Newbie in dire need of feedback and motivation.

[My Name is Coco.]

Hi there! My name is My Name is Coco.

I decided to take the plunge and dive into this because I lack the dialogue needed to finish things. What I mean by that is that - well, I have some of the most incredible friends in the world. But they aren't into the worldbuilding, mapmaking, vexillology, or nerdy RPG stuff I'm into. I used to be part of a friend group that was, but one argument led to another, which led to a toxic environment, and well long story short, I'm no longer friends with them.

But I severely lack the back-and-forth, feedback, and question-asking that I'm used to and have fallen into a severe slump where I don't know where I want to take things in the future or write about. I'm so understimulated and unmotivated that I can't find myself bothered to finish anything I start.

As for me, I'm more into the worldbuilding side of things, though I haven't found a forum dedicated to worldbuilding that also has a "general discussion" element to it (If anyone knows any, links would be appreciated). I still like doing mapmaking and see it as a vital part of the worldbuilding process, but I love the writing aspect more. As you can probably tell, this is for DnD/Other TTRPGs.

My maps are... well... they're okay. But I have a very VERY severe case of "having three continents that look like islands sitting there" that don't look connected. With one "good guy" nation and one "bad guy" nation. Kingdoms the size of planets. "not!America" on the left, "not!Europe" in the middle. "not!Far East" to the right. "not!Arabia" Somewhere in between. I can't help but fall into these traps when making lore. I like lore to be "wacky and weird", but with a certain amount of realism to say, "Well, I can see that happening." After all, an ancient meteor impact probably won't make a perfect circle of islands millions of years later. But hey, it looks cool.

So yeah, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask for that feedback. Hope we can be friends!

[XCali]

Hi Coco,

I'm Omri. Great to have you on here. I read your story and well, there are things I definitely identify with. I once had quite the drought of people to talk to about my hobby. I know it can be rough.

Anyway, I was checking out your maps and your love for three continents It is sometimes hard to try something else. But, I'd suggest forcing the new challenge, since it creates new neuron pathways. For example, somewhere I created a semi world map Tai Vior, I could have left it at that and it would have just been another world map without any major names. BUT then I thought, what if I zoomed into a part and see what kind of conflicts would arise from the geography in that region. And thus I started fleshing out that one part of the world, Shai'Gidon Land of the Twin Bridges, and indeed because of the shape of the land interesting stories sprung up. Now there are multiple places that I want to map out because of those stories that sprung up.

First just a few towns, but then I made a deal with myself, for a while I had to write a sentence of lore for a place on the week days. And before I knew it, I had dozens more stories that sprung up over this smaller area of the wider world of Tai Vior. Now I am busy with the region next to it.

So, in short, if you feel unmotivated, form small habits. And I mean start small. Write one sentence of lore daily, if you write more then awesome. But one is fine Or add drawing to that too. But small habits help in motivating It did for me.

Good luck on your adventure, and hope to hear from you around these parts
Cheers,
Omri

[My Name is Coco.]

Hi Coco,

I'm Omri. Great to have you on here. I read your story and well, there are things I definitely identify with. I once had quite the drought of people to talk to about my hobby. I know it can be rough.

Anyway, I was checking out your maps and your love for three continents It is sometimes hard to try something else. But, I'd suggest forcing the new challenge, since it creates new neuron pathways. For example, somewhere I created a semi world map Tai Vior, I could have left it at that and it would have just been another world map without any major names. BUT then I thought, what if I zoomed into a part and see what kind of conflicts would arise from the geography in that region. And thus I started fleshing out that one part of the world, Shai'Gidon Land of the Twin Bridges, and indeed because of the shape of the land interesting stories sprung up. Now there are multiple places that I want to map out because of those stories that sprung up.

First just a few towns, but then I made a deal with myself, for a while I had to write a sentence of lore for a place on the week days. And before I knew it, I had dozens more stories that sprung up over this smaller area of the wider world of Tai Vior. Now I am busy with the region next to it.

So, in short, if you feel unmotivated, form small habits. And I mean start small. Write one sentence of lore daily, if you write more then awesome. But one is fine Or add drawing to that too. But small habits help in motivating It did for me.

Good luck on your adventure, and hope to hear from you around these parts
Cheers,
Omri

Thank you so much, Omri! Thank you so much for the kind introduction (I may have been a little nervous signing up). You have some really good maps, and they certainly do fire the neurons I need for inspiration.

My issue isn't particularly with "three continents". If you ask the average person to draw a world map in the quickest time possible, they're bound to draw 5-6 blobs (North America, South America, Eurasia, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica, maybe.) My issue is that these continents look like some alien has gone to 3 different planets, used a tractor beam to lift them all, and then just plopped them down in the middle of an ocean. There's no cohesion or interaction between those blobs that make it look like natural tectonics. As I said before, I'm not exactly one for perfect geological formations, but it distracts me when they look like that (Even though I'm 100% sure my players don't care)

I'm currently in the process of learning the basics of tectonics. We can all looks at the Philippines or Halong Bay and think, "well, that looks cool". But I would certainly like to know WHY they look like that, what formed them, and why don't they stretch on into infinity.

As I said, I love the lore writing aspect and don't struggle with that. My main issue is getting over the mapmaking bump because, in my (maybe stupid) mind, I have to know what kingdoms and villages are close to what and what biomes they're in to get an idea of how those people's cultures arise. I have a ton of stories about them, sometimes borrowing from myself (from other world-building projects). Sometimes from other people. Sometimes my ideas. My main issue in that regard is the pitfalls of writing about stuff too close to home, a la Warhammer, with not!Arabias and not!Europes and not!Germanies. And my inability to think outside the box and come up with unique cultures. Although I guess it is difficult for just about anyone to do that.

[XCali]

Thank you so much, Omri! Thank you so much for the kind introduction (I may have been a little nervous signing up). You have some really good maps, and they certainly do fire the neurons I need for inspiration.

My issue isn't particularly with "three continents". If you ask the average person to draw a world map in the quickest time possible, they're bound to draw 5-6 blobs (North America, South America, Eurasia, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica, maybe.) My issue is that these continents look like some alien has gone to 3 different planets, used a tractor beam to lift them all, and then just plopped them down in the middle of an ocean. There's no cohesion or interaction between those blobs that make it look like natural tectonics. As I said before, I'm not exactly one for perfect geological formations, but it distracts me when they look like that (Even though I'm 100% sure my players don't care)

I'm currently in the process of learning the basics of tectonics. We can all looks at the Philippines or Halong Bay and think, "well, that looks cool". But I would certainly like to know WHY they look like that, what formed them, and why don't they stretch on into infinity.

As I said, I love the lore writing aspect and don't struggle with that. My main issue is getting over the mapmaking bump because, in my (maybe stupid) mind, I have to know what kingdoms and villages are close to what and what biomes they're in to get an idea of how those people's cultures arise. I have a ton of stories about them, sometimes borrowing from myself (from other world-building projects). Sometimes from other people. Sometimes my ideas. My main issue in that regard is the pitfalls of writing about stuff too close to home, a la Warhammer, with not!Arabias and not!Europes and not!Germanies. And my inability to think outside the box and come up with unique cultures. Although I guess it is difficult for just about anyone to do that.

There are quite a few people going for the more technical side of how continents are formed and shaped through tectonics, maybe their journey would give you ideas. (The link is just one of many on that journey)

On how to generate ideas outside the box, think about it, why do we have so many different cultures in the world? One of the reasons are how their areas waaaaaaay back forced them to adapt and through that adaption process their cultures organically formed around their reality. Some were forced to adapt in colder temperatures, others in Monsoon rain forests. All of that come with big questions on how do one survive with those challenges. I can just imagine the rain forest people had to find ways to make dry burning material, and keep their meat fresh by processes like smoking them, otherwise the meat would rot quickly.

Stuff like that force a people to figure out how to survive and because of their solutions to those problems, culture change alongside accordingly.

(Let's throw that into a fantasy perspective, for example. I made a name up, Haer Glover. As I imagined the people there, I thought of vikings, but the ones that wanted to settle new lands, maybe because of something that forced them to abandon their previous land. So sea faring warriors, that was forced to settle a new land when the storm ridden seas were too dangerous to sail continuously. THEN, I made a name, Fire Mist Mountains, and through various cultural references imagined monsters coming when the deep banks of fog dropped down into the valleys. The people from Haer Glover had somewhere decades ago started repairing an ancient bridge keep and posted a watch there. Then one night, the fog came rolling down... and so the monsters starting attacking once more. Bam Adventure hook, all from the idea of sea faring warriors that had to resettle in a new mysterious land.)

Hope that gives some idea how to go about following the story instead of trying to slap a story onto a place.



(P.S. It gets easier to post after 5 posts.)

[Edward Tait]

Greetings Coco. My problem was not just finishing but getting started. I had an idea that was festering in my head (for over 10 years) and when I was planning on sticking the twig in my ear to scratch it (figuratively) IRL it got interrupted with travel for work. But I did start writing more and more for a bit and put it down for a bit and picked it back up again. Finally, I said enough is enough and started to build out a map of the realm in which I want the adventures to happen and as soon as its done I will go back to the writing portion. I agree with the suggestions that XCali makes.

My map is actually places that I have a close connection too but only have some details for maybe 3 populated areas. That is because when I do finally get the time and people to sit down and play some of the adventures, I hope to have them provide me some details from their backstories to build out the rest of the area. Now it might sound like I am saying this is my ball and If I don’t like the way its going I will just take it home. Not the case at all, but I am not going to include everything they provided in my final map. What ever they come up with that while playing the campaign will stick but if another group forms then they also get to contribute building it out.

Although my map is showing the 500,000-foot view it doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. Write your lore and then look to see where it fits and if nothing jumps out then adjust the world to help it fit.

Either way I hope you find the motivation and inspiration to keep moving forward with or without the feedback (everything I have been working on has been for my satisfaction only and being able to share and have it accepted is a bonus but not a necessity). Feel free to reach out if you need a sounding board and will do my best to provide feedback.

[My Name is Coco.]

Greetings Coco. My problem was not just finishing but getting started. I had an idea that was festering in my head (for over 10 years) and when I was planning on sticking the twig in my ear to scratch it (figuratively) IRL it got interrupted with travel for work. But I did start writing more and more for a bit and put it down for a bit and picked it back up again. Finally, I said enough is enough and started to build out a map of the realm in which I want the adventures to happen and as soon as its done I will go back to the writing portion. I agree with the suggestions that XCali makes.

My map is actually places that I have a close connection too but only have some details for maybe 3 populated areas. That is because when I do finally get the time and people to sit down and play some of the adventures, I hope to have them provide me some details from their backstories to build out the rest of the area. Now it might sound like I am saying this is my ball and If I donÂ’t like the way its going I will just take it home. Not the case at all, but I am not going to include everything they provided in my final map. What ever they come up with that while playing the campaign will stick but if another group forms then they also get to contribute building it out.

Although my map is showing the 500,000-foot view it doesnÂ’t mean it has to stay that way. Write your lore and then look to see where it fits and if nothing jumps out then adjust the world to help it fit.

Either way I hope you find the motivation and inspiration to keep moving forward with or without the feedback (everything I have been working on has been for my satisfaction only and being able to share and have it accepted is a bonus but not a necessity). Feel free to reach out if you need a sounding board and will do my best to provide feedback.

Thank you so much! I would certainly love to have someone to use as a sounding board, but unfortunately, I don't have the 5 posts required for DMs yet

Perhaps I misspoke when I said "feedback". I'm not really craving the critique part of the feedback, I do so for my own satisfaction too. What I mean by that is that I love to be asked questions about my world, whether it's the map or the general world-building aspect of it. "How does Magic work?", "What kind of government does this country run on?", "How did this ancient civilisation fall?". Those kinds of questions I love to hear and love answering. Of course, critique is welcome, I am constantly trying to improve and critique from a third-person observer is a great way to improve.

I, too, love to build my worlds around my players. But unfortunately, with so few players in my games (2, discluding myself, as of now), I find it difficult to motivate myself to bother finishing any lore I write. I know some people are going to say, "2 players are better than none." but with my players so thoroughly disinterested in world-building to the point where I know that I can write a novel's worth of lore and none of them will read it, I find it difficult to keep that motivation to keep going since nobody will read it.

I've recently learned to keep my lore building as a separate exercise from games. And just write about them for fun and imagine myself being in those worlds and how they interact. It has certainly helped

[Edward Tait]

Maybe just ask simple questions during the game about their character and add it to their story and before you know it they will have built enough of the world around them and may wish to continue or at least give you bits to build up on.

Yeah the 5 Posts before PM is a smart move to keep spammers and bots out but you are almost there. LOL.

[Diamond]

Hey Coco, welcome to the Guild.

We do have a Writing/Linguistics/Etc forum too. Feel free to start a thread for your worldbuilding stuff. I'm planning on doing that also. Soon. One of these days...