[ SECRET POST #3996 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3996 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.



__________________________________________________



09.











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #572.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

Which element is the most important in sci-fi/fantasy?

Do you need all three? Is a so-so plot okay if the world is really cool and imaginative? Can everything else suck but you'll still read/watch/play if you love the cast? Is a well-crafted plot always necessary for a good story?

Are there any examples of stories where you love one of these elements, but hate the others?

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[cbrachyrhynchos]

Conflict -> Characters -> Setting.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

I'm way more likely to keep reading something if I like the characters. It obviously depends, because cool worldbuilding doesn't necessarily require amazing characters, especially if there's a sort of sandbox element to it. A good plot is good and all, but I don't think a good plot, no matter how intricate, is enough to make me truly love a story if I don't care about the cast.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

You need all three. I'm tired of "the setting/worldbuilding was so much wasted potential because the story sucked/the characters are boring." Good characters and worldbuild can distract from a certain level of bad plot (Harry Potter comes to mind) but once the plot falls completely through the floor into the basement, those distractions no longer serve.

Like, shit, there are so many shows I just can't take despite one great character pulled off by a great actor, or really pretty set design, or what have you. You gotta execute all around on everything or I'm out.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[nightscale]

Characters > world-building > plot.

I can be interested in something without having a favourite character if the world-building is cool, but the best chance I'll have of being super interested or invested in a show/book/movie is if I fall in love with one or more characters.

I love having people to root for.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

It kinda depends on what you mean by worldbuilding. I care a lot about the aesthetic and tone and mood of the setting, and the ideas behind it. But I don't care at all about the, like, mechanical details and 'realism' of it.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

Definitely doesn't have to be realistic or even logical. I love the Pokemon world because it's so imaginative based on one very simple concept. I don't even care if humans eat Pokemon or not when they order hamburgers. I like the aesthetic and the feeling behind the world.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[tabaqui]

I think worldbuilding, because i really hate sci-fi or fantasy that skimps on the details or has completely unrealistic worlds that make no sense whatsoever (everyone uses buttons for money! huge, desert cities with no farms of any kind or visible water and yet hundreds of thousands of people!).

But awesome worldbuilding only goes so far with boring plots or thin-as-tissue characters. So - worldbuilding>characters>plot.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[soldatsasha]

For me it's generally worldbuilding -> characters ------> plot.

Like I'm super invested in TES, it's probably the thing I'm the most fannish about, because the world and the lore is great. I like some characters but I mostly love the world. And I really give no fucks about the plot of Oblivion or Skyrim.

Mass Effect is the same way, where I really love the universe (and in that case the characters). I have a million Mass Effect OCs because I want to explore different aspects of that universe more. But again the plot is really tertiary to everything else, I don't care about Shep's quest to stop the Reapers.

Dragon Age is another example. The shitty worldbuilding prevents me from really fully immersing myself in the games. I love the characters, but the plots suck, and Thedas is so half-assedly put together that it continually breaks my suspension of disbelief and throws me right out of things.

EDIT: I'm mostly a gamer, though, rather than a TV or book or movie fannish person. So that probably hugely effects how I interact with stories and get invested in things.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

Agree totally re TES and Dragon Age. TES is my longest running game series (I actually played Arena on release), but it's always had framework of characters with unrealised potential. I'm an imaginative person so I've always been happy to fill in the gaps myself, but when you get a taste of more complex characterisation from something like Dragon Age, that becomes harder to justify. I always felt the perfect game would have Bethesda's worldbuilding and Bioware's characters.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[takaraikarin]

It's the characters for me, but then if the plot wasted good characterisations or have build ups that went nowhere I'd quit the book too, so they're all connected.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[feotakahari]

I hear a lot of people say that worldbuilding is the most important thing in sci-fi, but frankly, I’ve read sci-fi that made worldbuilding the most important thing, and it was only readable when it was less than 10,000 words. Give me characters I at least vaguely care about.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[were_lemur]

For me, having characters I care about is the most important thing. I can put up with a lot of iffy plots and thin worldbuilding for characters I love.

The reverse isn't true. If there isn't someone I can care about, I'm not going to stick around long enough to find out how intricate the plot is or how nifty the worldbuilding is.

That being said: in SF, worldbuilding should be a part of both the plot and the characterization. The plot should be what it is because of some features in the world, and the characters should be the way they are because of the way the world works.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

The plot should be what it is because of some features in the world, and the characters should be the way they are because of the way the world works.

This is a very good point.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[philstar22]

I think a so-so plot is okay, for me at least, as long as first the worldbuilding is great and then that there are interesting characters that I can root for.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

Hard to say. I like a good balance, on the whole. Of the three, I'd say that I could relax a bit on the quality of the plot if the characters were so fun that I'd read scenes of them just sitting around, arguing about pizza toppings. But that's pretty rare, tbh. World building is great too, but without decent characters and plot, even the most intricately built world can seem very flat and lifeless.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

I love good worldbuilding, but even so I'm going to have to say characters, then plot, then worldbuilding.

The Characters will always be the most important thing to me, in any genre (...except maaaybe horror?). If I love the characters, the plot and worldbuilding can be fairly weak and, while it's obviously not ideal, I'll probably still enjoy reading/watching.

Re: Worldbuilding VS. Characters Vs. Plot

[(Anonymous)]

Characters characters characters.
I'd say
60% Characters
25% Worldbuilding
15% Plot

No matter how otherwise interesting the plot and worldbuilding, if I don't like the people I just don't care about any of it. But even meh worldbuilding and formulaic plot won't stop me from loving something with fantastic characters.