Mission Statement

What’s more important for a fictional world—the medium in which it’s presented or the ideas, characters, and concepts it presents?

I’ve been a professional writer and editor for almost 20 years now, and so very often, I see people pigeon-hole creativity and promise into smaller and smaller boxes based on either “what we’ve always done” or “what it looks like.” Because a story came out in a comic book or an old pulp magazine, it’s deemed less worthy of reading by some. If a world was created first as a role-playing game campaign or a cartoon, it’s considered a less serious setting of stories and novels.

Why is that? Why does the form or format prejudice an idea’s worth or a story’s strength?

That’s something I want to do here—challenge the assumptions and entrenched ideas and preconceptions on how we look at fiction and fictional worlds of all stripes.

I know how to tell a story, and I know how to write everything from catalogue copy to full-length novels. At the heart of things, I’m a world-builder, rather than a born storyteller. I like to put the backgrounds together and build the stages on which the tales play out. When I write a story, chance are I’ve at least twice as much material not on the story pages, detailing the world behind the story. So why does my choice of a genre or format change the worthiness of the material in people’s eyes? I don’t know. Let’s find out if we can change it back.

Here’s my plan—I want this site to show people that the boundaries—the limitations of a genre or a medium—are only there if we put them there. I’ve got ideas I want to share in a number of ways. Here’s how the site’s going to work:

I’ll be blogging at least eight times a month. Sometime more, sometimes less. Depends on the demands of real life, doesn’t it?
I’ll be following a stream of consciousness development here, ping-ponging from one topic to the next as my brain sees fit. If comments or questions from readers push me there, so be it.
The blogs will be anything from story fragments to enyclopedic pieces on fictional worlds.
I’ve got at least three worlds with stories in my head, and all of them relate to my published short stories with DAW. For more on those, go to the Worlds page. Just know that clues on how the worlds intersect and interact will be both in entries and their tags/categories.
Every entry will be tagged and categorized to allow people to track down and read the development of certain topics.
At present, I don’t plan to interrupt the blog’s fictional content with my own thoughts after this post; I’ll try and save those for comments or the forums (soon to come).
What I create for this site is wholly my own copyright and many of them may eventually be trademarks, should this idea take off.
I’m asking folks who want to comment or participate in any discussions to sign up as “members” of this little online community. Just drop a note in the Guestbook for now; I’ll try and set up something soon for signing in.
Joining this community means a lot to me as an author and creative. Reader support is crucial and appreciated always, and your curiosity in what I’m building here will help develop ideas and move things along.

Any other questions? Comment here or in the latest blog comment thread.

And last but not least, welcome to my worlds. Hope you enjoy your time here.

Steven E. Schend
World-builder and writer

November 7, 2008 Posted in: Steven Statements

5 Responses

Bradley "The Sage" Russo - November 13, 2008

I like what you’re attempting to do here Steven. Really, I do. I’m not the kind of person to ignore comics or cartoons as viable mediums for inspiration. In fact, some of my most treasured creations, whether it be for a role-playing game or something for my own writings, have as their foundations, ideas I’ve derived from reading some of the old Marvel pulp-titles like “Strange Tales” and “Journey Into Mystery.”

Having said that, I’m curious to see how the ideas will be received among readers here. Each and every member who chooses to participate will likely have their own perspectives on what you’ve presented. So it’ll be interesting to watch how all those perspectives end up meshing together as more and more readers add their comments and/or thoughts about the various worlds.
admin - November 13, 2008

Thanks, Brad. I’m very curious on all this as well, and I welcome a broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives. Not everyone’s as enamored with the pulps or older comics as I am, so perhaps I’ll need to be slapped back into place. Still, I’m going where my Muse takes me, and for now, it’s steeped in old crumbling comics and pulp fiction and long out-of-print stories.

I’m also hoping that by this time next week I’ll have some viable forums set up (and maybe even link them to this page, my current headache among them). If you have any advice on the use of phpBB, I’d love to hear it (or just a good simple map for how to structure the forums, based on your work at Candlekeep.com) via email.

Steven
Bradley "The Sage" Russo - November 14, 2008

Heh. I’ll take stories from some of those older comics over a few of the more *popular* tales of today, every single time. It’s a real hoot to sit back and read through the early comics from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. I think some of the modern comics of today have lost that “fantastical” edge somewhat… becoming too grounded in real-science and accepted beliefs. ‘Tis a shame.

As for the forums software… that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll even talk it over with Alaundo and see if he’s got any ideas that could help. Since we’re in the process of developing the forum structure for Candlekeep 2, I’d imagine he’s got plenty of ideas to share.
Adam Forrest - November 25, 2008

Steven, interesting thoughts about prejudice against certain genres and forms.

I wonder if a large part of the problem is that people have encountered so many predictable stories that they make judgments about the content after a mere passing glimpse at the form?

A maxim my old English profs would ram down my throat is “form equals content,” but my favorite stories usually take elements from different forms and are hard to pigeonhole into a genre. (For a contemporary example, see the short stories by George Saunders, especially his collection “Pastoralia.” For a classic example, “Moby-Dick” thwomps all expectations of the novel.)

Why is it that unusual and surprising stories are so hard to get people to read? Is it a marketing problem, like Neil Gaiman argues? (See his intro to “McSweeney’s Astonishing Tales.”) Is it that people safer about spending $8-30 when they know what they’re getting? Is it because real surprises are too alienating?

Obviously, you got me thinking, Steven.
admin - November 25, 2008

I should probably make this a topic on the boards and discuss it all further. Let’s talk more on this after Turkey Day, hm?

Steven