Post Modern World Building

[Will Cosmos]

I'm not even sure that's the right term but it's definitely in the ball park of what I'm going for.

I've got a project with an established cosmology that has deities which possess an awareness of the fact that they are within a story. They don't question whether or not they should be as their only motivation is to continue existing through whatever various means that they are defined. There's a god of death, life, magic, etc/ Each of them is interconnected with the other and permeate various levels of existence with different degrees of control and free will. The plot takes one of them and asks whether or not they should continue to contribute to the story or even tell the story in the first place. Much of the details under that premise aren't wholly original but I plan on using that conflict to explore what makes popular aspects of storytelling so integral and vital to the human experience.

If y'all are interested in the details let me know, but that's what I'm working with.

 

[Devor]

So a bit like Order of the Stick, but heavier on theme?

 

[WooHooMan]

What you're describing is more meta than post-modern.
Post-modern is the idea that there is no underlying narrative to reality. It also tends to reject the idea of an objective "meaning" to anything.
It sounds like your story is more of a rebuttal of post-modern fiction.

 

[Will Cosmos]

What you're describing is more meta than post-modern.
Post-modern is the idea that there is no underlying narrative to reality. It also tends to reject the idea of an objective "meaning" to anything.
It sounds like your story is more of a rebuttal of post-modern fiction.

Meta-fiction is a heavy influence on the whole project but it borrows some significant aspects of post-modernism as a counter balance, if that makes any sense. Challenging the definition of reality and whether or not there is an underlying pattern is an integral part of it. At times it will be a rebuttal of post-modern fiction while at other points it will validate ideas of other prominent aspects of fiction, mythology, and storytelling in general that have been accentuated through a post-modern lens.

I don't think I'm entirely qualified to have a detailed discussion on the distinctions between post-modernism and meta-fiction. But as I've been working on the project I've been told that I rely on a strange combination of both. I need some help ironing out some inconsistencies and contradictions present in the narrative, as well as some other aspects. So I would appreciate any and all references to stories (across any medium) that attempts to push the boundaries of either or both.

Please note that I don't consider myself a writer and I'm not all that educated in literature of any kind. I am at most a visual story teller that is way in over his head trying to squeeze this idea out of my brain.

 

[Will Cosmos]

So a bit like Order of the Stick, but heavier on theme?

Yeah something along that line. But definitely a little more dense. There's a couple levels of narrative with varying degrees of self awareness and a character that likes to hop between them.

I might actually be insane trying to iron this whole thing out.

 

[Will Cosmos]

This thread might more appropriate for writing discussions instead of world building. But then again the cosmology is built on what was mentioned earlier. The deities don't correspond with the tangible aspects of things such a life or creation but more of the abstract definitions of them. The world build below them is a lot more tangible and thus proof of their existence. And their conflict then permeates all the levels in between. Now do that for all 12 of them and you've got a mess of documents trying pinpoint some sort of unified logic stringing them all together. The actual plot sits on top (or underneath depending on your perspective) of all of that.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

One important thing to remember is that in mythology, gods are gods of more than one thing, and therefore are not one-dimensional in personality, either.

I like your idea; I find meta fiction fun.