#the fantastic beasts movies are the bane of my existence.

[moonroselily]

I hate the Fantastic Beasts movies. Here are the main reasons why:

1. Most characters are irrelevant to the story, and some aren’t supposed to exist yet but were added anyway as nostalgia. A (sarcastically or ironically) flawless example of this canon-destructive writing: Minerva McGonagall was born on October 31st 1935, so she couldn’t be teaching at Hogwarts in the 1910s as they claimed in the flashbacks of the second movie.

2. Newt Scamander is the most out-of-place main character I’ve ever seen. This SHOULD be a story about a young Albus Dumbledore. This SHOULD NOT be a story about a character briefly mentioned to have written a children’s book with 0,01% relevance to the main story in Harry Potter, and even that is being exceedingly generous.

3. The Blood Pact is canonically impossible to exist based on the history we get about Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore in the Deathly Hallows (book.) It’s an outstanding example of cheap writing. The writers, directors and producers apparently didn’t know how to convey the deep emotional turmoil of a character (Dumbledore) in movies, so they created a physical object to solve a plot problem while destroying the canon in the process and downplaying the very human emotions of the very human characters.

4. How the fuck did Albus Dumbledore predict every event of the third movie? He is not a Seer, unlike Gellert Grindelwald, which brings me to my final and most outraging reason.

5. The complete and utter character assassination of Gellert Grindelwald as a wizard Hitler with genius-level intelligence is the most unforgivable crime in every movie he is in, starting from The Deathly Hallows Part One.

Edit: I completely forgot when I wrote this post that Albus Dumbledore was canonically a Transfiguration Professor, not the DADA Professor until these movies also fucked it up.

This is moderately constructive (considering my whirlwind of anger) but a brief summary of my opinions on this franchise, which as far as I’m concerned, isn’t canon.

I do not accept Fantastic Beasts as canon, but I will forever be outraged and complain about its existence.

[elfdragon12]

My favorite things about the different adaptations of Transformers that I've read/watched.

Completed:

G1: So many characters I like and my arms aren't big enough to hold them all. Has some of the best human characters in the entire franchise. Generally a fun time. The most well-rounded Tracks characterization. Isn't a coward about human/robot relations. Realizes humans are crazy for giant robots. BLASTER!! GRIMLOCK!!

Beast Wars: Great story and great characters. The best Megatron, even if he isn't actually Megatron. The first TF media I ever watched. DINOBOT!!! Some of the smoothest computer animation in the franchise (animation, not graphics/rendering). Great character interactions.

TFA: Best Swindle, hands down. Another good source of human characters. Also realizes humans go crazy for giant robots, but a bit more realistic about it. An interesting take on Optimus. A wild Weird Al Yankovic appears! The fact that David Kaye is voicing Optimus after having voiced Megatron twice. Second best Megatron.

TFP: Pretty. Hottest Ratchet and Wheeljack. KNOCKOUT!! Sensible adult characters. Optimus Prime and Megatron have the biggest divorced couple energy and I'm living for it! Predaking is really cool here.

WFC: While not the most true to form, I really like Jetfire. Stupid sexy Megatron with stupid sexy lips. DINOBOT!!! More realistic about the nature of a war that carries on for so very, very, very long and how desperate Optimus and Megatron become. PLEASE PUNCH ME IN THE FACE, CHROMIA!

King Grimlock comic: The concept is just fantastic and a nice character arc for Grimlock!

Bumblebee the movie: Shape of Water the sequel Fantastic designs for the robots! BRAWN!! Good story and actually good human characters! Even though the more "official" romance is between Charlie and Memo, there was actually work put into creating actual chemistry between them whereas most movies that lean in to human/nonhuman romance but are too chicken to go all the way don't bother. Thank you, John Cena, for pointing out how insane it is to trust beings who call themselves Decepticons. Shatter and Dropkick are great, actually. Lots of good character chemistry.

Partially finished:

The Unicron Trilogy (Armada specifically): good to hear Garry Chalk and David Kaye back. The mini-cons are an interesting concept.

IDW1: INDEPTH WORLDBUILDING! Problematic fave, Overlord. Some more nuanced story-telling like Needlenose and Tracks. The Scavengers! ART!!!!

Bayverse: Mikaela Banes strapped an injured Bumblebee to a tow truck and they they drove around the city blasting Decepticons. The Dinobots. (My sister just showed me Sqweeks and OHMIGOODNESS ADORABLE MOPED AUTOBOT!!)

IDW2: Female Cybertronians are allowed to just exist without needing to explain the fact they're female. ROAD RAGE!!! I really like how they approach the war starting. ... I actually kinda like this take on Sentinel Prime. ART!!!! The mentor aspect is really cool. The moon subplot was pretty cool and I really enjoyed getting to see noncombatant scientists have some time to shine. The Valentines Day comic.

Rescue Bots: Good human characters, really cool to see a show that isn't focused on the Autobot and Decepticon conflict. Even though it's aimed at a younger audience, it doesn't feel patronizing.

Robots in Disguise '15: Grimlock is super cute. Strongarm is a great addition to the franchise. TERRY MCGINNIS-BUMBLEBEE!!!

[luthienebonyx]

Author interview

Tagged by: @seaspiritwrites

Name: Luthien. My real name also starts with L. I answer to L as well, so then I don’t have to think about which me I’m meant to be at any given moment.

Fandoms: At the moment, Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, in the sense that I’m glancing at it sideways while the torrent of words continues. In the past, many others.

Where you post: AO3, these days.

Most popular oneshot: In this fandom, As Sunlight Drinketh Dew, which is probably the most explicit thing I’ve written for this pairing, and was also my first attempt at writing Jaime POV.

Across all the fandoms I’ve written in, and keeping in mind that a good chunk of my fanfic pre-dates the AO3 so this answer is really only in relation to the stories I’ve posted since around 2010, my most popular oneshot is, surprisingly, A Night to Remember. This is a Phryne/Jack Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries fic, which is also on the explicit side. (I think I’m sensing a pattern.) It’s one of those stories that just doesn’t die. I can never pick which ones those are going to be.

Most popular multi-chapter story: In this fandom, More Than a Memory. This was the first story I wrote for this fandom, apart from a couple of drabbles years and years ago, and it just came pouring out of me after the finale aired. I was very surprised that it had any real following at all, because I was a completely unknown writer in this fandom and the story is canon compliant right up to the end of Season 8, with everything that that means for this pairing.

In my fandoms on AO3 overall, the most popular multi-parter is A Fine Romance, which is an unfinished Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them newtina fic. I had to stop writing it for a while because my health crashed in mid-2017, and then the second movie pretty comprehensively jossed my plans for the rest of the story, but I think it captured the fandom vibe at the time it was being posted.

Favorite story you wrote: Right now, it’s probably Beloved, part of my After Everything fix-it universe (written partly to make up for writing More Than a Memory) because it’s a very ‘me’ story, and also because even though I finished it a few days ago, it’s still hanging around in my head. Once I get back to working on my Regency AU, You I Know, that will be the favourite, because that’s the story I’ve wanted to write for YEARS.

So far as past fandoms go, I’m still very fond of my Once Upon a Time rumbelle AU Plain Jane. That’s another one of those ‘me’ stories.

Story you were nervous to post: I feel as if I should say More Than a Memory, because I really honestly expected that hardly anyone would read it, but it was one of those stories that wouldn’t let me NOT write it, so it wasn’t like I had a choice about it. I just threw it out there.

I think probably As Sunlight Drinketh Dew was the one I was actually most nervous about, because it was my first time trying out Jaime POV, and that sort of thing is always nerve-racking.

As for stories from past fandoms... I can’t really remember? Except that I always HATE my stories right before I post them, so in that sense they all make me nervous.

How you choose your titles: On a wing and a prayer? Titles are the bane of my existence. Sometimes, if I’m really lucky, the title will come to me very early on, which is a huge relief. Other times, I’ll have a story finished and edited and ready to go - except that I don’t know what it’s called. Then I get out my big book of quotations, and google lyrics, and just hope to god that something jumps out at me. 

Weirdly, I haven’t had my usual titling trouble for most of the stories I’ve written in this fandom, but that might be more just my attitude. A vaguely appropriate title will cross my mind and I’ll just seize it and decide that “That’ll do!” It’s nice not to have to deal with these little title-related stress-outs.

Do you outline: Hahaha. I’ve TRIED to outline in the past. I just end up with scene drafts instead. 

My usual approach is to have a list of bullet points of the main plot beats, plus any other reminders to myself of details that I’m going to need further down the line. For my longer stories, I think of my list of bullet points as making up the skeleton, and then the flesh and blood of detail happens as I write. But no, I really wouldn’t dignify any of that with the description of ‘outline’. Outlining is something that happens to other people, I’m afraid.

Complete: In this fandom, 23. However, 18 of those complete stories belong to series that are still on-going, so their storylines are not yet complete even though the stories themselves are.

Overall? I have 122 complete works on the AO3, but that doesn’t include every fic I’ve ever written, so the actual answer is... I don’t know?

In-progress: In this fandom, two actual stories and two series. I need to get back to my Regency AU, You I Know, very soon. It’s currently at Chapter 8 of... many. I’m also partway through writing the second and last chapter of the latest Aussie Coffee ‘verse fic, On the first day of Christmas (my true love gave to me). In terms of series, obviously Aussie Coffee is still not finished - I still have another five (hopefully) short instalments to write once the Christmas fic is done - and After Everything still has at least one more story to go (which I’m currently working on).

In other fandoms... I think I’ll just sweep a few stories under the rug and pretend that they don’t exist.

Coming soon/not yet started: Coming soon: A Sansa bystander POV fic from right at the beginning of After Everything, when the ‘after’ bit hasn’t started yet - I’m not writing that series in chronological order. Also, the rest of the Christmas Day fic from Aussie Coffee, and FINALLY a new chapter of the Regency AU.

Not yet started: I have an idea for a musician AU kicking around in the back of my head, but it’s right at the bottom of the priority list, and probably will be for some time.

Do you accept prompts: I do sometimes, if I’m in the mood, or if I don’t have anything more pressing to write. (So yeah, not so much with the prompts right at the moment!) Usually only drabble prompts, though. I have two writing modes: drabbles of exactly 100 words, no more and no less, and “who the hell knows how long this thing will be?” I’d rather not get into anything in the second category by accident.

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: Regency, Regency, Regency!!!! I have SO MUCH planned for this story. I’m going to stuff every last Regency detail and plot point that I can think of into it - and I’ve been reading about and researching this period for decades, so I can think of A LOT. I’ve wanted to write a novel-length Regency AU through several fandoms, but I’ve never been well enough to commit to it before. But now, for some reason, I am well enough to just keep writing most days, and so I’m not losing writing momentum, and things like this are finally possible. AND I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!!!!

But the rest of the Aussie Coffee ‘verse is also going to be fun to write. The path it’s going to take isn’t the one that might seem most likely right now...

Tagging: @nire-the-mithridatist @woodelf68 @firesign23 @it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined @ladyem-fandom and anyone else who wants to do it.

[beautifulramblingbrains]

A review on goodreads that can not be ignored

How to Write a Best Selling YA Novel

1. Make sure you write the book in a POV that distances us from the narrator. If you have no idea how to write 1st Person Present, do it any way. It makes the book confusing and fun for your reader to plow through. Also, make sure your narrator's POV is very boring. Boring enough to put Plato, Jane Austen, and Shakespeare to sleep. 

2. Make your narrator a selfish, boring girl with little to no life outside of her love interest and one singular hobby. Whether it be loving the ocean, loving books, or loving to whine, make sure it's only one hobby. We can't have her be interesting or three dimensional. That would make her complex and intriguing. Also, make sure she has a best friend that she can envy, and a boy that adores her. It gives her more reasons to angst and whine. Then top it off with a tragic past. Often both parents should be dead and she should have a relative that hates her. That way if a reviewer says she's whiny and annoying, someone can refute this by saying she has reasons to be whiny and annoying. 

3. Love triangles are a must. If you can, make sure that you give no reason why the romantic leads are in-love with each other. And then give the heroine a love-interest that absolutely adores her. Make sure that both boys love the girl, but the girl just loves one for no particular reason. Actually chemistry isn't necessary. See Hush, Hush, Twilight, and Fallen for abusive love triangles. They're just so much fun. But if you want to deprive your reader of that delicious voyeuristic experience, make both love interests as boring and bland as you see fit. 

4. Research popular trends. This is a must. If you see vampires are popular, don't write about them. You're and original creative being. Choose angels instead. Or better yet, demons. If you're feeling really adventurous, pick up a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Then randomly flip to any page. But make sure your beast has lips and is capable of having abs like a chiseled Greek god. Disregard the fact that most Greeks gods actually raped women when they wanted sex. That part isn't important. If you're stuck, skip to step six.

5. If you can't find something totally awesome, pick up a popular adult book. Or better yet, a movie. Make sure it's a really bad movie. One that bombed at the box office so no-one will know where you stole your plot. If you're trying to find really bad movies, search M. Night's catalog. Pick The Village. Don't research the history behind the movie. If you can, avoid the fact that M. Night was sued for plagiarism over that script. Your story can stand on its own. It just needs that one special thing.

6. If you don't know what special creature needs to be in your book, don't fret. Pick a number between one and ten. If you picked anything above five, you've got zombies on your hands. Anything below five, and you're wrestling with unicorns. If you picked five, you've got a boring contemporary novel on your hands. Human boys suck.

7. Use a plot generator. And make your story very predictable, but annoyingly ambiguous so you can leave room for a sequel. 

8. Don't spend a few weeks developing your characters.

9. Try your hand at being Dan Brown for a day. Create some lame conspiracies. 

10. Research is the bane of your existence. You don't have to actually read about your subject matter. Why read a fantasy novel if you're writing fantasy? That's just stupid. If you're writing about a post-apocalyptic world forget about logic. Don't even touch any other books. You're much better than those writers. Why spoil your creative juices with inspiration. What a disgusting word that is. If you're writing about angels and demons, don't you dare touch the bible. Stay far away from Paradise Lost, the Divine Comedy, or any of that sick canon that stunts your creativity. Same thing for zombies. Don't read or watch anything related to zombies. In fact, barely focus on the zombies at all. Your boring love triangle is much more interesting.

11. Think up an awesome title. Remember, that's the most important part. Once you've got the reader hooked on that, nothing else matters. 

12. Spend one week writing the novel. Better yet, take a page out of John Hughes book. Spend one day finishing that bad boy. 

13. Don't get anyone else to read it. They'd just give you that nasty thing called criticism. Just send it through spell check two or three times. That's all the editing you really need. 

14. Spend three weeks on the query. Make sure you only tighten the first page of your manuscript. Those are the most important parts. After all, teens these days just don't need decent literature. You're in this for the paycheck, remember?

15. Once you have your agent and your three book deal, make sure to suck up to your cover artist. Your book needs to look awesome for it to sell. 

16. Write up a few thin outlines for the rest of the trilogy and give it to your ghost writer. If you can, squeeze out a spin-off series.

17. Give ARCs to everyone you know. Make sure you bribe them to write good reviews.

18. Sit back and bathe in the awesomeness of having your book debut on the New York Times bestselling list. Watch the royalty checks come in and pad your pockets.

19. Sell your movie rights as fast as possible. 

20. Now that your book is mega-popular, take the time to read it over for the second time. Yes, this is the second time you've read that novel. Don't be embarrassed. It rocks. 

Thanks so much to Cory, the original poster (I think) Much needed laugh. Enjoy my tumblr friends x

[redwinesupern0va]

RULES: Answer all the questions, add one of your own and tag as many people as there are questions

I was tagged by the bane of my existence @doctorkepner ily butthead <3

1. COKE OR PEPSI: Coke!!!! But don’t honestly mind I will just pick Coke if I’m given the chance

2. DISNEY OR DREAMWORKS: Disney!! Always been my fave and Dreamworks hasn’t really been impressing me lately tbh.

3. COFFEE OR TEA: Coffee! But I love dirty Chais so muuuuuch.

4. BOOKS OR MOVIES: right now its movies over books but I’m getting back into it

5. WINDOWS OR MAC: windows  but tbh now that I’m using a mac I might get one in the future

6. DC OR MARVEL: MARRRRRRRRVELLLLLLLL for life. Fuck DC, suicide squad was their last chance.

7. XBOX OR PLAYSTATION: -the voice- Play sta-tion.

8. DRAGON AGE OR MASS EFFECT: I’ll take “huh???????” for $400 Alex.

9. NIGHT OWL OR EARLY RISER: Night Owl. I only like mornings if they don’t start until 11

10. CARDS OR CHESS: Cards! So much more to do.

11. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA: chocolate chocolate chocolate.

12. VANS OR CONVERSE: converse!!

13. LAVELLAN, TREVELYAN, CADASH, OR ADAAR: I have a better question. Why?

14. FLUFF OR ANGST: -dramatically stands in rain as tears fall down my face and Enya plays in the background- Angst

15. BEACH OR FOREST: I am always a hoe or the sea. And nature in general.

16. DOGS OR CATS: boooooooth. Get a puppy and a kitten at the same time and they can be best friends.

17. CLEAR SKIES OR RAIN: rain is one of my favorite thing.

18. COOKING OR EATING OUT: -childish laughter- Eating Out

19. SPICY OR MILD FOOD: mild!!! I am so white and such a chicken.

20. HALLOWEEN/SAMHAIN OR SOLSTICE/YULE/CHRISTMAS: YES

21. WOULD YOU RATHER FOREVER BE A LITTLE TOO COLD OR A LITTLE TOO HOT: i’m already a little too cold all the time.

22. IF YOU COULD HAVE A SUPERPOWER WHAT WOULD IT BE: shape shifting!! You could fly, be invisible, be anyone. 

23. ANIMATION OR LIVE ACTION: live action  but I love movies

24. PARAGON OR RENEGADE: bink

25. BATH OR SHOWER: showers. Loud singing. and its like rain, which I love.

26. TEAM CAP OR TEAM IRONMAN: Steve Rogers until I die man. Forever.

27. FANTASY OR SCI-FI: Fantasy.

28. DO YOU HAVE 3 OR 4 FAVORITE QUOTES IF SO WHAT ARE THEY:

“she loved poetry so much she became it.”

“happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one just remembers to turn on the light.”

“My philosophy is if you worry you suffer twice.”

29. YOUTUBE OR NETFLIX: netflix now that youtube is being a homophobic fuck.

30. HARRY POTTER OR PERCY JACKSON: harry potter!!!!!!!

31. STAR WARS OR STAR TREK: War Stars

32. PAPERBACK BOOKS OR HARDCOVER BOOKS: Hardcover make me feel fancy

33. FANTASTIC BEASTS OR CURSED CHILD: Fantastic Beasts. There’s no??? comparison???

34. ROCK OR POP MUSIC: -sweats- pop....rock?

35. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE: Sean, my family, my friends, writing and theatre

36. THE LAST BOOK YOU READ/THE ONE YOU’RE CURRENTLY READING: Story of a Sociopath

38: SONG THAT MAKES YOU SMILE/SONG THAT MAKES YOU CRY: Perm by Bruno Mars makes me smile. Supermarket Flowers makes me cry. F u edward!!!!

39. SUSHI OR WAN TAN SOUP: Sushi!!

40. SPRING OR AUTUMN: fall!

41. DRAWING OR WRITING: writing!

42. SINGING OR DANCING: singing. I only dance when I’m drunkeroo

43. TV SHOW/MOVIE/BOOK THATS LIKE YOUR HAPPY PLACE, SOMETHING THAT ALWAYS MAKES YOU SMILE: Friends/Juno/Harry Potter

44. FIRST GOOD CHILDHOOD MEMORY THAT POPS INTO YOUR HEAD: being woken up on my 5th birthday to my dad giving me my first cat

45. IF YOU COULD VISIT ANY HISTORICAL TIME PERIOD, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY? The Regency, it’s my fav period of history and I could write an awesome novel based off of it.

46. PINEAPPLE PIZZA OR NAH? YAH

47. TV OR MOVIE? TV right now but both tbh

48. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR: ben and jerrys cherry garcia 

49. WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO YOU RELATE THE MOST WITH:  Neville Longbottom tbh because a bunch of things always happen to be but I’m still a badass and I really want to get stupid smoking hot randomly.

MY QUESTION: what band was your first favorite? 

I’m not gonna tag 49 people but here we go, friends mixed with some mutuals I love from affar @desdemonawrites @benvcliomontague @dweebspace @beautybellerps @spartanlady16 @shirleyoucantbeserious @elliotfofrp @doddario @shackleboltrps @demeterwrites @teigenrpt @tuxedomsk @partycrouchwrites @omskivar @associateginij  @for-every-passion-something  and anyone else who wants to do it!

[aurelliocheek]

A Year of Rain: Writing Strategies

How to build a new world for an RTS Game.

So, you wanna write this? A question I’ve been waiting for. When Nick, the captain of our daring endeavor, approached me, A Year Of Rain was supposed to become a Fantasy RTS based on a well-known IP; and to be honest, I was more than fine with that. See, I like that IP, I am very familiar with it and just from a cerebral logistics standpoint, I’ve always been comfortable settling in an established system and give it my own spin. All I’d have to do was looking for one of the more ­obscure places and events of that world, work with that foundation, and tell an interesting tale.

Which I did. Vigorously.

Then we had to discard that approach. The world for our game would not be an established one. We needed to build it from scratch, every nook and cranny. And here’s how we did that, or rather, my first-time experiences with RTS narrative design and maybe some survival tips on how to navigate that minefield.

Super rough worldbuilding draft.

A new IP. Well… We took that turn of events in stride. After all, even if existing worldbuilding provides you with nomenclature, systems, a fan base and many more convenient tools in your box, it’s all double-edged: you can’t slip on lore, the systems restrain you, while gameplay and game design boundaries are sneaking up from behind. You also owe the fans maximum accuracy anyway to avoid alienation. Put like this, building your own world from scratch sounds a lot more appealing, doesn’t it? It’s a gorgeous blooming field of nearly endless possibilities and free of any veto you wouldn’t give yourself.

Right…?

The whole world in your hands I’ve done this for plenty tabletops and homebrew Pen & Paper systems. It’s important to have an interesting world for an interesting tale you want to tell. Doing this for a very specifically tagged game is a different beast altogether. To keep the field analogy going, when first thinking about a world for a Fantasy RTS game, I felt like I arrived a week after the harvest.

Staring into the abyss of fantasy intertextuality made me uncomfortable right from the start, when I was asking myself: ‘What kind of world is this going to be?’

Creating a new, compelling world for an RTS game is a challenge.

Standard globe, massive Midlandia continent where all the people hang out and fight each other or whatever? It’s been done – ad nauseam and to death.

A shattered world, with drifting pieces and… Shit, this has been done. Pocket dimension? Done. Flat, you could say, a disc-like world? Yeah, good luck.

Okay, but what if it has layers like an onion… Septerra Core? Who even remembers that?! I do, it was a very charming game, actually. Anyway, a world needs people. People are easy! Species, races, cultures, there are so many cool fantasy folks… which… have all been utilized to exhaustion.

Even as I am writing this, a game cropped up that is so eerily similar to the core ideas I eventually developed for my world and story that it snaps the credibility of parallel evolution and makes me reconsider my general stance on psychic spies. I came to terms with the notion long before that announcement, but it confirmed my take on worldbuilding I had to adapt if I wanted to keep my sanity: There are many, many worlds out there and chances are high you won’t reinvent the wheel. Take solace in the fact that you can craft a very efficient, aesthetically pleasing wheel!

For here comes the twist: Intertextuality is a good thing. Since I’m throwing that word around like I think I know what it means, here’s what it is… “The relationship between texts, especially literary ones.”

It’s the reason why references work. For example, why Pride & Prejudice & Zombies exists, and you still get what that title implies. It’s why Banner Saga doesn’t need to explain the language, cultural setting, or apparel of the world they created because we have read about or seen media featuring Vikings. Darkest Dungeon draws a lot of its appeal from weird fiction, gothic and cosmic horror and you understand that connection. It’s why many people love it when fictional characters or worlds reference the real world, or pop culture or even quote from other ­movies and works of literature. ­Because we get what that means. Because it’s a nod to what we, and probably the creator of that fiction, love (the latter being strictly speaking an allusion, but it fits under the same umbrella, bear with me here). In broad strokes, it means that people understand connections and baselines without your explanation, because someone, at some point, did a very similar thing and established a widely known convention with it.

Yes, we’ve made a papercraft map.

It seems like the bane of innovation You may feel like everything has been done already, or even get conflicted because a line you wrote is similar or identical to something that already exists. However, just like tropes, archetypes, and cliché, it’s a boon for your world’s foundation if you swing it with precision. Best case, whatever you decide: On a very basic level, your audience will have a fond connotation to many of the things you do. There’s a catch, of course. You’ll need a lot of lipstick for your intertextual pig. The real work for me started after laying the foundation when I decided what type of world I wanted and who populated it. Both choices, at a glance, weren’t too special, admittedly.

What I hoped made them special was thoroughly fleshing out every race, species, and culture, applying some twists here and there… I tried generating credible systems and all the bones and beams that not only support the worldbuilding but also telegraph and highlight what made this world compelling, comfortably familiar, yet also refreshing.

You can do a lot if you stick to some fantasy guns and bolster them with nuances. In A Year Of Rain, for example, dwarves are the most competent spellcasters and considering how this world is designed, it even makes sense, though it’s not something you see very often. And it escalated pretty easily from there: What are the consequences for other species? What is their strategy? And how would that other adjacent fantasy race act or evolve and so on? I did that for, I think, 16 species concepts and there was a point when there were more connections and ideas than I actually wanted.

After fleshing out all the cultural dynamics, historical angles, rules of magic, justifying dwarven rune-powered railguns, establishing how many terabytes of memories a sentient fungus could store compared to divine lichen and what kind of weed lizardfolk prefer to smoke, I was finally ready to apply all this to the game itself.

Or not.

Strategic Writing Turns out, an RTS has comparatively limited narrative space. I would go as far as to call it claustrophobic. Design and format of an RTS tend to isolate the parts of the world you build. You have one single map at a time to establish whatever you want to transport narratively. And you only get one shot, because there usually is, by design, no backtracking.

It’s fair to assume that’s one reason why this genre often struggles with thorough worldbuilding and story in its campaign and multiplayer. Everything you can show, tell and narrate has to fit in roughly 15-30 minutes of tiny people murdering each other in real time. Then, you move on to the next area where, you guessed it, you train tiny people and have them murder each other for 15-30 minutes.

There is little room to breathe, or significantly manipulate the game flow, or show the inhabitants of your world doing anything other than fighting and killing to do more fighting and killing. That’s where the majority of anything you’ll write will be focused on. The units you command have no narrative agenda, almost no space to reflect on what they’re doing or want to do; they fight and die and obey the great cursor.

“But Blizzard!” you say?

Campaign is a different horse. It’s easier there. You can, to a certain degree, pace what happens, insert cutscenes and design a fantasy, a goal, and establish what drives this narrative… And at least your characters get to talk and express opinions, motivation, broader personality and all that, so: Yes, Blizzard cracked the code in most of their campaigns and will probably remain on that throne till the flippin’ sun burns out. But looking at virtually all other RTS games, there’s a trend to keep the world simple, the greater worldbuilding or story potential unexplored (Warlords RTS, Grey Goo) or exaggerate other aspects enough that they tilt from ludicrous to awesome and thus make for a satisfying campy story (looking at you, Command & Conquer). There’s a reason why even master craftsmen like the folks at Blizzard preach the mantra: Gameplay first in RTS.

All that doesn’t mean you can’t tell a compelling story, it doesn’t mean you can’t build a fantastic world, but it means that it may feel awkward at first. It’s a much greater challenge than in an RPG, an adventure or something similar where you can weave both things easier into a nice colorful ­tapestry. For our game, there is no after-mission hub to talk to characters, no codex to look up things like history and lore, no audio logs, books or scrolls, no close-up first- or third-person perspective to do advanced intrinsic storytelling. RTS has a fast, relentless pace. Your opponent, be it a human or AI, won’t wait for you to absorb subjects declared second priority like a narrative or worldbuilding details. So, whatever you tell is ideally right there when you play.

Some rules and tools you know still apply accordingly. For example, each of our units has 17 standard response lines. You better believe I tried to cram as much character as I could in there, tried my best to give them personality you can relate to in a few clicks and with allusions to the world around them.

Daedalic’s development team is building the A Year Of Rain world.

Then there are our phenomenal art, design, sound and SFX people Worldbuilding is, of course, not only writing. How characters look, what gear they carry, how their magic or tools of trade manifest and interact, their body language, animation, and voice work… all that blasts open a welcome breach into the walls you run into with an RTS, just like with any other game. Though the world is delivered in chunks in this genre, you can still do plenty of environmental storytelling, be it through biomes, architecture, weather, or ambient sounds and how the whole palette interconnects through the game. The tools are there; they just need lots of attention. The more you have prepared, the better. Whatever you came up with, whatever your vision is, don’t use a crowbar. Listen to the other departments and let them work their magic, even, or especially when that means letting go of your brainchild because they came up with a cooler solution. I’m a writer. What the hell do I know about shapes and the right visual impact, or the finer points of ability synergies and level design? Try to trust people as they trust you.

This is a good time to point out that 50% of all my conceptual resources won’t make it directly into the game. Some things are just too intricate/niche and have no business being there considering the very tight space that’s rightfully conceded to the gameplay. Adjust that percentage further north, actually, since some visual ideas don’t make good silhouettes for in-game models, because they’d be too small, too noisy or just a pain to animate you could never justify. It’s fine, though. Compare it to an actor who’s told to come up with a backstory for a bunch of tiny props on their costume. They’ll never get any big reference in the movie, but they help the actor getting into the role.

As I’ve mentioned, the characters’ role is basically to fight and die, above all else. It creates a dissonance, intuitively. Telling war stories is no hard sell, but it adds a new layer to the worldbuilding itself. Is this a new conflict? Where will you locate it? Is it a flashpoint or a global affair, and how much sense does that make? How do you plan for the future, i.e., at the end of your campaign, is your world fixed or broken, and where does it go from there? Or is it even beyond fixing and stays in a constant, vicious cycle of warfare?

The one luxury I had here was that I got to have my cake and eat it too: I made a world that’s broken, and I elected to focus on one conflict on a very specific piece of land. It leaves enough breathing room to tease a much bigger playground around the elaborate nice sandbox we’ll ship with this game.

Narrative Design for an RTS is a wild ride. And despite the pinch of salt in the lines above I definitely enjoy the chance I’ve been given with this. This article is honestly a slapdash work of professional opinion, advise, and direct dirty development experience. It’s a rough field guide for those treading these grounds for the first time, informative entertainment, or a good foundation for discussion.

See you in that world we’ve built, if you’re so inclined!

Ben Kuhn

Ben Kuhn is a writer and narrative designer at Daedalic Entertainment. Seven years sailing for Daedalic, mostly as a translator, dialogue writer, and voice director, packing a Master of Arts in English literature and creative writing acquired at the University of Bremen and Maynooth. Signed up due to his love of the medium and good stories and continues to be happy about that choice.

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