Plot, Part 1

Whether you have a theme you wish to communicate in your work or not, all stories have some sort of conflict at their center. Such conflict can be external or internal. External conflict is the most common and usually takes the form of the protagonist versus an antagonist. For example, the novel Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett, pits Commander Sam Vimes against the insane criminal Carcer Dun. Internal conflicts deal with the protagonist versus himself. A good example is Anakin Skywalker's internal struggle between the Light Side and the Dark Side in Star Wars. Often, stories have both internal and external conflicts. In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago battles with the marlin (external) as well as with his own desire to give up his chase and rest (internal). Regardless of the type of conflict, stories always contain them.

Stories also frequently contain complications. If the story had no complications, the protagonist could waltz right through it, easily solving the conflicts. Night Watch has Commander Vimes vaulted back into the past and has to be careful not to cause paradox when he meets his younger self. To top it off, Carcer (who has also been transported back) allies himself with those who are plotting to overthrow the government, a conflict that, historically, caused much bloodshed in Ankh-Morpork. In Star Wars, Anakin has premonitions of Padmé's death and believes that giving in to the power of the Dark Side is the only way to save her. Frequently, good stories have many complications keeping the protagonist from solving a relatively simple problem. In effect, complications are subconflicts which the protagonist must resolve before dealing with the primary conflict. Sometimes, as with Anakin Skyalker, complications are simply paradoxes pulling the protagonist between extremes (Anakin wants to follow what he knows is right, so he leans towards the Light Side; he also wants to save those close to him, so he leans toward the Dark).

After overcoming complications, the protagonist can then deal with the main conflict. This is called the resolution. The resolution of Night Watch results in Vimes successfully capturing Carcer and averting much of the bloodshed of the revolution. Resolutions are not always happy endings, however. Santiago successfully wins the battles against himself and the marlin, only to lose his catch to sharks and nearly die at sea. Anakin falls to the Dark Side and still loses Padmé, only to be redeemed in the last few moments of his life an ending that, while it could have been worse, was still far from happy.

We'll start working on some plot next time following the formula laid out here: conflict (external or internal) → complications → resolution.

Influences, Part 4

Technology never solved any of our real problems. The moment we squash one, another pops up. We praise ourselves for defeating polio only to see the disease morph and avoid our vaccines. We congratulate ourselves on decreasing the amount of backbreaking work present in our daily lives only to fear heart disease and obesity. We thwart terrorist attacks only to infringe on personal liberties. Beyond that, we just use our new sciences to fuel our old fires of hatred.

The advent of modernism, I think, demonstrated this extremely clearly. Remember the eugenics movement? This "science" was used to perpetuate racism and to shirk off social responsibility. Its most disastrous use was its role in the Holocaust, when it was used to "prove" the inferiority of Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals, among others. Those who assumed these people were inferior determined the genetic traits they didn't want society to have, rounded up those who represented them, and quarantined or killed them. Were they simply weeding out undesirable elements as the cold logic of science dictated? Or were they using flawed logic that supported their hatred? Germany had already begun to hate Jews and gypsies before eugenics made its appearance on the scientific state, so it seems the use of eugenics to prove the inferiority of the Jews was quite convenient.

Peace, it seems, never comes to man. We've fought countless wars and yet can never quench our thirst for violence. World War I was called by some "the war to end all wars". It didn't of course. Today we find ourselves mired in combat with those in the Middle East who simply want to rule themselves instead of being at the mercy of every other nation in a tumultuous region, or being sliced up and handed over to oil companies. We generate doctrines of hate against those who want the same thing as America wanted when it declared its independence from England: freedom from oppressive lands across the sea. We cry for (nuclear!) war against Iran simply because they hate us, yet we think we are justified in our hatred towards them. Despite all this, rather than settle our differences with words and thoughtful understanding, tools we have had since the dawn of man, we rush to kill others with our new weapons of war.

If I say I want Shadows & Silver to be realistic, it's because the real world offers the epic, tragic conflict of which fantasy novelists can only dream. Reality, then, is the primary influence on my fiction.

Influences, Part 3

Today we'll tackle some of the influences on Shadows & Silver's style. Remember, theme (what we have mostly talked about thus far) is what you want to say; style is how you say it. I've already made the basic stylistic decision of having this setting be one of early industrial technology and have decided that this is one of the primary causes of the discouragement on which the main theme hinges. While I could rant on and on about how technology has made us forget our spiritual selves, I'll summarize with this statement: we err when we attempt to solve our problems with technological knowledge because we treat symptoms rather than the cause. I may explain a little later what I mean by this, but for now we'll see what has influenced me in my concept of the destructiveness of technology.

Nowhere is my point better made than in mainstream fantasy. Most of these works deal with generic medieval worlds where the conflicts are easily separated into us versus them, good versus evil. The hero is a shining knight going to rescue a fair maiden in distress. Or perhaps he is an outcast from an evil society who has thrown off the ways of his people. Regardless, the world of the Middle Ages is highly romanticized. Is that bad? No. If anything, it supports the idealistic view of the world that I'd like to promote in my work, even if it's the sort of idealism you just conjure up so the horrors of the real world don't drive you insane.

The height of this romanticism can be found in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which captures, in the struggle of the hobbits to destroy the One Ring, the necessity of throwing off the evils of modern society. Tolkien's work, while heavily influenced by Germanic and Norse folklore, was largely a reaction to Industrialization, culminating in the catastrophes of the second World War (hence the theme of the book, "How can the world return to the way it was after so much bad has happened?"). Though the Ring was destroyed, its influence was not removed from Middle Earth. Even the beautiful Shire was corrupted. We can liken the Ring to many modern ills, and many have done so. From Nazism to the atomic bomb, it's all been suggested. But for Tolkien, the Ring represented the machine and the way of life machines represent. He watched as England's lovely rural countryside was replaced by smokestacks billowing clouds of wretched smog, and all he could think of were the orcs tearing down trees and building their machines of war. How he wished we could return to the age when magic and beauty were bountiful, when men's lives were not dictated by the clanking of cogs and the beating of war drums!

I want Shadows & Silver to model this, to truly show the disease technology brings upon the world. And yet, there is so much good that it brings. It increases production, raises the standards of living, and increases health. Well, it does when it's used responsibly. But in the last hundred years we have seen our world racked with war, and the greatest advances of our time are those things designed as weapons. This is because technology is a means to an end, and if we devote ourselves to the end of obtaining wealth and power, then technology will only serve to increase our misery. The key, then, is to keep a spirit of childlike idealism, to use technology in a way that benefits mankind as a whole, to ignore our own selfish desires, and to hold the hope for a brighter tomorrow. In Shadows & Silver, as in our world, few are so enlightened.

Influences, Part 2

Last time I posted a fairly lengthy observation on how to incorporate influences from other works into your setting, but I ran out of time to write out some of the influences I want to incorporate into my setting. Let's do that now.

One of the basic elements I want in my setting is that of a gritty environment in which realism is practically forced on its denizens. The reason for this is that it causes the reader to retreat into idealism as a natural reaction: when he sees tragedy, he will immediately wonder why the characters simply treat it as the way of life. For the game world, it also ensures that players will have a goal: make things better (if not for others, then for themselves). People in this world may want life to get better, but no one expects it to. Part of grit is the realization that things can always get worse.

Now what works do I know of that show this sort of setting? The first that comes to mind is the game The Witcher, based on a series of novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. While I haven't been able to play it yet (damn that bugged system requirements check!), it shows a world similar to the one I'd like to model. The primary theme is that there is no black and white morality, that everything exists in shades of grey. This is a large leap from most fantasy, and it's something I've already stated that I would like to portray. One of the primary ways in which The Witcher shows the shades of grey in the world is with the deceitfulness of appearances. Just because someone looks monstrous doesn't mean he is evil, and just because he is beautiful doesn't mean he is good. People have realistic desires, goals, and behaviors that can't be quantified with a simple good/evil alignment. Another way in which The Witcher supports this theme is through the pragmatic approach to life Geralt must embrace. The world is a hard place, full of suffering and fear, and he does what he must to stay alive; sometimes that means hurting others to get what he needs.

I can apply both of these concepts to my setting. Sure, characters in the setting (or players in the game world) may choose to look at the world as one of absolutes, but that doesn't mean it's how things are. The world is gritty, and you've got to fight for your place in it because the universe isn't going to spontaneously reward you for longsuffering. Trying to swing the balance of the world in favor of good or evil yields unexpected consequences, because the world isn't run by forces of good or evil. The human desire to compartmentalize everything that goes on will lead to frustration and disillusionment once characters realize the world only exists in shades of grey. Whether the reader (or player) also becomes disillusioned is up to him.

Another work that has influenced me a lot is the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. The mantra of the series is the law of Equivalent Exchange:

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange."

But equivalency goes beyond just a law of alchemy. It's something that applies to everything in the world. If you want something, you've got to give something up. It's a dark message throughout the series; happiness comes at a terrible cost. Towards the end, the Elric brothers realize that the law doesn't seem to always be satisfied. Many people suffer loss with no reward, pain with no pleasure, sorrow with no happiness. Ultimately, though, their idealism wins out:

"The world isn't perfect, and the law is incomplete. Equivalent Exchange doesn't encompass everything that goes on here. But I still choose to believe in its principle: that all things do come at a price. That there's an ebb, and a flow, a cycle. That the pain we went through did have a reward and that anyone who's determined and perseveres will get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected."

I like this concept because it represents a question that always comes up when people get discouraged. People often ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" or "Why am I still poor when I've worked so hard?" Belief, whether conscious or no, in a law of Equivalent Exchange always leaves people discouraged when they don't get the results they wished for. I like that after all the Elric brothers come through in the series, they still arrive at an idealistic conclusion. It's what I'd like to see happen with the characters in my stories.

So how have these themes influenced my setting? Well, I know that the world is a dark and gritty place where you have to struggle to survive. The problem is, you're not always rewarded for your efforts - at least, not in the way you expect. Those who keep hope, though, may see a higher purpose if they look long and hard enough, and they'll realize that all their suffering was not in vain. Of course, that happy ending is reserved for those who persevere in spite of all the horrid things that happen, those who maintain their idealism in the face of discouragement.

Next time we'll look at some more influences, specifically those that affect the style rather than theme.

Influences, Part 1

It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. In writing, you often want to pay homage to those who have created works you love. Figuring out how not to plagiarize can be tricky, though, and if you're not careful, you'll end up with a derivative work.

Take the following book concepts, for instance. In the first, a young farm boy who was raised by his uncle finds that he is destined to revive an ancient warrior caste that once brought peace and justice to all lands. The caste was betrayed, as he finds out, by his own father, a fellow warrior, at the behest of one who has now been made emperor. It's up to the farm boy turned hero to right the wrongs and overcome his father's failure. In the second, a fellowship of humans, elves, and dwarves has to keep an evil overlord from capturing an artifact that they miraculously stole from him. In the third, a world is protected by dragon-riding knights who have telepathic links to their mounts.

Know the stories? If you guessed Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and the Dragonriders of Pern... you're wrong. It's one story called Eragon, written by Christopher Paolini, a boy who apparently has no concept of original storylines. Remarkably, it has succeeded in the marketplace, and has even had a movie made from it. So if it was so successful, why should anyone try to come up with an original idea if they can model Paolini and rehash all the story elements they like best?

The answer is simple. These stories have nothing to say. They only pander to readers that care nothing about message and want only a diversion for a few hours while they read. If you want to simply provide an escape, go with the tried and true. But if you want people to remember what you said, you'd better be saying something important, something people have never heard before, or that they have never heard in the way you want to say it.

How, then, do you avoid Paolini's mistake? One key is to focus on themes rather than plots. Remember, a theme is a message you are trying to communicate; a plot is a conflict that is resolved in the work. Themes are inherently more important than plots because they deal with conflicts that go beyond the storyline of the work. For example, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest deals with the conflict of independent man versus the "Combine," socialist conformists. The work goes far beyond whether or not McMurphy can overcome Nurse Ratched; it asks the readers if they can overcome society's pressures. One need not rely on the plot and stylistic devices of Kesey's work to write a similar work. The key lies in the theme.

Decide what themes beyond your primary message you want to address. What works express these themes? How do they do it? How well do they do it? (If you are having trouble deciding on the themes, think of some works that you treasure. What themes are these works expressing that cause you to love them so much? The Lord of the Rings deals with corruption and redemption in its subplot of Gollum and Frodo's interaction. In Fullmetal Alchemist, the Elric brothers are frequently confronted with the cost of power. Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea deals with the battle against the self.) List the differences and similarities in the ways these works handle your chosen themes. What methods resonate the most in your mind? How can you improve on such thematic devices or suit them to your work? How can you make them work toward a unified story?

This is a lot to think about, and I've barely even begun to sift through the massive number of works I want to emulate. Next time we'll follow this method I've laid out and work through some of the stories I want to influence my writing.

Style

Form follows function, which is to say, "purpose first; style later." You may create a beautiful world that carefully articulates an atmosphere, but if it's not the atmosphere you want, then the style is useless. The style (what truly makes it a setting, as opposed to a world) should develop out of the purpose you want the world to serve. Similarly, you must understand why you are writing; only then can you hope to know how to achieve your goal. Once you have decided on the purpose of your setting, you can begin to flesh out the style of the world.

In Shadows & Silver, I want the reader to encounter a sense of hopelessness and despair, and to struggle in his own mind to not succumb to postmodern nihilism. This serves the purpose of demonstrating my stated theme: "by forsaking childlike idealism, men lead sorrowful and hopeless lives." This is the function. What then, should be the form?

Functions suggest appropriate forms. I've already shown that a dark world would best support my theme. It requires readers to react against the world, inserting their own opinions into the work, debating what they may perceive to be the message of the work. A very pessimistic world in which idealism has been forsaken in favor of mind-numbing realism leaps out to me. This, in turn, prompts several stylistic decisions:

• The world should have a relatively high technology level. However, it should be close enough to medieval technology so as not to be too far removed from what characters could perceive as the "good old days" before machines changed life. I'm thinking of the early Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment as historical analogues. In order to effectively show the problems with a modern mindset, however, industry must be a relatively new concept. This allows it to be a "new wave" with very little time for serious reactionary measures.
• Technology should bring with it the problems of modernity, especially since the world has had little time to solve the problems a paradigm shift brings. Corruption, pollution, poverty, slavery, nationalism, zealotry, racism, etc. are all things that are accentuated by technological shift.
• Racial tensions should run high. This may be based on the human desire for power, or on the human desire to blame the ills of society on others. In a world where other races and even monsters exist, there are more outlets for this sort of thing.
• Since technology is new, there should be plenty of lands that don't have the same level of industry as the more developed ones yet. Even today, there are many rural communities and even wandering hunter-gatherers, and this is long after the advent of industrialism. This should create many political struggles as more advanced cultures attempt to overpower the less developed ones.
• Magic should take a backseat role. In a world where discovery and science are the new buzz, magic is seen as the way of the past, something with which superstitious folk deluded themselves into believing in forces beyond their control. I may even have it outlawed.
• Religion, if it is present at all, should support the new order of technology in order for it not to go the way of magic. Perhaps it even supports the shift, resulting in a sort of divine versus arcane struggle.

This is plenty of good basic stylistic information. I'll ruminate on this some and then flesh out the style a bit more.

Settings versus Worlds

When designing a setting, always be conscious of what you are wanting to say. Whether you're trying to communicate a particular theme (such as I explained below) or simply a distinctive atmosphere, you need to settle on exactly what you want to communicate before you bother writing down specifics. Failure to do this results in a typical medieval fantasy world: boring, trite, and generic. You see this all the time in common game settings, such as Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. The need to include all fantasy tropes results in a watered-down setting that is indistinguishable from all the garbage you find in five-dollar fantasy paperbacks.

To create something distinctive, you need to make it different. That sounds simple enough, right? But how different is "different"? As Oakspar says, you need to ask the basic question, "Do I want to create a setting or a world?"

By "Setting" I mean the FEEL of the campaign world. For example, you can take Ebberron and change every name, map, and person and you would still have something "set" in Ebberron. The Pulp feel shines through.

By "World" I mean a concrete place with cities, towns, [countries], etc.

Of course, a setting needs to have a world to go along with it. You need cities, towns, etc. in which things in your story will happen. But there's more than that. You've got to have a distinctive atmosphere. It may be reflected in game rules or prose style, but atmosphere mostly comes from the themes that you express in your work. Is your intent to communicate humor? Adventure? The eternal struggle between good and evil? The scarcity of good help? Whatever you settle on, you need to make sure everything works toward this atmosphere. Anything else is a discordant element that doesn't fit the rest of the setting.

In Shadows & Silver, I knew I wanted to create something different than the typical generic medieval fantasy. It's easy to rip off Tolkien, as many fantasy settings have shown us. It's far harder to create something new. Beginning with the theme I wanted to express, I settled on a much darker, more modern world. After all, it's difficult to communicate the importance of idealism from a world steeped in ideals. The typical medieval fantasy bases its conflicts around the struggle of good and evil. In the real world, things are always shades of grey, a fact that has led many to throw up their hands in despair and forsake following a moral compass at all. Let's show a world like that: a world so rife with the problems of modernity that it forces the reader to retreat into the comforts of idealism, forces him to act to combat such hopelessness in his own life. Shadows & Silver will deal with real problems: corruption, pollution, poverty, slavery, nationalism, zealotry, racism, etc. Those things alone create a setting much different than most fantasy worlds (or even settings) out there.

Purpose

Why make Shadows & Silver? Beyond the stock statement that I feel the need to create, well... I have something I want to say to the world. It's something that can be said in simple words, but it's much more effective to say it with a story. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien showed us that after evil comes nothing is ever the same. Saying those words communicates the idea, but not as effectively as watching Frodo and Sam sacrifice everything only to find they didn't save the Shire after all.

In writing Shadows & Silver, I want to deal with many themes. But the overall statement I want to make is that, by forsaking childlike idealism, men lead sorrowful and hopeless lives. There are plenty of applications of that basic concept that can easily be turned into story elements: war and peace, magic and science, liberty and tyranny, faith and doubt, corruption and redemption... the list goes on. My stories will highlight these conflicts. In every case, though, I want to show the tragic state of humanity. The world will revolve around this theme.

Beginnings

Well, it's not the beginning, really. I've been working on the world of Shadows & Silver for over six years. I've got so many notes piled up and so many ideas fighting to get down onto paper that I've got to let it spill out somewhere, and a public place where others can comment on or criticize it is as good a place as any.

Casadechrisso, a friend and mutual world designer, set up this blog to track his development of his Neverwinter Nights world, and it struck me as a good idea to do the same. While I am interested in designing for Neverwinter Nights, I'm trying to make a book or two dozen out of my world, so this blog will cover both of those projects. Topics will range from emo rantings about the difficulties of writing to in-depth discussions of persistent world design. It won't be too terribly structured, but I do hope it will remain relevant and informative to readers who may want to design their own worlds for whatever reason.

Cheers!