Mazeka
You must be joking
- Location
- United States
Let me explain:
Some authors have their stories set on Earth, with the same countries, cultures, peoples, and histories that are easily recognizable to anyone here. Europe is Europe, and North America is North America. Some stories may have fantastical elements or the odd fictional country within those Earths, but you are still recognize the real-world places within those stories. Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files may be a wizard who deals with magical creatures and godlike beings, but he's still a human from a familiar Earth, based out of a familiar Chicago, Illinois. (OTL Earth)
Some authors have their stories set in fantasy worlds of their own making, such as Tolkien's Middle Earth or D&D's Abeir-Toril. These world may bear minor resemblances to or were inspired by real-world nations and cultures, but you still acknowledge these world as being completely fantastical. A Song of Ice and Fire may be inspired by the real-life War of the Roses and its lands may be inspired by our world's British Isles and Eurasia, but people for the most part accept the world as being an entity unto itself. (Fictional Earth)
Then there are the stories set on Earths with vaguely recognizable continents and fictional counterparts to real-world nations, but have slightly differing geographies, histories, and cultures. Polania and Rusviet in Iron Harvest 1920+ for instance are clearly meant to be analogous to real-world Poland and Russia. Similarly, Steven Universe is set on a fictional Earth with a fictional history, but with semi-recognizable real-life nations and a vaguely similar geography with alternate names. (Not!Earths)
It's this last category that I want to inquire about.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing stories in Not!Earth settings rather than in OTL Earth or Fictional Earths? Are there certain rules one should follow or habits to avoid when writing the former?
Some authors have their stories set on Earth, with the same countries, cultures, peoples, and histories that are easily recognizable to anyone here. Europe is Europe, and North America is North America. Some stories may have fantastical elements or the odd fictional country within those Earths, but you are still recognize the real-world places within those stories. Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files may be a wizard who deals with magical creatures and godlike beings, but he's still a human from a familiar Earth, based out of a familiar Chicago, Illinois. (OTL Earth)
Some authors have their stories set in fantasy worlds of their own making, such as Tolkien's Middle Earth or D&D's Abeir-Toril. These world may bear minor resemblances to or were inspired by real-world nations and cultures, but you still acknowledge these world as being completely fantastical. A Song of Ice and Fire may be inspired by the real-life War of the Roses and its lands may be inspired by our world's British Isles and Eurasia, but people for the most part accept the world as being an entity unto itself. (Fictional Earth)
Then there are the stories set on Earths with vaguely recognizable continents and fictional counterparts to real-world nations, but have slightly differing geographies, histories, and cultures. Polania and Rusviet in Iron Harvest 1920+ for instance are clearly meant to be analogous to real-world Poland and Russia. Similarly, Steven Universe is set on a fictional Earth with a fictional history, but with semi-recognizable real-life nations and a vaguely similar geography with alternate names. (Not!Earths)
It's this last category that I want to inquire about.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing stories in Not!Earth settings rather than in OTL Earth or Fictional Earths? Are there certain rules one should follow or habits to avoid when writing the former?
