Introductory posts and overviews.
Spoilers for BioShock (computer game franchise, including BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite, henceforth BS, BS2 and BSI respectively). But purer and higher and deeper shall bethat wonder, that Rapture, in cloud and in sea.(Promotional material from Nintendo) The core concept of the Bioshock franchise is that some ideas are bad, a sentiment perhaps at odds…
English is very, very weird, and it shows no signs of stopping. As a global language, the combined pressure of millions of speakers has conspired, over centuries, to push it in multiple different directions, far from its Germanic roots, and leaving it as a fascinating linguistic hybrid. Thus, it is a shame that the forms…
Invertebrates generally, and insect-like creatures specifically, do not feature in global mythology to the same extent as their vertebrate and humanoid cousins. Likewise, although vertebrates have inspired various fantastic peoples (generally in the form of shapeshifting monsters such as the Japanese kitsune or European werewolf), invertebrate equivalents are rare in the extreme, and most with…
Long before the term was being used to describe ethically deficient netizens, the trolls were vaguely defined mythological creatures of Scandinavian folklore. Nowadays, trolls of all kinds are rife in fantasy, taking up space on the page, being pointlessly mean, and generally bringing down the rarefied tone which Rothfuss and Martin have spent so long…
Last time, we looked at elves, because before then we had looked at dwarves. The eternal hate-triangle must therefore be completed, and so we shall have a look at the third party in this unceasing conflict: orcs, who are officially no longer always chaotic evil. Except, are they really? Were they ever? What even is…
Last time we had a look at the tropes associated with dwarves in fantasy writing. We could not, therefore, go any further without looking at their counterparts and occasional rivals, elves. Tree Huggers Although the depiction of dwarves in modern media has been greatly influenced by Tolkien, he practically re-invented elves. Before Tolkien, the elf…
The tropes associated with fantasy races/cultures are, it must needs be remarked, somewhat tired. Despite the occasional kick up the backside that they receive, the general trend in fantasy seems to be repackaging of the same old ideas, rather than the creation of new ideas. Some of this repackaging is good, and some of it…
Between blogging, my various jobs, and the general grind of the season, I am afraid that I have no world-building thoughts to share this week. Rather than scrape together something underwhelming, though, I thought I might try something a little different and recommend a few sources which show a variety of forms of world-building which…
Spoilers for Horizon: Zero Dawn (game). I had been planning this week to begin a diary detailing my experience of The Longing, but so far, not much has happened to my little cave-gnome, so instead I am going to cover a game which came out a little while ago but which, mostly because I do…
An erratic guide to consistent writing. Akimbo Strictly speaking, this means with hands on one's hips, which paints a curious picture of the phrase legs akimbo, casual understanding of which would be flung out from the body. Because the two competing definitions are so at odds with one another (one a specific stance: the other…
Writing Worlds 