Writing What time periods do you think are underused as settings?

[WasatchWind]

This is just a little thought I've been having. It isn't really specific to any genre, but you see common settings:

Fantasy: medieval Europe
Sci fi: far future in space

That's just two examples - but what time periods do you think are underdone in each genre? Which ones do you think are done badly?

My personal gripe - so often, when fantasy takes notes from the 19th century, it is often steam punk - to the point that I tell people "my story is inspired by early 19th century America" and they're like "oh, so steam punk."

What are your thoughts on time period inspiration in your settings?

 

[JayDirex]

This is just a little thought I've been having. It isn't really specific to any genre, but you see common settings:

Fantasy: medieval Europe
Sci fi: far future in space

To include Victorian Era Steampunk are all UNIVERSALLY FAMILIAR in the genres of fantasy and sci-fi. People grew up on these settings in popular media and well-known novels which makes these setting much easier to write. Everyone knows what a horse, knight, cavalry,: Hyper drive, folding space, particle cannon, even a railgun are. (I'm less knowledgeable about Steampunk with the exception of it as aesthetic of brass pipes, analog tech, drinking absinthe and wearing round sunglasses).

The point is all readers know these eras and writers don't have to re-invent the wheel to describe the background. Now, moving forward, CONAN THE BARBARIAN (although not on our Earth) would have been set more in the BC days even, pre-Roman empire. Steel would have been newer.

But alas, the issue is the narrative has been set in these time periods so long that it would take massive success of another era to have authors begin to copy it in mass. The Eras I particularly like would be Enlightenment Era (late 1500s-1600s Europe)..they interest me :)

 

[Ediav42]

Well beginning or before time is certainly very rare. In the same way, the time when there really wasn’t much except heat and little specks is rare (after Big Bang). I guess before modern humans (biologically speaking) is rare too. Quite a few depending on your standards.

Here is a great video that summarizes existence in chronological order:

 

[AdLeto]

Sci-fi in the paleolithic period is my favorite

 

[NotaNuffian]

I don't see any underused time period, all web novel writers are scrapping the barrel.

 

[OvidLemma]

Disco era, definitely.

But, more seriously, I like the atmosphere around the French and American Revolutions in the latter part of the 18th Century, something that captures a time of strife, change, uncertainty, and bloody violence in an era of uneven social and technological change. For me, as a writer, there's something more nuanced required in capturing an 'early modern' atmosphere compared with an ancient atmosphere or a contemporary one and there aren't as many easy tropes to fall back on.

 

[Jemini]

I don't see any underused time period, all web novel writers are scrapping the barrel.

Are you talking in absolute numbers, or by percentage?

When 90% of all fantasy writers set their stories in a medeival European setting, then by definition all other settings are underused.

Another thing to consider on this note is the level of magic civilization. This is the idea that, while the technological development might be considerably behind that of modern day Earth, the development of magic is high enough to elevate the civilization to quite a significant level. Almost all fantasy web-novels have a civilization level that is somewhere in the early 1800s in terms of living standards, and mid 1900s in terms of health standards, despite being in the 1600s in terms of non-magical technology. All this civilization is accomplished due to magic and enchantments.

It is incredibly rare to have a fantasy setting where magic technology is not doing all that much to improve people's lives in leu of the technological development. I can only think of 3 off the top of my head. Middle Earth (from Lord of the Rings,) Greyhawk, Dragonlance, or any other medieval-set world in the Dungeons & Dragons format worlds. (Pathfinder society worlds have significantly more advanced magical technology.) And, the third is my new favorite webnovel, Mushuko Tensei.

Any setting I've seen other than those 3 has all kinds of things like mana-restoring potions, teleport gates, communication magic devices that are more expensive than telephones but serve the same purpose, and all kinds of other things that make life a lot more convenient than it is in the 3 settings I just laid out above.

EDIT: (And also, yes. None of those 3 settings I mentioned have a way to restore a mage's spell power other than just time. Denying them something like a mana restoration potion makes for a serious resource pressure that, in the case of D&D, can be used to put pressure on the player or in the case of Mushuko Tensei creates some interesting pressures to use in the plot since the MC never has the easy out of a mana restoration potion since they don't exist in that world at all.)

So, that's another matter of the setting I would say is under-utilized. An early magi-technology set magical world. You might also notice, the three I mentioned as using this kind of early magi-technology setting are among the highest rated in the fantasy genre. It takes real writing skill to purposefully toss away the convenience magic could provide and brutally tell the characters in your world "no, magic cannot solve your problems that easily." And, that skill is often reflected in the form of a marvelously well-written story.

 

[sereminar]

I think it's a bit of a self selection bias. There are millions of authors writing about different time periods and settings, but they aren't all writing in English, they aren't all published in your country, or being put in your library you're entirely accurate in saying that white people write too much mideaval fantasy, and they really need to do better about that. But you can also look to authors like: N. K. Jemisin, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Noriko Origawa, Zoraida Córdova, Yangsze Choo, and Tenea D. Johnson.

There's no harm in asking authors to look outside their comfort zone, but there's also no harm in doing so yourself and enjoying the wealth of fantastic literature that already exists. I'd encourage everyone to read stories by authors of color, even outside of Black History Month

 

[WasatchWind]

Well beginning or before time is certainly very rare. In the same way, the time when there really wasn’t much except heat and little specks is rare (after Big Bang). I guess before modern humans (biologically speaking) is rare too. Quite a few depending on your standards.

Here is a great video that summarizes existence in chronological order:

A person of culture I see

 

[Deleted member 45782]

the Age before we even had the moon, where earth was inhabitable itself.

Jk. I'm not too sure. I do think there's a lot of medieval fantasy (across many places).

 

[WasatchWind]

Disco era, definitely.

But, more seriously, I like the atmosphere around the French and American Revolutions in the latter part of the 18th Century, something that captures a time of strife, change, uncertainty, and bloody violence in an era of uneven social and technological change. For me, as a writer, there's something more nuanced required in capturing an 'early modern' atmosphere compared with an ancient atmosphere or a contemporary one and there aren't as many easy tropes to fall back on.

That's why I tackling the early 19th century - it was the axial point that thousands of years of agrarian community living was completely upended.
Yet all it is usually seen as is "ooh, what if they continued using steam power and blimps!"

I swear this thread isn't "I want more realistic industrial era novels" in disguise.

 

[Cauldrons]

I would argue that medieval settings are underused since half the people don't actually know what such a setting would actually be like and substitute their lack of knowledge with "magic" and pretending the rest of their beliefs match modern times.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

This is just a little thought I've been having. It isn't really specific to any genre, but you see common settings:

Fantasy: medieval Europe
Sci fi: far future in space

That's just two examples - but what time periods do you think are underdone in each genre? Which ones do you think are done badly?

My personal gripe - so often, when fantasy takes notes from the 19th century, it is often steam punk - to the point that I tell people "my story is inspired by early 19th century America" and they're like "oh, so steam punk."

What are your thoughts on time period inspiration in your settings?

Prehistoric
I wanna see tribal cavemen more yo. Some of that shamen magic maybe

 

[NotaNuffian]

Are you talking in absolute numbers, or by percentage?

When 90% of all fantasy writers set their stories in a medeival European setting, then by definition all other settings are underused.

Another thing to consider on this note is the level of magic civilization. This is the idea that, while the technological development might be considerably behind that of modern day Earth, the development of magic is high enough to elevate the civilization to quite a significant level. Almost all fantasy web-novels have a civilization level that is somewhere in the early 1800s in terms of living standards, and mid 1900s in terms of health standards, despite being in the 1600s in terms of non-magical technology. All this civilization is accomplished due to magic and enchantments.

It is incredibly rare to have a fantasy setting where magic technology is not doing all that much to improve people's lives in leu of the technological development. I can only think of 3 off the top of my head. Middle Earth (from Lord of the Rings,) Greyhawk, Dragonlance, or any other medieval-set world in the Dungeons & Dragons format worlds. (Pathfinder society worlds have significantly more advanced magical technology.) And, the third is my new favorite webnovel, Mushuko Tensei.

Any setting I've seen other than those 3 has all kinds of things like mana-restoring potions, teleport gates, communication magic devices that are more expensive than telephones but serve the same purpose, and all kinds of other things that make life a lot more convenient than it is in the 3 settings I just laid out above.

EDIT: (And also, yes. None of those 3 settings I mentioned have a way to restore a mage's spell power other than just time. Denying them something like a mana restoration potion makes for a serious resource pressure that, in the case of D&D, can be used to put pressure on the player or in the case of Mushuko Tensei creates some interesting pressures to use in the plot since the MC never has the easy out of a mana restoration potion since they don't exist in that world at all.)

So, that's another matter of the setting I would say is under-utilized. An early magi-technology set magical world. You might also notice, the three I mentioned as using this kind of early magi-technology setting are among the highest rated in the fantasy genre. It takes real writing skill to purposefully toss away the convenience magic could provide and brutally tell the characters in your world "no, magic cannot solve your problems that easily." And, that skill is often reflected in the form of a marvelously well-written story.

If I must help support the lazy writers, I will, because I am a lazy reader. Magic becomes something like advanced science which in some sense they are, as for the examples you give for magic not being used in mundane things in life is quite reasonable because it is not like the free electricity proposed by Tesla and can be used by all. It reflects the 1% well as in we never really see and know about the common folks (muggles) other than to use them to distinguish them with our powerful characters, like when Rudeus goes up against those sand bandits. I think there is nothing much to say about the worndown lives of the peasants, they poor, life sucks, go die. And then the camera pans back to the clean crew with MC knowing the princess, baroness, mage and other kingdom's princess.

All I am trying to say is, I don't like to read about the peasants, I just want to read about the cool shit.

Fun fact, Rudeus left the world a better place, with Orsted's teleportation circles made known, magic armors rivaling (not really) of Fighting God's armor, mana potions, "child learning magic is good" theory and some other stuff that I probably forgot about.

 

[Jemini]

If I must help support the lazy writers, I will, because I am a lazy reader. Magic becomes something like advanced science which in some sense they are, as for the examples you give for magic not being used in mundane things in life is quite reasonable because it is not like the free electricity proposed by Tesla and can be used by all. It reflects the 1% well as in we never really see and know about the common folks (muggles) other than to use them to distinguish them with our powerful characters, like when Rudeus goes up against those sand bandits. I think there is nothing much to say about the worndown lives of the peasants, they poor, life sucks, go die. And then the camera pans back to the clean crew with MC knowing the princess, baroness, mage and other kingdom's princess.

All I am trying to say is, I don't like to read about the peasants, I just want to read about the cool shit.

Fun fact, Rudeus left the world a better place, with Orsted's teleportation circles made known, magic armors rivaling (not really) of Fighting God's armor, mana potions, "child learning magic is good" theory and some other stuff that I probably forgot about.

Well, 100% of the things you just said here are accurate, but 100% of the things you said also have absolutely nothing to do with the point being discussed here.

The point is about underutilized settings. Settings in which the magical "science" is considerably advanced while non-magical technology is around that of 1600s era Europe is a WAY over-used setting. I was proposing that, even if you are using 1600s era Earth technology that doing away with the advanced magical technology is also another way to access an under-utilized setting.

It is very tempting (and lazy) to use the magical technology to solve all your problems for the exact reasons you just said here. This is exactly why it is impressive when an author very pointedly says "no" to all of that and deliberately makes things a LOT harder on the main cast (such as Rudeus having to take 3 years just to get home due to the lack of easy access to teleportation technology, and later all the dificulty it gives him having to take long periods away from home while his children are born and having to miss seeing them grow up during the periods where he is just starting to get some limited access to teleportation. His oldest daughter at 2 years old doesn't even recognize him as her father and thinks he's a stranger. The author's cruelty of denying his MC easy access to teleportation adds a considerable pressure on him that a lot of people in the real world reading the story can sympathize with, and it humanizes the situation a lot.)

There are a lot of advantages to capitalizing on the restriction of access to magic for your characters, toning the use of magic down rather than using it to make your life as the writer easier. The mere act of restricting magic does not improve your writing, but having the self-discipline required to restrict magic in your world is something that will definitely make your ability to writhe excel, and it opens the door for many opportunities for humanizing your characters in a way that will bring your readers closer to them.

 

[Horizon42]

This is just a little thought I've been having. It isn't really specific to any genre, but you see common settings:

Fantasy: medieval Europe
Sci fi: far future in space

That's just two examples - but what time periods do you think are underdone in each genre? Which ones do you think are done badly?

My personal gripe - so often, when fantasy takes notes from the 19th century, it is often steam punk - to the point that I tell people "my story is inspired by early 19th century America" and they're like "oh, so steam punk."

What are your thoughts on time period inspiration in your settings?

Pre-civilization, Aztecs, Bibblical (both new and old testament). I think these would be great times to do make a work on, but it just isn't down very often. Maybe I'll make a work using one of them.

 

[Westeller]

Industrial era. 18th-19th centuries, definitely. Early 20th century. You're definitely right that when it does turn up, it usually leans towards some form of steampunk. Which is fine, but it does mean that point in history is underrepresented with any kind of accuracy in terms of technology, standards and style of living. Swords and sorcery is practically standard, scifi is rarer but still present.

Honorable mention to totally alien settings. To things that are just barely relatable. To societies that don't quite reflect any particular period of real world history, because they developed in different ways, alongside different species, on totally different worlds. Possibly even with slightly altered fundamental laws. Things like that are impossibly rare, too, particularly when done well.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Pre-civilization, Aztecs, Bibblical (both new and old testament). I think these would be great times to do make a work on, but it just isn't down very often. Maybe I'll make a work using one of them.

Well, then I think you might need to do some accurate research on it. From clothings, to how or what they eat to their relations with each other.

Well, 100% of the things you just said here are accurate, but 100% of the things you said also have absolutely nothing to do with the point being discussed here.

The point is about underutilized settings. Settings in which the magical "science" is considerably advanced while non-magical technology is around that of 1600s era Europe is a WAY over-used setting. I was proposing that, even if you are using 1600s era Earth technology that doing away with the advanced magical technology is also another way to access an under-utilized setting.

It is very tempting (and lazy) to use the magical technology to solve all your problems for the exact reasons you just said here. This is exactly why it is impressive when an author very pointedly says "no" to all of that and deliberately makes things a LOT harder on the main cast (such as Rudeus having to take 3 years just to get home due to the lack of easy access to teleportation technology, and later all the dificulty it gives him having to take long periods away from home while his children are born and having to miss seeing them grow up during the periods where he is just starting to get some limited access to teleportation. His oldest daughter at 2 years old doesn't even recognize him as her father and thinks he's a stranger. The author's cruelty of denying his MC easy access to teleportation adds a considerable pressure on him that a lot of people in the real world reading the story can sympathize with, and it humanizes the situation a lot.)

There are a lot of advantages to capitalizing on the restriction of access to magic for your characters, toning the use of magic down rather than using it to make your life as the writer easier. The mere act of restricting magic does not improve your writing, but having the self-discipline required to restrict magic in your world is something that will definitely make your ability to writhe excel, and it opens the door for many opportunities for humanizing your characters in a way that will bring your readers closer to them.

Yup, I completely derailed the topic.

Also, as cited from the dead guy Jing Yong on why he never wrote anything on Tang Dynasty, because he lacks the proper knowledge of the time and wish to respect history. For me this will be my reason of being lazy, because I want to respect history.

 

[High-in-the-skys]

Early civilization? I really want to write a story before the first civilization sprouted up and have the MC build the first and most advance civilization. The thing is, how would I write it?

I also have the story i'm planning on writing about pre-colonial philippines with a modern MC but I felt like my ancestors are pointing their bow-guns at me. Even when I plan on releasing the story right now, I felt like I haven't researched enough and prematurely writing without proper knowledge seems like the best way for my ancestors to visit me while i'm dreaming...

Well, then I think you might need to do some accurate research on it. From clothings, to how or what they eat to their relations with each other.

Experiencing the pain firsthand...

 

[gaylolis]

mecha sci-fi with prehistoric setting, fighting giant dinosaurs and space-aliens as science hax cavemen.