On Writing: Exposition - magic systems and worldbuilding [ Avatar l Rowling l Inception l Asimov ]

[@HelloFutureMe]

Hey everyone! If you'd like to support this sort of educational content, I'd love for you to join our patreon-discord community for just a couple of dollars a month: www.patreon.com/hellofutureme QotD: What is one of the best worldbuilt stories that is *not well known* ? I'm really enjoying Leviathan Wakes by James A Corey (which is what the Expanse is based on, I think). Let me know yours down in the comments below! ~ Tim

[@Error-yl5bg]

Hello Future Me early squad

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Hi

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[@Error-yl5bg]

I am here because I am subed

[@marinary1326]

I gotta recommend the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (again) for worldbuilding. It has to introduce not only a world full of dragons, but also a world full of dragons 200 years ago (1800s). Not only do you learn about how dragons work in this world, you also have to learn about how mundane life works because the difference in time and technology and society leaves you nearly as a fish out of water as the multi-ton flying lizards thing. Going in, you know just as much about Chinese court life or the British navy as you do dragons (unless you are a total history nerd, in which case you get to see how these things change with the introduction of dragons). The series also starts off small- one dragon, a Western European country. Then later on you are introduced to stranger variants of dragons, societies more affected by the presence of dragons, and cultures across the world. It's a series that I adore and wish was better known.

[@ThrottleKitty]

I wonder how this video is going to bring up Avatar: TLA

[@austinwalker6195]

Same. I subscribed to this channel because he always talks about my favorite show. I love it.

[@ThrottleKitty]

Seriously, the show deserves the amount of respect this channel gives it!

[@CandyThePuppy]

4:14 there it is! XD

[@YourMasterDennis001]

I’m several years behind everyone on this page and I already have this same question almost every video 😅

[@itaykerensm1629]

The discworld has some of the best world building in my opnion

[@Fif0l]

I got one of those books and ragequited at the prologue.

[@itaykerensm1629]

@@Fif0l which one? I'd love to recommend another one if you disliked it.

[@ironicallynice]

The discworld has some of the best footnotes in my opinion.

[@mischa2643]

ironicallynice amen😂

[@ancientswordrage]

@@Fif0l don't leave us hanging

[@Pluveus]

I'd like to add a side-note to your side-note. The thing about Tolkien's essay on Hobbits was part of the preface, not the forward, however the important thing to remember is that the preface is superfluous to the actual book and is inserted at the end of the Return of the King just before the readings of the Appendices. He didn't incorporate it into the actual text of the story, and reserved exposition within the story to mostly plot relevant details. The fact that LotR references things that would appear in the Silmarillion without actually explaining them is in my opinion part of why he was able to remain internally consistent and why his Legendarium is so popular.

[@teachmegames]

I just found your page and its been the only thing playing for about 3 days straight lol. As far as the question, my favorite worldbuilding stories is actually The Summoner Series by Taran Matharu. I love the universe he built and its definitely one of my favorite book series.

[@TheRaptor0101]

Mine is from the game Tooth and Tail. Is a story of a cannivalistic revolution in a fantasy animal nation in which by playing under each different faction you get enough to understand and sometimes simpathize for everyone. Very nice gameplay too~

[@alohalyon6643]

Mercades Lackey's Elemental Masters series is a good example of world building. Especially, the book Phoenix and Ashes.. That's a great one to start on.

[@DrgoFx]

I love Underland Chronicles' Worldbuilding, it's just so facinating to learn and read about the cultures and relations between all the different races and what vermin are actually represented in this world.

[@condominiolucerna1226]

i just recently started to read the gentleman bastard series and IT'S AMAZING. the world and how they explain it, leaving details in descriptions that expresses world building. i have no words for how good it is, you should check it out if you're interested in a semi-realistic fantasy book about smart boys/teenagers robbing rich people, mystery, wonderful characters and been just plain fun in a fantasy version of Venecia. i would go on more detail but i don't want to spoil it. love the video by the way.

[@squidminion3801]

This is a great video!!!! Best worldbuilding I've seen is in the trilogy by Becky Chambers starting with the long way to a small and angry planet!

[@christianklumper1264]

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson has some of the best world building I’ve ever read!

[@foxenride101]

I liked the exposition in Six of Crows. It was the frist of the Grisha books I read and it did a good job of helping me understand the world, even though it was based in a small place. Also it helped explain how the cultures differ in both race and beliefs.

[@AzraelVonJaeger]

So there was this story done by a French autor named Pierre Bottero "La Quête d'Ewilan" . He wrote lots of books on the world he created with this first story and i must say it's one of the best i ever read. Ps : thanks you for you'r work, you'r " On Writing: Exposition" series helped me a lots with my stories making me realise my mistakes and showing me how i could do better. Un gros merci de France ;)

[@Xenozfan2]

My favorite example of worldbuilding is in Lirael by Garth Nix. It's the second book in the series, but I didn't know that. (Even now, I suggest reading the last two [Lirael and Abhorsen] before the first [Sabriel] due to certain mysteries being resolved before the second book begins.) Even jumping in the middle of the series, I was never lost; I had questions, but worked some out as I read.

[@johnneil3612]

Yes, it wasnt possible for you to select a better time to upload. Just when i was in the mood of learning and needed something to watch while exercisising!

[@Debatra.]

I can not stress this enough: Make sure your text has an outline of an opposing color. White text? Black outline. Red text? Try blue.

[@mentalmen111]

I find Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's series fantastic and they use the Guide for fun and creative exposition which, even if not in the same book, becomes related later on in the story and it also breaks the story up nicely when not much in the plot is happening between moment A and moment B.

[@damen9578]

Guardians of Ga’hoole, by Kathryn Lasky, has some pretty cool exposition.

[@StarlitSeafoam]

I've really enjoyed the worldbuilding of The Curse of Challion by Lois Macmaster Bujold. She is a MASTER at using the mystery of the main character's past to drag the reader into the story, as well as using interesting occurrences to show the reader how Death Magic works.

[@avaevathornton9851]

The exposition and world building is usually the most interesting part of stories for me.

[@lego007guym8]

The 1632 series is definitely worth checking out.

[@matthewjury4094]

I don't know if it's still fairly unknown, but Beyonders by Brandon Mull is very well done in terms of world building (and everything else for that matter)

[@emmabreakwood1018]

Victoria Schwab's world in her duology This Savage Song is amazing! I really enjoyed reading it.

[@theonethatwatched]

I think Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series has some of the most incredible and well delivered worldbuilding. Also, Timothy Zahn's Dragonback series is really underappreciated, it's got a Star Wars like universe but with a really unique take on dragons.

[@greglinklater1012]

Please take a look at The Dragon Prince. I've just watched the first premier and would really like to see it being compared alongside Sanderson's books, Avatar/Korra, FMA, etc. both in terms of world building and magic systems. I'd even patreon for it.

[@JustClaude13]

Thanks. I'm having trouble with exposition right now. There's a lot I need to sneak in right at the start to justify the rest of the story, so making it interesting is tough.

[@astrothsknot]

I always remember Sanderson talking about pages not plot. I had a character explain to the other characters what had happened to the daughter of another character years ago as an off the cuff remark. "I think she was seeing a foreigner and her father wouldn't let them get married. threw her out on the street in the clothes she stood up in and told her never to darken his door again. So she didn't. Must be what? 20 years ago now?" then back to the other thing they were talking about.

[@cdv3401]

The world of Full Metal Alchemist is extremely well built. There is a simple exposition in the very first minutes of the story where the narrator (not one of the characters but an omnipotent narrator) explains that alchemists are forbidden to do human transmutation; making other humans. So of course the two main characters Alphonse and Edward attempt it in order to bring back their dead mother. Everything go s horribly wrong, and as punishment God takes Edward’s right arm and left leg, and he takes Alphonse’s entire physical body. The whole goal of the show is these two brothers trying to figure out how to get their bodies back, and along the way they make friends and help each of them in turn achieve their respective goals. On top of Alchemists, there are normal people who can engineer metal body parts, there’s a military complete with a ranking system, there’s even a map of the known world with other countries that are often referenced but never actually visited. Side note on Maps in stories: I think this is a good world building tool as it can really help the reader understand where the characters are in the environment and just how big the world is that you’ve created. The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Full Metal Alchemist, One Piece, Black Clover, The Elder Scrolls, Game of Thrones etc. all have physical, drawn up maps of their worlds. Drawing maps for a fantasy world is probably the most difficult and the most necessary. You don’t have to draw a map of places that are already in reality, like America or the solar system, unless you are adding changes to these real life settings like Panem in the Hunger Games.

[@helenasvachova444]

Great video! Coincidentally enough, I love the world of The Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. It's set in an alternative universe at the beginning of the First World War where the Triple Alliance is steampunk-ish and the Triple Entente is kind of biopunk-ish. The worldbuilding as well as characters and the story are excellent and charming, although the writing is a little simplicistic (kind of a middle-grade/YA blend). I highly recommend it!

[@ChanningChea]

Literally just finished watching part 1 and SURPRISE part 2 is uploaded! #clutch

[@saiyanslayergaming8816]

I liked the book Revenger, while not the best written overall it does a great job of setting up conflicts and tying everything together.

[@danielhenderson4795]

These videos have been absolutely wonderful, and you have made a fan of me, no doubt. I just wanted to bring up a point that really threw me off every time: your side notes. Those little 1 second blocks of text that you don't narrate. Please...narrate them. Show them for more than a second. I know you want them seen and want to talk about them, otherwise they wouldn't be in the video. Your style works so well with asides and extra clarification, it would do well to include them. When I suddenly realized that I missed part of the video and pause it and go back and read that little block of text, it really hurts the otherwise fantastic flow of your videos. But even with that, these videos have been absolutely wonderful. Thank you for making them, it really helps me fine tune the details of my craft.

[@caseyrogers9760]

I'm curious what your take is on Arcane Ascension. As a story, magic system, world building, etc. I've been pleased with it and often use it as a mental benchmark when watching your videos because it seems to follow all the guidelines you set.

[@chaosismyjam8187]

I would have to say Ive been enjoying the worldbuilding of RE: Zero, it has a perfect blend of "Aha, this is the lore you are talking about" and "Wait what the fuck is this, but I thought it was different" because of subversion of expectation of typical tropes that *actually* works really well in the context of the whole story.

[@shiningdawn865]

@0:30 Small constructive criticism: This huge black box just has timestamps and is taking away from the unfolding of the world. If it's not present just to avoid copystrikes, maybe have a small note and say that the timestamps are in the description? Love your work!

[@HelloFutureMe]

Haha, it's not there to avoid copyright. It's there to help people know what's coming in the video. I've been asked to have it there in the past. Glad you enjoy my stuff! ~ Tim

[@TheEmptyForever]

Sanderson is a great teacher btw :)

[@rookjameson]

Maybe not exactly an obscure story, but the wold of One Piece is briliantly built. Can definitely reccomend!

[@BygonesBeingBygones]

The Broken Kingdoms trilogy by N.K. Jemisin has amazing world building.

[@laracelsmith]

Some of the absolute best worldbuilding I've seen was in the Anime Made in Abyss There are no weird unnatural exposition dumps and the viewer gets dropped into the world knee deep from the beginning piching up information about the world through how the characters act in any given situation

[@plzletmebefrank]

Violet Evergarden has some really interesting ways to solve exposition and worldbuilding.

[@summertime69]

One of my favorite fictional worlds is Llangarlia, in Sara Douglass' The Troy Game. The story is very adult, and starts in ancient Greece after a cataclysmic event destroys most of the ancient world and a pack of Trojan survivors, including the lost King head to a promised land of Llangarlia. Its smutty, but it's well written fantasy smut, lol.

[@einarm42]

So I actually dont know how known this world is outside of germany, but I am going to assume pretty unknown. The author Bernhard Hennen did a great series of books, that all cover the same world but in different storys. On first glance it pretty much is a "tolkien" fantasy book, because there are elves and trolls and humans and gnomes and all that jazz. But when you continue reading this books they are fantastic, in worldbuilding and story (I think currently there are 18 books in whole. 5 the elves, 5 the dragonelves and then a few smaller series which come back to some events that are mentioned through the main story and which he chose to write more on.) There are pretty much 2 main characters, which are in totally different worlds and dont really have anything to do with each other. One is the character who knows a whole heap of stuff, but needs to adjust because her whole live just changed, the other one is the same, but he gets memorys of dozens of people implanted and dosnt really explain much after understanding his situation better.

[@billyalarie929]

i'm thinking about doing, for a first draft, a kitchen-sink approach, where i add AS MUCH WORLDBUILDING as i could possibly conceive of, and then when i've basically all but exhausted myself..... pare back, using a precision scalpel to do it justice. any thoughts on this?

[@brandonholt6160]

Do you think you could do any lore on the SHADOW OF MORDOR OR WAR GAMES? It be pretty cool to see

[@thecartoonheathen1659]

Honestly, one of my favorite worlds in media is the world of Toriko. It's world building is just *chef kiss*

[@Blackwing2007]

Q: What is one of the best worldbuilt stories that is not well known? A: The one that I am still working on. I hope I do it justice so that the reader will enjoy it as much as I do.

[@TimeBoyTom]

The Dying earth books has an interesting world to it

[@emmanuelr5268]

Any of the games made by Supergiant Games, it's one of their biggest strong suits

[@reubenoakley8967]

QOTD: Jim Butcher's Codex Alera has fantastic world-building and far too small an audience, IMO.

[@wjzav1971]

"It was a warm evening in Camor when the thiefmaker came to visit the eyeless priest in the temple of Perelandro." Not an exact quote but somehow like this starts the first Lock Lamora-book from Scott Lynch. Instead of an exposition dump, we jump right at these two characters having a discussion. It was quite a good entry, because the discussion they would have turned out to be intriguing and I wanted to learn more. And over the course of the book and the next books, we would get bits and pieces of exposition sewn in between. Yet, these first lines just bugged me because I didn't know who they were!!! I like to imagine the scenes I read in books, yet I didn't know if the eyeless priest was a he or she, fat or thin, clad in rich garments in a prosperous temple or poor cloths in a humble building (he, fat, poor btw). This is the only grip I have with this method of starting your story. Jonathan Stroud did it better with the Bartimaeus-trilogy in my opinion. He also jumped into action, yet he gave short descriptions of the characters and surroundings by presenting the thoughts of the titular hero.

[@nickwalko4910]

I am a fan of Arth, from the Dark Profit Saga by J. Zachary Pine.

[@Midnight-7411]

All hail lord MISHKA may he forever more be beautiful and divine

[@helmthunderson9218]

I think the aim of the reveal of midichlorians was to emphasize and legitimize how much of a chosen one Anakin was. If you set up a quantifiable value for the amount of 'Force' someone has, it is easier to make someone seem strong or important without actually showing them using such powers. I am not saying it was the perfect example, as you have rightly stated, it served little purpose in the overall story of the movie. Though I wanted to ask, would you consider the reveal a good example of exposition, had it been woven into the plot properly?

[@iliaalomia7798]

Disco Elysium is awesome especially when shivers are high.

[@user-ip3mm6pr7o]

KINGKILLER CHRONICLES. Like the best magic system in literature. Possibly arcane ascension. That's also fairly solid but more "a power you get cause a goddess says so" than how i usually prefer it. There's still skill, logic, consistency, and established rules though, so i think more solid than harry potter.

[@user-ip3mm6pr7o]

Dude i totally didnt see you flash name of the wind the first time i watched. My bad. I often miss details while multi tasking the first time i listen to a video, so i rewatch 1-2times if i take interest.

[@user-ip3mm6pr7o]

I think I'm a little unfair to arcane ascension. It just seemed like the magic system would bore me at first, while also being a dominant force. I grew up with harry potter, I'll always love it. But i don't love its clones and probably only love it because nostalgia. But this book isn't purely random. You have to pass a grueling live threatening test,basically surviving a randomized rpg dungeon with no cheats or outside help. Then you can earn a seal from the goddess that allows you to build affinity for a type of magic in they location of your body. And you can do a harder version later for more tattoos with other schools of magic. Unclear if its random, genetic, based on test choices, or purely goddess chosen. But the environment is also kinda futuristic sci fi. They realistically use the magic in daily lives with real science to construct things like teleportation delivery, and weather proof magic domes. But Just barely got the resources to build individualized transportation for long distances without using horses. Not gas cars, but ones powered on runes, magic crystals, and kinetic and transportation magic. Because its a complex combination it just wasn't practical. And it actually makes sense as a real, functional, world where magic and divinity is so important. A+ wirldbuilding tbh

[@user-ip3mm6pr7o]

Wait, is arcane assertion better than kingkiller? Should i read it again? Agh, look what you did to me, i got distracted from your video again. I bet you distract me just for more views, lmao

[@Anti-HyperLink]

I know this is a writing channel or you have a writing series, but I have to read your videos too? Is it good practice? Watching videos about this is A LOT better for me than reading shit online because I’d rather read something that I can’t get to any other way. And audio books are useful. I still like having physical books, just like I prefer physical albums, video games, movies, etc. That can now be put into a digital form because it’s a lot easier to get rid of something digital.

[@zachary4670]

Video games: God of War has incredible exposition. The fact that the Witch of the Woods constantly helps you, and then when you learn her name the characters suddenly want nothing to do with her, was shocking and exciting and mysterious. Mass Effect is similarly extremely effective. What’s fascinating is that your character lives in the world, so much of the exposition has to be environmental and implied. And at the same time, your character is chasing down a mystery so s/he gets to be the I knowledgeable character. Bad exposition: The terrible flashbacks in Annihilation. The world of the story is fascinating and mysterious and exciting, and learning that mind control is being used cranks the tension to 11. AND THEN THE MOPIEST, DOPIEST, BORINGEST, INCONSEQUENTIALIST FLASHBACKS ABOUT THE NARRATOR’S DAD PAINTING GOES ON FOR 5 PAGES ABD COMPLETELY WRECKS ALL PACING. Very frustrating.

[@megaMagaManX8]

This is series is dope one more sub!

[@ozzhanmakhmudov3487]

Could you make a video explaining every single different dragon in HTTYD?

[@mothokingsley]

It's weird, but I actually really like the worldbuilding of A Centaur's Life, simply because it's there. It's a cheesy slice of life anime set in a fantasy-ish world, but it actually tells us via classes that the characters go through how people evolved into the different races, and political stuff too. The exposition is rather lazy, yeah, but I find it really cool that it exists in the first place.

[@americanknight2070]

I want to send this video to about 90% of all anime writers ever.

[@SilverStone017]

Gregor The Overlander

[@GenderCommie]

It's probably a good thing Tolkien didn't explain how Gandalf could fight the Balrog it would've taken him chapters to explain what you did in a paragraph

[@amberbeam4248]

It’s midnight. Why am I wat- Shhh 🤫 *my inner self starts speaking “Just go with it, just spend 5 hours writing, it’ll be okay.”

[@shuvodev7888]

It's almost morning here

[@Hawkeye446]

I did this. Like 3 days ago. It was not okay, but the story came out good so...

[@MidoriMushrooms]

#relatable

[@jonathanswavely7259]

It's 3:41am here

[@Poisonedblade]

I think, Point 3: Repect your audience, they'll figure stuff out... Is the most important. You can cleverly explain your lore with clues, rather than dumping an encyclopedia on the reader. If you can do this, your backstory will be an intriguing treat rather than a chore.

[@chavamara]

Encyclopedia of backstories is what Appendices are for! And are therefore completely optional reading (ala Tolkien).

[@Poisonedblade]

True. Tim brought up a good example about The Road. People scavenging through the ruins of a charred landscape says enough. Details about the war could be a reveal later.

[@chavamara]

Poisonedblade Yeah. And even with appendices, you should write your story in a way that gives info even if the reader doesn't look at the appendix.

[@Poisonedblade]

Yeah, the appendixes found in video games like the Witcher are great. Optional for people who want a ton of backstory. They're interesting and rewarding if you want to read them, but they don't slow down the action.

[@qed6358]

In other words, write a book assuming most of your audience is somewhat intelligent: if you treat them like they're idiots, you're gonna write a book for idiots - boring and just too much to swallow. :)

[@amberbeam4248]

Would you be interested in doing more character writing videos and about character groups and interaction? I’ve made an entire alternate universe with detailed history but I’m stuck at characters personalities, relationships, development and also world culture.

[@HelloFutureMe]

Definitely! This series is not dedicated to worldbuilding or big-picture stuff. We will be looking at stuff like that someday. ~ Tim

[@amberbeam4248]

Hello Future Me Oh Shoot you replied. Thank you, this series is fantastic, I’ve been pulled out of school since about 2 years ago due to illness and writing is the only thing that’s remained in my mind and kept me sane.

[@victory1014]

I recommend taking inspiration from the people around you. Idk about development and world culture tho. My advice is to think about the main personality traits they have. Look at how you would interact with your siblings and friends. And try to base it off that. Maybe that can help.

[@MinecraftxFan1995]

Amber Beam I'm in pretty much the opposite place as you--I have a knack for making characters breathe, but when it comes to plot or worldbuilding, I struggle a great deal. One trick I use is to actually work backwards--start with the character's behaviors, beliefs, or personality and ask what experiences or inherent traits might be behind it. Say I have a mage character, and that's all you have. Where did they learn magic? The character's mother taught him. How did she learn? She worked in a library that had many magical tomes, and would always take a few home with her. How long did his mother do this? She started bringing books home to read to her darling son when he was only three years old, teaching him to love reading and learning at such a young age; he actually became quite the bookworm, spending his afternoons after school in the library with his mom. How does this behavior affect the character? How do his classmates treat him? Perhaps this passion makes him a target for bullies, which means he has personal enemies at the start of the campaign for you to use in your stories. Maybe he gains a reputation for his intelligence, and students start offering him their lunch money in exchange for help on (or just plain doing) their homework. Why does the character leave to start on their quest? Maybe one day he finds something he shouldn't have: a book on demonology or blood magic. In his curiosity and in hopes of making his mother proud, he takes the book home planning to cast one of the more difficult rituals. But something goes wrong, the ritual curses him and nearly costs him his life; in order to remove the curse, he must journey to a distant country to find a paladin mighty enough for the task before the unholy magic kills him, or worse, corrupts him entirely. I'd highly recommend a specific channel for just this sort of thing. How to avoid dumb character backstories: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKbKd4FtaLpqZ9k Making a better character using quirks: kzbin.info/www/bejne/imPaop6Qg7B8oq8 6 steps to creating your perfect character: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqCxioFtYpZ1Y6c

[@DGolden247]

^^^The comments above are very good advice^^^

[@mr.fluffyface431]

The main problem with the midichlorians scene that I see is that it's not even well done exposition. What's it's trying to say is "There are these microbes that help us measure and connect to the force, which is still mysterious and magical." but it comes off as "The force is microbes and not mystical at all." which is a failure of the writing.

[@jacobmcneer609]

Yeah I always felt that either A: Midichlorians were the *how* of the connection between the force and force-sensitives, but not the what, or why of the force. Or B: they were merely attracted to force sensitives and didn't do anything at all beyond living.

[@aerialjordan2683]

Thank you to giving voice to what I've not been able to adequately phrase. Just now, I reread the page about it in Wookiepedia and... uuggghhh... talking about things like midi-chlorian count per cells, determining how powerful a jedi can be... especially with how Anakin was concieved by midichlorians, completely takes the impetus off of all the characters in the story. We could literally start talking about how the Jedi are like the Saiyans and other races in DB/DBZ. "Like: Why did Anakin beat Count Dooku in their final meeting?" "Well, Billy, he grew up as a character, yes, but more importantly his midichlorian microbe to cell count was OVER 9000!"

[@j.f.fisher5318]

Imagine if the original trilogy had been written like the prequels. The first scene would have been Leia and Capt. Antilles discussing all of the details of the plans, Vaders star destroyer, etc for 5 minutes while moving as little as possible and showing no emotion. On Tatooine R2-D2 would have told C-3PO all about his mission with C-3P2 relaying every detail to the viewer, etc.

[@Beacuzz]

It also adds a plot hole. Why don't people take a bunch of midiclorlians and inject themselves with it? Or run experiments? Why aren't the Jedi children tested when they come in? Why doesn't the empire test every prisoner or a bunch of people and get rid of the ones with high counts? Or better yet test all children and keep the ones who have high counts and train them? When your exposition gives more questions and more plot holes then just staying quiet, DON'T say it!

[@lionart5230]

I couldn't spell it better. Great job!

[@maddie9303]

I really like Watership Down's worldbuilding, it's very unique! Richard Adams did a great job of showing our world from the perspective of rabbits and making it simultaneously alien and familiar. This was an awesome and super helpful video as always!

[@TheNotoriousLARGE]

What he also did a very good job at was burning the image of rabbits slaughtering each other into my memory for the rest of my life

[@Walthanar]

Madoka Magica has huge plot twists and rules kept hidden to the audience until they have a devastating impact on the story. What I like of the anime is that these rules, when you watch it a second time, are always consistent even when not revealed, and not thrown out of the blue and invented almost on the spot as in the universe of harry potter. I highly suggest watching it if you don't know it!

[@Poisonedblade]

This is a great video and there is an additional point that Ellen Brock brings up. Your audience ONLY needs the backstory for the current chapter and maybe the next one, not the entire book. So if you are a lore heavy, just keep that in mind. "Do they need to know this yet?"

[@rafaelcavalcantibiz]

I love Ellen Brock's videos, but if you stop and think, you realize that Tolkien didn't care for that at all. Not only he didn't care for this, he didn't care for most of what is considered basic writing advice... And as George R.R. Martin said, "Be compared to Tolkien is the greatest compliment​ you can give to any fantasy writer... Tokien essentially created modern fantasy."

[@Fif0l]

@@rafaelcavalcantibiz yeah, but in time of Tolkien this arms race of who can grab the reader's attention the quickest didn't start yet.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

Yes, Tolkien didn't care about that at all, his writing is heavy of info dump that in big parts never gets relevant for the actual conflict and sommetimes gives you the impression that you are reading a history book instead of a Novel. That's why Tolkien is actually not very good at creating entertaining and suspenseful writing and IMHO is heavily overrated. Tolkiens fame is due to the fact that he was among the first authors to write modern fantasy, i.e. a story set in a fantastical completely fictional world by his own creation, so he does deserve credit for that, but modern Fantasy authors who came after him did it in a much more compelling and entertaining way. If someone tried to get a book published today that copies Tolkien's style 1:1, including the 10.000 words inconsequential info dump before the story has even starded, publishers would reject it. I read the Lord of the Rings and I did kinda like it overall, but there were times in which I was severely tempted to put that tedious snooze-fest of a book down and never pick it up again. The pacing was horribly slow.

[@haakin2262]

Rafael Cavalcanti I found Tolkien too hard to read when I was young and when I got older I chose to skip text that was too difficult to grasp. It was, to me, too much details to understand, and without the conscious choice of skipping text I’d re-read a paragraph too many times. I dont feel that word-intelligent, but I love lotr ‘despite’ the writing style, not ‘because of it’. Not saying you are entitled to your opinion, just adding mine. For balance.

[@Poisonedblade]

@@chrisrudolf9839 Yeah, I kept falling asleep in the LOTR books. Then when Gandalf goes on for 200 pages about his adventures, you know he survives because he is telling the story. Steven Erikson is even worse. He'll interrupt a scene and talk about the history of the hill they are fighting on for 2 or 3 pages, and you forget what was going on. And he writes like an encyclopedia, so you can't even visualize what he is saying. "1000 years ago, General Karn and his 5,000 warriors held this hill from a southern invasion. The battle..."

[@silversun6052]

I know you don't usually cover game stories, but the world building for the Dark Souls series is fantastic. Very little is explained to the player through clear exposition, but by studying the environment, enemies and magic the player can find clear histories and rules

[@advisorv]

I'm late (as French as it is), but I want you to know I absolutely love Dark Souls, and it is one of the most influential pieces of art for both me and my writing inspirations (with Berserk, of course, among others).

[@marctelfer6159]

I quite like the world-building that's going on in the Attack On Titan anime (I haven't read the manga, though). It's set up as a simple "humans vs. mysterious monsters" world, and the audience learns more about that through character backstory (which usually comes up during interactions with other characters or at moments of dramatic tension), and through the characters themselves learning more about what's going on in their little isolated world as they fight against the Titans. The viewer naturally wants to know how this situation came to be, and it answers that question gradually without adding more questions. Well, it does, but they all ultimately relate back to "how did this happen?". The smaller questions get answered earlier while the bigger ones get answered later

[@najee_eee]

The Pokémon world, in the anime is one of the greatest world building I’ve ever seen. Even though the story is very simple, the world around the characters is so alive and immersive that it’s just fascinating to think about.

[@kingm3202]

This channel is an exposition dump for future writers

[@Poisonedblade]

Midichlorians also hurt Star Wars because the audience thought the force was just your force of will and you could be a Jedi if you trained. The Phantom Menace just said, "Nah, it's bacteria."

[@gamercore5216]

Poisonedblade no

[@Jemini4228]

Except it was always a part of the lore that some people had the natural gift and others didn't. 'The Force is strong in my family. My father has it, I have it, my sister has it.'. If anyone who had the will to train could use the force, this statement wouldn't work.

[@Poisonedblade]

I never saw it as a natural gift. Japanese karate is strong in my family. My father trained in Japan and became a 2nd Kyu Brown Belt. I become one of the best fighters in CA and later went on to do stunt work for Marvel. My brother became a green belt. No bacteria needed.

[@glanni]

@@Poisonedblade Are you sure there are no karate bacteria? Because this story sounds infectious!

[@Poisonedblade]

Elsa Frost, funny thing is that I do have a genetic mutation that gives me enhanced cardio, so I can train twice as long as other people. I thought they were just lazy. I ended up in the hospital at one point and they scanned me and found out my heart has extra muscles. So my backstory is more like the X-Men, than midichlorians. Then I felt bad for thinking everyone else was just lazy.

[@MediumDSpeaks]

Excellent video as usual Tim. I really appreciate your in depth analysis and I find that a lot of what you talk about helps me as a story writer in being critical of my own work and even helps me fill in gaps. Sometimes things you will say will also help me in confirming that something I had already put into my story was done well without me previously having someone explain that it was so it gives me more confidence in the strength of my story. Can't wait for the religion part 2 video!

[@lukeskywalkerthe2nd773]

Same man! His videos really go a long way to help me better understand the Art of Storytelling! It's so awesome! :)

[@barbarianjk2355]

3:39 hmm difficult to say, but I'm inclined to disagree. The explanation of the midichlorians is part of the theme of symbiosis or mutual dependence that we also see in several other parts of the film, which is meaningful to the story as a whole beyond the sole film. It links the natural with the spiritual (as in the more "classical" animistic and Eastern religions), in oposition and contrast to the cold and mechanical, later on even relating these ideas to the Empire and the Dark Side (or as seen in Anakin's transformation into Vader). Also, they only literally show one thing and explain another: That it's a way to see how much potential in the Force someone has (it had to be clear about why Anakin was special, the counting would leave no doubts about the "Chosen One" as he's compared to Yoda). What it explains is simply that "they communicate the will of the Force", the Force being a separate entity altogether, and still it doesn't explain what the "Force" itself is, or how it works. Still, I loved this video, it was great and very inspiring!

[@Hawkeye446]

I really enjoyed the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. You start by meeting characters and they seek out the answers to weirdness, then when they find the answers, we as readers get the exposition dump. Perfectly follows the mystery and revelation setup talked about in the first video. Also helps that the answers they find are really cool.

[@danieldosso2455]

I really liked Patrick Rothfus' the Name of the Wind series, I just wish he'd write the third book already

[@christophersavignon4191]

Is he not already doing that? ^^

[@manp112]

thats just a dream T.T

[@d4haeger]

The Wheel of Time will always have a special place in my heart for its world- and magic system-building.

[@JediAcolyte94]

To be fair James Luceno perfectly explains the relationship between the Force and the midiclorians in the novel Darth Plaguies. And the novel is bloody fantastic and a must read.

[@MegaJawa12]

Problem 1: a book is not the movies

[@JediAcolyte94]

+Asanjawa Star Wars isn't a movie franchise it is a multi-media franchise and has been since its inception in the 70s. Star Wars also relies on its expanded universe to explain things that the movies glossed over.

[@MegaJawa12]

@@JediAcolyte94 I know that, but people only see it as the movies

[@JediAcolyte94]

+Asanjawa Those people don't realize how good or how vast the Star Wars universe really is. And it is a shame as they are really missing out on a lot of good stories that rival, surpass, or exceed those in other fictional universes whether that be Marvel, DC, video games, or anime.

[@MegaJawa12]

@@JediAcolyte94 True, but that's the problem with franchises who started/made their debut as movies and games. Most people don't actually look further into it which is a shame, and it's happening to basically all franchises like star wars, warcraft or warhammer

[@hishouha]

It is not obscure by any means, but Attack on Titan is a big inspiration for me, the worldbuilding and exposure is so natural and layered, that moment when you get a sudden info dump is the same moment there's a huge plot twist to the story, making it very memorable.

[@shaihulud3140]

"I was wondering, what are midichlorians?" "It's heroin."

[@odpaws]

have you referenced the inheritance cycle before; I don't know how well known it is but I loved it. sometimes it had clunky exposition, other times I think it was done well, usually explaining after the fact

[@thatnerdygaywerewolf9559]

Personally, the Inheritance Cycle was the first book series that got me into reading. I'd say it is decently well known, if not exactly known by name (most people I know who do know the series just know it as the "Eragon series", and usually only know the first two books). It's in that weird space between obscurity and simple lack of discussion.

[@odpaws]

damn, you put it so much better than I did, you also put a smile on my face

[@yoko3182]

QOTD: For me, it's the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix.

[@Seoulwanderer]

Oof! I loved that world. The different levels of the underworld, the necromancers as a different form of magic than the charter mages, the hero being the only good necromancer... oh, there was so much there I liked. Too bad the writing sometimes bogged it down.

[@Redrally]

Abhorsen and Nix need more love.

[@Megan-ss4iz]

The young wizards series by Diane Duane has some really unique world building by mixing sci-fi and fantasy elements. It has spells, ancient godlike beings, and talking animals. And it also has aliens, robots, and time travel. Another thing that sets it apart from other fantasy books is that they’re not fighting a “bad guy”. They fight a being called the lone power, who represents entropy (the eventual death of everything including the universe). A very cool series that I recommend to fans of both genres.

[@nekoanimator]

a question as a writer going for a specific type of story: i have a fantasy world with a very hard magic system. however, the storytelling aspect of it, is that the reader only knows as much as the main characters know, which is only what theyve been able to observe through using magic due to backstory. how would i then explain the way that magic works without doing a classic villain speech at the beginning, giving the main characters an edge that they use to win their battle with him?

[@benedict6962]

Made in Abyss revels in discovering the unknown and meeting new and mysterious characters. Exposition and worldbuilding is used almost exclusively for Intrigue, but it's also a crafty way of getting Relatability as well. Basically every character in the series is trained or ready to face truly horrible things happening to them, in a way that is fairly UNrelatable to regular readers. NOT knowing each character's backstory fully lets us relate to the horrors they experience(because they still feel fear and disgust) without us prematurely distancing ourselves by reasoning that their thinking is too alien for us to relate to. Witch Hat Atelier also clamps down hard on exposition, using it precisely as the video states about problem solving and raising tension to the climax of character decisions. What each student knows and is taught extends beyond what the reader learns at any particular point in the story, and that's FINE.

[@blobbymcblobbikins8845]

David Gemmel's books are really good at world building. There are continual references to other broad events or characters and even if you've read all his stuff there's still a ton of room for you to fill in the gaps

[@andyzhang7890]

This is pretty well known but I think you'd love the One Piece manga. In my opinion, it's the only piece of media I've seen that can rival Avatar in worldbuilding, story, character, and lore.

[@lukasamyn8405]

I personally don't like to use expossision for explaining a magic/power system. As a reader I like figuring it out myself more then just being given how it works by the author, it gives more room for the reader to feel ingulved in the story and for them to theorize. Yes you can leave hints off how it works, but don't give every espect off the magic system.

[@saddragonbean]

An example of a beautifully world-built series would be the Children of the Desert book series by Leona Wisoker. Some people say she goes a bit overboard, but in my opinion it was unique and vibrant and didn't get in the way of the story. Anything extra she put in an index at the end, so the reader could choose for themselves if they wanted to delve deeper.

[@chavamara]

6:49 Sorry to Harry Potter lovers, but this is the reason why JK Rowling needs to start keeping her mouth shut. Her worldbuilding is not the strongest when held under scrutiny, but the more that's left unknown, the more readers can explain elements of her world to their own satisfaction. The more she tries to exposit, the shakier her world becomes. (I feel like the explanation for the Obscurus in the Fantastic Beasts movie is basically akin to the Midi-chlorians explanation in Star Wars.)

[@matt0044]

I think the best kind is where a movie or TV show displays how things generally work like how Prisoner Zero have suit that can fire off energy blasts via punching or kicking like a sort of kenetic energy but amplified. Hell, Dragon Ball's actually done it pretty well as described here where we absorb the new worlds rather than get all info-dumpy: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnvHm4dmabGDrs0&t=33s

[@fenixmagicjd]

Two examples of good world building are the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and The Inheritance Trilogy (no, not THAT one) by N.K. Jemisin. Both use different sources for magic than the usual and it's intriguing. Also, anything by Neil Gaiman.

[@neilg8228]

Are you going to watch Aaron Ehasz's new show "The Dragon Prince"? It looks like a cross between Avatar and Tolkien's stories.

[@micahmock3505]

Mother of Learning by Nobody 103 is a world building masterpiece. Free online novel, just look it up.

[@abendsonnewarriorcats9474]

Warrior Cats by Erin Hunter is my favorite, it perfectly etablishes the World its in and shows you with the unnoledgeble Charakter (english is not my first language so I hope thats right)

[@potatobrain8379]

Even though it might not be someone’s first choice, I really like the world building of Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Throughout the series even more is revealed and things aren’t blatant. You find out humanity conquered death not because the characters tell you, but because the second chapter starts with a character waiting for his friend to wake up after he died. Extra aspects of the world are revealed only when relevant, like the class of Unsavory. I just love the world in general and would heavily recommend it as a series to read

[@stephenmanak6024]

I don't think this world is not well know, but I just don't think I've heard you mention it yet, Narnia is what truly brought me into fantasy.