The Problem of Grand Ambitions
The great things may be what entices you to start writing and putting the pen to the paper, but they also will be your inevitable literary downfall. In this article I will be speaking from experience (like I wasn’t before), about what to avoid when starting or just taking your world-building journey.
When we come into this hobby we often start great taking inspiration from great works like: Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Le Guin’s Earthsea or even much closer to home Matt Mercer’s Exandria. We see these elaborate detailed worlds and due to the human nature we feel inspired to create – to make the world of our own, yet the same inspiration is the reason for millions upon millions unfinished works – you may ask “But why Exi?”, and I will tell you that the answer is not that complicated.
We see these grand fantasies, detailed worlds with their own cultures, species, writing systems and so as with many things we feel like we could do that yourself, but there is a catch – human mind is built to seek gratification and avoid friction, but the majority of the process is friction with sudden and short lasting but great explosions of gratification. When we set our goal we are optimistic and often it is beyond our current capabilities. We may stick for some time, but only rare few will have enough motivation and stubbornness to see it through. This requires a great deal of effort and self control, which will put you into an uncomfortable positions, but remember – it is easy to give up, but you do not want to be remembered for what you’ve forsaken, but for what you’ve built.
My Experiences
From the youngest age I’ve been really into creative writing, inspired by many books I’ve been reading at the time and when one of my friends introduced me to the world of TTRPGs I’ve been hooked. Almost immediately I’ve started creating – worlds, locations, stories but most of them met the same fate – abandoned, but forgotten; kept either it the back of my mind as free floating ideas or on some scattered notes, that are probably still somewhere in my childhood room.
Many world even got into the later stages of writing with the general outline being completed, but they never felt right – I always thought that something was missing, and so… to the new projects I went.
Only after years and years, accumulation more than 10 years of GM-ing experience in worlds of mine and other’s creation I had found what I was missing. Almost all the time my goal was grand and I was blinded by illusions of my grandeur and delusions, that I’m more capable than average human. From that day onward I started working in chunks – making my world a patchwork of different topics and settings, so there always was something fresh to work on and in some way reignite the initial spark.
Be it desert resource struggle using ancient machine cities, gloomy folk tales of the south or the cyberpunk city on the moon, where people have escaped from calamity millennia ago. It made everything feel fresh and allowed me to get out of my writing comfort zone trying new things without abandoning the old ones.
Creativity in the World of AI
Many of us may feel tempted to avoid the friction in its entirety, but I can attest that it is not the right choice when it comes to the creative writing. The friction helps us improve and create astounding works, but you need to remember that no one can create a masterpiece overnight and it requires a lot of scrapped ideas.
Through the friction we grow, so if you succumb to these temptations you will never realize your potential. This may be stable and consistent, but it will never be yours, so in this section I will leave you with the words of my writing mentor – “Creativity thrives in the highs and lows, nobody remembers the averages”.
My Recommendations
I really recommend that you stop doubting yourself and give writing your own world, your own story a try. There is nothing to be lost, but what you build will remain with you, maybe for the rest of your life.
If you are afraid of friction and adversity, as is human, you may live a stable life, but it won’t be a fulfilling one, as that comes from succeeding against the odds and achieving what we thought impossible – if there were no possibility to lose, what would be the worth of a success. You may fail again and again, but the successes will reward all of that and then some.
You will feel like giving up, like it is not worth it – don’t it is – you are living a piece of yourself behind, creating something of yours in the world where any anchor is important. This is a piece of yourself, so don’t come up with a grand plan just to fret over it – just create.
In the next article, I will be telling a little bit more about my journey with creating my current setting running for some time now.