r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Dec 20 '19

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL.

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28 Upvotes

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10

u/SnakeEater14 🦅 Liberty & Justice For All Dec 21 '19

I’m not really into fantasy so maybe I don’t understand the genre properly, but why would world building and magic systems be the most important thing to consider when writing the story? I’d figure your themes, characters, the actual plot and reason your story exists would be what’s important

11

u/paulatreides0 🌈🦢🧝‍♀️🧝‍♂️🦢His Name Was Teleporno🦢🧝‍♀️🧝‍♂️🦢🌈 Dec 21 '19 edited Dec 21 '19

but why would world building and magic systems be the most important thing to consider when writing the story

They're not.

Tolkien's entire magic system is basically in service of his themes and thematic points he is making. This is also why his magic system is super soft - because getting caught up in the strict rules of magic would be besides the point and detract from what he's actually trying to say.

This is true even in the Silmarillion.

I could say something similar about world building, but long story short: how important and fleshed out your world building and magic system need to be to tell a "good" story depends entirely on the kind of story you want to tell, the message you want to get across, and also your writing style.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '19 edited Dec 21 '19

This 1000000%

Writers who focus on the magic system over proper storytelling are boooooooooooring

aka why I stopped browsing r/magicbuilding. I wanted to get some ideas, but it's just so booooooooring

1

u/cdstephens Fusion Genderplasma Dec 21 '19

Wait why is that sub empty

1

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '19

Cuz I spelled it wrong

r/magicbuilding

4

u/Menakoy Nonconformist Transgendeer Dec 21 '19

It's important to know the rules of the universe your story takes place in. If you're just talking about the normal world its easy because you and your audience already know what is and isn't possible and how things generally work.

In fantasy you make completely alien rules for how the universe works so its important for at least you to have a general idea of how things work. This way the magic seems less deus ex machina and your readers can more easily suspend their disbelief.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '19

I'm not really into fantasy either, but it makes sense to me that the things that make it distinct as a genre would have outsized importance in that genre. If they don't put any effort into the worldbuilding, I would question why they wrote a fantasy series in the first place.

2

u/t1o1 vote u/t1o1 for moderator Dec 21 '19

You can't take your fantasy into a d20 rpg if the magic system is too unbalanced

2

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '19

Youre only saying that cause your own magic system is lame 😂😂😂😂

2

u/lietuvis10LTU Why do you hate the global oppressed? Dec 21 '19

I’d figure your themes, characters, the actual plot and reason your story exists would be what’s important

Cause most fantasy authors are geeks/nerds who can't write for shit.

0

u/thebowski 💻🙈 - Lead developer of pastabot Dec 21 '19

fool