TWCL

[vulpeslibertas]

One of my favorite parts of comics are alternate worlds. In the interest of discussion, what has everyone done to build their world?

In my own experience, I've done a lot of research into myths and legends that apply to my comic. I've invested in a lot of backstory that won't necessarily come out in the comic (History, character relationships, etc). but this stuff still works it's way into the writing and plot and gives it a better framework to stand in.

I also think depiction of ordinary life within a fantastic world is a great tool. Even in apocalyptic zombie apocalypses, people have to eat, sleep, pick up the dry cleaning, etc. This kind of stuff adds realism and helps make the world richer.
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[Gual-kun]

Researching is very good when creating new worlds, specially when you want some world based in some not so well known myths and so. I personally, tend to be too meticulous with the details of the worlds I create

[Kail]

Generally, I don't put much research into real-world myths. If I was doing something like a period piece about Hercules, sure, but then there are so many experts who would kick my ass back to Wikipedia that I'd be very hesitant to even start it. But otherwise, I generally take the attitude that myths are generally not entirely coherent and more like hearsay and anecdotal evidence than historical fact, so it doesn't bother me to play fast and loose with them.

Mostly when I'm setting up a world I'm more concerned with things like how the technology works and how the society works. That doesn't require much research, just sitting around thinking through some problems. Generally, I'm starting from a particular point (I have some rough character designs done, there are certain plot points which require a specific type of world, a vague kind of atmosphere I'm trying to establish, that kind of thing) so I'm usually backfilling to try to come up with a world that would end up with the result I want. So it's all about designing machines that will do stuff I want, or institutions which will operate the way I want. I don't know how useful it is to the reader (I tend to end up with a mountain of material that never gets mentioned or referenced) but it's at least helpful for me when I'm writing the thing that the world makes sense to me.

[ttallan]

I have a reasonably built-up universe, but there's no way I could fill all of it, nor do I ever intend to. In fact, it's nice to leave holes, sometimes gaping ones, that I can later fill with details which will be appropriate to the story as the need arises. That way I don't write myself into a corner.

I don't really spend a lot of time on worldbuilding as a specific exercise. As Kali says, mostly it's just a matter of thinking about it and slowly working things out. But because story webcomics take so looooong to tell (or maybe that's just mine!), that's really not a problem. I get lots of ideas from reading books (though I don't read them specifically for research purposes), and when I hit on something that I think may fit well in my world-- or, more importantly, will benefit the story-- I add it to my notes. I spend a little time (or a long time) writing it down and working it in.

Though I did read an interesting book which touched on worldbuilding through maps, and how they relate to epic fantasy stories. For reasons that we can probably blame on Tolkien, a high proportion of epic fantasy books seem to include maps. Anyone here a Maphead?
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[Metruis]

ttallan wrote:

Though I did read an interesting book which touched on worldbuilding through maps, and how they relate to epic fantasy stories. For reasons that we can probably blame on Tolkien, a high proportion of epic fantasy books seem to include maps. Anyone here a Maphead?

You mean cartographer.

I am a little. I assembled this tutorial and mondo resource pack on how to make a decent looking map on the computer at one point. Doesn't actually cover cartography at all, just a decent looking fantasy map. http://calthyechild.deviantart.com/#/d49xu2j

I am totally only in this for the worldbuilding. The sheer amount of worldbuilding involved in my work is not seen because I don't believe in the Tolkien effect. The fact is, it's just there. That's why I know what the religions are, how they work, why they work. That's why I know who the important people are, and who they've been for hundreds of years. That's why I know what the land is like, what the different provinces output for export to sustain their population levels.

Sure, I ended up just writing a story about someone who was asleep in this world and had a weird dream.

But I know the anthropology, I know the hows and whys of the magic. If I do further work I believe I will extrapolate further on this. I've come to the realization that I'm very passionate about fake anthropology and my only use of this is writing!

The original post makes a note on people who have to eat and sleep, etc. I agree with this to some extent but I think that ought to be in a character building post. Character realism is great (this is why I love Terry Pratchett's novels), as long as it doesn't detract from the action. You have to know when and where to stop to pick up the drycleaning, and when you're being chased by zombies isn't it.
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[ttallan]

Haha-- "Maphead" is a reference to this book, a surprisingly entertaining read.

Thanks for the tutorial link. One thing I read about in the above book was some of the weird ways fantasy map artists come up with to draw realistic land masses, because it can be really hard to make it come out right. Apparently one guy based a map upon a mildew stain on his wall!
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[vulpeslibertas]

I protest that disparaging reference to "the original post".

Anyhow, you're definitely right. Nobody should be picking up the dry cleaning when there are zombies running amok. They should be picking up shotguns, definitely.

My point was that you can use characters to do some of your world building: culture, society, etc. Worlds tend to look a little shallow if everybody is a level 47 Arch-Master Robo-Mage (Unless you're going for comedic effect). Even super heros need a day job of some kind. They have every day needs. They go to the park for picknics, they hate potato salad, they have overdue library books. You're right that that all is mostly character building. However, it can also be used simultaneously to build the world.

Maybe your world doesn't have potato salad because of the Potato Aliens of Omicron Whereveren 7. Or they use shells for money. Or they use steam-powered cannons to send letters in the mail. You can show off a lot of how your world works by how the characters (especially the side characters*) interact with it.

Let's say you've got a steam punk world and you want to show that steam technology is really ubiquitous. A great way to do that is to use an ordinary every day task and show how steam technology solves that. "Oh, its getting dark, let me turn the valves on my steam-powered lightbulbs." On the other hand, you can also show the extraordinary parts of the world by how people deal with them in ordinary ways - "Oh, great, here comes another dragon. Better call the pest removers and get in the storm cellar."

*I think side characters are better for this kind of thing. If it's the main character then people will assume that's one of the main character's "special powers". There's a big difference between your main character having a private time machine and everybody having their own private time machines.
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[Casual Notice]

I have three things to say:

1) There is no "k" in picnics.

2) Mythology isn't made up, it developed over decades or centuries, and is as much a chronicle of who a people believes themselves to be and strives for as it is a bunch of stories describing why the sky is blue.

3) Each individual writer must determine for themselves how much research and worldbuilding is necessary. Their readers will determine if they were right.

4) Fantasy cartography is hilariously fun and has distracted more than its share of would-be DMs and writers from their purposes.

5) I clearly have no understanding of the definition of the word "three".
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What I lack in sincerity, I make up for in sarcasm.
S*P*Q*R

[vulpeslibertas]

1. Oops, I thought I'd removed thakt.

3. & 4. If the purpose of your comic is for your enjoyment (which it should be), then there's no particular reason why fake cartography can't dominate your comic. Or replace it, if that's your thing.

But that's an important point. This thread is running under the assumption that world building is an important part of your comic, which it doesn't have to be.

That's my opinion, therefore it is fact.
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[katastrophe]

Uh, well. I have this World page....

The thing is it tends to give people the idea that I am a meticulous planner and have worked out every detail of my world ahead of time, which is not true. I do plan quite a bit; the broad outlines of the world were in my head before I wrote anything at all. Other stuff has evolved with the characters as I've started thinking about what makes them who they are. And other stuff just, well, popped up. (Like the recent bit on holidays. I have no idea where that came from.)

As for research, I've read -- oh, probably a dozen books, I guess, mostly anthropology stuff on how urban poverty works, with a few sideways journeys into law stuff, government corruption stuff, racial identity stuff, war stuff, etc. Plus the dictionary of French slang. I keep meaning to post a list; it seems like the sort of thing my crazy/wonderful readership would like.

One final point:

Quote:

This thread is running under the assumption that world building is an important part of your comic, which it doesn't have to be.

I actually disagree with this. We don't all have to do the same amount of worldbuilding -- especially if you're not doing a science fiction or fantasy comic -- but every story should have an iceberg. Nine-tenths of the stuff I know about my comic will never appear in the comic itself. It isn't relevant. But it is important that I know it, hold it in the back of my head, let it shape the way the words come out. I need to know the way the world works outside the tiny little window I'm cutting in it: otherwise, it's just a fancy but flimsy stage set, liable to rock or fall if some pesky reader pokes it with a finger.

You don't have to call it worldbuilding. You don't have to put the same things in it that I do. But all stories need an iceberg.
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[rocketpig]

Agreed. If you know what came before and why, it makes it easier to see the path forward. I did a lot of pre-writing before I started Variables and while a significant portion of it has changed, it has made my choices re: characters, situations, and general plot devices much easier to put to paper in a consistent manner. And my comic, while kind of superheroey and later more sci-fi, still takes place on a modern Earth not unlike our own.

Even a soap opera needs significant world building to work over the long haul.
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[Clint Wolf]

I've been a bit giddy in the past couple of weeks because in honor of our 100th comic I was finally able (with the help of the artist, of course) to give public display of the fictionalized, future version of San Antonio, TX that had been rattling in my brain for months, ever since I imagined its freeway loops resembling the rings of a medieval castle or city.

I also do have a general setting page which is there mainly for people impatient with the slow drip feed regarding the larger world in between a bunch of ranch hands arguing with each other. Even that's mostly broad strokes, with details emerging as we get there or they become important to the story.

Two years ago I attended a Comic-Con panel honoring Kurt Busiek and got to ask him about how detailed Astro City (from his acclaimed comic series of the same name) was in his head and notes, and was comforted by his answer. There is a strong central idea, there are strokes of themes and histories and characters, there is a sense that "this district is here, that one is there" -- but the exploration of the details occur mostly as a matter of story-based necessities. To this day it remains a work in progress, but despite that still presents a living, breathing environment for the tales being told.
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[smbhax.com]

Hm yeah for me it's kind of like that, I've got the central part, everything else we can just explore as we go.
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[vulpeslibertas]

katastrophe wrote:

Quote: This thread is running under the assumption that world building is an important part of your comic, which it doesn't have to be. I actually disagree with this. We don't all have to do the same amount of worldbuilding -- especially if you're not doing a science fiction or fantasy comic -- but every story should have an iceberg.

Maybe. We're not all epic story-based comics.
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[ttallan]

I dunno, but mine feels pretty epic.

My challenge is it's not just one world I'm building, but a whole galaxy full. Over the course of this story the characters will be visiting five planets, one of them Earth, each with its own possibilities and problems. I've spent lots of time thinking about each one's geography and government and customs and so on, but if I felt I had to have a complete view of each of these worlds before I could continue I'd never get any comic done at all. So while I don't have whole histories and maps of each place, I have (I hope) enough of a skeleton structure to go on.

When I was younger I used to love the world building stuff, and spent a lot more time on it. Now... I just want to get on with it and make a damn comic. However, it does seem like the more of the comic I complete, the more of the world(s) get filled in, even extending to the parts of it that don't physically appear in the artwork. The process of creating each new page is also, satisfyingly, worldbuilding.

But I'm not the only one here writing in a mutli-planet universe. How do the rest of you sci-fi webcomickers handle it?
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