Real Worldbuilding: Horror
After 42 years in the D&D trenches, Mami knows precisely how to word her wishes to get EXACTLY what she wants...and needs. Challenge accepted, Professor.
Stop! Wait! Proceed with CAUTION & CONSENT!
The following worldbuilding piece contains horror (mental, emotional, spiritual, and/or physical). You are SAFE FROM children, pets, gore, sexual content.
Check in with yourself before you continue reading.
You won’t hurt my feelings if you need to sit this one out.
To: My Dearest and Most Esteemed Professor
,From: Her Royal Highness, the Queen Cunt of Worldbuilding
Regarding: Your Recent Response to My “Ask the Bard” Advice Column, wherein I answered a question from one of my readers about adding a light touch of horror to their serial.
It would seem that today’s lesson is being brought to you by the letter B…as in ‘B careful what you wish for,’ and for this I owe you my most humble and sincere apology. As usual, my own assumptions have brought us to this point. You see, all this time I was operating under the assumption that you were reading my posts on worldbuilding and, therefore, understood what it is.
My bad!
Furthermore, I owe you a second, very well-earned apology. Had I understood that all it would take for you to cease your habitual skim-and-stack of my work was for me to ask you to do so, I would have submitted such a request months ago!
I must admit I am humbled and humiliated by my assumption that such would be necessary! Again—my bad!
The polite formality of the obligatory opening apologies out of the way, let us engage in this enticing epistolary exchange.
In verse.
Professor…you never did answer my question about Gilbert and Sullivan. So here we are. Raw-dogging bars.
You may be the very model of the modern Major General
But I’ve the information veg’table, animal, and mineral!Worldbuilding is a concept that is oft misunderstood,
In short it covers everything that makes a story good!It’s not just about setting—your geography and town—
It’s more than just your characters n’what makes them smile and frown.Worldbuilding serves us as a bridge between imaginations
It gets our audience on board and past their hesitations!Worldbuilding’s all the work we do, before we sit and write.
And every time we think about “how can I make this right?”When we stumble over plot holes and make messy metaphors
Worldbuilding gives the context to help you read the semaphore.Worldbuilding is the key to how we all communicate,
I think you’d see that better had you not been up so late.
First, Housekeeping.
Before we proceed, allow me to correct an error you have made, while also making the Coroner,
, smirk about how much Professor there is up in this article.Loss of control falls under the umbrella of “unseen.”
Thank you, and goodnight!
—Haly, the Moonlight Bard
By Request: Worldbuilding Horror
If we want to step beyond the original question of adding a temporary touch of horror to an otherwise established setting, then we have to have a starting point.
Worldbuilding has a starting point, a Big Bang if you will. It doesn’t matter if it’s a story you want to tell, a character that calls to you, the desire to explore an idea, or just a genre… No one sits down to build a world just for the sake of building a world.
Only an egoist with a savage God-complex would think such a thing was fun just for the pure doing. Or an almost-only-child with a vivid imagination. Whichever!
Our Seeds…
Earlier this year, I carved my niche in this lane toward REAL Worldbuilding. Besides just being a damned clever name, the internet is flooded with information about worldbuilding for science fiction and for fantasy. I don’t like shouting to be heard.
I teach worldbuilding next to the real world, and that’s where we’ll stay in this article. So, we’ve established basic laws of the universe and a general sense of geography: Earth. Furthermore, Franklin. Still further….
There comes a point when worldbuilding has to leave the abstract and meet practice, so…. Fuck it. Let’s do this shit live.
Ravenwood Heights & Loss of Control: A Satanic Fairy Tale
The true fear we feel from the loss of control isn’t about the loss. It’s about the endless wondering and worrying over who is in control (unseen puppet master) or someone’s motivations (unseen desires). How can we tell the difference between being in the thrall of a manipulative psychopath bent on controlling everyone around her vs. a talented visionary who’s trying to drag the people she loves into the stratosphere of success with her?
I mean…”how can you tell the difference between when a girl likes you and when she’s just being polite?”
“You can’t.”
(FYI: choosing a Ted Lasso quote from among the dozen or so pop-culture languages I know we share is an example of non-fiction worldbuilding. It’s all about building those bridges. Solid ones. Not nightmare constructs that require Mothman to ward people away.)
Establish Environment
Once we’ve loosely sketched our geography, the next step is environment. How does the environment reflect a loss of control? In this case, our ‘environment’ is the envelope of the building including the basement(s?), roof, and courtyard.
Alright, the environment needs to lend itself to spooky, and to invite a loss of control. So…if the people living in the apartments aren’t in control, who—or what—is? And what are those motivations?
Some of us have had the privilege of meeting Siobhan, the building’s manager, and a character who is very much in control of very little. This is due to the remnants of the building’s original owner and architect, Jean-Pierre Louis Cocteau. Real worldbuilding: the French fur trade is a huge contributor of why we denuded the land of its native peoples.
So, there we have the first of three elements that we’ll use to construct the HOW of the loss of control.
“Wait, Haly. Why three?”
Three is the most powerful number in creation and I will slaughter from this hill.
Also, the rule of three (sticking to three unique, core elements of anything you’re creating) makes for a deep and compelling world without bogging you down with shit that isn’t necessary and will only help you procrastinate from writing the damn story.
So, malevolent presence is one. And, personally, I always like to tie my “mystical buildings” into the local geography. Here, I’m leaning on the deep folklore associated with midwestern bedrock limestone. (There is no Haly, only Zuul!)
That gives us two. We just need one more.
“Wait, Haly. Why not just reach into the native folklore of the area?”
Because that’s not my story to tell, in this frame. The things I’m touching on may seem like they’re coming to me on a whim, but it’s a reflection of a lifetime of study and research in my favorite fields: horror, cryptids, historical true crime, the paranormal, and the unexplained.
(Dan Akroyd wrote Ghostbusters in part to show off his freakish encyclopedic knowledge of these subjects.)
Malevolent Presence. Midwestern limestone as a magical/mystical/spiritual conductor/enhancer. And for the final touch…. Ravenwood Heights has 13 floors. Technically the elevator reads L, 1-11, and PH. But you can’t hide the truth from the universe.
Environment: achieved.
Establish Culture
Being in the Midwestern United States does a lot of the heavy lifting here. Whenever you think of the “typical American family” from an unnamed place, you’re thinking of someone from the Midwest. Polite, friendly, clean, helpful.
The kind of people who will sign for your package and then actually give it to you when you get home from work.
But that’s also the stereotype; the Midwest represents some of the most diversity in America, especially among its river cities. Fleeing industry has left large portions of the population in near poverty, which always breeds crime as people become more desperate to survive…
More desperate for control over their lives.
Ravenwood Heights seems like a beacon of hope in the very heart of Franklin’s urban center. With apartments priced to meet every income bracket, it attracts a diverse assortment of tenants.
Like, it literally attracts them. The people who aren’t meant to be there barely notice it. But the people who are drawn to it always end up there. Always, and uncontrollably.
And they all have one thing in common: They’ve all made a deal with the devil. Loss of control.
Well, almost all of them. All but…three.
Siobhan signed a different contract. One she desperately wanted; one she begged for. One she is powerless to break. Loss of control.
Another, hiding under her skin, bound to her beyond his life. Double banger loss of control; one for him and one for her.
And, of course, now Satan has come to town to undo all of Jean-Pierre’s mischief and collect what is due to the Queen of Hell. Maybe she’ll end up renegotiating some deals in the process…. Time will tell.
You see, friends, there’s very little scarier to Midwestern culture than a good, old-fashioned Satanic Panic.
Medium-Sized Flex
Now. How can we add a twist that will make for fun and interesting storytelling?
No, not that she’s a woman. It’s that she’s taking up shop as Franklin’s resident mob boss fairy-godmother. In the North Penthouse of Ravenwood Heights.
And that’s worldbuilding horror, Professor. To go further would break into storytelling, and we’ll get to that point soon enough. I promise.
A fun challenge, I believe you said?
Bibbidy. Bobbi. Do.
the G&S poem was a delight.
Super interesting. Love seeing someones process of world building.
I learned mine in the D&D trenches and I adore that I did. Building my novels horror bound world and all the little things I add to my short stories have been wonderful.
very good piece.