New Year's Resolution

A New Year, New Inspiration

So many people I follow and a lot of the articles I've been able to read create such indepth things. Parts of larger worlds or, in some cases, universes, that the creation of things in and of itself is frequently inspiration enough. Seeing the vast disparity between ideas is honestly comforting, a sort of reminder that there is something out there for everyone and that sometimes it's ok just to make things to make things. That's a kick I frequently get into but then experience bouts of guilt over. Making things that might never see the light of day or ever impact a story in any form or fashion. Much of my world building in Vnou, for instance, is for the sheer sake of creating. That was my entire reason for creating Vyril, too. Apparently I have a love of V names.

There is an air of mystery in some of the articles I like. Intentioned mystery. Where it's left open to interpretation as to what's really going on or why something is happening. I think that sort of open ended creation leaves for a lot of and then. Something more to build off of. If that is even the intent. Maybe it's just ok for some things to be unknown - such as the reason moon outpost dumplings are so good or what really is Ghost?

Then there's the flip-side fascination with the nitty-gritty detail of how things work. The creative and technical know-how that goes into the construction of things is both impressive and baffling. The invention of a language, no less, and how it's spoken! Lookin' at Kittymonster, whose articles so frequently come across like wikipedia pages that they are a nice reminder that there isn't such a thing as too much. At least, not for me since I tend to enjoy that sort of thing. It's impressive and beautiful in its own way. Since I've created / constructed a lot of new words for the vnou, I feel like a dabbler in the art of language creation while looking upon the master of it. Sometimes to the point my eyes cross while I'm trying to both understand and comprehend just how these things come together - or how I would implement these things myself. It feels just above my head. Like I can see the surface of it and know it's there but no way can I gasp at the air beyond. A reminder that there is always heights to aspire to, always something new to learn even as I feel like an old hat when it comes to both creation and world building.

What I found to be one of the more amusing aspects of both the people I follow and the things I read for my resolution was the amount of science-fiction-fantasy involved. Though I am not nor would I consider myself someone interested in writing such things, I do tend to find the things people make to populate their universes to be, well, neat. Different. That sort of creativity is attractive and inspirational. While I do not forsee myself writing or creating things out in space or constructed around planetary systems, it's still neat to see how other people have incorporated such things in the creation of their own. It frequently feels like modern-fantasy adjacent. Things that cannot always be explained, akin to magic, in a place that is populated with a race or culture that is different than our own, which is certainly common in fantasy realms. Perhaps the scale is simply bigger. And then there is often the involvement of space.

by Midjourney

Writing and Characters

I sort of think creating things - worlds, setting, and characters - as my bread and butter. It's the thing I like to do and find easiest. I tend to enjoy articles that add the flavor of writing, even when it's just small snippets or scenes that add context or frame the article at large. Even though I like it so much I do so myself infrequently. I never really know how to parse down a moment in time to something around a block of information. Even adding quotes related to a concept or idea frequently cause me problems because they don't feel like quotes to me. They're made up words from characters or names that aren't real to me. Perhaps that's the problem. It's not like I always know the names or characters attached to the scenes in the articles I read, but they still add something because it feels grounded in that world because it does have a name and sense of purpose attached. Writing the small scenes are more about the sense of purpose and less about trying to pull something from a larger, over-arching work. Maybe. I'm still trying to learn how to do this and so I'm forever pleased when I fall into articles that have such things.

My ultimate resolution here is that I'll be taking the things I've made and writing more with them. Vnou has slowly become a more solidified place and while there is likely always something I can world-build, a lot of the larger framework has been done. Breaking the world down into the nitty-gritty is where th exploration with characters starts to come in. Using them to explore the world isn't always novel-worthy writing, but I think it's good practice regardless. Even if it is just adding small snippets to articles.

Not Quite Fantasy

Vnou is my first real step into trying to write something that is primarily modern. I don't have a better descriptor besides earth-au since I use a lot of earth's terms and creations in the world even though the vnou are not exactly human. They are in appearance, more or less, and there are aspects of their world that sometimes seems to border on cyber-punk, but ultimately I want the world to feel like it could be our own if the vnou existed in it. There is no magic beyond the Connection between the Vnou and I suppose the eventual invasion? but there are things that I can't explain and thus sort of handwave as either technology or... because. Which is a reason I absolutely hate and try not to use, at all. The only reason I'm using it here is because I don't feel sufficiently qualified or intelligent enough to explain exactly how or why the vnou are the way they are, except that I want them to be. Creatively, that's a good enough reason. In a world-building, I want to know it all way, that never feels like a good enough reason.

by Midjourney

Reading List

^mutterwolf

^{drunkenpanda951}

^Mochi

^soulwing98

^{Blue Fairy 74}

^Inkith

^vvulf

^{George Sanders}

^elspeth87

^Kittymonster