Worldbuilders Warfare!

What happens when you put two passionate Worldbuilding Bloggers, with a difference of opinion, in a Zoom room?

WARFARE! Ashley and Marsha go head-to-head in a casualty heavy battle over who’s world is champion. It’s war — writer to writer style. The judgements mount, the words get aggressive.   

Two Worlds — Two Worldbuilders — One Champion! 

Who will it be?

---

AVATAR: The Last Airbender — versus — BATMAN: The Animated Series 

---

---

AVATAR: The Last Airbender — defended by Ashley!

---

photo credit: IMBD

Ever since Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) came to Netflix, new fans have just begun to see the incredible storytelling and worldbuilding that it has. Avatar is much better than Batman: The Animated Series – it’s not even close to Avatar’s level!

Long ago, the four nations lived together peacefully. They each have their own unique culture, history, and government. The cultures of the four nations: The Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads are based on real cultures – Inuit, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan.

In the Avatar’s world, benders are able to bend the four elements: water, earth, fire, and air! Benders also use their skills in their careers or in other services.

But then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Batman only has to contend with Gotham's villains, which is nothing compared to the Hundred Year War that has thrown the Avatar's world into chaos.

While the Northern Water Tribe is still strong, the Southern Water Tribe has had its unique way of life shattered by the Fire Nation.

photo credit: avatar wiki

Some places still preserve their culture and traditions. The capital of the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se, welcomes refugees every day. It has a gigantic wall that surrounds the entire city, and inner walls to keep order.

As the Avatar attempts to master all four elements to save the world, we, the viewers, are shown different locations, allowing us to see how vast and beautiful the world is.

Getting to see how the war affects the benders and non-benders of each nation, and how they deal with it, is interesting!

ATLA keeps my attention unlike Batman: The Animated Series!

Shows with such great worldbuilding happen so rarely. Avatar: The Last Airbender does such a fine job of exploring a complicated world. It interests new and old fans, including me – it's a gem that can't be matched!

---

---

BATMAN: The Animated Series — defended by Marsha!

---

I saw Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix. Cute show! It will never compare to Batman: The Animated Series — not in a million years.   

Batman’s world is huge. Gotham is in New Jersey with a population of about 10 million, just a city — on the surface. But underneath it lives a subculture of super-villains. It’s the energy that makes this world massive.    

Photo credit: bottleneckgallery.com

The cinematic quality of Batman: The Animated Series (B:TAS) amplifies every aspect of the worldbuilding experience. It virtually draws us into the action, where we’re front-row-center when the bombs go off.  

Skyscrapers of imposing heights, back alleys, and a sewer system crawling with criminals stretch the boundaries upwards and downwards. The casts of villains have their own distinct territories. Their personalized bags of criminal tricks lend a palpable bleakness and begs for a superhero to restore balance to Gotham.  

The animated series may be the singular example of Gotham City becoming a character — a living, breathing dystopian city of grit and darkness. I prefer the dark aesthetic of B:TAS over the light, airy utopia of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It’s a good show, but I can live without it.   

Photo credit: DCcomics.com

I can’t live without Batman. Figuratively speaking, of course — I just don’t want to! B:TAS has exceptional worldbuilding, and part of that is phenomenal artwork.

The style marriage of Film Noir and Art Deco, what producer Bruce Timm coined “Dark Deco,” is an immense unifying element. The world is built on shadows and the grim things going on in them.    

Even with its grand rooms and library, Wayne Manor has the same dark undertones as the streets of Gotham. The mystifying underground Batcave overflows with futuristic technology.    

Arkham Asylum, seen best in the episode “Lock-Up” shows the expansive facility for the criminally insane with an even darker twist.   

Worldbuilding is more than streets and structures. It lives in the vibe going on around characters and storylines. The vibe of Batman: The Animated Series — is enduring.   

---

What do you think, readers — is there a clear champion?

---

Ashley Lalonde

Ashley Lalonde is a student at Algonquin College. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Asian dramas, playing video games, and writing her own fanfiction and original stories.

---

Marsha Masseau

I’m Marsha, an avid virtual-world-traveller! Digging into the fictional worlds – in books, plays and films – of other writers has become a passion. To my mind, every story fits a broader context, and I want to understand what makes them work or not.  

It’s getting hot in here – You might want to peel off some layers!

My aunt G gave me a Karen Marie Moning (KMM) paperback for my birthday a while ago. I haven’t properly thanked her for the umm, addiction. Aunt G is only eight years older than me. She has been my role model for defiant habits like dying my hair, smoking pot and getting tattoos but mostly for being kickass. I guess you could say I’m the Danny to her MacKayla.  

The cover of Beyond the Highland Mist, KMM’s first novel in the Highlander series, ought to have clued me in that aunt G was passing on a kind of substance. I smoked through the whole series like a flash fire. I’m not sure I paused long enough to crease the spines!  

The blaze got to me on a deeper level in the Fever series.

I had to plan rest breaks to make it through. I have an appreciation for hot people, and this series is full of them. I’m also a dreamer, and the WORLDBUILDING begged me to slow down, to notice. The virtual world morphed with every page I turned.

The New York Times Book Review called KMM’s worldbuilding “extensive” and “inspired.” I couldn’t have said it better! In an earlier post, My TOP 5 all-time favourite worlds, I stated that I wouldn’t want to BE literally in this Fever world, but I recant that. Maybe the months of social distancing for the coronavirus have made me crave some otherworldly adventure. It’s been a long pandemic. I’d pay to “sift” into High Voltage right about now.

photo credit: facebook.com/KarenMarieMoningfan

The world of the Fever series is like recurring dreams I’ve had. It’s uncanny. Holes show up in the ground out of nowhere, rooms relocate themselves, and I don’t quite know where I am. Are these universal human nightmares? I’m beginning to think they are.  

As a reader, I felt as disoriented and anxious as the protagonist, MacKayla Lane, seemed to be. Despite continual shifts to the physical world, it all held together convincingly. I can’t help wondering if KMM knew what she was building when she jotted her first notes. 

Building blocks from the Highlander series exist in the Fever series, although the action moved from Scotland to Ireland. The MacKeltar clan, the compact between races, the Celtic mythology, the Druids, the Fairy, the POWER all carried forward – and then some.  

---

Sex is a huge part of this world, but so is survival. Fighting for life is primal, and this series is on fire with primal energy!

---

One place that’s dripping with heat is Chester’s Nightclub. I could dance until I died at that club. Between you and me, I would totally go snooping around between songs. I want to know what’s happening on all those other levels? What’s going on in the private rooms? And what mysteries Barrons and Ryodan are hiding?

photo credit:: facebook.com/KarenMarieMoningfan

Of course, if I survived a night at Chester’s, I would head straight for Barrons Books & Baubles in the morning. I don’t move as fast as Dani “Mega” O’Malley, but I wouldn’t waste a minute before checking out every notable location in this series. I would be so dead. Curiosity killed the cat, and I would be a dead cat.  

I like how Karen Marie Moning built worlds inside many of the characters. During the series, MacKayla’s insides expand downwards to a dark lake, and Dany goes to a place in her head that makes her move “mega” fast. Each book in KMM’s series is like stepping into a mirror in the Hall of All Days - worlds of their own yet somehow connected.  

I will read this series again and again. I like getting close to the fire!

---

---

---

Kingdom of Shadow and Light – coming 23 February 2021  

Hey, KMM fans! Are you as psyched as I am for the next installment? 

---

Marsha Masseau

I’m Marsha, an avid virtual-world-traveller! Digging into the fictional worlds – in books, plays and films – of other writers has become a passion. To my mind, every story fits a broader context, and I want to understand what makes them work or not.  

A Guide to Building a Steampunk World

What is Steampunk, You Ask?

The concept behind steampunk is a modern or futuristic technology with an old-fashioned industrial twist. Specifically, it focuses on the style of the 1800s and Victorian aesthetics. It portrays an alternate history/timeline that demonstrates how technology would have evolved from an industrial era if major electrical advancements had not been made, sending us to an age where machines are still mechanically powered by driving forces such as steam.

It is this concept of an alternate history of gears, flying airships, and steam-powered machines that is so compelling to so many fans of this genre.

But because it is such a highly visual genre, it can be hard to build a steampunk world for your story. Luckily, this guide is targeted at those who want to write their own steampunk novel but do not know how to create a fleshed-out, believable world.

---

Which Era is Right For Your World?

First things first, when you consider the era, the setting in which you want your steampunk world to take place, 19th-century Victorian England is a classic example of a good setting.

The Victorian era may have been a very progressive time, but it had issues of its own. It had poverty, murder, crime, racism, and discrimination. All of these things need to be considered when creating a world with this kind of setting. Visit the English Heritage site here to read more about Victorian England.

The American West is another good setting. For those who like steampunk technology and aesthetics and the dangerous and violent but fascinating environment and history of the American West, this rich and interesting period might be the right one for your world. For more information on various aspects of the American West, see this archive.

Making a world where magic is outlawed and science reigns supreme could be interesting, but how science and magic have an impact on an era like Victorian England or the American West is important to consider.

---

Why Research the Era?

Doing research doesn't sound as fun as writing it, but it's necessary to make sure your world is well-developed.

If you don’t understand the era in which your world is taking place, it may leave it feeling flat. I’ve run into that problem myself, so I recommend researching the era that is being explored to create a convincing world that can appeal to your audience.

For example, if you want your steampunk world set in the 19th century Victorian England to be realistic and you want to include an event that happened during that time, make sure the event you're depicting doesn’t have any inaccuracies in it.

---

How Will the Economy and Political System Work?

It helps to have some knowledge of what the era was like and how society operated during that period. For an alternate history with steam-powered technology to work, you need to understand economics and politics in that time.

You can ask questions, take notes, and think about how society worked in the era you're writing about, and see how you can apply what you've learned into your world.

---

What Technology Will Your World Have?

Technology isn't supposed to be your main focus when building your world, but its role in the genre is essential. There are several obvious examples, such as an airship-something that I have been guilty of using too much of in my own work.

The steampunk technology should impact the people and cultures that exist in your world, rather than just being something that you simply put into it without putting thought into why that technology exists.

In a previous post, I stated that you need to think about the people who live in your world. Why are the people living in your world using the technology they have invented? Will some people be happier without that technology, or is it somehow needed for their society to function? Have they been forced to adapt to advanced technologies by a higher authority, or are inventors chosen to advance and improve society?

Taking the time to build a few explanations for what kind of technology exists in your world and why the people use it can make the world come alive.

---

A Challenging, But Exciting Experience

Building your first steampunk world is going to be an exciting and challenging experience, but hopefully, with the help of this guide, you have at least got a rough idea of what to expect and how to plan.

---

Ashley Lalonde

Ashley Lalonde is a student at Algonquin College. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Asian dramas, playing video games, and writing her own fanfiction and original stories.

Where in the WORLD are we?

Being Canadian is a huge part of my identity – I have a major case of national pride! I’m of mixed descent, French and Algonquin, which means a lot to me too. I’m ecstatic when I see these represented on television.   

Some great shows have come over the Canadian airwaves with a distinct feeling – apart from character development and plot– that I attribute to the production’s WORLDBUILDING.   

Many of the successful TV series I’ve watched feature regional culture in a way that makes it as concrete as the local geography. The combination makes it tangibly Canadian.   

---

One of my TOP 5 all-time favourite worlds, mentioned in an earlier post, is Anne of Green Gables. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved Anne series was the inspiration for Kevin Sullivan’s TV mini-series and Road to Avonlea and, more recently, in the CBC’s Anne with an E.   

The new series portrays a gritty, dark side to Anne’s world that I’m not keen on. The idealism is lost and, in its place, the stark reality of what may be more accurate to life but not in keeping with Montgomery’s vision.   

That said, Anne with an E has a vivid world with the lush countryside of Prince Edward Island, historic homes and turn of the century prejudices – it’s a great example of worldbuilding done well with a Canadian feel.  

Phot credit: www.facebook.com/annetheseriesca/photos/

---

A stone’s throw from Avonlea, PEI, but in an entirely different dimension, is fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia – the home of the infamous Trailer Park Boys. A wildly popular production that began as a movie aired at the Atlantic Film Festival and skyrocketed into a twelve season TV series with spin-offs.   

Most of the episode’s mock life in the trailer park, and great props, from beater cars to piss jugs, make this world rich. Aerial views depicting rows of trailers shape it into a community, and the non-stop profanity adds a whole fucking lot to the worldbuilding of this show.   

Photo credits: www.trailerparkboys.com, www.cornergas.com, www.imbd.com/title/tt0106087, www.degrassi.tv

A few provinces over and “40 kilometres from nowhere,” is Corner Gas. The show focuses on a 50s diner and gas station with an attached convenience store in the fictional town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. A sitcom, movie and animated series centred around “The Ruby Café,” the store and wide-open spaces have made this world an icon of the prairies.   

To the north, in fictional Lynx River, Northwest Territories, snowmobile riding police officers solve crimes out of a log cabin in the series North of Sixty. Those details virtually scream Canada! The show has been off the air for a couple of decades. However, the complete series is re-airing on APTN. Recently the cast had a virtual reunion! I wonder if there’ll be a reboot or a sixth made for TV movie?  

I grew up on the award-winning series Degrassi. Considering it ran from 1989 to 2017, many others have too. Junior High and High School are universes of their own, and they became distilled versions in this long-running drama. The fictional Toronto schools made up the bulk of this ultra-relatable world.    

---

Programs, like Murdoch Mysteries set in early 1900s Toronto, announce they’re in Canada in the first episode. Others like the award-winning sitcom, Schitt’s Creek, wait until the third season to hint – using vistas of open fields and country roads and name-dropping home-grown celebrities. If Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara as Johnny and Moira Rose don’t bring Canada to mind, then places like “The Blouse Barn” and “Bob’s Garage” will inspire a small-town Ontario feeling.

Photo Credit: www.cbc.ca/schittscreek

Keeping the Rose’s world small at first and allowing it to broaden later was a brilliant example of using WORLDBUILDING as a tool. In the beginning, a motel was the extent of the Rose’s world but as the characters evolved – so did their world.

---

---

What makes a show feel Canadian to you – the set, cast, dialogue? Something else?

Marsha Masseau

I’m Marsha, an avid virtual-world-traveller! Digging into the fictional worlds – in books, plays and films – of other writers has become a passion. To my mind, every story fits a broader context, and I want to understand what makes them work or not.  

My TOP 5 all-time favourite worlds & why you should love them too!

It’s no secret that I’m a nut for awesome fictional worlds. Some of my favourites aren’t far off of reality, but they exist in a different sphere than everyday life and have the power to suck me right in.   

It was a challenge sticking to five here because, let’s face it, there are scads of epic worlds that deserve a mention.  

What made it to my TOP 5? Repeat customers!   

I’ve either read or watched these multiple times; their worlds are so compelling to me. If you aren’t familiar with them, you might want to cancel plans and give these a peek:

I made this with Canva

5) Halt and Catch Fire: they had me at “Welcome to Mutiny”   

photo credit: © AMC Film Holdings LLC. creator: Frank Ockenfels

An AMC show set around technology in the 80s. The wardrobe, pacing and dialogue convinced me I was there. It was specifically the white-sided house used for “Mutiny” that locked me to the screen. Why? I wanted to work at a dysfunctional place like that – a gang of creative forward-thinkers changing the world, making video games, and drinking on the job!    

Why you should love it: it will help you appreciate your world that, hopefully, is less chaotic than this one.  

4) A Company of (Shakespearean) Fools: community theatre at its funniest   

photo credit: © 2017 Andrew Alexander via Company of Fools Facebook page

The world of Shakespeare can be severe. Most of his plays are tragedies, but the Ottawa based theatre company has lightened the tone. Their productions have become an anticipated summer event; I’ve seen a half dozen of their shows. Worldbuilding in theatre is done with sets, but also with the imagination of the audience. These plays take on a life beyond the stage; they become mammoth, in the mind.  

Why you should love it: it’s affordable, and your imagination will thank you! 

Find out more here.

3) Anne of Green Gables: it’s not all about Anne  

photo credit: BarnesandNobel.com

Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, is a dream: a lovable dream. I’ve read everything Lucy Maude Montgomery has written – the whole Anne series more than once (okay, more than twice.) It was one of the first stories I read as a kid. I’ve spent hours since daydreaming about walking through the streets of Avonlea, having tea at the White Sands Hotel and chatting with a kindred spirit. It’s one of the most comforting worlds I’ve yet to discover.  

Why you should love it:

it will make you feel good. I mean, really good (especially on a sick day).  

2) Karen Marie Moning’s Fever Series: something’s askew in Dublin...  

photo credit: karenmoning.com

An Urban Fantasy set in the same world as Moning’s Highlander series. Although, things get ... paranormal: with humans, Druids, Fae, and other creatures. I wouldn’t enjoy literally being in this world, but I couldn’t put the books down. The landscape shifted, dark forces loomed, characters morphed on the page, and somehow it kept being Dublin, Ireland. I like how the author did that.  

Why you should love it: you may realize, as the heroine did, that you have more power over your world than you thought.  

1) Star Trek: engage!   

I’m addicted to this world. My friends and I piled on the couch to watch The Next Generation, with our eyes bugged out on aliens. I watched through most of the franchise and went to all the movies. I can’t get enough of a world with countless planets and lifeforms to potentially get to know –or start a war with. Part of me wants to fight in the Bajoran resistance, even speak to the prophets.   

Why you should love it: if you don’t already love Star Trek, I have no words.

photo credit: Arc Games

Now you know my all-time favs: what makes it onto your TOP 5,

and why should I love them? 

---

Marsha Masseau

I’m Marsha, an avid virtual-world-traveller! Digging into the fictional worlds – in books, plays and films – of other writers has become a passion. To my mind, every story fits a broader context, and I want to understand what makes them work or not.  

Welcome to Orbis Aedificium!

---

Bored of our world? So are we. Let’s slip into another one!

Here, we will explore the ins and outs of different realities, from the throes of theatre to the art of anime, digging for answers to questions like: What does it take to build a world? To break it? What is a solid foundation? Which would you live in? Which would crush you?

At Orbis Aedificium – a pretentious Latin title that translates to “world building” – we’re determined to find out. We are six Professional Writing students who may be as obsessed with fictional world creation as we are with language!

Worldbuilding means something unique to each of us, but we all share this: at one time or another, every one of us has entered a world so enthralling that it became a part of us forever. We emerged, dazed, blinking, having travelled a great distance. As we returned to reality, we knew we had left some small piece of us behind, buried in some ancient forest, scattered amidst distant planets.

IMAGINE with us: You’re playing Bioshock. Adorned on red drapery as you enter Rapture, a mysterious city submerged beneath the Atlantic, are the words:

No Gods or Kings. Only Man.

But what is more godlike than creating a universe?