tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post8566558591543205051..comments2024-02-12T17:59:33.534-06:00Comments on RAZORED ZEN: The World Building ImpulseCharles Gramlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02052592247572253641noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-49703897023886059052007-09-15T22:09:00.000-05:002007-09-15T22:09:00.000-05:00What a great post! I am an admitted lurker over he...What a great post! I am an admitted lurker over here. I see you all the time at other blogs and I think you have the coolest blog title! This question is very intriguing! I love history. I love the research involved in writing history. It is through the research that I am able to develope my characters and my stories. For someone like me, I think it would be impossible to create a whole new world from scratch. Where would my research come from? Where would I even start? I think it is just very different mindsets that are creative but work in differing ways. Cool post!Ello - Ellen Ohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18311917335471167591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-10356399814993536192007-09-15T14:50:00.000-05:002007-09-15T14:50:00.000-05:00When I examine my stories in the context of this p...When I examine my stories in the context of this particular question, I find that my characters are dealing with very basic emotion and conflict. And sometimes they do that in the known world, sometimes in an imaginary one.<BR/><BR/>Now I should ask myself what the world environment is adding or detracting from the basic emotions and conflicts.Travis Codyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06192526507760146748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-87233968034054392892007-09-14T23:06:00.000-05:002007-09-14T23:06:00.000-05:00This is really a great question. I was mulling it ...This is really a great question. I was mulling it over and trying to figure out why I seem to only be interested in realistic, primarily contemporary stories -- specifically, really character driven internal stories. I'm fascinated by the universal qualities that make us human and exploring them from different perspectives. I'm also very sympathetic to human weakness and flaws -- hmmm, I'm sure a good therapist would probably have an opinion about that ;)Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00665632105920753931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-59780745497361190902007-09-14T22:03:00.000-05:002007-09-14T22:03:00.000-05:00I got the rural thing going to, and I prefer wholl...I got the rural thing going to, and I prefer wholly imaginary worlds to the real one. I think it has to do with the possibilities that exist in imaginary places. I step outside my house and I see rolling hills clad in hardwoods, narrow blacktop roads, ancient clapboard houses consumed with kudzu . . . but no dragons. No goblins live in the caves under the bluff. Our bridges are troll-less. I think that's the big difference, for me at least.<BR/><BR/>And to really muddy it up -- I write ancient historicals with accurate history AND Conan-esque swordsmen. It's like I don't know where to go: history camp or fantasy camp ;)Scott Odenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917296669418463518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-61257631902583368722007-09-14T17:38:00.000-05:002007-09-14T17:38:00.000-05:00I write in whatever setting the story seems to nee...I write in whatever setting the story seems to need. The one I just sold is SF set in a multiverse of slightly-different Earths (not bad for 3300 words, huh?) but I have others which are grounded firmly in the real world, some urban fantasy, some classical fantasy.<BR/><BR/>I like historicals but I was a history major at uni and I'm obsessive enough about it that I'd likely spend years researching a historical novel, even if it were set in one of my long-time areas of interest. I've been fighting the urge. [cough]<BR/><BR/>Real-world history's a great source to mine for fantasy, though, and worth studying just for that, as is anthropology. It's a lot easier to come up with a really alien society (whether in SF or fantasy) if you're aware of some of the hugely wide variety which exists or has existed right here on Earth. One runs across SF writers whose aliens all sound like they're from Iowa; one feels a strong urge to bean them with histories and ethnographies (hardcover!) until a few brain cells are jarred loose. [wry smile]<BR/><BR/>AngieAngiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920578701763415331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-66540125081726806292007-09-14T17:23:00.000-05:002007-09-14T17:23:00.000-05:00History fascinated me as a child, so I suppose it'...History fascinated me as a child, so I suppose it's natural that the stories I told myself had historical settings. I don't remember reading fantasy. Perhaps if I had, my imagination would have sparked in that direction, too.cs harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13708705800818667923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-72902216635092461342007-09-14T15:16:00.000-05:002007-09-14T15:16:00.000-05:00That's a good question. I know I grew up with some...That's a good question. I know I grew up with some degree of isolation in rural areas, which made demands on my imagination, and I had some genetic influences as well.<BR/><BR/>My father was given to tall tales too and I guess I inherited some of that.Sidneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16284680909152676159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-85808373290595280482007-09-14T13:04:00.000-05:002007-09-14T13:04:00.000-05:00Travis, thanks for dropping in.Bernita, I don't th...Travis, thanks for dropping in.<BR/><BR/>Bernita, I don't think it's "More" creative but differently creative. You have a point with the inductive/deductive comment. Maybe I like to start at the top and work my way down toward the real while some others start at the real and work themselves toward the unreal.Charles Gramlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052592247572253641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-87704146723360458462007-09-14T11:30:00.000-05:002007-09-14T11:30:00.000-05:00I like to find the myth in the mundane and the aug...I like to find the myth in the mundane and the auguries in ordinary things - which puts me, I think, partly in the real world camp.<BR/>It may be your basic brain is inductive/deductive wired opposite to theirs, Charles, and so you approach the "what if" from the other direction.<BR/>Or maybe, you just have a more creative imagination.Bernitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05264585685253812090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28221839.post-50932576200027745662007-09-14T10:00:00.000-05:002007-09-14T10:00:00.000-05:00I too fall in the real world class of writers. I h...I too fall in the real world class of writers. I have trouble stepping out of the known in my storytelling. <BR/><BR/>I can't really say why since I do read a bit of fantasy and enjoy losing myself in an imaginary world.<BR/><BR/>But I can really screw up my characters lives in varied and interesting ways.Travis Erwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09420879160702098979noreply@blogger.com