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The cover for Abbott's Flatland No matter how trashy H. P. Lovecraft was as a person, his impact on the horror genre can't be understated. He created the concept of "cosmic horror," which Wikipedia helpfully describes as "emphasizing the horror of the unknown and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock." The core... Continue Reading →
A common trope in both fantasy and science fiction is the autocrat with unlimited power. It should be obvious that in real life, no one wields that kind of authority. One source of inspiration for these despots is the legacy of European monarchs. The proper term for the philosophy that kings and queens should have... Continue Reading →
Spoilers for Encanto incoming! Encanto was fantastic. If you haven't seen it, the basic plot is that there is a family with magical powers called Gifts that watch over a village. The magic behind their gifts and their sentient house starts to fade, and it's up to the protagonist Mirabel (the only non-Gifted member of... Continue Reading →
This week, I'd like to take a brief look at something different. I recently read through the amazing webcomic, Stand Still, Stay Silent (here's page one), set in a unique post-apocalyptic Scandinavian setting. There are a billion good things about SSSS---fascinating usage of Nordic folklore, detailed worldbuilding, delightful character interactions, and an engaging storyline among... Continue Reading →
Happy New Year, worldbuilders! Not all stories have to have detailed and lifelike worldbuilding. It's fine for something to be simple or unrealistic; these things don't have to detract from the story. Sometimes, though, you're expecting something to be shallow-but-enjoyable and find it to be surprisingly deep. That happened to me when I played Ni... Continue Reading →
Merry Christmas, worldbuilders! A few people have asked for info on the early modern period. While the premodern era has many lessons worldbuilders can draw from, the rest of history definitely has its share of inspiration. This is the introduction to a series collecting what I consider to be some of the more interesting features.... Continue Reading →
I was recently rewatching David Attenborough's Planet Earth (which I highly recommend), and there's a part where a waterfall is so high up that the water falls unbroken for so long that it blows away in a fine mist. This got me thinking that this would likely be a spiritual or sacred place for nearby... Continue Reading →
This is a list of tv series set throughout history, starting with the most recent first. You can use it to get a feeling for and as inspiration on settings in those periods, or if your like me and love a good historical series, just have a look and see which appeal to you and... Continue Reading →
Intro Often it can useful to visiualise your characters and your world. Representing these with 3rd party art can be very inspiring and a great way to do so without spending ages writing descriptions and so you can spend more time developing your world. I've interspersed this post with art from my Pinterest boards so... Continue Reading →
The Importance of Inspiration Feeling inspired is very important to worldbuilding and art creation in general. It helps you come up with ideas, concepts, characters and narratives. It can also give you the drive to keep creating. Without it you might find yourself at the bottom of the "creative well" where you want to create,... Continue Reading →
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