Seeking Appeal

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Many writers harbor that dream of creating the work everyone loves.  Many writers also have the dream of creating a work that connects intimately with others.  Finally, most writers find that reconciling these – let’s call them Broad Appeal and Personal Appeal – is a nightmare in practice.

Yet some works manage to have both Broad and Personal Appeal – let us call it Universal Appeal.  Those rare movies and books are things we all treasure, for we can enjoy them by ourselves and share them with others.  Some creators break through the barrier, and we wonder why (we’re not jealous, right?).

This issue has been going around in my head for a while.  My tastes for media have evolved lately, and I’m trying to understand them.  This Broad, Personal, and Universal appeal are whirling about in my mind, so join me in an attempt to understand my thoughts.

Thoughts On Broad Appeal

Media with Broad Appeal are those works that interest many people but may not be particularly intimate.  They’re enjoyable or insightful, but most of the audience doesn’t experience that connection that drives people to obsess over or plumb a work.  We’ve all had that movie or show where your reaction is, “yeah it’s good, nice to share that with others.”

Broad Appeal is not bad.  I would argue the near-endless Marvel Films tend towards the Broad Appeal category, but most are good to extremely well-crafted.  There is a place for Broad Appeal because it lets you share the experience.

I can understand why some people focus on writing things with Broad Appeal.  It makes money and you get lots of people who like it – and both are great!  However, it seems to take effort to reach that level of Broad Appeal, or one may crave the intimacy of Personal Appeal.

Thoughts On Personal Appeal

Media with the Personal Appeal are works that connect deeply with a set of people but aren’t “for everyone.”  The right audience has a deep experience because they truly “get it.”  I’m sure you’ve had that book or comic or show where you loved it but found it impossible to share.

Personal Appeal is not exclusionary.  It’s just that you have to be the kind of person who it’s made for, who connects with it.  Some stuff just isn’t for you – something I get to with my large library of philosophy, little of which I can safely say “yeah you’ll dig THIS translation . . .”

Personal Appeal seems to be easy for some people to write – create what you like or focus on a domain of specific knowledge.  Writing things with Personal Appeal also has an intimacy that is quite enjoyable, which I can say from personal experience.  Still, an author may want to have their work have a broader audience than they have . . .

Thoughts On Universal Appeal

Universal Appeal is that rare work that appeals to a wide audience and reaches people’s depths.  Everyone (or at least a lot of people) can enjoy it and feel a deep, inspiring, life-altering connection.  It’s the work everyone talks about and will be considered classic decades or centuries down the road.  For many authors, it’s the hope – getting paid and reaching people.

There are a few works I’d put in this area.  Historically, one example is the Tao Te Ching, the “life-changing evening read” which has reached people for aeons.  More recently, Lord of the Rings fits this category – I’ve been through multiple revivals in my own lifetime.  I’m sure you have others.

Universal Appeal is a challenge.  I don’t think it can be calculated or planned.  It may be something that just happens, and creators may just have to live with that.

Our Journey

I find I rather like this taxonomy.  It’d doubtlessly oversimplified, but it gives me ways to think about works for the future.

I hope this gives you things to consider – which means I hope it has Broad Appeal . . .

Steven Savage

Steve’s Book Roundup 3/1/2022

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I write a lot and have quite a few books.  So now and then I’m going to post a roundup of them for interested parties!

My sites

Fiction

I’ve been returning to fiction with a techno-fantasy setting of several planets orbiting a star called Avenoth.  Take a typical fantasy world of magic and gods, and let it evolve into the space age and internet age . . .

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet – Two future teachers of Techno-Magical safety find trying to earn their credentials hunting odd artifacts backfires when you’re hired to put some back . . . on a planet where gods go to die!

The Way With Worlds Series

This is what I do a lot of – writing on worldbuilding!.  You can find all of my books at www.WayWithWorlds.com! 

The core books of the series will help you get going:

  • Way With Worlds Book 1 – Discusses my philosophy of worldbuilding and world creation essentials.
  • Way With Worlds Book 2 – Looks at common subjects of worldbuilding like conflicts in your setting, skills for being a good worldbuilder, and more!

When you need to focus on specifics of worldbuilding, I have an ever-growing series of deep dive minibooks.  Each provides fifty questions with additional exercises and ideas to help you focus on one subject important to you!

The current subjects are:

Creativity

I’m the kind of person that studies how creativity works, and I’ve distilled my findings and advice into some helpful books!

  • The Power Of Creative Paths – Explores my theories of the Five Types of Creativity, how you can find yours, and how to expand your creative skills to use more Types of Creativity.
  • Agile Creativity – I take the Agile Manifesto, a guide to adaptable project development, and show how it can help creatives improve their work – and stay organized without being overwhelmed.
  • The Art of The Brainstorm Book – A quick guide to using a simple notebook to improve brainstorming, reduce the stress around having new ideas, and prioritize your latest inspirations.
  • Chance’s Muse – I take everything I learned at Seventh Sanctum and my love of random tables and charts and detail how randomness can produce inspiration!

Careers

Being a “Professional Geek” is what I do – I turned my interests into a career and have been doing my best to turn that into advice.  The following books are my ways of helping out!

  • Fan To Pro – My “flagship” book on using hobbies and interests in your career – and not always in ways you’d think!
  • Skill Portability – A quick guide to how to move skills from one job to another, or even from hobbies into your job.  Try out my “DARE” system and asses your abilities!
  • Resume Plus – A guide to jazzing up a resume, sometimes to extreme measures.
  • Epic Resume Go! – Make a resume a creative act so it’s both better and more enjoyable to make!
  • Quest For Employment – Where I distill down my job search experiences and ways to take the search further.
  • Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers – An interview-driven book about ways to leverage cosplay interests to help your career!
  • Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers – My second interview-driven book about ways to leverage fanart to help your career!
  • Convention Career Connection – A system for coming up with good career panels for conventions!

Heaven’s Design Team: God’s Blessing On This Wonderful Worldbuilding

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.  Then he outsourced the animal stuff.

That’s the Pratchett-esque premise of Heaven’s Design Team, an anime series based on a popular manga.   The story centers around Shimoda, a young angel assigned to relay God’s instructions to the titular Design Team.  Playing Metatron to a group of creative personalities ensnares our bean-bun loving protagonist in both office hijinks and hard-science explorations of how animals work.

It’s also a show that worldbuilders and writers should at least check out.

Creation Is A Double-Edged Comedy

The series episodes have a mostly familiar arc, but one that is varied enough to stay fresh.  Shimoda comes to the team with a vague request from God.  This request is relayed to a colorful group of beings named after the planets, each with their own specialties, obsessions, and neuroses.

The result is a fun, broad office comedy with some real-world teeth.  If you’ve ever worked on a complex creative project it will be more than familiar.  Prototypes fail, creative bickering ensure, and bright ideas burn out fast in the light of reality.  The likeable cast of characters is enjoyable, and the humor is refreshingly free from jokes about genders, sexual preferences, etc.

This office comedy part fuses seamlessly with hard biology.  The Design Team has to temper their enthusiasm as ideas run into real science issues and the advice of their engineering expert, Mars.  Brilliant ideas wither in the harsh light of reality, and when that reality is designing a surviving being, mistakes become painfully obvious.

This is where the show becomes something more than just a wacky comedy – and something for worldbuilders.

Weird Science, Weird People

Heaven’s Design Team’s first season is packed with many bits of great ideas falling apart due to biological truths, but the most illustrative is the team’s attempt to make a unicorn.  “Horse that fights with a horn” sounds good, but the various metabolic, psychological, and physical tradeoffs produce problems.  The final result is an aggressive idiotic beast with navigation problems – though it is salvaged to create the Narwhal, so cuddly-animal loving Neptune is thrilled.

The show is thus a spiritual cousin to Cells At Work, being both educational, funny, and using a given genre to explore science.  The continual theme of “how animals work” and “why some ideas are good and some not” takes it to another level – and it’s why any worldbuilder needs to give it a look.

Heaven’s Design Team covers many kinds of animals and animal traits, and manages to keep it fresh and interesting.  One episode explores reproductive habits, another is about dolphins, and a third sees goth queen of grossness Pluto creating a surprising animal from her requirements.  Though the show has a pattern it usually hews to, it’s an educational one that often surprises.

If you’re a worldbuilder, you’ll quickly get ideas of what to think about what to do, and what not to do.  Because the show is about trial, error, and prototypes, it’ll help you think about animal biology.  It’s not hard to imagine how the Design Team might respond to you playing God – and how your requests might go awry.

The Whole (Earth) Package

I can heap praise upon Heaven’s Design Team, but the end result is “if you like worldbuilding and office comedy, you’ll probably like this.”

Can I say it’s “good?”  To that, I would say “yes” for two reasons.

First, the show knows exactly what it wants to be – an office comedy about biology with a bit of supernatural humor.  The show reaches the goal it sets for itself.  One might say it’s “well designed.”

Secondly, the show has a sweet, genial nature, much like the angelic protagonist.  Characters may argue and snipe, characters have flaws and quirks, but there’s no bullying or cruelty.  Even when bird-loving Venus and snake-creating Mercury square off for obvious reasons, it’s rivalry not meanness.  It’s a pleasant watch.

If you like worldbuilding (or indeed just science, but I know my audience) check it out on Crunchyroll.  It might be a creation you appreciate.

Steven Savage