This consists of me saying, “Ooooh, shiny!” more than it does ranting. After all, I’ve talked about specific manifestations of social change before, as in the rants on revolutions and civil wars, and the things I find silly or unrealistic about the way that most fantasy authors portray them. So I’ll try to show what I think would be good ways of ( Read more... )

The last of this particular set of rants that’s taken me…oh…only two months to write?

And another where I don’t particularly like the conceit I’m writing about. I favor worlds that move on, even if not quickly. But I did promise that I would give some consideration to it.

( If you don’t want your world to change all that fast, here are some options )

So! Some ideas about these concepts as they apply-in fantasy, not science fiction (though, properly done, fantasy could snitch ideas about these from SF. Why not? SF has snitched plenty from fantasy.)

( Onwards! Outwards! Acrosswards! )

This means worlds with varying levels of technology and magic-cultures existing side by side, perhaps, but still not on the same technical level.

( Of course these are perfectly plausible )

Not (perhaps sadly) about what happens when people from different nations become friends or fall in love, but about relationships between countries-from war to outright dominance of one by another, and everywhere in between.

( Read more... )

In case the title is confusing, I will say that this is a method of world-building which depends on little, tiny threads braided together at a time, or bricks of many different kinds piled on top of each other, or dozens of different kinds of food made into a meal (choose your favorite metaphor for writing). It does not rely on big honking ( Read more... )

The second part of the ‘writing empires’ rant, since the last one got too long to pack everything into one essay.

( More problems to make things complicated )

This rant concentrates on some ideas for writing empires. I do think they’re different than kingdoms-though fantasy authors often don’t treat them any differently-and that there are a lot of questions and concerns they bring up that most authors simply ignore.

( An empire is a lot more than its imperial family )

The money/currency rant, being the last of the rants from the previous poll, after which we move on to the ones from the poll I put up a few days ago.

(I am also trying to catch up on comments, which shall be done, if slowly).

( Money and currency )

Okay, this one’s up.

( Distrust character profiles and world-building notes? Well, the story can do the work for you. )