(no subject)

And related: Can you talk a bit about your process developing trolls and their own unique culture?

It was very similar to the processes I've already described. I start with some basics. Some known quantities, like gray skin, orange horns, terrible typing quirks, without really knowing much else about them at all. Then I whimsically slide in a few more elements as I go, conceived during the gaps of the narrative while other things are happening, like blood castes, violent customs, ancestral lore and such. And just keep riffing like that until it seems well rounded out. Always keep certain things vague, right up until they're not, if the time for elaboration feels right. It's a very fast and loose approach to building a fictional race and culture. Which results in a lot of silly stuff, like alien versions of human celebrities on their planet. But it also starts accumulating some legitimately interesting features that easily would work in a more serious scifi enterprise. So it's really not a bad approach to world building in general.

(From here: https://pastebin.com/YtABvyaM)

This is an interesting thought, from that most luminous mind, Andrew Hussie. Not really how I world-build, but then, I'm doing a very different thing. (The extent to which he was winging thing is amazing. I'm honestly astounded that Homestuck came out a tenth as coherent as it did, and that's really saying something).