Valid Critique v. Nonsense Nitpicking: How “The Eferian Day” Handles ‘Realistic’ v. ‘Grounded’ Arguments

The Eferian Day’s primary goal is to expand and give in-depth detailing and explanations within already established ideas and concepts in the Fantasy genre.

This have always been the main goal for the series. As well as my work in general throughout my writings going back to the beginning when I first started. Though the Sagen world have branched out in many ways outside of the Fantasy genres’ normal appearance and functions, the fundamental parts of Fantasy worlds are still there. And too are they the core foundations of Sagen in its entirety. Without the Fantasy genre, The Eferian Day would not look anything like how it does today. Just like so many other works in the genre.

This leaves the question of how The Eferian Day works with and around these established ideas and concepts within Fantasy worlds. And how the series have drawn its own functions and concepts out of them. For I think it is important to understand the differences between progressive questioning and needless nitpicking. Subjects and ideas within these types of worlds for the sake of further development of new ideas within them is of great need. Since it’s due to these types of questionings where the series got its start. Many traditional folklore and storytelling have given ground for how the Haan system function within its foundation.

And it is also from these types of thinking exercises where new ideas can sprout root.

This topic is just as broad as the genre itself. Since there isn’t a clear line every Fantasy world go by, each world function by its own grounded bases. So, it is within each world’s existence where one can discuss said world’s reality within itself.

This post will give an overview of how The Eferian Day’s reality work. And how I as the creator see these types of thought puzzles to bring the Sagen world to life and to make it as believable as possible within its own existence and principles.

For the Most Important Part of any Fictional World: An Enjoyable Experience

The greatest accomplishment for any fictional world is the ability to create something which is a pleasurable experience for both other people to read and for the creator to write.  

For published text, most pauses I make throughout this project’s writing process have to do with the text itself. And this is the case with a landslide opposed to the content within the text. Since I have been working with this project for the many years since its inception, the ability to know how the world is and what is happening within it have become second nature.

When it comes to any written story: the enjoyment of reading it will always triumph over the contents and the structure of the world within it. For it is in the enjoyment of the text itself which keep people reading it. It does not matter what the content of the book is, if the text itself is an annoyance to read the work have already failed from the start.

It is because of this that the text within published books needs to have its primary focus on the enjoyment of reading. Above all else. And this also goes for The Eferian Day whose text has gone from a ‘’tell, don’t show’’ mentality back when I write it only for myself to the work it has become today with other people in mind. The countless rewritings and editing of the text have transformed the fundamental idea of how Sagen are to be presented. Since I began writing on this project for myself in mind only, first and foremost: other people’s ability to enjoy — or even understand the text at all — the work was severely limiting.

Yet it was when I choice to show others the texts I had been making where the understanding that there was a great deal of interest from other people to enjoy it as much as I do.

And the work within its entirety was then rewritten with others in mind.

Almost all text I wrote back then either don’t exit or have been worked on to the extent that it looks nothing like how it used to. The Prophecy and the Glossary being the two texts which are the oldest still in use despite their rewritings.

The text itself does not affect the world at all. Regardless of how the content is presented, the story remains the same from my perspective. This matters when it comes to the creation of something which is meant to be shown and sold to other people. A book is a product and products are sold to others. So, the product then needs to cater to the person who buys it and take that person into consideration when the product is being made from the start.

As for my viewpoint: Sagen stays the same. No matter what. The text it’s written within don’t matter in terms of how the world is and what is happening in it. The creator marrying the text will only be a hinderance for both the maker and for the reader as the maker will then refuse to publish text without it being ‘perfect’.

And since perfection is not a thing within subjective, creative work, the writer obsesses over aspects which are not relevant to the world the work is about.

Realistic v. Grounded: Why ’Realism’ is a Nonsense Term within Fantasy

When talking about topics surrounding the explanation of Fantasy worlds, one must first make a distinction of what the conversation is even about.

This sounds self-explanatory.

Yet ‘Fantasy world’ do not have a clear definition. The Fantasy genre spans massive creative works with tremendous differences and ideas behind them. Though many have joint elements and concepts, having been around for thousands of years throughout human history. But this makes them far from the same.

Whether it being Traditional Fantasy, High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy or any other of the many different world concepts making up the Fantasy genre, the need to make a distinction of what the conversation is about is of great need to be able to reach a concrete conclusion within it. This is not possible if both parties have different viewpoints and are talking about two separate ideas which clash each other in their existence. Worlds focusing on historical accuracy will not be able to hold up in discussion if the opposing party consider ‘Fantasy’ to be the opposite of a real-world reflection. And then argue against the idea of historical accuracy with arguments of the complete opposite existence.

It is then important to make the distinction between ‘realistic’ and ‘grounded’ within the conversation surrounding Fantasy worlds.

The primary differences between the two terms have to do with how the Fantasy world itself function. A world with Elves is not able to be ‘’realistic’’ since Elves never existed in Real-Life to begin with.

And the same goes for magic.

However, a Fantasy world can be like Real-Life and use elements within the real world while also justifying its own existence by being ‘grounded’ in its own reality. The term grounded gives leeway for the Fantasy world to exist within its own laws and nature whilst being able to explain its own reality by adhering to its own rules and structure.

This makes the term ‘grounded’ to become more preferred to be used overall in conversation since it do not contain an already existing set of ideas behind the word connected to the world in which we live in. And too does the word ‘’realistic’’ come with negative connotations in the way it is being used as well.

‘Realism’ will always be associated with real-world issues. So, when it is used in conversation where the topic is about a world where people go to escape real-world problems, the term is then used in a negative perspective. With ‘real-world reflection’ comes with it the negative aspect the person associates with the real-world. This makes the term ‘grounded’ the superior term to use to avoid the conversation to turn sour and for people to gain a negative stance towards the prospects of furthering Fantasy worlds with grounded storytelling and worldbuilding.

‘Kill Your Darlings’ and Frontloaded Worldbuilding Presentation

One of the more common complaints to hear when it comes to worldbuilding of any kind can be summed up by the phrase ‘kill your darlings’. The concern revolves around frontloaded worldbuilding where the text has too great of an enthesis on detailing which is not of great need for the person reading the work to know to follow the overall storyline. An example of this is listing names of characters into a singular page without context of their importance or relevancy.

The issue with the phrase ‘kill your darlings’ is that the phrase is far too negative and abrupt in its approach to give helpful feedback and critique towards a person’s worldbuilding presentation abilities. For it is not within the worldbuilding itself where the problem of text with frontloaded information lay. But rather in how the worldbuilding aspects are being presented within the text itself.

As the maker of the Fantasy world, it is very much understandable why said person wants to show off as much of their work as possible. This is due to the amount of effort they have been putting into the world and the number of hours the person has spent creating the Fantasy world. So, then the wanting of giving people as much information about it as possible is then an understandable action.

However, there needs to be a separation between the creator’s wants and the reader’s wants for the maker to be able to present the world in a way where the reader can emerge themselves into the Fantasy world. For the creator, the most important aspect of worldbuilding is the world itself. Whereas for the reader — in most cases — is the most important aspects the storytelling of characters and the descriptions of the environments. This is of great clash since putting mass amounts of worldbuilding information into the text will make the text seem clustered with pages which in turn will be labelled as ’filler’ and skipped by the reader. A book can be 800 pages long but if a large portion of it is of unnecessary ’filler’ the page count do not matter since the reader will skip most of the text to reach the characters and the story within the ocean of worldbuilding anyway. As mentioned previously: a book is a product, and a product needs to have other people in mind when being made.

Should the maker then remove the concepts associated with the Fantasy world from the work entirely? No.

The worldbuilding is what makes the Fantasy world. The important part is how the information is being presented. The Fantasy world will always be there for the reader to learn about later in time. But when first introduced to the world does the need to engross the person in storytelling elements which will evoke the will to learn about the world the story takes place in. And to find ways for both the creator and the reader to be happy with the progression of the Fantasy world’s presentation.

In Conclusion

The need to find a balanced work which serves both the creator’s as well as the reader’s interests is of great need to establish a good storytelling experience. The enjoyment of the work is to be the primary concern for any book regardless of its content. But once a well versed, enjoyable text have been made the question of the work’s content then come into play. And the ability to find solutions for storytelling aspects that benefit from a more explained background of their purpose for happening is too of great need.

Writing, like many other creative works, thrive from problem solving. Finding new ways to better the work both in its text and for its content give the storytelling a much more vibrant feeling. The purpose behind addressing these types of concerns is not to overly critique the work but to better it in its entirety. For neither the creator nor the reader would bother reading the book if there weren’t more positive aspects then negative.

And with every new problem comes the possibility to turn something good into something great.