Tweet of the Day: Odd Like Us
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YouTube?
You mean the land of anime themed videos, kittens and political hack jobs?
Yes, the one and the same. For you see world building is as much about research as it is about, well, building worlds. research provides the cement that glues together the raw stirs of imagination into a cohesive whole. From how armies work, to the stock and trade of different cultures, from ancient times to today. And while nothing beats good old fashioned book research, YouTube is shock full of documentaries where other people have done the research for you such as:
Of course, the same rules of research apply to these videos as they do any other form of research: author’s bias, contradicting claims, and at times shaky factual foundations. Yet few things beat visualizing history the way video can:
You can’t beat that magic table. I even borrowed the concept for one of my serials. Another benefit of using YouTube is that you don’t have to chase the same programs through cable or local TV and stuff your digital recorder with shows you may never watch. Instead you get the same shows in 10:00 bite size (on average) which you can watch (re-watch) at anytime. I prefer BBC documentaries, although these are not infallible by any means. The two above are from them, this third example is not but still good:
War based documentaries dominate YouTube but you can find videos on just about anything.
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That’s a great point. Along with the fun little videos up on youtube, I’ve also been able to watch, or rewatch tons of fascinating documentaries that would otherwise be difficult to find.
I have to admit spending an inordinate amount of time on kitten videos and docs. Yes, I am soft hearted dork.