Worldbuilding: The Back of the Book

Okay, who else likes a good glossary with their fiction? Or even better, that and a bibliography?

Twenty-XXth Century Problems

The problem with the computerization of knowledge is that your access to it is only as good as your search engine. And search engines are notoriously difficult to program, meaning they’re often of doubtful quality. The wrong words, wrong word order, or wrong abbreviation can throw your results wildly off – if, in fact, if brings up any results at all.

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A Few Plotbunny Bits

Hectic day, so have a few random bits from toothy isekai plot-monsters.

Worldbuilding: Help Vaunted

Vampires, disease, chi, breath, and blood; it’s all connected. Western vampires drain the life from people with their blood, while eastern jiangshi steal qi from their victims’ breath. (So if you hold your breath, they can’t find you. As was well-illustrated in sometimes wacky detail in the 1985 Hong Kong jiangshi film, Mr. Vampire.)

Some Cool Old Shows

Okay, might be very frantic and busy today, so setting up some entertainment in advance. Here’s some neat shows I’ve found dating back to the 70s and 80s; great for trying to get back to storytelling basics Hollywood’s forgotten!

Sanbiki ga Kiru! (j-drama) (1987)

Worldbuilding: What Everybody Knows That Isn’t So

Sometimes everyone in a setting “knows” something that turns out to be flat-out wrong. The world is flat, disease is caused only by evil spirits, sacrificing hearts on an obsidian altar keeps the sun in the sky. And sometimes… everyone knows what’s actually true, but upholds a polite fiction in public so no one has to officially notice and do something about it. No one really wants to do all the paperwork to haul in someone going three miles over the speed limit on the highway, and

Worldbuilding: Some Research Thoughts

The stories that come out well (or anyway get written to the end) are those where I have at least one, preferably two striking scenes that the plotbunnies keep coming back to. I currently have two for the 1618 isekai, that seem like they ought to be spaced at least a story apart. One’s more of a “quiet recovery/ oh bleep I’m in another world” scene.

Brief Note: Busyness

Long hours at work. Hopefully it’ll make up bills for the time I was out sick, but it’s very inconvenient for writing.

Worldbuilding: About Those Mermaids

Okay, I now need to research maritime trade in Northeast Asia and beyond in the Little Ice Age period, because our heroes are going to have a lot to do with the water. Yes, land adventures are a go, but they’re also going to have to deal with mermaids, water monsters, and inevitable sea trips to go rescue people. (Not what I expected from the original idea, but… yeah.)

Worldbuilding: Points of Divergence

All right, Russia. For the sake of a good alternate history, your Empire is going down.

Er. Let me explain.