Ice Queen
Myself, I prefer mix-matching real world cultures and adding a little original stuff here and there, so the simple answer: our world. However, the main reason for me is that it's simpler. It's kinda hard for me to make things up from scratch, plus I learn so much from real-world cultures each day that it just inspires me.
As for you, maybe take a look at real-world cultures and see if they inspire you the same? Play an RPG or two, something obviously more real-world inspired like Skyrim would differ from... say, Tera Online or something where it's much more fantastical with its races and cultures.
Working on a manga. With pictures! All feedback welcome!
initially i was using our world with a few minor differences, and then i ended up switching to an alternate history (timeline shenanigans) and recently ive been working on a fully constructed world (more timeline shenanigans) and using each setting for different types of stories.
the first timeline is currently used for the more sci-fi stories
the third timeline is for the more urban fantasy stuff
the fourth timeline is the constructed world where im free to make more standard fantasy stories and yeah, ive definitely got a lot more freedom now.
thing is, ive go so much work to do before im willing to truly do a story set in that last timeline. i can get stuff out much quicker with the other timelines cuz im much more willing to just focus on character drama rather than how each facet of the setting works.
Frankly it depends on what you want to do. Generally speaking, Urban Fantasy works better with a tweaked version of our world (since in many times part of the fun of that style is seeing our real world peel away to reveal a stranger world behind), but some Fantasy works better when you go all out and craft your own things.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
I agree with Gaon, I believe: What works for one story might not for another.
For example, while I daresay that eldritch horror can works well in most settings, one of the strengths of Lovecratian horror can be the idea that all these terrors lurk just beyond our own, tenuous world; that it would take so very little to irrevocably tear the illusory safety of our familiar, ordered society.
Full secondary worlds have their own charms: they're refreshingly different to our world, and lack some of the connections that might muddy a story if set in ours, for two.
My Games & Writing
I agree with those saying it depends on the story.
Personally if I'm going for an earth like setting I prefer to go with our world unless I have a reason to go otherwise. Just for simplicity it is easier to write a story based in our world than another, I can assume the audience has is familiar with the world, write more freely because I don't need to constantly consider the differences and focus more on the areas of interest than on explaining the mundane aspects of the world.
However there are definitely reason to choose a new world, they allow you to remove preconceptions, avoid distasteful implications (especially if it is set in modern or near modern times) and to get the perfect world for the story.
Which I use also depends on the style of the story. If I'm aiming for something short or quick flowing I prefer to set it in our world. Creating a whole new world either means I have to slow it down to explain what the world is like or just ignore the world details which I don't like as a reader so I want to avoid when storytelling. If I'm planning something longer I'm more inclined to make a new world because I have time to really explain it all without hijacking the story.
edited 6th Jul '14 4:32:07 PM by aoide12
Recently I have been debating with myself what is best for my story.
On one hand a "made up world" you have a free reign to invent everything. You can create the history, the buildings the traditions, new countries and worlds.
On the other hand a modified version of our world with making a story in our world readers will feel more familiar with your fictional universe and it will feel more "real". Who is not to say there is actually a secret warding world out there?.
I have debated with myself what to use for my work as I am more interested in the characters than the world they will inhabit.
What do you prefer for storytelling? and why?
Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.