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comment by CraigEllsworth
CraigEllsworth  ·  3403 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Worldbuilding 101: Starting by Gestalt

Indeed, I was hesitant for a long time to discuss the gestalts of some of my worlds, too. But ultimately, I found I got a lot more intrigued questions when I exposed it (the waterrises I mentioned in the initial post), and it really got a lot of interest. I gave my thoughts elsewhere about stealing ideas.

I think part of it is that a unique gestalt is something that you know is yours and yours alone, and it tends to be the thing you're most proud of. It would be the thing to show off in a movie trailer, or the thing someone describes when recommending a book.

So it makes sense on one hand that it's the nearest and dearest thing to your heart, and is the heart of your world, but like the rest of worldbuilding, if the ultimate goal is to share your creation, then sharing the most integral part of it becomes necessary at some point. Some people prefer to wait until their world is complete, or at least until they've completed some aspect of it, like written a novel. I used to, and in some cases I still do (when I hide the entire world itself until I reveal it with a complete product), but I have found that, when you want the audience to come along for the ride of the entire worldbuilding process (as we tend to do with discussion and collaboration such as this), the hook should be the first thing you give an audience, not the last; a lot more conversation and even fandom starts early when you get everything out in the open.

I like to think of it as sending your kid off to Kindergarten for the first time. It might be scary for you, and you might be an emotional wreck at first, but once your kid comes back unharmed and full of glee, you'll realize it was the best thing for him.