So many good points! Love the idea of keeping it simple, revealing the world in little sprinkles, and letting the world keep ‘existing’ even when my characters are sitting perfectly still. Hoping my story will feel this way to readers once it’s finished
Fantastic video! Such an elegantly put critique of the layman's view of what worldbuilders do while also constructively criticizing the subject! Can't wait for more videos!
I like this way of breaking down world building I had in my mind before lumped characters and living world together. As non main characters to me generally feel like just part of the world but I like this break down of it better. For subtlety, I generally point people to Star Wars a New Hope and the first John Wick movie. They both do it well but obvious enough to see relatively easily. All you have to do is ask the person to tell you what they know about those worlds that doesn't have to do directly with the main plot or main cast. For a living world and characters, while I haven't read Wheel of Time yet Malazan book of the Fallen knocks everything else I've ever encountered out of the water in these aspects. You could tell me it had 50 writers all write different story lines and mark as each day passes in their story then they are combined and cross over and I'd believe, that every book was written that way. Not to mention the cross over between different books that are written by different authors that then seamlessly impact the other. You have 0 need to read the other series to be as up to date on the events as you need to be or to be as knowledgeable of them as the characters your following, it just helps explain other characters decisions. It explains why some characters were more impactful on one group while others were almost like ships that passed waved hello, or sometimes passed in the dark. For rules and laws I'd point people to something in the Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson, his magic systems follow his predefined rules well without conflicting. But the impressive thing is that so far he has been able to add on things or update those rules without actually changing or impacting what came before like the light sabers being pool toys now.
I think you sold me on Malazan... Also such a good point on John Wick. That film ESPECIALLY the first one does such a great job at world building in subtle ways.
Thank you! Exactly! We need to all start simple! Build a foundation before running the race of exhaustion into various complex systems that don’t serve anything yet
I’ve been playing Pathfinder for over three years now and, omg, everyone should play a ttrpg at some point in their lives. It has helped me to think critically and creatively outside of the game … and it’s all because of my DM who has put so much time and effort into creating the world we explore (and screw up in the process) 😊
It’s truly amazing what DMing does to your brain. How you approach creativity and worldbuilding and storytelling. And how your players are apart of it all! I’m actually making my next video on dnd!
good worldbuilding is whatever best serves your themes. bluey doesnt need to describe the unique consequences that coinages have had on the trade of the great empires, but it would be a neat detail in high fantasy. its all about the themes.
It's funny I never think of themes when writing or reading. I feel like building a world around an entire theme could be a disservice to the world and it's depth.
Except one of The Lord of the Rings worst aspects is the often sluggish pacing that is sometimes caused by long periods of exposition about things that don't necessarily have anything to do with the story. It builds out the world, yes, but it doesn't truly serve the story on a number of occasions. The Lord of the Rings has incredible poetry, characters, themes, and is very vivid and truly set the standard for fantasy. But you cant just say Lord of the Rings has good worldbuilding because Lord of the Rings is good. You kind of do need to say more because just saying Lord of the Rings has good worldbuilding because it's good isn't enough. It has the kind of worldbuilding that Tolkien wanted, and The Lord of the Rings was good, but it isn't the kind of worldbuilding that is good to map onto other settings or good to follow as an example because it's very unique to the kind of things that Tolkien was an expert in. Though there is one takeaway - you don't necessarily need to have worldbuilding that stretches back thousands of years with names for every tree and rock - but you should create worldbuilding that you're passionate about, and that you're interested in, because that passion will be clear to anyone reading.
I’ve only read half of the fellowship when I tried getting back into breading as an adult and I absolutely agree with the slow pacing due to lore dumps about histories of trees and rocks lol. I felt the hobbit had a perfect amount of everything where the worldbuilding served the story. The story moved along while also revealing bits of the world.
Support the channel with a cup of coffee ☕️:
buymeacoffee.com/thomasromanhowell
So many good points! Love the idea of keeping it simple, revealing the world in little sprinkles, and letting the world keep ‘existing’ even when my characters are sitting perfectly still. Hoping my story will feel this way to readers once it’s finished
Love that! Letting your world exist while your characters sit still such a good phrase.
Fantastic video! Such an elegantly put critique of the layman's view of what worldbuilders do while also constructively criticizing the subject! Can't wait for more videos!
Thank you so much!
I like this way of breaking down world building I had in my mind before lumped characters and living world together. As non main characters to me generally feel like just part of the world but I like this break down of it better.
For subtlety, I generally point people to Star Wars a New Hope and the first John Wick movie. They both do it well but obvious enough to see relatively easily. All you have to do is ask the person to tell you what they know about those worlds that doesn't have to do directly with the main plot or main cast.
For a living world and characters, while I haven't read Wheel of Time yet Malazan book of the Fallen knocks everything else I've ever encountered out of the water in these aspects. You could tell me it had 50 writers all write different story lines and mark as each day passes in their story then they are combined and cross over and I'd believe, that every book was written that way. Not to mention the cross over between different books that are written by different authors that then seamlessly impact the other. You have 0 need to read the other series to be as up to date on the events as you need to be or to be as knowledgeable of them as the characters your following, it just helps explain other characters decisions. It explains why some characters were more impactful on one group while others were almost like ships that passed waved hello, or sometimes passed in the dark.
For rules and laws I'd point people to something in the Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson, his magic systems follow his predefined rules well without conflicting. But the impressive thing is that so far he has been able to add on things or update those rules without actually changing or impacting what came before like the light sabers being pool toys now.
I think you sold me on Malazan...
Also such a good point on John Wick. That film ESPECIALLY the first one does such a great job at world building in subtle ways.
@@Thomas.R.Howell just be careful to call the series long is to under sell it, but you also don't have to read the whole thing for it to be worth it
Great video. Keep things simple. Complex systems emerge from simple rules.
Thank you! Exactly! We need to all start simple! Build a foundation before running the race of exhaustion into various complex systems that don’t serve anything yet
I’ve been playing Pathfinder for over three years now and, omg, everyone should play a ttrpg at some point in their lives. It has helped me to think critically and creatively outside of the game … and it’s all because of my DM who has put so much time and effort into creating the world we explore (and screw up in the process) 😊
It’s truly amazing what DMing does to your brain. How you approach creativity and worldbuilding and storytelling. And how your players are apart of it all! I’m actually making my next video on dnd!
Don't get me started on modern Starwars!
good worldbuilding is whatever best serves your themes. bluey doesnt need to describe the unique consequences that coinages have had on the trade of the great empires, but it would be a neat detail in high fantasy. its all about the themes.
It's funny I never think of themes when writing or reading. I feel like building a world around an entire theme could be a disservice to the world and it's depth.
Lord of the rings. Thats all i need to say
YES!
Except one of The Lord of the Rings worst aspects is the often sluggish pacing that is sometimes caused by long periods of exposition about things that don't necessarily have anything to do with the story. It builds out the world, yes, but it doesn't truly serve the story on a number of occasions. The Lord of the Rings has incredible poetry, characters, themes, and is very vivid and truly set the standard for fantasy. But you cant just say Lord of the Rings has good worldbuilding because Lord of the Rings is good. You kind of do need to say more because just saying Lord of the Rings has good worldbuilding because it's good isn't enough. It has the kind of worldbuilding that Tolkien wanted, and The Lord of the Rings was good, but it isn't the kind of worldbuilding that is good to map onto other settings or good to follow as an example because it's very unique to the kind of things that Tolkien was an expert in. Though there is one takeaway - you don't necessarily need to have worldbuilding that stretches back thousands of years with names for every tree and rock - but you should create worldbuilding that you're passionate about, and that you're interested in, because that passion will be clear to anyone reading.
I’ve only read half of the fellowship when I tried getting back into breading as an adult and I absolutely agree with the slow pacing due to lore dumps about histories of trees and rocks lol.
I felt the hobbit had a perfect amount of everything where the worldbuilding served the story. The story moved along while also revealing bits of the world.
Good worldbuilding is a complicated thing, but if you ask what is bad worldbuilding, I'll tell you, whatever Brandon Sanderson does in his books 😂😂🫢
hahaha im dying 🤣