World building is the single most important element to Fantasy writing. Without world-building nobody cares about Frodo, Sam, Conan and all other characters. Even with Sci-Fi, Horror, and so on it is absolute. The reason being that as far as I've learnt from writing my own stories is that people want to care about and immerse themselves in the world you write and the only way to do that is with prose, descriptions and lore. World-building involves imagination and prose, so eliminate prose and you don't have a novel.
But enough of that, interesting videos I greatly enjoyed this essay madame. Well done.
Sure, the setting is important- but LotR isn’t beloved primarily because of the world, it is beloved first because Tolkien’s writing is beautiful, his characters are compelling, and their story grabs you in. Almost nobody wants to read an encyclopedia about a fictional world, they want a story- if the story is bad, it doesn’t matter how good the world is
I disagree almost everyone wants to read his stories for the world, and for the encyclopaedia. Why is the Silmarillion so popular if people aren’t interested in the world itself?
The thing is the characters are secondary to the language, the world and the events that shape it even as the world is moulded by the characters. If you can write only characters and no world you suck. Plain and simple. But if you can write only a world you’ve done half your job.
Some people are interested in the Silmarillion, but it’s nowhere near as popular as the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. And even then, when people read the Silmarillion it’s the characters and the stories in it that people love- the tragedy of the children of Hurin, the romance of Beren and Luthien, etc.
Yes, I am not denying that there are some people who want to throw themselves primarily into a world. You are obviously like that, and based on the fact that most of my notebooks through school are covered in Tengwar scrawled in the margins, I am like that too. But we are unusual in that respect, and we have a touch of the ‘Tism so to speak. You can’t base general importance of stories and storytelling on the niche interests of us borderline autists.
I went in with my eye muscles warmed up for 40 minutes of maximum eyeroll (he’s selling writing advice, which is more profitable than actual writing), but was a good interview. I agree with Tim’s points on craft, narrative drive, and practice practice practice. I also agree King’s On Writing was horrible advice (King himself didn’t follow half of it).
There is some good advice out there. At some point you realize a lot of it is the same.
You have to put down the self help books, put your work out there, and get feedback (and: not all feedback is equal either).
Poor old Tim says the word "craft" about a dozen times, mentions woodworking, the movie "Whiplash" and then his time with that Shawn/Sean guy and yet never once did I heard the word "apprenticeship" come out of his mouth even though it's sitting right there in plain sight.
THAT is what you're doing, my guy, with your "feedback loops" or whatever other terms you're using (too much of the old marketing lingo creeping in, tbh). You were once the Apprentice to Shawn/Sean, who trained you to become a Master. And now you're a Master taking on your own Apprentices (students). And professional writers are a dues-paying members of a guild rather than an art collective.
As for the rest, seems like I detected a bit of a New York accent, so maybe tone down the aggressiveness and f-bombs and focus more on the humble spirit you showed at the end of the interview if your mission really is to empower beginning authors. This'll work better than using your social media as a blunt hammer to dispel dreams and skewer hopeful amateurs. Not everyone responds to the lash like you do ;)
Some of the worst advise is about your first chapter, first page, first paragraph or even your first word.
If you looked into it, the most viral stories that grab the culture never follow the advise of the low attention span agents and editors on youtube.
Just go watch "First time watching Lord of the Rings" videos and you'll see every one loves that prologue. In fact if you followed the advise of youtube, every iconic story would have the first four chapters or thirty minutes cut.
World building is the single most important element to Fantasy writing. Without world-building nobody cares about Frodo, Sam, Conan and all other characters. Even with Sci-Fi, Horror, and so on it is absolute. The reason being that as far as I've learnt from writing my own stories is that people want to care about and immerse themselves in the world you write and the only way to do that is with prose, descriptions and lore. World-building involves imagination and prose, so eliminate prose and you don't have a novel.
But enough of that, interesting videos I greatly enjoyed this essay madame. Well done.
Sure, the setting is important- but LotR isn’t beloved primarily because of the world, it is beloved first because Tolkien’s writing is beautiful, his characters are compelling, and their story grabs you in. Almost nobody wants to read an encyclopedia about a fictional world, they want a story- if the story is bad, it doesn’t matter how good the world is
I disagree almost everyone wants to read his stories for the world, and for the encyclopaedia. Why is the Silmarillion so popular if people aren’t interested in the world itself?
The thing is the characters are secondary to the language, the world and the events that shape it even as the world is moulded by the characters. If you can write only characters and no world you suck. Plain and simple. But if you can write only a world you’ve done half your job.
Some people are interested in the Silmarillion, but it’s nowhere near as popular as the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. And even then, when people read the Silmarillion it’s the characters and the stories in it that people love- the tragedy of the children of Hurin, the romance of Beren and Luthien, etc.
Yes, I am not denying that there are some people who want to throw themselves primarily into a world. You are obviously like that, and based on the fact that most of my notebooks through school are covered in Tengwar scrawled in the margins, I am like that too. But we are unusual in that respect, and we have a touch of the ‘Tism so to speak. You can’t base general importance of stories and storytelling on the niche interests of us borderline autists.
Fair point
Loved this convo with Tim. Writing for yourself is called journaling. 🎤 drop.
Got some comments from people who were salty about that 😆
Salt is great for a margarita lol you are doing something right.
I went in with my eye muscles warmed up for 40 minutes of maximum eyeroll (he’s selling writing advice, which is more profitable than actual writing), but was a good interview. I agree with Tim’s points on craft, narrative drive, and practice practice practice. I also agree King’s On Writing was horrible advice (King himself didn’t follow half of it).
There is some good advice out there. At some point you realize a lot of it is the same.
You have to put down the self help books, put your work out there, and get feedback (and: not all feedback is equal either).
Oh my, this video is heartbreaking.
Poor old Tim says the word "craft" about a dozen times, mentions woodworking, the movie "Whiplash" and then his time with that Shawn/Sean guy and yet never once did I heard the word "apprenticeship" come out of his mouth even though it's sitting right there in plain sight.
THAT is what you're doing, my guy, with your "feedback loops" or whatever other terms you're using (too much of the old marketing lingo creeping in, tbh). You were once the Apprentice to Shawn/Sean, who trained you to become a Master. And now you're a Master taking on your own Apprentices (students). And professional writers are a dues-paying members of a guild rather than an art collective.
As for the rest, seems like I detected a bit of a New York accent, so maybe tone down the aggressiveness and f-bombs and focus more on the humble spirit you showed at the end of the interview if your mission really is to empower beginning authors. This'll work better than using your social media as a blunt hammer to dispel dreams and skewer hopeful amateurs. Not everyone responds to the lash like you do ;)
Very informative - thank you for this interview!
Some of the worst advise is about your first chapter, first page, first paragraph or even your first word.
If you looked into it, the most viral stories that grab the culture never follow the advise of the low attention span agents and editors on youtube.
Just go watch "First time watching Lord of the Rings" videos and you'll see every one loves that prologue. In fact if you followed the advise of youtube, every iconic story would have the first four chapters or thirty minutes cut.