Viridian Dreams Forum

tl;dr - skip past the italics.

I'm working on fan fiction on my one and this question struck me while I was trying to decide what kind of setting I wanted to write about: I'm writing about a setting that isn't very detailed (aka Tolkienesque), it's a modern world but where ridiculous things happen solely because explaining the real-life consequences of such absurdity would be too complicated; I'm describing characters that aren't especially deep or thought-provoking, who have personalities that, while consistent, are not riddled with life-challenging qualms and deep metaphors like, let's say, Neo from the Matrix.

This probably wasn't a very good canvas for a story, and most of the fan fiction about this world typically focuses on "shipping". I'm not great at writing about romance, so I didn't want to focus on that. The stories I want to tell are focused on adventure and unusual happenings, and dare I say, are comically perverse. At the same time, I want to make these characters breath and feel, but perhaps the detail necessary to make them way simply isn't there. Maybe the world I'm writing in is just too shallow and haphazard to put a more serious, level-headed narrative on. Adding anything to these characters might be like turning Goku from a martial artist to a man with a drinking problem and a desperate need to prove who's toughest.

Anyway, that's the dilemma that inspired this. So what do you think: When it comes to writing fan fiction, is it possible to take a vague world that doesn't have the same kind of massiveness of Middle-Earth and write a detailed story about it, or is it better to work in a world that's very defined and structured. Or can there be a third option; a world like Naruto that is massive and just vague enough to allow for lots of conjecture?

I think it depends on what you want to write, because all options are viable. In a very structured world, it can be hard to write something which fits in with canon, but that's where the challenge comes in. For a very vaguely defined world, you can fill in the gaps and give it your own sort of 'structure' (e.g. people who like to worldbuild the magic in Harry Potter -- the system as it is is very loosely defined, but fans have run with that and made their own rules). For a world in between, like Naruto, it's a balance of both.

But your problem sounds like confidence to me. If the characters aren't very fleshed out, then as long as you can incorporate what character traits they do have, you can make any sort of character complex and deep. As an example, I wrote a year or so ago a fanfic which massively expanded on Looker (from Pokemon Platinum) in a vague noir-y sense. But in the game he is a comic relief character and a bit ridiculous: you don't have to get rid of those traits, you just have to make them internally consistent, and give the character some kind of problem or goal (internal, external, etc etc). Go for it!

Also, your world sounds like it might be a great place for a story idea. If things happen in the world for reasons no one really knows -- write characters trying to find out why it happens. Or work out in your head how it happens, pick one of those logical background facts, and expand. Does the background system create any problems? What happens if part of it stops working? That sort of stuff.

Although I don't know if I would describe a very vague world as Tolkeinesque. Tolkein's world are about as un-vague as worldbuilding gets.

Ah worldbuilding, the bane of many a writer, and the reason why so many of my plot bunnies don't go far.

Quote said it straight, though. It depends on just what you want to do with the story. It can start with something simple as filling in the gaps to give them more substance. If you are doing a fanfic of something that is highly episodic, there won't be too many details in the world to start with, which means you have plenty of options. Also, don't hesitate to change canon to suit the needs of your story, as if we want something that is canon compliant, we will go to the source material.

I strongly recommend having at least the basic framework for your world - the rules it goes by - firmly in mind before you start writing. You don't have to ever include all of it, but having it will help you write a consistent world.

In Harry Potter's canon universe, for example, wandless magic just doesn't exist. It isn't really talked about except for those few times when someone is disarmed, but the rules exist behind the scenes before and after those points.

Another example would be the Stargate universe. They never really get into detail about how the "ring transports" or "stargates" work. Then again, they don't have to. The fact that they work is sufficient. (That and they avoided the technobabble sending the fans running screaming.)

It should be pointed out that having a vague world isn't bad by itself. Although it depends on the kind of story you are writing.

Many comedies, parodies and even satires work entirely based on the rule of funny: It doesn't matter how absurd, random or non-sensical a setting is, provided whatever happens is funny. Indeed, part of the reason why this rule works is because laugh is one of the natural psychological reactions to the absurd.

On a different pole, some horror stories also work by keeping the setting as vague as possible. If the characters and the audience don't know why something is happening or what is behind the cause of the horrors, it can contribute to the unnerving or creepy factor.