{"id":5645,"date":"2015-01-20T07:22:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T13:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=5645"},"modified":"2015-01-20T07:22:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T13:22:11","slug":"some-thoughts-about-worldbuilding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2015\/01\/20\/some-thoughts-about-worldbuilding\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts About Worldbuilding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Globe\"<\/a>Worldbuilding.<\/p>\n

For some writers, it’s everything. Before characters, plot, or anything else, it’s all about creating a big world…even going to great lengths to spend time making up things that are never even seen in the story, for “greater understanding and authenticity…”<\/p>\n

I may be an exception in my views, but those who go to such lengths usually seem like writers who aren’t really comfortable writing. Not in all cases, but in so many cases, there’s a world that is interesting only to the writer, but not much for those reading the stories.<\/p>\n

Actually, I know I’m not an exception — I recently read an interview with Michael Moorcock in which he talks about not liking worldbuilding, either.<\/p>\n

Moorcock on Worldbuilding<\/strong><\/h2>\n

John Picacio<\/a> is a cool artist, and he recently interviewed Michael Moorcock for Locus<\/em><\/a>. In the interview, when asked about worldbuilding, Moorcock begins with this:<\/p>\n

<\/b>I think the notion of worldbuilding is a failure of literary sophistication.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then this:<\/p>\n

\u00a0I only invent what\u2019s necessary to explain the mood of a character. I haven\u2019t thought about an imaginary world\u2019s social security system; I don\u2019t know the gross national product of Melnibon\u00e9.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And finally, this:<\/p>\n

The world unfolds in front of the character as the story develops. If the story doesn\u2019t need it, it\u2019s not there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That last line: “If the story doesn’t need it, it’s not there.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes it takes other people to put into words how you feel about things…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worldbuilding. For some writers, it’s everything. Before characters, plot, or anything else, it’s all about creating a big world…even going to great lengths to spend time making up things that are never even seen in the story, for “greater understanding and authenticity…” I may be an exception in my views, but those who go to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[62,59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5645"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5645"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5654,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5645\/revisions\/5654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}