Yo so this is actually my hundredth prepared post on my blog. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, this isn't my hundredth posted.
Uh, so 23rd is my birthday, 25th is Christmas, 31st is New Years. Lots of time to look back and reset. I guess I have a lot to account for and a lot to say in this time of self-reflection and growth.
So far, as I can tell, I'm probably finishing N:Era cycle one this year, we're at the finale. There's only a couple parts left. I probably should have had a different due date.
I gotta finish a couple art pieces. One being a massive Christmas art, one being a more personal gift.
I kinda wonder why we do put so much stress. I mean, will the first song I listen to this year really matter, or first thing I write up? In some ways, I believe so. This is a marker just like any other.
Another year makes the last year looks so disappointing in retrospect. 2022 has been hell.
2023 isn't promised to be better. Yet, throughout this, I've finally fought back most of my depression. I think I've been eating better, talking to myself better, behaving better. Been getting my life on track.
There's always more, and I don't exactly know what. I guess I've got a few resolutions to talk about.
I definitely still wanna get N:Era's cycle two started. I'm thinking there might be sixish stories this cycle. I already got like three planned out.
I wanna explore one idea I've had of Cyras' cousin Raynfall bringing a giant rainstorm over Glacialane. I think we should see one more part of Wysdom after all.
Nextly, I wanna do Tunnels under Wysdom. I don't really like that name, but still.
I got a vague idea of one of Lilu's relatives fighting for the crown under suspicious circumstances.
And finally, Sands of Ascalon. That will likely be the "Fangs of Liberty" of next year. But I don't think that's the end of the cycle, I almost think that's just a halfway point. There's gonna be a few important characters.
I wanna get into doing shorts. I really like rehashing old Spongebob plots!
I'm definitely gonna resume reviewing MLP. Maybe KIERAL and I will finish Season 5 and go to Season 6? I wonder how far we will go.
I wanna resume Sponge Standard.
One thing I've been thinking about is starting up MLP fanfics. I talk a lot of shit, at some point I gotta start posting some. I'd also be interested in Spyro fanfics tbh, I gotta few ideas.
Maybe resume Neopets fanfics.
Alright, that's most of my ideas for projects for now.
I enjoy reading poetry, because I feel like poetry, like writing, really gets out a mood. Better, poetry allows you to access a feeling and extract the pure essence without the set up. You can get to the meat of the point.
Poetry doesn't have to be deep, or about war, or hatred, or some other insane principles. Poetry can, and has been, about walks late at night, autumn days. In fact, some of the most popular poems were about exactly that, especially ones from Romanticism.
I tend to think that a lot of people have this idea that poems are inherently pretentious or overwritten. This isn't true, and is a bit of an immature viewpoint on a literary art. Though in all fairness, they may have seen some more amateur poems.
Usually the problem with people's character "themes" or poems, is that they don't know what a poem is. A poem is not writing down pretty stuff, hoping that that works. Poems have a very specific standard of writing. Here's some tips to get started.
Let's start off with the technicals.
Meter
So last night I wrote up a poem spontaneously, and here's what we got:
(Cyras and Rosod:
Trifling and Shifting
Like a potato thrown around
Your blame is cast upon myself
And yet you take part of the piece
How could I ever bear the brunt
Of something I never had
And how could I lose
You who I never had)
This is, not a very good poem.
There's not really a rhythm or flow here yet. When read, this reads like:
Trifling and Shifting
Like a potatothrown around
Your blame is cast uponmyself
And yet you take part of the piece
So there's nothing intrinsically wrong with whacky beat from time to time, but this stumbles. You can't really sing with this, or recite this without sounding awkward.
Poems usually have a beat, a rhythm. This is achieved by feet. A foot is a series of stress and unstressed syllables. Here are a few examples.
Iambs are unstressed and stressed. These are associated with the beating of a heart. Pre-SENT.
Trochees are stressed, then unstressed. PRE-sent. Trochees are usually known as feminine versus masculine Iambs.
Anapest: An anapest is two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable.
"Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;"
Question from @KIERAL.
Do you spend a while being picky or do the words kinda just come naturally sometimes? When you're like, not improvising I mean
Self:
Yes to both tbh.
A lot of times I have to be very picky, but you naturally speak in Iambic pattern so sometimes you can just belt a line.
Like uh, "how dare you fucking rip my soul apart."
Iambic Pentameter line right there.
Question:
Wow
That's actually pretty cool.
Self
Yeah so you can just belch out phrases. I might put that in examples.
A series of feet is what makes a poem. Iambic Pentameter is a series of five iambs, or five unstressed and stressed syllables.
An Irish Airman foresees his Death
By W.B. Yeats
I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
With four iambs in each line, this is iambic tetrameter. That word tetrameter means four feet of iambs. So each line is ba-BUM ba-BUM ba-BUM ba-BUM.
But wait, "a lonely impulse of delight" isn't in Iambs. We have an iamb (a lone), an iamb ("ly im"), then a phyrric ("pulse of") and finally, another iamb (delight).
The simple explanation is that you don't have to put everything in complete meter all the time, and doing so can even make a poem seem sing-song or seuss-like (A good thing if you're going for that). A lot of times, you can mix with the beat.
In this example, there's almost a sighing breath when you say the line. There's three unnaccented syllables in a row, as he remembers pleasantly how he had fun joining.
Antigonish [I met a man who wasn’t there]
Hughes Mearns
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d go away…
Even read in monotone there's still power.
Now free verse is an acceptable method of writing. That's where instead of worrying about beat, you just start writing, but even then, without a rhythm, the poem will sound like verbal garbage.
Meaning
Poems usually have a deeper meaning. Instead of saying something directly, a poem is more like trying to emote something through words. Like trying to explain a concept to someone who's never heard that before, and trying to emphathize with someone who knows all too well at the same time.
"Darkness Pays Orr A Visit" (A Guild Wars 2 Poem).
Darkness pays Orr a visit.
With billowingrobes of blackened silk,
She beckons us, arms outstretched.
I see my brothers walk forward, greet her as a
friend.
So many fold themselves into her embrace.
And even over their cries, and the roars of the
beasts,
I hear Darkness call to me with a promise.
But I close myself. I will not join her yet.
Another call is more beautiful,
And I will chase it back to you.
So there's no traditional meter here (in fact this does actually sound like verbal garbage when reading imo) but there is meaning. Without knowing the game, you get the idea this is a war, and the brothers are armymen all falling to their deaths and a man who refuses for a lover.
Now here's Break the Chain, from Fleetwood Mac.
Listen to the wind blow (btw, double stress is a spondee.)
Watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows
Damn your love damn your lies
And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
Now they could just say: "I'm staying for the band."
Instead however, the wind blowing and sun rising implies a more subtle and still atmosphere, however running in the shadows means moving around without speaking. Then finally, there's a snap with the "damn your love, damn your lies."
The deeper meaning is "screw you for being a bad husband, also, I'm only staying with you because of the band." The band is referred to as a chain. Chains link, but at the same time, they are also cold, hard, and metal.
Poetry is often about indirectly saying something that cannot be said straightaway. When writing a poem, think about how you can say this without just putting down "I'm sad because I ran out of cake."
Imagery:
Another winter in a summer's town.
Another winter The renters go home The maple goes from crimson to brown Oh God My God Another winter In a summer town
You can hear the "oh god, my god" as interrupters with how short they are. They give a clear desperation, while we get the idea of the trees slowly dying.
A winter in a summer's town sounds unfathomable. Basically saying even a town that's warm and pleasant ends up falling in ice, and... with time.
The beach is empty They cover the pools The patio umbrellas come down Oh God My God Another winter In a summer town
This goes more about the idea of everybody leaving. The winter is metaphorical and physical, meaning how now poverty is entering the area. The beach is empty, as in there's no tourists. The pools are covered as nobody is swimming in winter.
One little leaf adrift in the breeze Refuses to fall from the sky Blown by the wind, it clings to the trees Unwilling to wither and die The summer’s over But I’m still a girl Cavorting in my carnival crown From blossom to blossom, I buzz like a bee Then glance in the mirror, and who do I see? A middle aged woman inhabiting me Because it’s winter In a summer town
"One little leaf adrift in the breeze," is a sign of hope. We go down towards the girl in her "carnival crown". She's still dressing like she's young, but as soon as she glances in the mirror she sees the truth, a middle aged woman.
The imagery is heavy, going with flowers as a person withering. The seasons alter as does the wealth of a person who was at top of the money game.
When writing a poem, think about what makes for a much stronger image. Poems force you into the present, into that moment.
In Summary
Let's look at the Raven.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door— "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more."
The final line is only 4 stresses, but the rest have 8 stresses.
We have strong imagery (midnight, tapping, forgotten lore).
We have strong depth (forgotten lore being a symbol for sense, someone close to sleeping like they're stuck in an eternal dream.)
We have rhythm.
I don't think these are the only three elements that make a poem, but they are amongst the most important.
Lupegarthe is a kingdom of 100,000 Square Miles, known to the world for being shut off.
Dialect
The Lupegarthe dialect has a few unique quirks. Firstly, if a word has the letter "o", they usually pronounce the "o" as "oh". Even if the word isn't pronounced with an o, like "do" or "move".
R's are rolled, and are breathy. Some say that r's at the end of words are said with "sch". Like Fenrirsch" or "watersch".
Words that come in multiples but are said as singular are said as multiples in Lupegarthe. Examples are: "Bloods", "waters", "butts", and "hairs" (Thanks @Kieral for this suggestion) or "furs".
Any d is said as "th". So "saith", "harth", "guarths".
Any idioms with noncanines are prohibited.
Sire is used the same as "bitch". The main reason was ironic politeness where people would say, "Yes, my sire." So sire ended up meaning, roughly, "little bossy brat."
Harbringer instead of harbinger.
Culture
Unlike other dire cultures, or dire based cultures, corporal punishment is exceedingly rare. At the very least, at border towns. Most aren't said to frown upon the practice, but weren't raised that way and therefore don't hit their kids. Even judicially, the practice wasn't said to be necessary as other methods work just fine.
Swillow: I'm pretty sure a major reason comes from the fact we were enslaved peoples by the Crimsons. Since Crimsons, well, beat people, we kept away from the practice along with a lot of other traditionally Crimson ideas - even if we shared those ideas. However, in my case, I was also simply too rich to be spanked.
Wasting: I'm actually against the practice. I dislike hearing that Macheel's gotten a spankings from Citrus.
Border towns are usually richer parts because soldiers were meant to guard them. Merchants moved in to provide foods, waters, and armors. Eventually, the border towns had the most stable economies from war.
Unfortunately, most of the kingdom is inhospitable and extremely cold.
Some peoples don't live amongst civilizations, known as hermits, and live amongst themselves. Some even form unofficial micronations.
Religion
Crimson influences have led to the main religion being the Old Pantheon of Crimsons, however with a dire twist. Most believe the Crimsons drew the gods in their images, and so they reimagine the gods as being wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, or painted dogs.
Chil, god of Burning Passion and Artistry is usually worshipped by cults as an evil figure. However, instead of portraying gods of darkness as evil, they are usually worshipped and revered as much.
Swillow: I'M not particularly religious.
Wasting: I think there's something nice about having belief. Going to a temple every month. We only worship six main gods, and we have different opinions on whether a god is evil or not based on how Crimsons lied and what we believe the truth actually is.
Swillow: Misinterpretations of a religion are great proof to not worship such a religion.
Wasting: Misinterpretations of peoples manifestos are great reasons to not worship those manifestos, Fenrir.
Military
Harbringers are soldiers known for scare tactics when hunting.
Art
Much of art in Lupegarthe is now "plagued" by abstract colors. The idea of using color as a metaphor, instead of painting literally. One of the greatest modern paintings is known as portrait of the death god, but instead of the death god, Golden Apple Rotree is painted in green, her lower half as a tree, and the branches are impaling various crimsons. The portrait is seen as offensive by many as implying she is an evil being, but others are saying she had to manifest that part of herself.
Some religious art is painted of Ascendeds in Wysdom. Particularly, of Sumhyr. However, Snofall has gotten a fair amount of artwork because of her involvement with winter. A replica of her, created from snow, is still preserved in Bloodveil Museum of Arts.
Horror art is very common, especially about isolation. One horror play is entirely done with a cardboard box, and waves in the back, as someone is on a boat sailing the sea ("The Ocean Speaks".)
Politics
Politics in Lupegarthe range from two extremes. More liberal actors are known as "fenrirs" as they are believed to be the end of the world. Any border town tends to be against liberalism.
Royalists are the other main party in Lupegarthe.
Swillow was a Fenrir. She actively spoke out against the police and against police corruption.
Swillow: Some of those that work forces...
Wasting: I want to note that we kicked her out because a police wolf working for police talking about how she hated the police, is not a good look. I was told by a superior that she had to be rid of, so that's when I framed her for murder.
Swillow: Yes, seems we both got what we wanted. The Green Flag movement in Wysdom showcases a lot of my views - a return to a primal way of living. And more importantly, no hatred towards other species.
Wasting: Regrettably, we should talk about that.
History
600 years ago, Crimson slavers took Dires from islands and brought them over to what will be Lupegarthe but was known as Bloodveil.
They toiled until one wolf led a revolution, known as Golden Apple. Golden Apple and her band of rebels helped overthrow an oppressive government, and she installed herself as first queen. However, after her death, her lineage was split between two branches of her appletree: Grun and Rot. The fight between the apples went on until eventually Golden Apple Rotree married Cyder Grun. Golden Apple Rotree also ordered the hunting of any crimsons in the land and said anyone who wasn't a dire must leave the kingdom forevermore.
From then on, nobody who isn't a canine is allowed. Golden Apple hired several Marquis to guard the borderlands and towns.
Several great texts were written during the time of Golden Apple's call against Crimsons, known as "Proclamation Era". The four major texts are the Dialogue of Hasselana and Yew, a story on the meaning of freedom. The Epic of Goltere. The Poem "Ripping the Veil", and finally, "History of Lupegarthe".
All four are thought of as the basics of their common ideals: Freedom, liberty, the right to protect the homelands and support of borders, and purity.
Swillow: I wonder how you can have freedom when you support borders, for, is supporting limits not the same as supporting chains? And you cannot maintain purity if everyone may do as they please.
Immigration
Wasting: Believe this or not, we do allow others in... If they fit the canine criteria.
Swillow: Adoption of orphaned pups from other parts of the world isn't entirely rare for us. We're actually probably the biggest foreign adopters, however, this is founded by the wrong ideals of course. We also usually don't allow adults in, because of the belief they won't be capable of integrating.
Wasting: Some have immigrated however. This isn't that out of the box. There are still some rumors of Crimsons still living within the lands of the hermits.
Swillow: I remember a lot of time in an alley with Citrus, and we'd be smoking, and we'd see some kid show up. I remember one time, the kid was all like, "oh you shouldn't be smoking that, that's against the law". I was like, "Sire, I am the law." Then Citrus said, "We should follow him to his daddy and see what you can get daddy arrested for." I'm like, "Girl, slow down."
You would think that if anything had good worldbuildings, fanfics would as they don't even have to build their world, or plot, or characters. That's wrong.
I once read this Yugioh fanfic that was super awful. The writer argued that because you can play professional Yugioh in their universe, and since professional football equipment is hundreds of dollars, that means Yugioh cards would be in their universe. None of this made any sense.
Firstly: Yugioh cards are already in real life expensive. Try one dollar a card. Nextly, the reason why the good sports equipment is so expensive is because that's cost of materials and usability. You still have cheap mitts and gloves, some that work just as well. Yugioh cards don't have this, there's no Yugioh cards that are professional only. Thirdly, If they were hundreds of dollars, no one would buy them, there'd be no professional players. Fourthly, you can already make tens of thousands of dollars playing the game, not even counting streaming your games, in real life. Ironically, fifthly, the duel disk being expensive makes sense since that summons literal holograms.
Also, they bumped the rarity of each card by one. So commons became rares, rares became secret rares. Noah immediately told me, "Then wouldn't they all be the same rarity?"
I think the reason the person did this was to justify their little orphan Annie having no money when they attending a dueling academy (something you think would cost even more money). Yeah, no. Scrounging up money for a several hundred dollar gift is... doable. Repeatedly, on yugioh cards, no. And you can't even excuse the idea of "well some people throw their cards away" because, if they're hundreds of dollars, no one throws their cards away.
Let's give the terrible worldbuilding runner-up to a Pokemon fan. One fan wrote up how Pokemon would go insane in Pokemon Mystery Dungeons because the walls are "perfectly straight". I'm not even joking. The walls were apparently so supernaturally straight that drove people to madness.
This is, without a doubt, pure nonsense. That would actually be pleasant for your perception and technically probably closer to how you remember things. Actually I'm pretty sure that's how video games work even. You might be like "well maybe they're even straighter than computers allow", but at that point, would you even be able to tell?
Even if you could somehow make this make sense: Walls. People going insane because of literal walls. What a wimpy thing to drive people insane out of all possible answers like "Psychic Pokemon", "Ghost Pokemon", "They're not actually insane they're just wild Pokemon and like to fight". The Walls drive you insane. If that's the issue, why not just break the walls or cause cracks?
Question of the day. What is bad worldbuilding? I mentioned how characters who live in their worlds makes good worldbuilding, but I think I was wrong- that just explores the setting.
I'm going to segway to talk about something very important. Spongebob Squarepants.
In Spongebob, you can't really argue that the world is built "well". The laws of physics alter every episode, particularly about fire. When do they go to work at the Krusty Krab, when does the Krusty Krab close, does the Krusty Krab close? All of those questions matter on the episode, however Spongebob is still great and this never really bothers people in the moment. Part of this hinges ona reason - this fits the show.
Spongebob, even as a character, can go from being majorly upset his pet snail left him, and freaking out from stealing a balloon, to icing a guy just because he tried to get a free krabby patty all while laughing while the life leaves his eyes. Yet, you never really feel like he's "breaking character", because the show gets you to accept this inanity.
Could we theoretically justify the several hundred dollar Yugioh card thing? Sure. Maybe the government has artificially inflated the prices by buying them up so they can train their police with yugioh cards against card bandits. And since most bandits are usually poorer players, by making cards near impossible for "plebians" to obtain, you restrict the flow of card bandits If you amp the insanity of the world, stuff actually begins making "sense". Because if everything else is insane, nothing is insane.
Sorta like the old adage "surreal comedy is watching someone act funny. Surreal comedy is the act of watching someone watch someone act funny."
Let's talk about Ponies. Specifically, My Little Pony. The worldbuilding in that show is... rough. Practically every fan I know is really only enjoying the world for the characters, never for plot.
There's one element that's always gotten me is Cutie Marks. First time we really get any news, they're basically symbols that talk about what a pony's special talent is in an indirect way. For example, three butterflies is Fluttershy's, and while that sorta talks about her ability to nurture animals, is also about how a butterfly is delicate. If handled improperly, you'll tear her wings. If dealt with fairly and kindly, even the cowardly worm becomes the most beautiful animal and learns to spread their wings. Applejack's is three apples, showing her proficiency in running an applefarm, but also representing herself and presumably her two siblings.
However, as the episodes go by, cutie marks become something that makes ponies unique and stripping them makes a pony become some kind of one-note character without a personality. And then there's signs transferring them alters destiny...
Even worse, in my opinion, is "The Stare". The first thing we learn about the Stare is this:
Rarity: "Did you use... the stare on her."
Fluttershy: Oh no. I wouldn't! I couldn't! I-I don't have any control that just happens."
The literal first fact we ever learn is Fluttershy doesn't press a button and stare someone out. We also see Fluttershy's stare hypnotizes an animal basically and makes them comply. However, I've always disliked any fanfic that tried explaining her stare. Most go with an ancestry trait - but that makes no sense. If this is an ancestry feat, we would see other ponies capable of this, (like her parents or her brother), or other miscellaneous ponies. We also find out later that she can do the stare while in the body of Angel. The Stare is, simply put, a joke. She's the kind one, she's the wimp, but she has the power to put the fear of a thousand suns in someone.
In later episodes, they try to break her out of hypnosis by showing her a mirror so that way she'll stare at herself. That's, not really how that works. The stare isn't something she's always doing, and the stare isn't about breaking hypnosis, but intimidating animals or ponies into doing whatever you want because you're a stern yellow mama.
When a show goes against their previously established logic, this also creates the sense of terrible worldbuilding. This is: Twisting the world into a pretzel shape to fit the needs of your story.
A lot of terrible worldbuilding comes down to simply mashing stuff together to get what you want, without properly thinking of the costs, consequences, or unfortunate implications. If your world has official assassins who run around, without fear of the law, they just have to be paid, that makes someone look corrupt somewhere.
"What can I do to prevent bad worldbuilding?"
There's not really an easy answer. Have someone with you who can tell you if your ideas seem implausible, try to listen to what your world needs, and figure out the rules of special magics ahead of time. Or special weapons.
This has been worst worldbuilding and part 2 of my worldbuilding articles.
