Injecting Cultural Touchstones into Your World
In order to craft cultures for our worlds, it's important to first understand what culture is.
Welcome to a new week and a new topic: Cultural Touchstones!
As selected by
Many of you in the Rhapsody community already know D.W. but if he’s new to you, definitely check out his Substack publication, (fiction, alternate history/steampunk). D.W. is one of the very first people I met through Substack and in addition to being one of the earliest members of our weird little collective, he’s also one of our most vocal supporters; always sharing, always participating, always MUCH HYP! (IYKYK)
As this week we will be celebrating both 100 days and 100 posts on Substack, I thought this would be a fun way to celebrate and encourage community participation!
Thank you, each and every one of you, for being here!
This is the last week of World Anvil’s Institutions of Learning challenge, co-sponsored by Hero Forge! It’s not too late to get your entry done and there are some really cool prizes to be won. Go and check it out!
Cultural Touchstones in World-building
One of the fundamental tenants of an excellent story comes down to the ever-elusive idea of show, don’t tell! World-building is the natural answer to the conundrum of how to do that, and some of the most efficient and effective tools in our world-building kit are cultural touchstones. But what are they, and how can we craft and deploy them in ways that are meaningful and effective?
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning: Culture
This is one of an endless number of subjects that people seem to know without understanding, so let’s take a definitive look at the term and what it means:
Culture refers to the customs, arts, social institutions and achievements of a particular group of people. It encompasses the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society.1
— This is a summary definition of a complex topic
So, now that I’ve thoroughly confused everyone… let’s see if I can simplify this huge idea. Culture is an idea (or group of ideas) that a group of people has declared important. This importance is expressed through symboling. Symboling is placing meaning on things or behaviors that are associated with one of the important ideas. These symbols are cultural touchstones.
Cultural touchstones are the physical manifestations of a group’s values and ideals.
Examples Are a Part of Rhapsody Culture
Y’all know how my brain works; it’s everywhere, all at once. So not only am I thinking about culture, but I’m also thinking about subcultures and countercultures even as I’m looking at examples of 21st century western culture.2 And there’s still room in my brain to think about the culture that I’ve cultivated in myself and my own creative collective.
My number one quality is helpfulness. This is reflected in many ways, including the examples I give in these articles. My example lists are a cultural touchstone among the Rhapsody collective.
Individualism
The emphasis on personal independence and the importance of individual rights and self-expression.
We can seek examples here in any main character that is portrayed as an ‘oddball’ or ‘underdog.’ From Coraline to X-Men, we see individualism reflected in the ways that a character dresses (Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the only one wearing blue), their hobbies (Ariel’s ‘collection’ in Disney’s The Little Mermaid), and their behaviors (Orla McCool’s consistent ‘weird’ behavior in Derry Girls).
Technological Innovation
The rapid development and integration of new technologies in daily life, such as smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence.
This is another fascinating basket of examples. One of the most popular tests about whether a piece of artistic culture holds up is asking whether a cellphone would solve the problem! The introduction of new technology also affords us these wonderful opportunities to retell wonderful stories in a more contemporary way (The Shop Around the Corner → You’ve Got Mail).
Pop Culture
The widespread influence of entertainment industries, including movies, music, television, and video games.
I find this one endlessly fascinating. It is a cultural liminal zone, the very edge of what is happening and the driving influence of what will last, or what is only a fad. And, like every other example on my list, it touches everyone. Taylor Swift. Stranger Things. Call of Duty. Star Wars. It doesn’t matter whether you like these things, or whether you’ve even engaged with them, that you know of them is enough to illustrate their pop culture standing.
More to Explore
These are just three examples of western culture that matter to me, and each provided a convenient handle for this huge basket known as culture. Tomorrow, I’ll take you through some strategies for defining culture in your world. Then, on Tuesday, I’ll go into the importance of subcultures and countercultures, with more examples!
In the meantime, take a moment and share this post with creative kindreds in your circle!
Friends, I need your help. The only way that our weird little collective of creative kindreds3 will grow is if YOU share it with people you know! People who will make this community blossom with enthusiastic support and helpful kindness. Yanno, people like you! So take a moment to forward this email to a friend or, if you’re reading on Substack, give it a restack! It makes all the difference. ✨💜
Coming This Week:
Monday: Crafting Culture: the Values and Ideals of Your World
Tuesday: Counterculture: Tension, Intrigue, and Drama for Your World
Wednesday: World-building Wednesday and a new edition of Ask the Bard! Don’t forget to join me LIVE on Substack at 4:30 pm Eastern (1:30 Pacific, 9:30 UK) for LIVE discussion about YOUR world-building topics!
Thursday:
Friday: Fiction Friday will see a new installment of The Graveside Letters of Jolene Williams. (Link will take you to the index for this serial prequel to my WIP, Cornfields of Avalon.)
Saturday: Quick Six: Cultural Touchstones
Sunday: New week, new theme!
Britannica.com has a wonderful article on culture and symboling if you’re looking for more factual, less practical information on the concepts.
Natch, I’m starting with what I know best. As ‘culture’ is our primary export, it’s not a bad place for me to start.
Big shout out to my friend
for sparking this term, she’s the absolute fucking tits. Check out her publication, , for inspiration, sass, and wisdom about DOING IT YOUR OWN WAY.
Guuuurrrrllll, this series is hitting the spot! I'm loving how much YOU I'm getting out of it, too... it makes me wanna hug you + your writing so hard. You KNOW I'm strictly for the ooey-gooey stuff, so spread those kindred vibes, gurl. I live to see this term replace all those gross labels we've been giving each other. 🥰
I think I hit all three of the points you mentioned. Kind of. Mt pop culture is a bit thin, but I have things like musicals and plays as well as a national past time of collecting daring airship Captain's trading cards. (Which is based in reality. Kids really did trade Clipper ship captain cards.)