#made some cool worldbuilding

[embarressment-erradicated]

oh my fucking god I hate chat gpt sludge appearing on ao3 SO SO FUCKING MUCH, just shut up, don't post this, if you want to explore an idea write it. don't outsource your creativity to the lowest common denominator murder bot,

"oh I just had an rp with character.ai and it was fun so I decided to post it" stop, stop right there, rping with chat bots is akin to rping with a wall. go and find people to roleplay with, they are fucking everywhere, and many people are down to atleast try it out with you "but what if I'm awake and no one else is" write something. and wait. you can do that you know, you don't have to use an ai service which drags you further from reality, and most importantly other godsdamned people

and if you feel which you aren't that creative? your lying to yourself, I swear, and even if that is true, you know what is a great way to be more creative? actually think about shit. write whatever comes to mind, take inspiration from other people, rework it to your liking, and importantly when you do that, say it don't lie and say it was entirely your idea, link to that person.

tracing isn't bad because it's stealing, tracing isn't bad because it's lazy. it's a good tool, whether in pen or or paint, however, it becomes bad when you brush the fact you took inspiration from other people off, like it's nothing, however, when you let people know what you took from, and link to it, or atleast tell people where to find it if that isn't an option for one reason or another.

but ai is lazy, it's stealing from everyone, and it's sources are jumbled up and can't be traced, it's like going on pintrest, finding a random meme, and claiming it as your own, just cause.

not only that, it's built to disenfranchise artists whether or not built specifically to do so, it's doing as such.

memes are actually a great example of a pre ai version of jumbling up sources, where is that favorite meme you like from, who made it, do they even know it's popular, did someone take it? can you know for certain, is this an edit, or the og, is know your meme reliable for this? why is this person claiming to tell you about this meme, and yet says they don't know who made it?

some people wish to remain anonymous, yes, however alot of people who made those meme templates (often small artists who can't catch a fucking break from getting their stuff stolen) would probably like it if people knew that, yes they made the funny image, or scene, or drawing or whatever. but you know what happens?

someone crops out the watermark. simply because they don't want to appear related to the person who made the thing they took from or some reason or another.

and then? a meme "curator" channel takes it and reads it in tts, or it ends up one reddit, and someone reads it in that sexy voice which doesn't even link to the posts shown, and barely shows who made the post.

memes are fun, memes are important, memes are a resource for enjoyment, messages, and ideas. but the second you make one you'll never hear about what happened to it 90% of the time, and someone else, who posts exclusively other people's stuff, is getting attention from just reposts.

and don't even get me started on ai memes, the fuck is that shit? gone are the days when people actually worked hard to make a funny parody poster? and we just accept that. NO, screw that, learn photo editing, go past the hurdle of gimp and other tools as such. have fun, fuck around and find out, make those dumb ideas, but do it with your own style and blood. if you use ai in anyway other than just screwing around with free stuff for 15 minutes and leaving (we've all done that, it's mildly humorous until you realize it's just bland) you are limiting yourself, your ideas, and your effect on the world, no one is going to care about you or your 'work' ever, simply because they can find the same exact thing elsewhere.

post scrip: [15 MT unfathoma bucks]

no economic value, redeemable in your dreams

post script:

I went on for to long, actually no I didn't all can cope, who cares if none shall read this, atleast I wrote it.

I hope you have an amazing day, and a life without the confines of latestage capitalism, even if it may not come in our lifetime, may we hope for reincarnation so we can kill that which kills our souls next time.

I think the worst part is how many book sites (royal road comes to mind) have to face the fact that either they ban ai, and allow it to run rampant, or they regulate it, even if it's not even writing at this point. that blog post I linked I think actually is a really fucking good policy right now, as ai text is nigh undetectable sometimes, and may just appear to be bland, but by giving them a corner to run around in, without poisoning the rest of the sight, you atleast heavily mitigate it, is it perfect? no of course not, will they (they being people using ai) still lie just to get some credibility? of course, but atleast it does something.

I don't want ai anywhere near my plain of existence but if stuff like this helps sort out the sludge from the rest of the internet, then that something. also every company which uses it's data to train ai can burn, die, and most importantly perish.

but hey look at these radishes which were ai generated because someone couldn't take the fucking time to draw this themselves, or even just edit a picture together cause fuck it lets just not put any effort into it at all, and just leave out any room for creative freedom. fuck it we ball I guess???

I just want to leave this planet, become a von neuman probe hivemind or something and make weird abstract art in outer space.

cya.

post script script:

oh right using ai ever for anything immediately voids all credibility your work ever has, I hope I don't need to explain why, but I thought of this while writing the tags

I hate you AI, I hate you sites making deals with souless corporations that think creativity can be replicated by an unthinking machine, I hate you money-hungry investors and ceos, I hate you opt-out models, I hate you tech bros, I hate you having to spend precious free time having to scramble our art in a desperate attempt not to getting stolen from, I hate you minimization of the hard work we put into our craft, I hate ''''machine learning''''' being compared to a very human person putting in the hours to better themselves, I hate you commodification of the very core of human's expression, I hate you scams being helped along by uber plagiarism, I hate you AI, I hate you AI, I hate you AI, I HATE YOU AI

[moonshine-nightlight]

Hi, I'm always very impressed by your world building skills, even in shorter stories! Do you have any advice for aspiring writers on how to build their fantasy world?

So i drafted a response to this in between working just far too much and then my computer crashed and i lost it. Then i was even busier so i never got around to writing it again but i am making some time this weekend, so worldbuilding post - take 2

My main, high level worldbuilding tips are:

Rule of Cool: worldbuild things you think are fun and interesting. not only is that the best way to get ideas you like and are motivated to write about, but other people will also think they're interesting too. have fun with it.

Iceberg theory: know more about the world than ever makes it into the story. people can sense when worldbuilding is shallow, so even if they never see the true depths of the world they can often sense it's there. plus if u know the whole picture, everything the readers do see will seem more coherent

Integration: i heavily integrate the world i'm building into the story i'm telling--so dig into the plot and characters and make sure that the world and the story serve each other well. your world is there to contribute to the story so make sure its fulfilling that purpose

For more specifics about how i personally world build and for some examples from my stories of the above guidelines, see below.

So firstly, i love worldbuilding. i just think its a ton of fun and could easily spend hours just thinking about worlds in my head. (i mean what else is there to do when ur commuting to work, amiright?) i think that does make it easier for me to take the time to do it right and makes the world come through more vividly in my writing. it can get annoying or tedious or be more challenging at times, but since i like it/find world building interesting, i'm more willing to put in the time and effort to whip it into shape and i get less frustrated with that part of the process in general.

i'm also always thinking about world building to some degree in the back of my mind. picking up interesting information, facts, snatches of cool ideas or images or whatever. then i throw all that in like a junk drawer in my brain so when i sit down to more officially write or flesh out a world, i already have spare parts at my finger tips to use or drawn on.

Reading and consuming other art and worlds also makes it easier to make your own, just lik reading is a key part of writing practice. i don't just mean fiction, but just anything about the actual world makes it much easier to make up your own--that can manifest as awe at the fireflies that actually exist or spite that dragons dont. Whether that's random youtube video essays about the history of musicals or drinks or fashion to books and articles and documentaries or just my friend's niche interests (or their regular jobs). i'm always taking worldbuilding notes in the back of my mind.

For a more writing specific example, i read this short guide '50 Ways to Kill a Mermaid' (its locked for AO3 so u hav to sign in to read it) and it was super fun and cool to read that info from a writer who had studied marine biology. then when i was fleshing out Don't Shoot the Messenger a year later, the problem of Satrasi being a sea demon in a fresh water pool and bloating came to my mind because i'd stored that tidbit from the article away for later use.

My personal method for worldbuilding and plot outlining is sort a brainstorming/Q&A i have with myself (i hope this makes sense when i'm done writing this all out lol).

I've mentioned this before but the prompt that inspired Dale was: "You’re pretty sure your boyfriend was replaced by an eldritch being that can barely emulate being human. Weirdly, you enjoy a better relationship with them than your actual boyfriend."

So when that idea grabbed me, i started brainstorming about the world and asking myself questions. Why is the reader with the boyfriend if they don't really like them? What would make someone stay in a relationship like that? Do i want to make this a dark story? And i did not, i wanted it to be fun, so the arranged marriage angle came to mind. And if that's the premise then when is the story? is this our 'past' or another world entirely? diff world means more freedom so i automatically leaned in that direction.

Can the reader tell the 'boyfriend' has been replaced? Are demons a thing people know about? does the reader know that's an option? which is more fun? if the reader is worried about Dale getting caught, that's more room for hijinks so then yes, demons are known, but not common otherwise too many people would notice.

So my plot and worldbuilding are evolving in tandem and informing each other, based on the type of story i want to tell and how the characters i have in mind will react etc.

i run through a lot of ideas and turn them over in my head--trying out diff pieces to see if they fit--and am always willing to drop an idea or save it for another story if i don't think its working for the current one

For iceberg theory, i mentioned above for Dale would be the religions in that world. When i decided to introduce a priest like character (for discovery danger) i knew i needed to focus more on the religions than i previously had noted. the majority of what i came up with isn't int he story, but i think the fact that i know it helps me write when did end up in there, helped make it consistent, and means i can more easily work in allusions to it without having to work so hard those singular times.

For example, i'd decided to call the demon realm "the Depths" early on, which to me already invokes deep water and darkness, so i followed that through to sort height and air and light as being perceived more positively. fire and light are important symbols in this world and they primarily burn their dead--to bury someone below ground would be seen as almost condemning them and someone drowning is also seen as like, not good for their soul because what if it is 'pulled down' rather than 'ascending'. some of this was alluded to in the chapter, but most of it is not. this also helped me come up with the various "by the light" "dawn's ire" and other similar little 'religious' phrases and exclamations different characters use at times.

Meanwhile, in Sacrifice, the people living their are relatively non-religious--thats why they both don't pray to any other deities and it takes 5 years of problems to even bother trying an old god. it's not sacrilege because they're desperate people trying a long shot, not violating or abandoning a different belief. because i wanted the reader's main problem with it all to just be that they didn't think it work.

And why is she a translator? because i wanted to use the idea from that one post that goes around about how ridiculous it is in movies when their translated prophecies rhyme in english. why are they arguing about the translation? because its a dead language so no one really speaks it, that means the people who came up with it were here a century ago or longer. why aren't they here anymore? nomadic so they left and ended up staying away because of a natural disaster elsewhere. why is this town here now? a particular export/resource in this area became valuable enough for people to try to live here. the fact that its a lumber town due to some rare wood native to the area doesn't come up in the story, but i know it and i think that i know that about the town helps it feel more real, makes it easier for me to reach for new details when i need them

and going back to anything can be inspiration, let's talk about the doorlock in the very beginning of Finally Woken. its literally just a magical keypad/number pad but with different colored tiles instead of numbers because i wanted the reader to be able to get in, but i felt it didnt make sense for them to hav a physical key. and i thought it would look cool in Heshi's door and it went well with the fact that he's a glassblower . also, why is Heshi a glassblower? because i frickin' lov blown glass - i just think its so cool and pretty. that helped lead into the sort of artisan economy feel that world has.

Each of these stories has an outline and notes doc at a minimum. the notes doc is where i throw lik pics, inspiration posts, random worldbuilding ideas etc. only much shorter stories or stories that are heavily based in 'modern' world don't hav extensive random notes.

my Dale folder has subfolders for characters and the setting, as well as random worldbuilding files such as "demon summoning/magic" "spiritual belief and org" "fashion - feminine" and so on. Even excluding the plot outline and chapter notes (and not counting pics) i've got like, over 4k of random notes saved. dale is the one i hav the most of that for, but all my fics have some little section with stuff like that jotted down

in the end, i think the best way to sum up all that is with my three original rules of: put stuff u think is cool in your world, known more than you tell to help everything fit together and seem deep, and build your world around your plot and characters because they should all be working together to tell the story you want to tell.

honestly, i could ramble about worldbuilding all day so if anyone has any questions or wants more examples, just let me know ^^

[fishyartist]

think ive finally figured out a building process i dont despise. still got a LONGGG way to go improvement wise (a whole lifetime even) but the process occurs regardless :3

[gobstoppr]

and btw im in my hater arc rn. as time goes on the more i find a lot of 'fandom' stuff insufferable (i like art n stuff. just the way that fandom refits every media to fit a single mold and set of boring archetypes is exhausting.)

i just get really easily annoyed lately. and have been unfollowing people on a whim a lot. its not personal i promise

[kijetesantakalu-lanpan]

hi!! ive been working on a minecraft server/collaborative worldbuilding project for A Long While! it’s gonna be like a Year by the time i release the public beta

civcubed is basically a collaborative sandbox to worldbuild societies in—conflicts, economy, varied natural conditions, and a lot of other forces that shape societies to be unique! i thought it would be cool to see a bunch of people building semi-realistic societies within minecraft

anyways i hope some of y’all come to check this out! >:3

[waitineedaname]

I've been relistening to the homestuck soundtrack album by album while working lately and man. it's reminding me how much I genuinely loved about homestuck, and how that made the aspects of it that sucked so much more frustrating

[varjopeura]

.

[screamingay]

listening to the wall-e director's commentary and i absolutely adore the connection they made between the plant and love both finding their way back to earth at the same time.. wall-e finds the little plant just before eve comes down and finds him, and that's not a coincidence!! the plant was meant to represent life persevering post-humanity and wall-e & eve's relationship represents love persevering post-humanity too!!! the idea that the things we create will still have the capacity to learn and grow and even love long after we've left them behind!!! and that life will always find a way!!!!!!

[jadeharleyinc]

announcing my fantasy setting where you can only cast magic if you have fat tits, very explicitly including men

I’m far less interested in fiction where it’s like “This power/ability/prophecy is gender specific but trans inclusive” and for more interested in fiction that just… doesn’t do that

[arolesbianism]

Oh yeah here’s my current progress for an extremely rough concept for the stalien planet map, ignore how fucked it’d look projected on a sphere (I checked btw it sure is a thing)

[californianedgeworth]

it's all coming together (me figuring out the most evil possible situations to put my friends' d&d characters into)

[icharchivist]

Oh yeah, since Icha is really into Dragon Age, Dragon Age Inquisition is currently up for free in the Epic game store until Thursday next week

Just download the thing, make an account and receive game for free forever

To whom it may concern

oh true!

that's indeed helpful if the free aspect helps.

Here's the link!

I hate Epic Game Store personally (the lack of game overlay like on steam pissed me off with my ff7r copy and it kept telling me i had to be online to play a solo game), but free game is always good game.

tho as a disclaimer if you get interested in DA because of me, do start with Dragon Age: Origins (take the Ultimate Edition, so you also have the Awakening DLC, the in game DLCs, as well as the others post game DLC to play after Awakening, Golem of Amgarrak and then Witch Hunt), and then Dragon Age 2 (again with the In Game DLC, Especially Legacy and Mark of The Assassin to play when the Main Quest's Storyline "The Last Straw" is first unlocked/when Act 3 starts). And then DAI.

Like of course grabbing DAI as it's free is a good thing if you make plans for later, but yeah to me personally DA is the type of games you'd want to play in order.

(DA4 is supposed to come out this year too so. well. jsyk.)

o7 good luck everyone, and thanks anon for that!

[plinkcat-gif]

i have to do everything myself around here🙄

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads / storygraph

The Poisons We Drink

YA urban fantasy

a girl who brews powerful potions is coerced into making potions to interfere with D.C.’s most influential politicians in an attempt to stop a dangerous Witcher Registration Act from passing, and will do anything to protect her sister after their mother is killed

bi MC, nonbinary love interest

arc from netgalley

[sanktpolypenbourg]

I still cannot grasp how Bionicle never made anything else like the Bohrok. Fans will tell you about the deep worldbuilding and whatnot but personally I can guarantee that nothing else in that entire franchise ever even drew my attention. The bohrok were on a whole other level.

In fact, I feel only the bohrok truly realized the potential of the basic idea - the mysterious and alien concept of "lego lifeforms", the ambiguity of organic and mechanical looking shapes, the potent blend of pop culture references, and the play mechanics. Anything else approaching that quality are fan creations.

Sorry, but from what I have seen the rest of the bionicle concepts mostly do not register to me as anything more than cool lego action men and some dragons and spiders I guess.

And I get it, you need relatable humanoid protagonists as the baseline for your toy universe, that's cool. But only something like the bohrok shows how far you can really push that project.

If they ever make a reboot, imagine they get some out-of-the-blue creative punch in the gut like the bohrok again

[ckret2]

Do you think Bill Cipher is his real name? The book suggests it is since he used to be called Billy but he also tells Gideon that his true name would drive mortals insane. But maybe he was lying! About which we’ll never know.

I personally think it would be really dumb for

an alien

with bizarre alien biology that involves speaking through some organ that clearly isn't a mouth

because his mouth is also his EYE SOCKET and occupied by an EYEBALL

who's not only from a different planet but from a different UNIVERSE

which is so different from ours that the LAWS OF PHYSICS aren't even compatible

because they don't have a THIRD DIMENSION

and who was named ONE TRILLION YEARS before any humans existed

never mind human languages

never mind "common" human names like Bill

to have a normal human name made with normal human sounds.

So I buy the "my name is unintelligible to your species; Bill Cipher is just a dimensional pen name I use because you can pronounce it" explanation, due to the alternative offending my sci-fi worldbuilder sensibilities. The "if you heard my name you'd explode with an expression of ecstasy and agony on your face" part in the Bill Cipher AMA might be a boast to sound cool, but nevertheless I buy that his name can't be spelled, pronounced, or possibly even heard correctly by humans.

The most common explanation I've heard for why he would claim his REAL name is incomprehensible if his name is actually just "Bill" is that he thinks "Bill" is lame and wants people to think he has a cooler name. But, if that were the case... why wouldn't he just... y'know. Give himself a cooler name? Like, who's gonna call him out on it? Birth certificate's incinerated. Parents aren't gonna call him his deadname in front of his friends. The only reason he'd tell people his name is Bill Cipher would be if he wants to go by "Bill Cipher."

When he goes by "Bill" and refers to himself as a child as "Billy" I'm assuming that that's, like... the dub version of his name. Like how the main character of Pokémon is named サトシ but in the dub it's changed to "Ash" because surely American children can't pronounce that bizarre foreign name!! Bill's real name is [EERIE INCOMPREHENSIBLE SOUND] and as a kid sometimes his mom called him [A SIMILAR BUT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT EERIE INCOMPREHENSIBLE SOUND THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING TO US BUT TO BILL'S SPECIES SOUNDS LIKE A CUTESY VERSION OF THE FIRST SOUND] and when talking to humans he translates those as "Bill" and "Billy."