In publishing my first short story on the web site, I mentioned in the accompanying news article that about ordinary lives of others in other worlds. Now, the following may sound a little awkward, and a bit corny, so please bear with me in this rather improperly constructed explanation of a concept that rather fascinates me: what unexplored places or people are like in created worlds.
I play my classic 8-bit and 16-bit games to this day. I should probably know better, I’m not a kid anymore, but I just can’t help myself. Even gaming today, you often are in areas where you are bound by where you can go. Some games continue on a map, a town, etc., to give it a proper completness and presentation. For some reason, as a child, I often wondered what lie beyond the areas I couldn’t go, and what things may acutally exist there. It sounds like the game I’m playing isn’t interesting enough. It is interesting, but I always wanted to know if there was a little bit more programmed into the chips, something unused, but still implemented and executable. Yes, it’s a bit crazy.
Obviously, nothing’s there. It’s just extra tiles or data to fulfill the idea that the area you are in goes on in detail, but you are still bound by a restricted area. It’s just there for completeness. Nonetheless, it got me thinking, “what would it be like over there? What goes on in these places?”
As I read more stories, I got thinking more about other things that makes these places flow. I suppose some authors do not expand beyond the necessities, but nonetheless include various bits of history and off-the-cuff trivia that makes that world not so wooden. Of course, one could always cite J.R.R. Tolkien and the massive amount of Middle-Earth material that have come out of it; but I’m talking about the antithesis of such works.
If I read a story that describes a land set in a range of mountains, surrounded by majestic waterfalls, and the settings are within this mountain range, that’s fine. When references to outside those majestic mountains and waterfalls are made, my imagination kicks into gear. If that author does not follow up with another story set in that world, I start asking questions, like “in reference to these places, what would it look like beyond the mountains? What other lands lie in those places? What people live there? What problems do they face? How could it tie in to what’s happening in this story now?” I suppose, if pushed enough, that author may begin working on some project to fulfill a fan’s questions, bringing them peace in mind, but with even more goodies to explore with. And then, when the goodies are all used up, they want more. And more. And more…
Fan fiction probably started that way, or at least had its roots in ideas like that. Fans would be so infuriated that references to places in a world were left only as a reference, they would become infatuated with that very idea, and begin their own stories as an “add-on” of sorts to what the author may have intended to leave as. I would also suspect it was done much to the chagrin of the author, unintentional or not. I’m not saying fan fiction is terrible as an idea, but from my experience of reading fan fiction of various things, I tend to side with the author in context to the words “embarrassing,” or “cringeworthy,” or the phrase “hurt my fanbase.” Your experience may obviously vary, and you certainly may have a different view from mine, but I stopped reading fan fiction because of such unfortunate experiences.
If you were one who is quite philosophical about such things, then you could possibly construe the fact that everything is fan fiction of something of a much higher level. If you are such a person who operates on that level, that’s fine, but never come to my house for dinner.
While fan fiction or an addendum to a world is absolutely fine, I decided to try the opposite. For The Severis Tales, I created a world where the focus isn’t on such epic tales. I suppose something major has happened at least once or twice in the history of their version of Earth, and maybe those events could be referenced. The literary purpose, however, is to explore the lives of the individuals who aren’t of a higher cause—in this case, the lives of the Severis family and those of Barlett Town, and the interactions in between. I’m not saying that what i’ve done is fan fiction in itself—I’m hesitant of fan fiction being made about my stuff as it is—but I seem to relish in the idea that these places had more or unique adventures between unknown or lesser known individuals, rather than the epic plot lines where the worlds are bent towards.
I do sound like I’m rambling on like I’m drunk, and I may not be making much sense, but it’s always been a fascinating avenue to walk down. I love the fact there could be other worlds in the universe that have their own civilizations, customs, art, literature, technology, and modes of transportation. I can’t help thinking about what the day-to-day life would be like for someone from one of these potential planets, and if that person (or creature, it’s a big universe after all) often thinks the same thing about us. I suppose if we aren’t ever to know during our lifetimes, the best way to imagine such a thing, would be an emulation of such a concept, in the form of a literary world following the lives of those ordinary people.