Last week, I asked for suggestions for the name of the new fantasy world occupied by giant spiders I’m working on. I was overwhelmed by both the volume and quality of ideas (though “New Jersey” won’t make the cut; sorry, Colby), and will need a few days to mull them over and finally name this thing.
In the meantime, I’ve been pondering the world from a philosophical standpoint. As I’ve previously said at great length, the core building block of a storyworld is its premise, which is defined by its
- characters,
- setting,
- and conflict.
While poking at the edges of this unnamed and web-covered storyworld project, it occurs to me that a storyworld has one more key element:
- tone.
A Tale of Two Tones
You can have two storyworlds with the same premise, but two different tones, and end up with two very different storyworlds.
For example, consider:
- James Bond vs. Jason Bourne
- Jason Bourne vs. Austin Powers
- Poltergeist vs. Evil Dead
- Battlestar Galactica (1978) vs. Battlestar Galactica (2004)
So what sort of tone should our unnamed spider-infested storyworld have?
When the premise cites “low fantasy” and “desperate fight for survival,” I think we’re looking at a tone that can best be described as “grim.” I’d like to add some horror to it as well, touching on the “zombie apocalypse” part of the initial inspiration, as well as the general creepiness of giant spiders.
Hmm… Now I’m afraid it’ll be too dark. I don’t want to go overboard into grimdark parody, or make it so relentlessly bleak that it’s not fun.
Oh, I know! It needs hope!
Let’s try this:
The tone of the storyworld is “horrific and grim, with flashes of hope.”
The Value of Tone
The point of defining a storyworld’s tone is that it serves as a guide for that world’s content. When you ask yourself, “Does this element belong in this world?” consider the tone. If the element fits in the storyworld, but doesn’t match its tone, consider changing or omitting it. Or if it’s sooooo awesome you can’t give it up, consider tweaking the tone to match, and adjust the other elements to fit.
For example, let’s say I want to have an order of fire priests in this spidery world. In a standard fantasy setting, they probably worship a fire god and have a bunch of cool fire powers to throw around. But in a “horrific, grim, yet hopeful” setting, they’re more likely a remnant of an overrun temple who know about heat, light, and chemistry, but don’t have magic to do more than light a candle, and even that requires a blood ritual.
Okay, now that we’ve discussed both what tone is and what the tone for the world will be, we can move on to the other premise elements: characters, setting, and conflict.
