A Choice of Evils · 6:02pm May 15th, 2023
So, recently I've been redoing some of my old maps for "The Song of the Spheres," and between them and my worldbuilding notes I've run into a bit of a problem: a lot of them don't make sense.
- Big honkin' gaps in borders with traditional enemies? I'm sure nothing bad ever happened with that!
- My poor, smooth, Euro-centric brain decided to go with semi-feudalism for Homestria's history instead of what it should be (psuedo-Confucism with "Harmony" instead of "The Mandate of Heaven").
While there are some points I'm proud of (most of which I haven't gotten around to actually writing outside of my notes...), these problems/better alternatives make me wince as I realize, you know, maybe I didn't pick the best way to mash up my interests in A Song of Ice and Fire and Colorful Horses of Fellowship. Which brings me to the choice in the title; do I try to retcon the problems I've discovered, or do I accept them and simply make note of the improvements I've thought of for future projects?
Depends on how much of what needs to be retconned has already been called out in the text. If you can shuffle stuff behind the scenes without us knowing, great! If not, you may have to just grit your teeth and use it as a learning experience.
Depends: do you want perfection, or do you want to finish? (Totally not talking to myself BTW
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Join the club, we have buttons and stickers. This is literally how grad school feels. #ADHD academia
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It looks like I'm going to have to grit my teeth, though there are some areas where I'll be able to retcon it (namely, what the actual rights, functions, and duties of the nobility are). It's either that or go back and do massive edits to what I've already written, and I know that that way lies madness. Thank you for the advice, though; I do appreciate it.
I may need to catch up when I get the opportunity.