Worldbuilding: Problems

worldbuilding: problems

there’s no place where everything runs smoothly. every country has it’s problems. that might be poverty, weak government, fake news, gun violence, or abuse of magical abilities. it could really be anything. so what’s wrong with your world?

what could go wrong:

poverty

corrupt government (a few infiltrations? biased officials? a dictator?)

discrimination/persecution of any kind (sexism, racism, religion, anything that makes someone unique)

violence (gangs, guns, magic, sexual assault)

failing economy

counterfeits (money, expensive products, anything)

drugs (fake drugs, very real and dangerous drugs)

weak government (ie. the government isn’t necessarily corrupt, but no one listens to them and they have no real power at all so everyone just runs amok)

environmental crisis

relations with other countries/regions

war

fake news (can be something smaller like what goes around on the internet today, or something as horrible as the propaganda the axis powers fed their people about the allied powers)

scarcity

terrorist groups

stereotypes (remember, even seemingly positive stereotypes can be damaging)

manipulation/using people

there’s a whole lot more, get creative! as saddening as this will be, scrolling through news articles will give you some good inspiration because our world is pretty messed up

how to choose which problems to include

what is your world like? as obvious as this probably sounds, your world’s problems are directly related to the things in your world. choose pretty much any element of your world, however small it may seem, and there can be made a problem out of it.

in a world of magic:

magic can be abused

magic can be faked (ie. in harry potter, around exam season, students sell items that “enhance your brain” or whatever when it’s really pixie poop, i’m not even kidding)

discrimination between magical and non magical people (muggleborns vs. purebloods)

people rely too much on magic and become weak (a great example of this is the Renegades series, where the non prodigies depend on the prodigies way too much)

non magic people using magical people (or magical people using other magicals, ex. grindelwald/percival graves using creedence to find the obscurial)

really, the problems for a magical world are endless - you can use regular real-life problems with a twist. the magical government lies to the public, buying out the main news source? people of pure magical lineage are somehow better than those related to non magical people? harry potter is a fantastic example of magical worldbuilding, steal stuff from jkr (but don’t make gay characters who are never actually gay)

in a world of science:

i’m a big fantasy nerd, much less sci-fi, so i don’t really have any good examples from books/movies, but here are some ideas anyway

the people who live on a different planet are starting to run out of resources and take over the earth (literally the plot of the Lunar Chronicles series)

the government is testing out new sciencey techy stuff and they accidentally make superhuman demon things (Incredibles, but they’re nice guys, not demon things, except maybe jack jack but he’s a cutie don’t hurt him)

terrorist groups steal a smart guy to make weapons for them (Iron Man)

the world is dying 

two + planets are fighting over something

technology/inventions/whatever can be abused

wow these are terrible i’m sorry i need to read more sci-fi

again, you can take regular real world problems and put a sciencey twist on them; a gang that kills people with laserbeam contact lenses, a new invention that uses a very rare element that’s important to the ecosystem and is starting to destroy the planet, the little robots we send to mars become self aware and build a colony of robots. go off sis

More Posts from Lunnym and Others

5 years ago

Opposites: Fire and Water

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Fire is the element of power. 

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The people of the Fire Nation have desire 

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and will, 

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and the energy 

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and drive 

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to achieve what they want. 

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2 years ago
I Care

i care

source

4 months ago

when i say i’m from ukraine, people assume i live somewhere else now. when i say i live in ukraine, they assume i’m somehow immune to war, and there’s a logical division between a ukrainian they chat with on discord and a ukrainian on the news. bitches my yaoi is written from the bomb shelter

4 months ago
lunnym - confused
6 years ago

i really like the advice “write marginalized characters but don’t write about marginalization unless you experience it” 

absolutely i think cis people should expand their horizons and write trans characters, but they shouldn’t write stories about being trans. likewise i think allistic / NT authors should write about autistic characters! but not stories about being autistic. 

represent us. absolutely. but don’t tell our stories. let us do that.

6 years ago

Me, applying a protective Gay Barrier™ before heading out to meet up with the Straights:

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6 years ago

Why Adam Is Not A Bad Person

Why Adam Is Not A Bad Person
Why Adam Is Not A Bad Person

Adam is not a fucking horrible person, yes he and shiro ended the engagement and yes he didn’t support shiro through his journey to kerberos but shiro was dying of a severe degenerative disease, and Adam knew he didn’t have much time left with the love of his life as it was. And adam said “i won’t go through this again”, hinting that Shiro had already abandoned Adam once before for his dream. So while Adam didn’t support Shiro, he was also extremely hurt and angry that Shiro was choosing space over him AGAIN and Shiro basically told Adam he wasn’t enough for him AGAIN.

Why Adam Is Not A Bad Person

Right there. That is the face of someone who is hurting, who is conflicted and at odds with what he wants and what he needs.

Adam said Shiro is the world to him, absolutely everything, but yet Shiro left him…that fucking sucks it really does. Shiro got hurt but Adam did too, if not more than equally. Shiro, the noble and brave leader and friend of so many, one of the kindest souls in this show, would not choose to give his life to a complete ass. Adam is validated, both he and Shiro gave up on each other and they both made mistakes regarding their “long and beautiful relationship”. They are both in the wrong, thank you for coming to my ted talk.

6 years ago

GUYS GUYS GUYS

GUYS GUYS GUYS

GUYS IM CRYING

GUYS GUYS GUYS

TODAY IS REALLY THAT DAY

GUYS GUYS GUYS

IM SO HAPPY

link

6 years ago

“A clever plan..because if Harry here and his friend Ron hadn’t discovered this book, why–Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn’t acted of her own free will…and imagine…what might have happened then…The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pure-blood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing Muggle-borns…”

It brings me SO MUCH joy that the plot of Chamber of Secrets basically happens because Lucius is terrified out of his mind of Arthur and Molly Weasley and their SEVeN kids who were all raised to hold the line in case anyone tried to start a genocidal regime again. They are so powerful and so dangerous to any attempted rise to power from the Death Eaters, and Lucius feels the need to try and marginalize and demonize them in order to decrease the threat they pose.

And boy was he right to be concerned, they are…unstoppable. Each and every one of them. You thought it was impressive that it took five Death Eaters to kill their uncles? Try having a couple Weasleys illegally on the airwaves, one destroying Voldemort’s Horcruxes, one protesting at Hogwarts, one running loose in the government, one housing escaped prisoners, and one getting foreign support!! More children than they can afford? Try more children than you can effectively stop!!

And then when they ALL show up to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts? What a trip for Lucius Malfoy! Hey bigots! Would you like to pick an opponent based on which Quidditch position they excel at, or do you wanna roll the dice and go with one of the brothers who got 12 OWLs? Those are your only two options because Weasleys are EVERYWHERE and the weak link is NO ONE. The fear that must have been in his heart when one or two of them was around every corner of the school taking down his DE pals…is so amazing to think about. Glorious. Iconic. Every Weasley has red hair, freckles, and a drive to destroy the concept of blood purity at all cost!!

The Weasleys are not always nice or right, but they are GOOD and they believe in standing up for what is good, and when evil is around they SHOW UP to fight it. No questions asked. And evil is so scared of them, so worried about what they can do, that it resorts to desperately weaponizing a little girl to try and stop them.

3 years ago

Merlin: There's something i want to tell you. I can talk to that dragon outside because i am a dragon lord and also a wizard slash warlock.

Gwiane: cool I'm an Aries.

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lunnym - confused
confused

a bit of an idiot. i’m always mad about something. 22. health student, full of existential dread. she/her.

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