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One of these is better than the others
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Nick East (Indie Writer) mastodon.art NickEast_IndieWriter@mastodon.art
Joined: 2025-02-22
Quote

Meme compairing three Fantasy writers worldbuilding:

J.K Rowling: Only start creating a lore after you already finished half of the series and keep adding stuff a decade after finishing it

G.R.R Martin: Steal 90% of your deep lore from real life history and other authors to fill out your world map

J.R.R Tolkien: Create an entire universe with a bloody, theological history with of hundreds of characters and dozens of devastating wars, then write a childrens book in it

One of these is better than the others... you know the one I mean 😁 @bookstodon @books @worldbuilding @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop#SpeculativeFiction #FantasyBooks#FantasyMemes #Worldbuilding #Fantasy #SciFi #Meme #Memes #Humor #Humour #Funny#Low #High #Epic #Science #Opera #Hard #CottageCore #SolarPunk #Comedic #Whatever #GiveMeAllYouveGot#Book #Books #Novel #Novels #Bookstodon #Bookworm #Bookwyrm #BookLove

113   Original
crouton aus.social crouton@aus.social
Joined: 2024-10-12
#2 · Quote Reply

@NickEast_IndieWriter @bookstodon @books @worldbuilding @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop I loved the idea of the Silmarillion. I don't think I even made it to 10% before I went into a brief coma.

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Xaphanos lemmy.world Xaphanos@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#3 · Quote Reply

@NickEast_IndieWriter @bookstodon @books @worldbuilding @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop I loved the idea of the Silmarillion. I don't think I even made it to 10% before I went into a brief coma.

It was never turned into a consistent storyline. He partially rewrote it several times, and never completed any one of them. Each section (Gondolin, Luthien, Turin, etc.) was still in draft mode when he died, and his son was left to try to make sense of it.

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Ray McCarthy mastodon.ie raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie
Joined: 2025-09-17
#4 · Quote Reply

@NickEast_IndieWriter @bookstodon @books @worldbuilding @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop independent.co.uk/arts-enterta

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AeronMelon lemmy.world aeronmelon@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-12-26
#5 · Quote Reply

The real “RR”

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early_riser piefed.social early_riser@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-05
#6 · Quote Reply

It was never turned into a consistent storyline. He partially rewrote it several times, and never completed any one of them. Each section (Gondolin, Luthien, Turin, etc.) was still in draft mode when he died, and his son was left to try to make sense of it.
[deleted]
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Starya67 lemmy.world starlinguk@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-17
#7 · Quote Reply

Tolkien pilfered that universe from already existing myths and legends.

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AudaciousArmadillo piefed.blahaj.zone AudaciousArmadillo@piefed.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-11-23
#8 · Quote Reply

Tolkien pilfered that universe from already existing myths and legends.

True, but I don't know why people look down upon such inspiration. I think it's really cool.

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emeralddawn45 lemmy.dbzer0.com emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-07-28
#9 · Quote Reply

Tolkien pilfered that universe from already existing myths and legends.

So did pretty much every myth and legend. And religions for that matter. That's how stories are built, it's putting the pieces together in a new interesting way that makes a good one.

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glimse lemmy.world glimse@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-07
#10 · Quote Reply

Our Glorious Inspiration

Their Barbaric Theft

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Goodeye8 piefed.social Goodeye8@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-05
#11 · Quote Reply

True, but I don't know why people look down upon such inspiration. I think it's really cool.

Taking real world history and adapting it into your world is also cool but the meme still looks down on GRRM.

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dustyData lemmy.world dustyData@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-11
#12 · (edited) Quote Reply

[deleted]

I love it because it is akin to studying ancient texts. Commercial publishers put out highly curated versions of the popular classics that rewrite or reconstruct most of it. But studying the actual text, or as close as one can, in archeology books that contextualize the texts and annotate what we know and what we assume, and the different sources of each piece. It is so fascinating how much is like detective work. Lots of things are incomplete or only make sense by using assumptions from elsewhere in historical evidence. That's my approach to the Silmarillion.

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Don_alForno feddit.org Don_alForno@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-07-22
#13 · Quote Reply

So did pretty much every myth and legend. And religions for that matter. That's how stories are built, it's putting the pieces together in a new interesting way that makes a good one.

So why is it "stealing" from real life history then?

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early_riser piefed.social early_riser@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-05
#14 · Quote Reply

True, but I don't know why people look down upon such inspiration. I think it's really cool.
[deleted]
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couldhavebeenyou lemmy.zip couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-02
#15 · Quote Reply

I don't think we're supposed to laud her anymore because of all the trans hate and stuff

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Stamau123 lemmy.world Stamau123@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-09
#16 · Quote Reply

I don't think we're supposed to laud her anymore because of all the trans hate and stuff

I don't think this is lauding

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taiyang lemmy.world taiyang@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-08
#17 · Quote Reply

I didn't recognize the third until I read the comments and... yeah I guess that's a children's book.

I was hoping for a crazy TIL about R.L. Stein or E.B. White something.

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couldhavebeenyou lemmy.zip couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-02
#18 · Quote Reply

I don't think this is lauding

She's clowning these two dogs and it's not lauding?

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Visstix lemmy.world Visstix@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-17
#19 · Quote Reply

She's clowning these two dogs and it's not lauding?

The meme calls her a bad writer.

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VindictiveJudge lemmy.world VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#20 · Quote Reply

To be fair, The Hobbit didn't start as a Middle-earth story and was retconned into being one after he started writing the sequel. Which is why the only mention of Hobbits in The Silmarillion is a line at the very end about Frodo destroying the One Ring even though The Shire either was a client state of Numenor before it sank or is the last remaining part of the Numenorean government.

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couldhavebeenyou lemmy.zip couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-02
#21 · Quote Reply

The meme calls her a bad writer.

No it doesn't she's right on top of these bozos

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kurwa lemmy.world kurwa@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#22 · Quote Reply

So why is it "stealing" from real life history then?

It's a meme

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Limerance piefed.social Limerance@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-03-04
#23 · Quote Reply

[deleted]

Tolkien took several names straight from the Edda. Gandalf is the most famous, but several dwarven names as well.

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Schroedingers_Cat metalhead.club SteveClough@metalhead.club
Joined: 2023-05-14
#24 · Quote Reply

@NickEast_IndieWriter @bookstodon @books @worldbuilding @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop I loved the idea of the Silmarillion. I don't think I even made it to 10% before I went into a brief coma.

@crouton @NickEast_IndieWriter @bookstodon @books @worldbuilding @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop I have read the Silmarillion. Unfinished Tales. The entire History of Middle Earth (all 12 volumes).What, nerd? Me?

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Starya67 lemmy.world starlinguk@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-17
#25 · Quote Reply

True, but I don't know why people look down upon such inspiration. I think it's really cool.

I'm not looking down on it, but other people are looking down on other writers for doing the same thing.

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