How Is Your World Like?

[Gurkhal]

To be honest I haven't watch the TV series. When I wrote "Game of Thrones" I made a reference to "A Song of Ice and Fire", which is the book series. Just to be clear and I realize I probably expressed myself badly.

Anyway. while I agree that Asoiaf/GoT vers a bit too much into the darkness I enjoyed the books a great deal and found the characters while not very likeable in all cases they were very relatable in even more cases.

So I think this is one of the strengths of the books series at least. You can easily relate to the characters in their thougths, desires and motivations even if they don't hold a morale standing that inspires you.

 

[spidercrabb4]

I just have the one world. It was originally supposed to be a more typical beautiful fantasy setting, full of wonder and found-family-type quests, but it seems to have developed a mind of its own.

Most of its problems and plots now seem to revolve around glitches or loopholes in my own rigid magic system. Also, everyone drinks, fights, and betrays each other all the time.

 

[LittleOwlbear]

My world is a DnD steampunk world that blends magic and technology.

It's also full of high fantasy shenanigans like a small city inside a giant lighthouse, a small city on the back of a flying snake, floating islands, an eternal sandstorm, portals into other dimensions, a huge area of a rain forest that will neither let people in or out, etc...
And of course, the two forces of natures in the form of giant dragons that awake every millennium and bring destruction. Most of the world is interested in sealing them away, including using new knowledge about magic and technology.

There are of course dark elements in the world, quite a lot of them, but it's nowhere near a grimdark fantasy.
My world is also not war-ridden. There are only small, regional conflicts, but no world wars or whole countries going to war with others.

To me, it's important that characters and their relationships feel real (not in a grimdark, everything bleak way "real", in a more positive way). Everything else, I want to feel like high fantasy.
My friend said to me, my characters and relationships feel like they are coming out of a josei manga, no matter the high fantasy shenanigans going on. xD
I take that as a huge compliment.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I do have a tree frog people but they haven't been met by readers yet. I really need to track down the illustration I had an artist make of them, LOL. The world is full of intelligent species, but the plots revolve around humans so far. In part, this is because I don;t think its possible to write accurately from a nonhuman POV. Any species I have that is not close enough to human, I don't use as a POV.

 

[Prince of Spires]

The world is full of intelligent species

That's certainly different from our own. At times I'm not sure we have any...

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Hey now, quit disrespecting the dolphins.

That's certainly different from our own. At times I'm not sure we have any...

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I think there is a correlation that could be summarized by this statement: The more intelligent the species, the greater its capacity to do stupid shit.

That's certainly different from our own. At times I'm not sure we have any...

 

[pmmg]

this is because I don;t think its possible to write accurately from a nonhuman POV. Any species I have that is not close enough to human, I don't use as a POV.

I wrestle with this in the next series I have in my head to do. I wan't the antagonist to be of an alien mind, but I am not sure how it should be, and how to do the alien part justice. Since its not the current one, I just keep kicking it down the road. But...I am not sure a human can write what I would like to show.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I am not sure a human can write what I would like to show.

You're a dragon, you'll be fine.

a close limited third or first person POV is hard to pull off for non-humans. At least when you want them to actually be different from humans and not just have dwarves be short humans, and hobbit be short hungry and lazy humans. Omniscient might work better in such a case.