Myth Weaving

I am not going into the intricacy of making a hard magic system, instead we are going to talk about why you might want to make one and why I think you shouldn't.

Illuminism is the type of magic covered in Mysticism and Occultism. It is a style of magic system rarely built.

Soft Magic Systems are often used as an excuse for poor world building, but they are harder to write than you might think.

On today's episode, we discuss fabulism, visionary/mystic fantasy, low fantasy, and high fantasy.

Before we get to the hard stuff, we need to cover the basics. Why magic? What are they called? What is the scale? What is the depth?

Let's start out discussion about Magic Systems in World Building by talking about some of the pitfalls to avoid and early steps on the path.

Why do you want magic in your story?

Racism in Magic Systems.

Sexism in Magic Systems.

Colonialism in Magic Systems.

Beware the pitfalls.

I can't believe I am talking about this, but Milwordy has driven some people mad ahead of time.

Let's talk about the Jungian archetypes, the Ego, Shadow, Threshold Guardian, Trickster, and Anima/Animum/Animus

The little things that get missed.

Let's start our World Building 201 with a deep dive into Religions, how to create them and how to use them.

Things are changing, or at least they feel like they are. This is an interesting time to do world building a contemporary dark fantasy world set on Earth.

What I decided to do

I decided to set the story in the ’90s because of my own nostalgia for the goth subculture of my youth. Also I didn’t want to have to deal with the state of the world as it is now. I don’t know how to process live in the United States right now enough to write a story about it, but that doesn’t mean that current events aren’t changing the ideas going into my story world.

The Outrage is not mine to appropriate

Our job is not to appropriate the anger and outrage of people of color and victims of systemic racism, segregation, or of any population we do not belong to that suffered genocide. We need to adopt a tone of confession and anti-racism. We also need to be careful not to proclaim that our stores offer an absolute or ideal solution to these problems.

How do we write honestly from the POV of our characters without appropriation?

I can’t write a utopia because that wouldn’t serve the story, but I can’t pretend that I have the answer to these problems.  What ever am I going to do?

The real question is: how do I develop a “realistic” fantasy setting without either proclaiming that I have found a “perfect” solution or appearing to write anything into the setting that would justify the bias of the characters within the setting?

The answer I came up with is to focus on making sure I am not including racist tropes in my world building that would undercut the stories and the world itself. I know I will not be perfect about this, but it is something we all need to keep a close eye on.

Several good example of what I am talking about come from my beloved Harry Potter books. I am not talking about the author’s current transphobia, but the flawed analogy used in the series.

Seek perfection Knowing you will never find it.

I know I will make mistakes, we all will, but we cannot allow our fear of failure to keep us from working. I understand that there is a big difference between author intent and reader impact, so I am going to do everything in my power to do no harm with my work. Should I mess up, then I need to apologize and fix it in good faith.

I don’t have all the answers

I wish more writers would repeat that over and over to themselves. Our work is about seeking meaning in this world and finding an escape from it. Our job is not to solve the world’s problem but to search, try, and sometimes harrow the souls of our characters and give our readers a worthwhile experience.

All writing is empathy. Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know everything. The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep a close eye on our intentions and the effect we might have on others.

Fear serves no purpose other than to keep us quiet. Do your best to tell stories worth tell, ever seeking to do no harm with your tales. That is all that can be asked from any of us.

If you are working on your world building or wondering why your work feels unoriginal, then the problem isn’t really with your story, it is with your world building or lack thereof.

Let's get world building.

Don't let your world fall down the rabbit hole.

Let's build a mystery.

How do Tim Hickson's 6 lenses broaden the action code. The Queen of Seven Ravens on World Anvil.

It is time to dig into the World Building and see how the Five Codes of Roland Barthes can help us tell the story we want to tell.

Now its time to figure out what the book will be about.

This is the last major step in the process before we dive into the nitty gritty.

Now, let's work out the positive side of the world.

Remember Archetypes are not Stereotypes.

Let's continue our World Building 101 seminar.

We are continuing our World Building 101 seminar.

Continuing our World Building seminar. Tim Hickson's 8 Steps to Constructing a Fictional World History

Let's start our seminar on World Building with the Fascination, Subject, and Quintessential, the three things we need need to start with to find the heart of our new world.

Organization is half the battle. If you want to support the work that I do,

Once you figure out the heart of the story, then you have the tools you need to write as many stories in that world as you want.

Is it really perfectionism that keeps us from hitting publish or is it something else?

Let's talk about world building with Wonderdraft and World Anvil. I set up a world for Ash Dancer, Dragons of Night, and the scifi project.