Worldbuilding Wednesday
@worldbuildingwed.bsky.social
A Medium publication dedicated to recommendations, resources, and rants for fantasy and sci-fi writers.
"There’s plenty of help to be had from veteran worldbuilders, writing communities, libraries of books, and ye olde internet." #writing #worldbuilding #scifi #fantasy #booksky
Worldbuilding Resources for Fantasy and Sci-Fi Writers
A massive list of helpful books, tools, blogs, and communities.
medium.com
“Steampunk’s key lessons are not about the past. They are about the instability and obsolescence of our own times.” -- Bruce Sterling #writing #steampunk #cyberpunk #worldbuilding #booksky
Does dark academia herald a return of steampunk?
Why the subgenre’s themes resonate with readers yet again.
medium.com
"This is why we squeal and say ‘I knew it!’ when a character starts acting odd, because it’s been promised through repeated word choices that a betrayal is likely imminent." #writing #worldbuilding #booksky #fantasy
The Reader-Writer Contract
And How Not To Betray Your Readers
medium.com
"What your characters eat for everyday sustenance, what they drink (to excess or otherwise), and what they treat themselves to can help to flesh out your world in relatable, meaningful ways." #writing #worldbuilding #fantasy #booksky #anime
Someone stole your sweet roll? Food in Fantasy
A menu of fantasy fare and how it can expand and explain your world.
medium.com
"The game’s use of bold neons, negative space, and typography remind me of the techno album covers that I had in the 90s." #GiftArticle #gaming #design #Marathon medium.com/theuglymonst...
‘Marathon’ is a Transhumanist Corporate Rat Race
High-stakes survival and the absence of human dignity in Bungie’s loudest game in decades
medium.com
Happy Wednesday! Our monthly #worldbuilding newsletter is live! 👽🐉✨ #writing #booksky #fantasy #scifi #writingcommunity
✨The sword, the raygun, and the pen✨
July 2026 recommendations, resources, and rants for fantasy and sci-fi writers.
medium.com
"Throughout our lives we are going to have moments where we don’t want to get in the damn robot. But the point the original Evangelion makes is that you should do it anyway." #anime #mecha #Medium medium.com/theuglymonst...
Neon Genesis Evangelion — You Versus the World Versus the You Within the World
What does it mean to live? What do you give up to live?
medium.com
"I ask what was here before this moment. What happened in this location that has nothing to do with this scene. What these characters were doing an hour before, a year before, in some situation that will never appear in the story at all." #writing #worldbuilding #booksky
The Notes That Will Never Appear in the Story
Some of the most important parts of a story are the ones readers will never see.
medium.com
Get in a sword fight this weekend 🗡️✨ (on page, preferably) #writing #worldbuilding #booksky #fantasy #scifi
"The only reasons [Mazes and Monsters is] still remembered is because it’s cringe and it starred a young Tom Hanks as Robbie, the poor, misguided soul who would be warped by too much pretend fantasy adventure." #Medium #DungeonsAndDragons #60Minutes medium.com/theuglymonst...
CBS vs D&D: Tom Hanks, 60 Minutes, and the Satanic Panic
CBS was a moral panic profiteer
medium.com
Marlon James reminds us that fantasy does not equate to Middle Ages with magic. Fantasy does not have to be stuck in Europe. It doesn’t even have to be on Earth. Speculative fiction doesn’t have to be shackled by its fairy tale origins. #writing #booksky #worldbuilding #fantasy
If The Odyssey was published for the first time today, would it be shelved in the fantasy section? Historical fiction? 🤔
The Ugly Monster (Oscar)@theuglymonster.bsky.social · 2w ago"The Odyssey is a proper adventure, full of compelling action, and a grueling exploration of the cost of the Trojan War before and long after." #movies #MattDamon #Medium medium.com/theuglymonst...
"Apparently, after refusing to do a follow up to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki just wanted to make an adventure film that was “pleasant” to watch." #anime #film medium.com/theuglymonst...
‘Castle in the Sky’ is a Fun Ghibli Romp
A look into the first official Studio Ghibli film
medium.com
"I think the beauty of NaNoWriMo has always been its role as a highly accessible way to create a daily writing habit and motivate writers into getting their stories out of their heads and onto the page." #writing #booksky #writingcommunity #nanowrimo
Is Novel November the new NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo is dead, long live National Novel Writing Month.
medium.com
“Once Upon A Time was Disney’s first and best attempt at a fairy tale shared universe and a darker, slightly more adult take on the genre, and yet it failed miserably.” #writing #booksky #worldbuilding #anime #fairytales
Okami-San and Her Seven Companions > Once Upon A Time
How an obscure Japanese romance takes Disney’s basic premise and gives it much more punch
medium.com
"The internet’s influence on literature cannot be overstated. The teenagers who grew up reading #fanfiction about their favorite characters have grown up, heads full of tropes and beloved fanfic cliches, and some have achieved the lauded rank of published author." #writing #booksky #worldbuilding
You can’t rely on tropes (or can you?)
Are tropes becoming overused in the fantasy genre?
medium.com
"If Superman gets his power from Earths’ sun, how come he doesn’t get weaker at night? When do Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker et al, sleep? If a Silence sees a Weeping Angel, then looks away, does the Weeping Angel attack, or forget it saw the Silence? Just asking." #writing #booksky #worldbuilding
Questions Fantasy Authors Should Have Answers To
Because readers are always going to ask them
medium.com
Worldbuilding Wednesday is a resource for fantasy and science fiction writers that delight in building imaginary second worlds, or scaffolding fantastic elements onto our own. #worldbuilding #writing #booksky #fantasy #scifi
"...in the real world, the song is science fiction. But these songs are supposed to be diegetic; they play on the radio in Night City." #music #gaming #GiftArticle medium.com/theuglymonst...
Cyberpunk 2077: “Black Terminal” is an Ode to Righteous Revenge
What does this diegetic banger mean?
medium.com
"What elements make up a generic fantasy world? For better or for worse, again, there are tropes and traits that have become “generic” in the practice of fantasy worldbuilding." #writing #booksky #worldbuilding #fantasy
Should your fantasy world be “generic?”
On the power of presumption in fantasy novels and the shortcuts that make your story sweeter.
medium.com
"While it may seem that sci-fi stories like Star Trek are somehow prognostic, in reality they are simply extrapolating on social and scientific trends." #GiftArticle medium.com/theuglymonst...
Why Star Trek said World War III started in 2026
Sometimes science fiction can appear to be clairvoyant, but that’s not exactly the case here
medium.com
"Having been chronically online for most of my life, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between this blossoming cozy fantasy subgenre and a load-bearing pillar of the fanfiction community: the coffeeshop AU." #writing #booksky #cozyfantasy #coffeeshopAU
Where did cozy fantasy come from?
Cozy fantasy as an antidote to the grimdark days
medium.com
Current WIP: Lady Ghostglass, a cozy fantasy about a would-be scholar living a double life in a possibly haunted manor with a possibly draconic boss. ✨ #writing #booksky #writingcommunity #fantasy #cozyfantasy
