Chasing the Possibility Horizon

In an interview with the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Joseph Staten (Head of Creative for Halo, although he recently left Xbox Game Studios) talked about what he enjoyed about his job, despite the difficulties. And the thing he was most excited about was the fact that the Halo universe is growing.

Not just new stories, or new voices, or new mediums, although all three are true. It was the fact that all of those additions are expanding the breadth and depth of what a Halo story can be.

That’s worldbuilding at a grand scale. And while I’m not leading the creation of a billion-dollar entertainment franchise, I think his perspective is good advice to hold onto. Whether I’m building onto my SciFi universe or crafting a fantasy realm, it’s important to always open doors.

Every project closes doors, because writing one outcome means you rule out the alternatives. But thinking about potential outcomes can still generate excitement and inspiration for what could come after.

There’s always an after. Every book has a final page, and one of the most difficult situations is finishing a product and falling into a creative rut. But this perspective is what leads to short stories and new adventures and all sorts of unlikely projects. 

This concept 一 let’s call it the “possibility horizon” 一 is important, particularly as I think about my current project and the big changes it’s causing.

Last week, I talked a little about anthropomorphism and my plans to explore it in my writing. But I really only gave one part of my logic behind this change. So before I start sharing ideas or sharing a progress update, I wanted to try and lay out the full intention behind my decision.

Chasing the possibility horizon

There’s something inherently familiar about anthropomorphic characters. You’ll recognize elves and dwarves in a fantasy novel, but authors often need to explain what makes their elves and dwarves different. And for unique creations like the Ruada or Engila, I’d have to dedicate time 一 and, more specifically, words 一 to help you to imagine those races.

Replacing elves and dwarves with beavers and pandas would, ideally, give me more space to explore the societal features of these people. Readers are even more familiar with those creatures, and so I could reference “beaverfolk” to get an image across. That should free me to highlight their clothes, architecture, mannerisms, and anything else that makes them unique. 

And while I touched on this in my last post, I think anthropomorphic stories are something I could share with Graham sooner rather than later. Heck, maybe they would give me opportunities to write young reader-friendly stories even if the overall tone of the world is still aimed at an adult audience 一 again, it would be taking advantage of an inherent familiarity with these creatures and the behaviors or temperaments we instinctively place on them.

Either way, this line of thinking played a big part in my decision to explore anthropomorphic characters. Even if I never publish a novel or even share one of these stories here, it would all be worth the effort if it becomes something I can share with him one day.

Knowing your audience

Now, the mention of “young readers” prompts a new question: Does this mean I’m writing for kids now?

The answer to that is…currently unclear. I’ve never written sex scenes or profanity or excessive gore because, honestly, that’s not stuff I look for when I read either. And so a part of me always wondered if my No Room in the Sky series should have targeted a younger audience. Would it be easier to find an agent in a genre where I’m not the only person writing PG-rated content? Probably, but that wasn’t an idea I ever considered until now.

Kim is a more voracious reader than I am, and she reads a lot of young adult fiction and teen fantasy. When I asked her about my “big idea,” she had a lot of great insight. For starters, she admitted that she’s always thought my books fit more with a younger audience. I didn’t take it to mean she thought No Room in the Sky was immature or childish 一 the books deal with themes that would be too mature for a 12-year-old. 

But then Kim said she’s never even read a teen book that didn’t have cursing and (at the very least) implied sex; popular teen fantasy series all include that sort of content because it’s stuff teens are thinking about. So even a teen reader might see my books as too “young” or “immature” for where they are in life, regardless of the subject matter addressed in the writing.

Again, I don’t enjoy gratuitous “adult content” in the stuff I read, so I didn’t write any of that. And so it’s a very interesting pivot for me to keep in mind as I reconsider the audience I’m writing to.

Bringing it all together

So what the heck does all of that mean?

The change is done. I’ve carefully crafted seven new races for my fantasy world. Each one is based on a familiar animal species, but I’m pretty confident in the fact that they feel distinctly fantastical. Sure, the Otasi may be owl-like, but they’re not like any avian species I’ve read about or seen depicted anywhere else. I’m proud of that.

But it’s still early days for this new fantasy realm. I decided to focus on a single continent in a larger world, and so there are still 20+ cultures and subcultures to build out and explore in the future. But my goal was to focus on one place to give myself a platform to start writing. Because what better way to explore a new world and study its people than to close my eyes and literally put myself in their shoes, right?

As I wrap up this current stage of worldbuilding, I still have a lot of questions and concerns. I did pose the question to a Reddit community of worldbuilders, and I got some really good (largely positive) feedback…but there were warnings as well.

Will some readers immediately write off my work because they assume anthropomorphic stories are for kids? Maybe. Will some combinations of species and culture feel like caricatures of real world people groups? I certainly hope not and did my best to avoid that. But I’ll plan to get more feedback on these ideas from readers with a clearer understanding of that.

And all of this work has to happen before ever sharing the stories, whether that’s with alpha readers or even an audience of parents looking for “clean” fantasy stories for their young readers. It’s hard to predict where this will go or how the dust will settle. But I’m excited and full of ideas, and as the stories start taking shape, my hope is that you’ll be excited to read them.