Your closing remarks section reminded me of the brilliant poem “Mythopoeia” by Tolkien that he wrote to defend the act of storytelling from then-atheist CS Lewis who called fables “lies breathed through silver.” You are probably already aware of it but I think it’s great at reminding us that, as Peter Kreeft put it, the only ones who condemn escapism are jailers.
An excerpt if you don’t want to read the whole thing:
To elaborate on my note, one example of speculative evolution being really gay is the channel Biblaridion. I started watching his alien planet series 3 years ago when it was cool designs and some biology facts, and by the final video where they reach sentience he made a full longhoused matriarchal society of communal beta cucks. Also his videos have been stuffed with troony fan art from his discord server. One could say that there is no political message and the way they evolved is quite realistic but worldbuilding, like all art, should be pretty or send a positive message. If your magnum opus is *this* then that doesn't speak well of you.
Concerning hard worldbuilding, personally I quite like it. I find doing it fun and when I see it it makes me appreciate the project more beacuse I know the author put in care and skill. With magic it's a bit different. Hard magic is still cool because it's almost like a game. Soft worldbuilding is not worse though. In my projects I prefer soft magic beacuse I believe that real life has something like soft magic.
My theory as to why conlanging is so faggy is beacuse 99% of it is staring at spreadsheets. Again look at Biblaridion. You have to be weird to like it and spiritually perverted to prefer it over epic stories about knights and stuff.
Also I think I would consider this less of a problem with worldbuilding and more about the corporatization and commodification of art as entertainment.
The main concerns I have with worldbuilding is that excessive worldbuilding can take the mystery and intrigue out of a setting, and that sometimes people do too much worldbuilding without an actual story or characters to make it meaningful. I wouldn’t have made the map for Fallen Continent or written all this lore information down if it hadn’t developed out of my 400-page (so far) novel that receives a lot more of my attention. Not all of FC has a bearing on the story itself, but I try to use these peripheral states far away from the story’s events to tell a story of their own, with their own stakes, personalities, and impending climaxes.
Worldbuilding without any meaningful story or characters is like skipping the meal and eating nothing but dessert. You get fat off of sweets and have no sustenance, and are left longing for something truly satisfying and complete.
Have to disagree with this 1. I don't think excessive worldbuilding is bad if it's detached from a story. I have a project (different from the one I posted about) that had thousands of words written about its history before any major characters or story ideas were conceived. It's meaning comes from being excessive and realistic. Of course in a book set inside it I wouldn't go into detail about everything beacuse what makes a story good is different from what makes worldbuilding good. They are two different forms of art.
You do a better job of conveying this than he did. You put it quite well and there’s some good information there that is worth considering. The guy just really needs to work on his presentation and organizing his thoughts, is the main problem.
How can you build a better real world if you can’t even handle a fictional one
Your closing remarks section reminded me of the brilliant poem “Mythopoeia” by Tolkien that he wrote to defend the act of storytelling from then-atheist CS Lewis who called fables “lies breathed through silver.” You are probably already aware of it but I think it’s great at reminding us that, as Peter Kreeft put it, the only ones who condemn escapism are jailers.
An excerpt if you don’t want to read the whole thing:
The heart of Man is not compound of lies,
but draws some wisdom from the only Wise,
and still recalls him. Though now long estranged,
Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed.
Dis-graced he may be, yet is not dethroned,
and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned,
his world-dominion by creative act:
not his to worship the great Artefact,
Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light
through whom is splintered from a single White
to many hues, and endlessly combined
in living shapes that move from mind to mind.
Though all the crannies of the world we filled
with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build
Gods and their houses out of dark and light,
and sowed the seed of dragons, 'twas our right
(used or misused). The right has not decayed.
We make still by the law in which we're made.
I haven’t heard of this before. Thank you very much for sharing
And feel better soon!!
To elaborate on my note, one example of speculative evolution being really gay is the channel Biblaridion. I started watching his alien planet series 3 years ago when it was cool designs and some biology facts, and by the final video where they reach sentience he made a full longhoused matriarchal society of communal beta cucks. Also his videos have been stuffed with troony fan art from his discord server. One could say that there is no political message and the way they evolved is quite realistic but worldbuilding, like all art, should be pretty or send a positive message. If your magnum opus is *this* then that doesn't speak well of you.
Concerning hard worldbuilding, personally I quite like it. I find doing it fun and when I see it it makes me appreciate the project more beacuse I know the author put in care and skill. With magic it's a bit different. Hard magic is still cool because it's almost like a game. Soft worldbuilding is not worse though. In my projects I prefer soft magic beacuse I believe that real life has something like soft magic.
My theory as to why conlanging is so faggy is beacuse 99% of it is staring at spreadsheets. Again look at Biblaridion. You have to be weird to like it and spiritually perverted to prefer it over epic stories about knights and stuff.
Also I think I would consider this less of a problem with worldbuilding and more about the corporatization and commodification of art as entertainment.
The main concerns I have with worldbuilding is that excessive worldbuilding can take the mystery and intrigue out of a setting, and that sometimes people do too much worldbuilding without an actual story or characters to make it meaningful. I wouldn’t have made the map for Fallen Continent or written all this lore information down if it hadn’t developed out of my 400-page (so far) novel that receives a lot more of my attention. Not all of FC has a bearing on the story itself, but I try to use these peripheral states far away from the story’s events to tell a story of their own, with their own stakes, personalities, and impending climaxes.
Worldbuilding without any meaningful story or characters is like skipping the meal and eating nothing but dessert. You get fat off of sweets and have no sustenance, and are left longing for something truly satisfying and complete.
Have to disagree with this 1. I don't think excessive worldbuilding is bad if it's detached from a story. I have a project (different from the one I posted about) that had thousands of words written about its history before any major characters or story ideas were conceived. It's meaning comes from being excessive and realistic. Of course in a book set inside it I wouldn't go into detail about everything beacuse what makes a story good is different from what makes worldbuilding good. They are two different forms of art.
You do a better job of conveying this than he did. You put it quite well and there’s some good information there that is worth considering. The guy just really needs to work on his presentation and organizing his thoughts, is the main problem.