Being a Better Writer: Epics · 10:23pm Apr 15th, 2019
We’ve got a one-word title today readers. Buckle up!
No news. Not today. No, we’re going to dive right in. Today’s topic actually was one of several inspired by my attending of Life, The Universe, and Everything this year, as I met with a number of young, aspiring authors who declared an interest in writing an Epic of their own. Even if, some admitted, they weren’t quite sure what an Epic was, or what went into a book that made it an “Epic” while other books were just “adventures.”
Today’s topic went right to the list the moment I returned home that evening. Because I love Epics, and would enjoy seeing more of them out there. And … there really isn’t that much about them out there.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. There’s plenty on the classic Epics, like The Odyssey or The Illiad. There are whole college course dedicated to those works that you can peruse online.
But those aren’t modern Epics. They’re not generally what someone means today when they tell you that they read this great book, and mention the genre as being Epic Fantasy. No, the modern Epic is something a little different. And … not that oft defined, though talked about frequently enough. Which in turn can lead to confusion or difficulty for a lot of young authors who know the genre that they would like to write towards … but aren’t quite sure what that genre entails.
They’re like those young authors I found at LTUE. They know what they like, and what they want to do. They can name books that they’re fairly certain are Epics … but they’re not one-hundred percent certain what makes one book an Epic and the other simply an adventure.
So, let’s dive into it. What makes an Epic an Epic? And how can you prepare to write one?
A little story regarding Civilization. Recently I decided to play a round of CIV VI as Gandhi on a map of Asia. I'm not interested in a specific victory, so I focused early on balancing all aspects and now am interested in winning by score. The first 200 turns were devoted to initial setup, getting everything I needed to account for all situations while making sure my rivals loved me. Now I'm rich, my technology and culture are rapidly catching up with everyone else, my cities are booming. I have the strongest military, have time for rapid expansion into the less explored parts of the world, and am generally loved.
Except by Poland. Jadwiga doesn't care for me much, mostly because she's disdainful of my relatively low income (which I should point out is 100+ gold/turn, so I have no idea how high I have to go for her to like me, but it's huge). She decided to invade in the mid-game. This was laughable. I took out all her puny knights, archers and catapults within a dozen turns with fewer units. At that point I easily could have marched in and conquered Poland. In most games, I would have as a warning to others.
But everyone else likes me. Heck, they love me! I'e never played a game were so many starting civs can't stop fawning over mine. If I went to war and conquered Poland, suddenly I've got warmonger penalties. People don't like me anymore. Borders start closing, trade starts dying. I didn't want that. So when Jadwiga did an abrupt 180 and begged me not to invade, offering me huge amounts of gold, I agreed.
Only now, roughly 100 turns later, do I realize how big a mistake that was.
I neglected one area of my development: religion. Jadwiga, on the other hand, excels at it. Back when the war happened, she was struggling to keep Korea, France, and Japan from spread their religions around. I had no religion and just let them do their thing, confident they'd be going back and forth forever (as they usually do in these games).
That didn't happen this time. Jadwiga is winning the religious contest. Her only remaining competition is Japan, and it looks as Japan's losing. And because I have no religion of my own (and even if I did it wouldn't matter because she's already converted my entire nation), I can't intercede the traditional way. And now I am facing a serious problem: I have to stop Jadwiga from getting a religious victory. The obvious solution is to invade and take her out of the equation entirely. But then that would leave Hojo with zero religious opposition, free to spread his faith across the entire continent and win the same way, just at a delay. I could go to war with him too, solving the problem, but Hojo is my friend, and if I do that I can say goodbye to a peaceful endgame and anyone ever trusting me again. The third option is to continue to stand aside and hope Hojo is able to regroup.
Oh, sure, I'll probably still get a victory, but everything I wanted this game to be is practically gone now. And all because I neglected a single aspect of the greater world.
That's the beauty of Civilization's design... and also why it works so well as a teaching aid in studying the bigger picture in relation to little things. You're right to suggest games of this nature for people who want to get an idea of the "epic" scope. There have been numerous occasions when I've seriously considered taking a game of CIV and writing out a story based on the events, because it's always interesting how so many little things matter in big ways.
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My first three games of Stellaris have all been the same way. A story builds as I play, and it's an Epic story! There's refugees entering my borders, alliances breaking over trade ... People and species I get along with and then don't, wars orchestrated ...
It's an incredible game. But it's the experience that teaches so much.
I'm firmly of the opinion that making fifth or sixth graders play a giant game of multiplayer Civ over the course of a semester with a grade attached would do wonders for teaching realpolitik and helping students have a wider view of things.
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My thought has always been that games like these are educational in several unique ways. My favorite example is financing. Anyone who plays a game of Civilization or other city/nation-building games quickly gets a grasp of the one and only concept you really need to get ahead in finance: balancing the budget. Failing to do so is one of the easiest and fastest ways to ruin. Obviously, the real world’s financial systems are vastly more complex than any game can offer, but the core ideas are there for people to learn if they’d just be willing.
These are critical thinking games. I’ve been playing CIV games since the original one released on floppy discs, and every single playthrough has been a puzzle to solve. It would be no exaggeration to call 4x games like these my favorites.
Haven’t tried Stellaris. Alas, I have no business buying a new game until I get to the dozen or so I’ve already acquired and never touched.
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I'm kind of tempted to just gift you a copy of Stellaris the next time it's on sale then (funds permitting). It's kind of amazing. And real-time!
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I’ve added it to my wishlist. Next time it goes on sale I may grab it, assuming my budgeting for the week permits it.
I do so love Steam. We should connect on it sometime.