So, way way back in 1998, a game released that took my imagination by storm - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I was 12 or 13 and I played the hell out of it and managed to beat it over the course of about a month.
This wasn't my first introduction to Legend of Zelda; my mom had played through A Link To The Past with me some number of years earlier, and this new game simply taught me that I could take an existing setting and add kind of whatever I wanted to it.
Which is how I unknowingly dived into the worlds of both worldbuilding and fanfiction.
So, by this point I'm sure you can guess what my first bit of worldbuilding was: an Ocarina of Time fanfic.
Of course, it was about the quality you'd expect from a 13 year old... I invented some new places, a bunch of new weapons and items, and a half-cocked plot.
Looking back, though I didn't really know the term for it then, my first adventure into actually trying to write was probably LitRpg... Which is a genre that I basically didn't know existed until like a year ago.
In the years that would follow, writing would become a huge passion of mine. I didn't worldbuild for every story I made, a lot of my work then was just a generic fantasy setting that wasn't particularly well thought out...but enough had PIECES of worldbuilding that it's no wonder I eventually found myself within this extremely niche hobby.
Magic systems, factions and politics, cities and countries... Over the years since this first real but of writing, I'd get more and more wrapped up in writing about the background elements of my story.
Tolkien and The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings has a lot to do with this too, being among the very first books I ever read. Once I found The Silmarillion and realized you COULD write just about the history of your fictional setting, it became a pretty common thing for me to do.
And, if you were wondering if I still have that super cheesy and super shitty first story... You're damned right I do! I found it tucked into a box I hadn't actually looked at since I graduated in 2004, after we moved last year. It was, and still is, wrapped carefully in saran wrap and tape to keep it safe, lol!
I had hoped to take a photo of it for the blog but the box it's in is now under like 7 other boxes in my storage room mess so, that ain't happening today.
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Hahahaha, what a beautiful post, we all have experiences that transform us or immerse us in other people, people that today we are or were, really great post, I love how you write and express yourself.
TLOZ OoT is my favorite, for me the best so far.
Thank you so much! That's one of the nicest compliments I've received for my writing in quite some time!
And I agree, to this day OoT is my favorite so far. What a fantastic game!