how authors create IMMERSIVE WORLDS

this video goes over the tiny bits and pieces of worldbuilding that make your world feel real
start writing and worldbuilding at www.campfirewr...
discord • / discord
twitter • / ecyinka
tiktok • / ecyinka
thanks for hanging out ❤

[@ruinthetatarask7694]

The video buffered just as Elmo appeared creepily backlit with no sound and I thought it was some sort of weird jump scare for a few seconds

[@ecyinka]

that sounds terrifying 😂😂

[@TerraVulture]

Im gonna spend the next ten minutes laughing at this, thanks

[@Emery_Pallas]

Every copy of Mel Pitcher is personalised

[@johnduquette7023]

The "realism =/= pertaining to real life" has a parallel in the naturalism of Late Classic Greek sculpture. The works show perfectly-proportioned persons, either naked to ennoble them, or the appearance of being draped in thin, wet cloth to preserve certain dignities while leaving no mysteries about their perfect proportions. No one is that mathematically perfect and wet cloth doesn't actually behave that way at all, but we accept it because it's natural _enough_ that its doesn't fall into the uncanny valley.

[@pufthemajicdragon]

YOU GOT SPONSORED $%^&* DUDE! I absolutely LOVE your videos and I am SO excited for how your channel is growing! Your humor, your references, your interludes and interruptions, and most importantly your insights and breakdowns, it's all amazing.

[@ecyinka]

😭😭😭

[@bradreed2001]

@@ecyinka it really do be great advice tho

[@notanotaku1101]

The way you described consistency with the water metaphor reminded me of the time I poured myself a glass of orange juice late at night thinking I was pouring milk. Lemme tell you, great orange juice tastes like absolutely awful milk. This metaphor speaks to me on a primal level 😂

[@Dwaggy]

I have been looking around on KZbin for many different opinions and ideas of worldbuilding and when you brought up the uncanny valley when it comes to the planet of the hats trope was pretty eye opening. It gives me an idea of an unrealistically large group of people who seem to be all one person like a hive mind with how they interact with their very uncanny one way only to do everything. The people are like ghosts trying to achieve a goal the same way forever and different opinions or a change in ideas or paths can lead to hostility. Basically describes a national cult as you can't spell culture without cult. I really love the videos you make and the education sparking new ideas that I never thought of before. I can't wait to see how your channel progresses and see what new ideas can be made in the future.

[@ecyinka]

go write that idea 🗣️

[@Dwaggy]

@@ecyinka You got it! 👍

[@tea4nihilists]

bruh. between medication and campfire i think you just saved my sanity. my worldbuilding is wild despite the setting being a small New England town. i love getting granular about stuff that might never actually be featured but my organization is.... yea i love Scrivener but that ui has barely been more helpful than the dozens of folders and word documents i used to keep before it.

[@tea4nihilists]

i love love love your channel. i also can't emphasize enough how happy it makes me to hear such writing process tips and analysis from a fellow African.

[@kaigorodaki]

One of the best story telling youtuber's. Thanks for all your efforts 🙏

[@PJammaGod]

Praise be to the cube and cup of wisdom!

[@ecyinka]

🙇🏾‍♂️

[@mrbriggs1855]

I half-expected this to be yet another simplistic "consistency is the most important thing EVER". While consistency is certainly important in many cases, it is that one boring advice I know word-to-word from how often I heard it already and hearing it once again wouldn't help me a slightest bit. Rant about common advices aside - I'm damn glad this video included points and details I didn't think about yet and I thank you for that.

[@packman2321]

I think Adventure Time is a fun one here. It clearly builds out in silly ways without explaining itself for the majority of the work, using a consistency of whacky randomness to loop in things like War elephants and party god. Then it uses a subversion of that tone to introduce more serious elements to its world like Marceline's past and that fracturing of consistency makes them stick with the audience. Obviously it's not as grandiose world building as Lord of the Rings, but it's fun, easy enough to follow for its target audiences and capable of some really good serious world building hidden behind that.

[@salwaaj1356]

I ve read hundreds of fantasy books and the ones that suck me in are mostly based on true historical events.. It could have magic but be build on the true history of industrual revolution, or it could be about mutants or shifters or monsters or aliens but be inspired by true biological properties of wierd insects of the desert or st.. Or it could be about a dystopian magical world and have a tribal society inspired from real tribes we never learnt about in schools.. I remember the first time i came across the descriptions of the doctor's beak like masks, it was in a fanrasy book about death magic and it's only later that i realised that too came from historical facts. You can write a space opera and base it on the struggle btw classes in preCommunist europe.. The first time i read about storytelling as a tribal job was in a fantasy book where storytelling was magical in nature .. You can swear that you ll write a fiction without any connection to reality, but we are mentally incapable of imagining what we are incapable of physically experiencing. You can imagin a seventh sense but it will be a dérivatif of the other senses we have. You can imagin magical vision for a blind character but it will be about seeing colors or something derivative of sight. I don't think that the magic system will define the world you build in the end, it s rather the economic and social structure and those will certainly be faconned after our world's history (or a mirror image of it) .. The way you integrate you magic system into those models of societies is where you get trully creative.. Making the magic a catalyst or a result of that social structure.

[@lorenzosaracino9912]

hey! commenting for the first time after watching a lot of your videos: you always inspire me to write a lot for my ttrpg project, so thank you!

[@Greaust]

GREAT CHANNEL, I'm not a writer but I'm using your videos to make a better world for my rpg

[@The_Open_Book]

Great vid and much respect for you repeatedly saying verisimilitude lol

[@ecyinka]

i english well 😌

[@tea4nihilists]

it's such a fun word

[@bloorpgodoffrogs2695]

olny just found your vids in the past few weeks, but ive enjoyed all of them so far, and have found them very useful for build my own worlds

[@ecyinka]

build the hell out of those worlds 😤

[@bloorpgodoffrogs2695]

@@ecyinka hell yeah

[@kiwwat4139]

I found your channel about two months or so ago, you had about 200 or so subscribers. Now its nearly 20000 and you deserve every last one. Your work is great and I hope you continue to grow!

[@paulallen8304]

This one of the most eloquent videos I have seen in awhile.

[@RedInkTheOneAndOnly]

As an amateur worldbuilder, this was quite interesting and helpful, thank you!

[@Mah-LonCreativity]

Great! He dropped another video. I feel smarter after each one. 😅

[@sgt.squeegee1720]

Thank you for your videos! I am a brand new aspiring writer wanting to publish my own setting for tabletop gaming one day. These tips don't apply as much to me as for, per se, writing a book, but they are incredibly refreshing and help give me perspective in my worldbuilding! I am definitely a "worldbuild as I write my story" kind of person and I feel encouraged to continue diversifying my world thanks to you! Keep up the good work!

[@brandtthebrent7227]

Found your channel through the worldbuilding mistakes video, and I ended up watching all your stuff. You're doing some fantastic work out here!

[@jaybugg3r225]

This video is perfect for my imaginary universe. Now I can finally worldbuild in my head probably, thanks!

[@poweredbydecaf1915]

Fifth Season was awesome!

[@jungtothehuimang]

Thank you so much for actually explaining and also giving examples! This is some of the more helpful writing advice I have heard!

[@H_WLL]

All I gotta say is: This is good.

[@Midsummer333]

Seriously, I wish I found you months ago. You just make it all make sense! Although I'm kinda mad about Campfire. I just recently started with World Anvil (paid) and Campfire looks so much cooler!

[@starlenbrookly1050]

I'm literally SO EXCITED that your channel has been growing lately. I love your content and would happily be a patron if you ever make a patreon!!!! :)

[@djm.o.d.9376]

0:07 *gets some dice, snacks and drinks ready* "I dont think I can do this"....*waits with a blank character sheet for you*

[@_banjo_2141]

Dude that analogy about the drinks just blew my mind, super insightful. Awesome video.

[@kamilsandej]

MAAAAN KEEP GOING! YOU ARE DOING SUCH A GOOD JOB! We need to hear voice from valuable mind like yours from Africa, I hope you post something nice soon :)

[@TheMichaellathrop]

So one of the things I don't see much with these how to world build sort of KZbin series is someone going through step by step, it's all either very high level abstract sorts of stuff, or super granular I'm setting up trade routes for cinnamon sorts of stuff. I would be interested to see you going over your own world building depending on how far along you are in your own process. I'm especially interested to see what you would be deriving from real life African cultures as I've seen a lot of Euro-centric and some mediaval China-centric world building but not much else.

[@ShinkaTV]

Sometimes you're drinking, sometimes you're chewing. Great stuff, man!

[@katm8128]

The worldbuilding in Anthony Ryan’s draconis memoria series has to be one of my favorites

[@tomfoolery-4444]

One of my favorite adopted worldbuilding goals comes from DnD youtuber Dael Kingsmill: "We're going for verisimilitude and *truthiness,* not simulation."

[@CyFed_Republic_of_Kaltovar]

I'm glad I subscribed to this channel!

[@nitsanraviddaos4797]

Ayyyyyyyyy, Always a treat to see a new video of yours

[@leire5932]

Another great video. Keep it up👍🏾

[@pupbeat]

glad youtube suggested this video, i loved ur attitude right out of the gate and appreciate ur thoughts in this video

[@blackh9604]

I love this editing!

[@hayden3774]

"Consistently inconsistent" basically sums up hitch hikers guide Love your accent btw (:

[@thunderclanwarrior1253]

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a great example of this. Tomfoolery and shenanigans from page 1! In the first paragraph! And I was never like "this is unrealistic, I don't want to read." It made sense because the whole world was like it (and it was comedy, so I had a blast).

[@WPC799]

It’s so surreal to see you grow. Seriously i lit up when i saw you had 20k subs. Keep up the great work

[@arctosaerien]

you are really good at this type of stuff man!! keep it up!

[@MandosDestiny]

Love your channel. This is something I'm seeing in the writing groups I'm in--the worlds that fall flat are the ones that feel cut off from themselves; they lack that consistency.

[@Samsstuff10]

like studio gibli films. does anything make sense? no, is it vibey and emotional as hell? yes

[@AdamMantra]

Just discovered your channel. Honestly, you've got agreat way of explaining things whilst also keeping a solid pace and making it entertaining. Keep up the great work man

[@shmeepshmoop2717]

genuinely really enjoying all your videos, your metaphors actually help a lot :)), i've been dabbling with world building just to world build for a year or so but a few months ago i started writing a story which also needs a lot of worldbuilding so its nice to find tips on the subject

[@KoryGordon11]

Congrats on the sponsor! I look foward to every video you put out, I can't believe I was lucky enough to find you so early on. I'm excitied to see how fast this channel grows

[@quillvi]

i don't even write (yet) but your videos are so interesting to watch! congrats on the sponsor !!

[@karaba3580]

yo my man congratz on the sponsor, i've been lurking and rooting for ur channel for a while now. love your advice and how you give it, it feels very low-key and relaxed while being super informative at the same time. thanks for putting these videos out and motivating writers (or people with too much time and and a hyperactive imagination, like MEEE) out there to keep creating. good luck on finishing your book as well 💪

[@hedgehogshill3522]

I just watched a few of your videos and almost every time I got a new idea or an old idea came back (The held of this video: What if instead of shaking hands we would greet with a hand stand? And yes I would turn into a very mean person with that story but maybe secretly it truly is about the ways humans exclude each other with "simple" rules etc.) Well I really like you videos and the advise u give. Thank u very much!

[@majonag]

I'm binge watching your videos 🌝 so good!

[@georgiepno]

Instant subscribe because bubble tea and NK Jemisin came into your video.

[@kittytrash]

yo the production quality is clearly improving every video, props to you! your advice is so insightful, keep it coming!

[@rawtomic]

I love your videos and your energy! you make trying to improve or learn more so fun

[@herddragon9215]

ah nice. I've been doing some work to make avoiding planets of hats easier. so this was helpful. thank you.

[@Riverdrakes]

i heard Roshar as Russia and i was fully ready to accept that til i watched with captions X)

[@ecyinka]

a picture of urithiru pops up how did you reach such a wrong conclusion 😂😂😂😂

[@lenterao2699]

I really enjoy your video man, keep sharing your thoughts

[@circusten]

I just gotta say... WOW I love your channel. Your analysis of worldbuilding is incredibly easy to digest and understand, and it's very inspiring too! Makes me want to work on my own writing for sure. I'm developing a webcomic and I'm still firmly entrenched in worldbuilding at the moment, and... It's so incredibly easy to get overwhelmed by something like this because there's so many different angles to consider, and they ALL vary depending on your story and what elements are significant to it. It takes a lot of thought and planning that unfortunately does NOT come easy to me, haha! If you get down to brass tacks I've been developing this, my world, since early childhood, and now trying to make all those different childhood ideas into something more cohesive is a little easier said than done- I'm scrapping stuff as needed, of course, but I'm leaning into the absurdity of a lot of the old ideas too because part of the plot itself is that the world was created by someone that doesn't understand how a world properly works, so almost everything around is vaguely nonsensical and off-kilter (reeeeeal "triangles tasting the way spring smells" energy). The world is literally imaginary, and so it all functions a lot like a fever dream of some kind. I've got a long way to go in finalizing the story itself, but I'm quite happy with the world I've created. It's not perfect, but it's not supposed to be, y'know? My world is supposed to be a romp at the end of the day, with wacky, fun characters and a feel-good story. I'm going for heart more than anything, but I DO want to be consistent with the lack of consistency at the same time, so I def took a lot of the advice in this video to heart. I'll be looking out for more stuff, can't wait to see what you touch on next ♥

[@biigdoog]

hey so i just found your channel a week ago and i am already in love with all your content, while im not using the advice for writing i am using it to expand my DND campaign im running and its really help reinforce ideas and thought ive had on how to steert my story. thank you so much and keep chugging on!

[@darincalhoun3687]

I look forward to your novels.

[@Steingrabber]

I've been trying to help someone world build a fantasy world for a few months now as this person wants something fully set up before he really begins writing for the world. At the start I tried to tell him to just stick to what your story itself needs, but he's been insisting on hammering ideas. My biggest problem seems to be he wants things to be monolithic. I tried to do a roman style religious pantheon for him, but it was ultimately rejected because they all needed back stories and physical entities tied to them since to him that made sense that humans would only worship stuff they could see and feel. My idea I felt was a bit more dynamic, where only a few of the gods have entities tied to them and even then those entities are just using the name and face because it's easier to deal with humans/other races that way. This same idea happened again recently when he wanted to know how two separate worlds (earth and the fantasy world) could communicate. I suggested magically enchanted items that could at least help with one language at a time and I suggested they be a common item, especially at the main fantasy world city where several cultures would be present, not counting earths cultures. He rejected that idea saying at most there would be three languages and the rings would be rare due to simply not being needed. As from his point of view if they had translator magic what would be the point of learning languages in the first place. Where my idea was people would only need the rings when traveling as they will know their own and maybe neighboring languages from their home country, but the rings would only translate the base language so idioms and the like wouldn't be understood very well and you'd need the cultural context of the native speakers. The rings wouldn't/shouldn't work earth people by his standards anyway since very few know roman latin to any real degree.

[@joelhicks5468]

This channel is great! Love the ideas that you give me for some different spins on things that have been bouncing around in my head for forever

[@johnterpack3940]

I have a story idea in my head that I've been trying to get out for a few years. The problem is, it isn't really a story idea so much as a world idea. So I really need to work on building the world in order to find out what the story is. I also think an author has to know much more about the world than the reader ever needs to see. Recent collapses of iconic film franchises can easily be shown to be failures to abide the rules of the worlds as originally set out. In other words, consistency has to be across all materials related to the world.

[@Kyphura]

You've grow so fast. Love your channel!

[@melvishabbo]

Right on spot! Congratulations for the sponsor btw!

[@dirtywhitellama]

You have the exact same water glasses I do. Please give them back.

[@ecyinka]

no they’re mine now.

[@haxan4786]

comment for algorithm, good job!

[@joshcarlucci9712]

In my writing the characters who have magic come to explain it through their own personal experiences with it. There's only a few groups who study it but it's hard to because of certain characters who pull strings. Their explanations are all wrong and all right. They also change across the continents and depending on the type of person you are, if you're not introspective or if you are more or less, your magic changes. It has rules and it doesn't because nobody knows how to define them. There's worldly magic which manipulates the physical and can basically act as alchemy then there's cosmic magic which inhabits the spaces between life. It is a manifestation of the cosmic consciousness and very terrifying for characters who wield it. Then there's magic of the soul which is tied into both and is used to maintain the world against the will of nature. Nobody really knows anything and the only answers they get are the answers they find through their own experiences in life. I feel like this helps me write, linking everything but also not having solid answers myself. Art is a reflection we put back out into the world of ourselves within it and I know nothing truly and I feel like that's helping me write but sometimes i worry that people won't want to read because even the author doesn't have every answer

[@tripwire202]

Wonderful video ^^ I'm writing about alien mermaids, and your advice is great for making the people and their surroundings feel real and immersive. Have a great day!

[@minze6982]

me, who only has the general vibes of 17 worlds layed out: "why yes, i am almost done!"

[@pulsarhappy7514]

You have a very creative and fun approach to explaining world building I would say though that the glass of water analogy as well as the reference to the uncanny valley don't really make sense but somehow I understand what you mean anyway

[@ApaulSaid]

Hey, I have the exact same glass!

[@queengi8968]

Just discovered this channel, hope you post more dude!

[@Zarmdthecoolest]

Yknow what. I'm subscribing just because of the discworld references

[@mollof7893]

Your channel will be big..

[@Drawperfectcircles]

My friend used to say "everything is subjective"😂, he wasn't wrong, but he always says it when the debate is heated up and just wants to get out of it. Anyway, congrats man for the sponsor. Hope one day I can write a good manga too, despite being born in Nigeria.

[@MrPokemon248]

Great video dude

[@egg_2705]

This is so irrelevant but as someone who hasn't watched Wheel of Time, seeing wizard Álvaro Morte instead of heist mastermind Álvaro Morte at 2:12 threw me in for an absolute loop

[@enxman7697]

Great video as always!

[@reon2x22]

Aah, yes, more advice for my maladaptive daydreaming. 😊

[@ecyinka]

same 😂

[@reon2x22]

@@ecyinka lol

[@majonag]

It'd be very interesting to hear what your take on Otessa Moshfegh (Homesick for another world is) - would you say the stories are consistent or does she break with this rule? I'm truly not sure about it 😅

[@theswordandthepenchannel]

Brilliance!

[@leolightfellow]

Great advice, as usual. Tone/mood is very important. On a sidenote, there seems to be an echo on the video's sound, and I notice there's no insulation on the walls behind you. Just something to think about.

[@Vhhnngyhvfgjkhgt]

One time I drank a glass of “water” but funnily enough it turned out to be WD40

[@morrigannibairseach1211]

Any chance you'll end up talking about making names? I've had a bit of indecision lately. I've been doing world building notes for a setting I want to write a story in. Normally I'm a pantser but I want the setting to draw from the real world in a very particular way. I want to do a kind of pan-Celtic gestalt somewhat alternate timeline. So I want to draw from different Celtic sources sometimes flipping to another language to hide a well known name. The historic Arthur, in the story, is Artorigios so the name is the Gaullish root not familiar Welsh. The trouble comes with say his half brother who I thought might name Artorias but decided it's too on the nose, as both a possible etymology for Arthur but also very Roman, so I decided to smash together it's two possible etymologies to make Arnthorres. Which I am unsure of. Gender and culture flip the name Merlin (Welsh: Myrddin) to get Maradun (Irish: sea fort) which works perfectly because Mara is an extant feminine name add on dún and it rhymes with Cara Dun. But simply Gaelicizing Morgan gets me Muirfáinne. Maybe Marafawnye because lots of readers won't understand the Irish accenting of letters? But does that change make them seem like they should be related? So maybe Mwyrfwnye? Wasn't this one supposed to be Irish not Welsh? Basically how do you decide when a name is right that you are unsure of? How do you know when it looks and sounds right?

[@nikicherry1234]

your videos are cool. i foun d thise yesterday. (i cant spell today, sorry)

[@ItsSkwishy]

How does one world build in a story rooted in a real-world setting?

[@BetterShows-sh5vz]

A book series I was reading has SO MANY retcons from this 1 characters backstory and it just pisses me off

[@supersolomob422]

The sad thing is that once we reach verisimilitude our brains are half empty

[@kontradiction8132]

So what you're telling me is World building is Cherry Boba

[@dagon99]

Neat

[@Lighn]

Bro.. no homo but i love you. Your videos are sooo well dobe oh my god

[@peacemaker0240]

I love you

[@derinowoade3575]

Great video, have you written anything? Would like to check it out

[@ELI-nt6hs]

Really great video but I have one question: (sry for the bad english) If the story is in a quite generic fantasy setting but you get told a few times that the further you travel away from the place were the story starts the weirder it gets, and your characters (threw some stuff that happens in the plot) end up far away from this place, can this other place be very differnt with different magic and all kinds of other stuff or would this be like (let me borrow your metaphor for a second) expecting to drink water but spitting it out because its something different? Or would this be okay?

[@ecyinka]

i think it’s all about setup and payoff like i said i can’t say for certain because i don’t know the story you’re writing as well as you do, but if you set up from the beginning that things get weirder and weirder the further they go then it really isn’t a surprise when it gets drastically different if it’s a generic setting only up until half way through the book and things suddenly get weird without any foreshadowing, it becomes jarring (and maybe that jarring effect is what you want) but the people who like the generic setting are more likely to be put off and those who would prefer the weirder setting probably didn’t read far enough in the first place

[@herobrinesblog]

Imma say something, dont mean to be mean, or an ass, but its important: If the technology or magic system in your world is fundamentally different, then MOST things must be different. Think how much technology changed how we think about relationships, marriage, sex, friendships, meeting people, safety, being alone, being in a group, etc. Now, think about your magic. If there is flying magic and its commons, then trading would be faster, wars might be fought in the air with magic spells, roads would be mostly useless, houses can be anywhere, there'd be a lot of air related deaths (falling, collisions, etc), and unironically, there'd be less fiction (in lore) about flying. Magic in a magical world would be mundane, so people wouldnt be mesmerized by it. Maybe it'd be common to date someone miles and miles away, etc. Maybe life would feel more free, and authority lacking, since it'd be hard to contain people thaty can fly away

[@lazulenoc6863]

In real life, the more you try and combine religions, the more religions you make. Try combining two versions of the same religion and you'll end up with a solid combination of the two initial variations, two purist versions and a few that lie on the spectrum between the two extremes.

[@charlesco7413]

Campfire is ridiculously restrictive in their don'ts and dos. By their standards, Star Wars couldn't be published.