OK gang, here’s a chance to see what it’s like to be an anime director. Which, as it’s a creative management position I always figured would be a LOT more boring and stressful anyway.
Ever thought of working in anime or animation?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Hey everyone, so what’s up here at the Sanctum!
Well, the big thing is I’ve wanted to add more ways to socialize – and try out a few ideas I had. So I’ve got the official Seventh Sanctum Tumblr – AND I created automated updates for it. Not only does it repost links to what’s at The Codex, but every day there’s a new, randomly generated story! Yep, every day you’ll have a story untouched by human hands, delivered straight to Tumblr!
I may also be adding some more things over time as I experiment, and of course reposting Sanctum related things.
I also played up our social media on the site – for instance I never really promoted our Twitter. It has a randomly generated idea every day, plus posts from here and anything I think to send down. So now I’m promoting it – join up!
I want to see if this provides some more socializing to the Sanctum before I look at other elements like a more active Facebook community or a mailing list. Yep, still working on that adding-more-social elements goal!
OK, with that done, the Writing Prompt Generator!
I haven’t done much with it recently since I’ve been pretty busy with work – and this takes a certain level of creative energy I just wasn’t feeling (sometimes it seems writing code is more workmanlike than building the data files and kind of relaxing). However the plan is still to get it working well enough and then posting it to get feedback and ideas from everyone. That’s my next goal, actually.
Meanwhile with Way With Worlds, I’m now working on a four to five part series on Worldbuilding and Sex. If you assume that’s going to be exciting, you’re probably going to be disappointed unless you really get into Worldbuilding. Then again you’re here. . .
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
[Way With Worlds appears at Seventh Sanctum, MuseHack, and Ongoing Worlds]
(Compliments to my friend Scott, whose essay on adaptions and history inspired this)
Genres, as I have heard it said, are reading instructions. We have certain expectations and mental toolkits that, when we read something of a given genre, we use to make sense of them. Wether this is good or bad is perhaps up for debate, but I think the basic truth is there – if only a truth of human nature of needing expectations.
I think this is why “genre mashes” are so popular. They engage two sets of expectations and combine them together, giving us both recognizable elements as well as a rush of the unusual, of ideas colliding. It’s that sense of things being both recognizable and different, which can bring inspiration, horror, humor, and other intense reactions that we seek.
However, genres are influences in worldbuilding as well. Because we are aware of audience expectations when we build our worlds and settings, when we tell our stories and code our games, we adjust what we do. Genre is also a set of worldbuilding and writing instructions to meet expectations.
In a way this makes genre a bit insidious as it may limit us – and in some cases we just start regurgitating tropes which is not so much worldbuilding as quilting. However I’d like to address a different issue, having focused on trope-piles before.
Genres hide within genres. When you adapt a certain genre consciously or unconsciously, you might be actually adapting a genre inside it – or surrounding it. If you’re not aware of this you can quickly suffocate your own worldbuilding under the weight of the things you’ve dragged in.
Consider The Western
This concept of genres within genres came when I was contemplating the role of Westerns in the above column. As I write this in 2014 it seems Westerns are often failed or are darkly-re-envisioned but most examples I saw were a genre fusion – the Space Western.
The Space Western at this time is nearly it’s own genre. It has it’s roots in early pulp SF and is obvious in the “Wagon Train” elements of Star Trek TOS. However in the last few decades it’s become it’s own thing. Just a few examples that come to mind:
- The movie series Oblivion.
- The frontier is referenced strongly in the Buck Rogers RPG from TSR.
- Firefly and Serenity
- Cowyboy Bebop (which has several other genres grafted on)
- Wildstar (which has a gunslinger type class).
The fact we even have the term “Space Western” to throw around says that it is Indeed A Thing.
Now I’ve got nothing against that. In fact I’ve rather enjoyed many Space Westerns, especially self-aware ones. But what I want to discuss is why SF would be bonded so closely with the Western – as it reveals the dangers of genre-mapping in worldbuilding.
Westerns, simply, are about frontiers. As SF itself is essentially about frontiers in many formats (especially explorational/people on a spaceship stories) the fusion fits perfectly. In a way, Westerns and SF share a similar “inside genre” – that of “people on the edge of the known” – and thus Space Westerns make perfect sense.
However Space Western as a genre – and indeed a bit of an overused ones, and thus a good example – also shows the danger of overfocusing on genre. Consider:
Maybe your SF story has a frontier element, but Western tropes don’t fit it – but if you drag those in unawares (or figure “this just must be a space western”) then you’re affecting your worldbuilding. Your world is getting buried under tropes and ideas that have nothing to do with your own ideas – that of the Space Western. You may, in short, figure (perhaps unconciously) that “my setting is a frontier” and then suddenly you’re using a genre (Space Western) inappropriately, and dumping in elements that really don’t fit your setting.
And this is the lesson. Sometimes you don’t want a genre – you want whats inside of it. You just may get confused over certain genres.
Sometimes It’s What’s Inside That Counts
Many times we choose or are inspired by various genres and incorporate them into our world – but what we may be looking at is a genre inside the other genre. If we’re not aware of that, however, we might pile on parts of the “container” genre inappropriately:
- Maybe you want to do a story of honor and revenge. Thus you are inspired by Samurai stories – but the elements of such tales may not fit your world as it has few cultural equivalents. You wanted honor and revenge, not the cultural complexities of Japanese culture.
- Perhaps you want to do a dark mystery in your fantasy setting, and certainly film noir wizards sound cool – but grafting on classic detective elements may not work in a world where you can use necromancy and interrogate the murder suspect (and you may realize this too late into your worldbuilding). You wanted the mindbending puzzles and betrayal of mysteries, not the film noir elements.
- Perhaps you like the Man Created Monster genre and want to work that into your realistic nanotechnology story – when you realize that when you have micromachines a giant stompy bad thing is inappropriate. What you wanted is to give the threat a personality.
Thus when you choose your genre or genres of your world, you may want to ask what you’re doing and why. Is it the genre or genres that you want to write – or is there something inside it that you’re really aiming for.
Food For Thought
So when you’re deciding on your genre(s) ask yourself these questions. What are you?
- Trying to say. Do/does the genre(s) make sense to what you’re writing or are you trying to use what’s “inside” one to communicate something.
- Really writing. What is at the core of your world? Why are you dressing it up in a given genre? Is it getting buried under the associated tropes??
- Trying to communicate to the audience. Genres can provide shorthand to the audience, but is what you’re saying actually served by the genre in question?
Closing
Genres may be instructions, but they can be limits – and even traps. But sometimes genres hide in genres, so you might not know just what you’re doing and why in your worldbuilding. Self-awareness – and genre-awareness – can help you greatly.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
And greetings Sanctumites! How’s it going?
So let’s get down to what’s up here . . . .
I hope you’re enjoying Ryan, our new columnist. He’s got a lot of unique viewpoints and I’m glad to add him to our group – and remember I’m always looking for more creative folks.
Way With Worlds is still churning away. I’ve got a new addition today, and then some more rewrites coming, so hang in there . . .
The Writing Prompt Generator is still on track, it just got delayed due to me getting sick. After my vacation. Really not good timing on my part. I want to add a few more roots then throw it out there for feedback. This one? It’s going to take awhile, but I like the idea of doing things together, you know?
I’m also working on new ways to deliver random too you. Now you’ve seen our Twitter, but I’m also working to plug in Tumblr and maybe a few other things. Stay tuned . . .
I’m not sure about the mailing list I discussed recently. I want to see how other social media experiments go before trying that, though I’m finding mailing lists work in other communities. Go figure – I think it’s the predominance of mobile phones where email and social media works, but message boards are a pain to use.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Cracked notes some pretty popular universes have got to be seriously crappy to live in if you’re an average person.
Middle Earth. Star Trek. Marvel. Westeros. Star Wars. Not exactly idea.
CREATIVE QUESTION: In your fictional universe(s) what’s it like to be an average person?
– Steven Savage
Yeah, I know. Should have thought of that early.
So, let’s take a break from good and evil, science and technology, politics and religion, and discuss just why all these elaborate setting-creations, timelines, and notes benefit you beyond your ability to create a good game or comic or story. This is how Worldbuilding improves you and your abilities in general ways, ways of insight and dare I say it, character.
This may sound a little weird. You may truly enjoy that giant mecha slam-bang universe you created, but you hardly think transforming robots really is going to make a difference in who you are or how you see things.
Actually, you’re wrong. Having done world building myself (in complete and far more unfinished projects), having analyzed it, having talked to writers and artists, I’ve been amazed how the act of world building actually improves people as people. They become, in a way, better and more insightful.
If you’re aware of it, of course, then you can appreciate it, use it, and enhance it. I’m not saying everyone should sit down and create an epic sci-fi universe or fantasy epic, but I’m noting that it does more than you may think.
If you know it, you can use it.
Here’s where it helps. (more…)
Well I started on the Writing Prompt Generator. This is definitely going to take time and it’s definitely going to have to go through a lot of user feedback. But I’ve got some results already:
- It was thursday, the day of faith, but nobody knew that.
- Hate requires war.
- It was monday, the day of hate.
– Steven Savage
We’ve talked Utopias, their rarity, and how and why to create them in our worlds. We’ve talked Dystopias, their commonality, and why to create them anyway despite their near-omnipresence. I’d like to discuss a related, similar issue in worldbuilding – what happens when “good” and “bad” parts of the setting meet.
It’s an area near to my heart because stories and games, tales and legends, are often written on the borders, the liminal spaces, the transitions. It’s where the richness grows, when things cross over. Even a conflict or a difference is a chance for rich worldbuilding and storytelling.
Also because mostly when the Good and the Bad collide it’s often implemented in a manner that’s terrible.
So, let’s start out with what often goes wrong when Light and Dark decide to unload a can of whupass. Sometimes you have to put up the warning signs before someone goes off the worldbuilding road. (more…)
He wants to interview a lot of creative people in a big marathon! Here’s the stats
- Looking to fill 30 interview slots for a podcast interview challenge.
- 42 interviews in 42 days.
- While I prefer Google+ for video interviews, I can also do audio only Skype calls if needed.
- Saturday, Sunday (afternoon/Evenings) or Monday is my preferred scheduling days for the interviews in day/afternoon or evenings.
- All scheduled interviews are in EST.
- Email me directly at kurtsasso@gmail.com Subject “42 Interview challenge accepted” listing your industry, available time and available date.
Well first of all, no updates for awhile. I’d like to have a great explanation or something, but really I had a tooth out and was doped up on a bunch of stuff. Nothing critical, just an old root canal that had gone bad, but not a fun experience. Fortunately my dentist (who is awesome) sent me to an equally awesome endodontist who did a great job, I’m healing fine – and she grows her own fruit and gave me fresh lemons. I made a bunch of hummus and such using it, which was perfect to eat after having a tooth out.
So what’s up?
Well, we’ve got another column series starting, I won’t spoil it, but we’re going to involve a rather imaginative person I met focusing on things he likes to ponder and to get you thinking!
I have started work on the Writing Prompt generator and have a few notes. It’s going to be challenging so I’m thinking of releasing it in beta or even alpha to get feedback on it. Right now I’m working on making it a mix of prompt/opening line to keep imaginations flowing.
As you noticed we changed the look a bit – the Crossroads Alpha control bar is gone and the Badge is in as we’ve added a lot of new sites! If you want to team up to share content and people and more, let me know!
– Steven Savage
