[ SECRET POST #5328 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5328 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 37 secrets from Secret Submission Post #763.
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

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

Garth Nix's Abhorsen books have great worldbuilding, IMO. As a reader, the worldbuilding details I enjoy are details about food, culture, landscape and a rough sketch of the political landscape as well. But most of all, I look for an internal logic to the worldbuilding. It doesn't have to be realistic in the sense that it's like IRL, but it has to make sense _for that world_, you know?

For example, if there's a culture that has sci-fi-like technology like lasers and spaceships, I'm going to need a solid reason for why they might opt to use swords and armor in battle instead of the far deadlier and efficient weapons they clearly have. If there isn't a logical reason provided, then I'm going to assume this is sloppy writing and worldbuilding and I'm not going to be keen on reading more of the author's work because it seems like an indication that they're going to be careless about more than just this.

Re: worldbuilding

[philstar22]

This is exactly how I feel about worldbuilding. It doesn't have to make real world sense, but it does have to make sense internally. I love big, complicated worldbuilding with lots of different cultures, characters, and other aspects. And I love it when it all fits together and the author has clearly thought things through and planned this world they've created really well.

Also, I love the Abhorsen books.

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

My personal feeling is that worldbuilding has to make sense, but only aesthetic sense.

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

Could you elaborate?

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

If it looks good and works on the screen or on the page, then it doesn't matter at all to me whether it would actually work 'in real life'. So for instance, if you have a unified aesthetic that combines swords and spaceships, you absolutely don't need an explanation for it. That doesn't mean that you can just throw things together and it automatically works. If you just took knights and threw them on Star Trek spaceships, it wouldn't work. But if you come up with a unifying aesthetic that includes both, you don't need to throw in a line that provides a rationale for why it's "realistic". The Jedi in Star Wars don't work for any reason of worldbuilding or internal rationale; in fact, they don't really make any sense, especially in the prequels. But they work because they're fucking cool and because they fit into the overall vibe of the series, both the original series and the prequels. Or you could also have a thing where the gap between swords and spaceships is part of the point; there's a bunch of stylistic things you can do with that kind of incoherent mix of elements if you want to. I don't know if any of this makes sense but that's how I feel about it.

I also think that - in general - realism in fiction is an aesthetic style and nothing more in the first place.

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

I tend to be a big fan of realism in fiction, but I actually agree with this. Often the fictional universes that end up becoming iconic and beloved completely fall apart if you actually examine them with the aim of figuring out how they function. But if they're captivating, interesting, and they feel like a world you could crawl into and live inside of, it just doesn't really matter overly much whether they make logical sense upon closer inspection.

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, I see. Yeah, that doesn't work for me. I can enjoy the aesthetics of something say, in art. But if I'm reading about it, sooner or later it's going to feel off and irrational. I'm going to start asking myself questions like wait, if deadly laser guns exist in this world, why wouldn't anyone who really, really wants to win a fight use them instead of a sword?

Star Wars makes it work without going into too much explanation - the lightsabers are specifically a Jedi (of a certain level) thing and likely a holdover from ancient times when knights carried swords and it was unthinkable not to. It makes sense because this whole noble knight = sword thing stuck around for a long time in Earth history, though it became more ceremonial/decorative as time went on. Also the combination of Jedi skills + lightsaber are an effective defense against guns, something that's not necessarily going to be true of a regular metal sword wielded by a non-magic user.

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

You can come up with an explanation for anything. But I don't think that you need to come up with an explanation. I don't think that Star Wars would be any worse if you didn't have this idea of lightsabers as a holdover from ancient times. It's fine. It's cool, so it works.

(Also it's not just the fact that lightsabers exist and the Jedi used them. It's the whole concept where the universe is built in such a way that a handful of random Jedi can be worth more than an army simply because they can deflect lasers with their swords. But even if that's not realistic, it doesn't matter because that's the story)

Re: worldbuilding

[(Anonymous)]

It's nice that you don't require any explanation. I was referring to my own personal preferences.