza’s list of worldbuilding topics. Today, I’m going to deviate from that list to talk about something a lot of people might not think about much until they are forced to write a scene about it:
‘Courtly Etiquette’.
Say a character has to enter a palace. Not only do we need to know how the character can stay on their best behavior so as not to get beheaded, but we must also have a general idea of how the ducal family addresses the regnant imperial family, etc.
These will be random rules, simply intended to be a framework. And I intend to change the practice a little from kingdom to kingdom, to give each their own flavor.
So, here goes. *ahem*…
- The consorts in good graces with their queens would stay nearby at all times, as if they were bodyguards. Those not in good graces are considered schismatic and are at risk of being ousted.
- To announce the king or queen’s presence to a banquet or ball, a royal page would announce something like, “Her majesty, the queen arrives.” Everyone would be expected to bow. The deeper the bow, the greater the fealty.
- Lineal primogeniture is honored throughout all kingdoms, except Joun, which uses matrilineal.
- To address royalty, one must announce their presence in the third person, such as, “Your humble servant kneels before the princess.” You would stay knelt until acknowledged by the royal member or must remain kneeling until they are no longer present.
- You would never want to say, “I don’t know,” to royalty. It is better to say something along the lines of, “My prince, please forgive my silence on the subject.”
- Any treason or conspiracy means death for the perpetrator. There is no trial to question most kingly justice.
- Other crimes against the royal families can mean anything from whip lashings, kingdom banishment, face-branding, life as a slave, or even starved to death in solitary confinement.
- Titles vary. People can be anything from the ‘Royal Mediciner’ to the ‘Master of Spears’. Nearly any title invented by any kingdom within the Northern Alliance gets recognized as an official title by the Naming Comittee.
- Royal families like to acquire seven rays mystics before the awakened do.
That seems like a good start. There’s also a wealth of online references, such as this website, which mentions more about ways to handle the duchy.
A welcome:
Please meet the latest addition to my family, Vivi the black mage the dog!
We adopted this basset hound from a rescue shelter. He’s somewhere between one and a half and two years old. Since we aren’t sure of his actual birthdate, his official two year birthday was the day we got him: August 17th.
He’s really sweet and well-behaved. He likes to give hugs and plays fetch well. He hasn’t made a single ‘mistake’ in the house and only barks when you get him riled up. He won’t chew on anything but his toys. To be honest, I’ve never had a dog this well-behaved ‘right out-of-the-box’ before! I’ve always had to train for at least a year to get dogs to this level. Quite an unusual puppers!
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As to ‘bad’ world building, yes, I think it exists. (And I agree with everything you said way up there.) Also, when people world build and plan out all of these little details, they often feel compelled to include every single one of them in their story, and then end up with multitudinous Jordan-esque pages of description. That is most definitely a bad thing.
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Comment by aeronwy — August 20, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
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Comment by Alex Moore — August 20, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
As for worldbuilding and the extent to which one goes, I think of Tolkien. I mean, he went insanely beyond anything I’ve ever seen. I can’t even read all of it, it’s just too much for me.
But yes, I’d say when it starts to include irrelevant details, or floating details not tied to anything elsewhere, what is the point? I can see how people might become trapped by this sort of thing, compulsively adding to something already established. In fact, I’ve done it. Rather than face the challenge of writing something new, I’ve reworked old stories a million times. There comes a point at which you must face the fear of writing sometimes being hard and you let go, too, of stuff you’ve already finished.
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Comment by Steph — August 20, 2008 @ 9:01 pm
If not, odd coincidence and funny the discussion starts here ;)
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Comment by RG Sanders — August 20, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Actually this post was inspired by me reading through all sorts of posts from a new blog I hadn’t been to before. I was astounded to find they had worldbuilt — perhaps far too much. Every square centimeter had something magical about it. And if everything is magical, then, by association, nothing is. (If everywhere has temple ruins, then what makes the one over the next hill so special? That’s what triggered my thoughts for part 1 of this post.)
I know you spoke of a floating continent before, so that might be why you made the association?, but I promise I’ve had a strange love for the things for a looong time. Way before I decided to become a writer. I think Wanderers from Y’s had that effect on me, too.
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Comment by cirellio — August 20, 2008 @ 9:56 pm
George R R Martin uses up a gimme as early as chapter one in Game of Thrones when there is exactly five dire wolf pups for the five brothers, then conveniently one extra seperated albino wolf pup for the bastard child.
I figure someone could get away with one gimme per 100 pages. But personally, I don’t like having gimmes at all if I can help it.
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Comment by cirellio — August 20, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
Glad you like Vivi and got the referrence ;)
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Comment by cirellio — August 20, 2008 @ 10:32 pm
Tolkien, Jordan … you know, maybe they did worldbuild a lot, maybe a little too much, but they had such great plots, it’s almost like it didn’t matter they’d get all expositional about random things….
Maybe the secret is just to have an awesome, unforgettable plot? *shrug*
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Comment by cirellio — August 20, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
Building the framework, but letting the reader take it from there – you read my mind.
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Comment by RG Sanders — August 21, 2008 @ 10:24 am
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Comment by Ken Kiser — August 22, 2008 @ 4:05 am
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Comment by cirellio — August 22, 2008 @ 5:30 am