Discworld

      Thanks to the folks I follow over at BlueSky I started reading Discworld. Out of a strong sense of blasphemy I choose to read them in publication order.

      My main defense of this is that this order that got us these books. The early books aren’t as good, sure, but they got the job the done. And maybe if he wrote Guards! Guards! or Wyrd Sisters first, then we don’t get anymore because the world hasn’t been as established.

      The flow chart, while intimidating as hell to a noob, is a great tool for the experience Discworld fan. I relate it, weakly but hear me out, to the CW DC shows. Doing re-wacthes of those shows I sometimes just watch the crossovers, or I’ll skip the crossovers, or just watch the Kryptonians, or I’ll just watch John Constantine’s stuff. So there’s choices. Because I’ve seen it all, I can play around and just watch different bits. For me, this is the power of the flow-chart.

      When I was thinking about picking u the series, the flow chart scared me. I thought it was a bridge too far. I was used to Maps. You can’t have a fantasy series without maps! I was used to family trees.. You can’t have royal intrigue without a family tree. But a flow chart? In a Fantasy series? Whoah. That was a lot. I did not even analyze it. I just saw it and spent a month going WTF.

      I leaned toward publication order because I was a strong believed that this was the correct order for Chronicles of Narnia. I know Lewis would disagree with me, but sometimes the authors are wrong. Especially with Narnia. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was such a great starting book. There is no way anyone that starts with the Magician’s Nephew gets fully sucked into this world.

      What really pushed me over the edge and into publication order was Pratchett’s site. There was a selector option, but it was not a randomizer. It was more like a facebook quiz. Even Sir Terry did not want you starting with Colour of Magic. So I could upset everyone by starting with the first book? That was what I was going to do.

      Now I am well past the halfway point, and partially slowed down because I fell into Dungeon Crawler Carl. I am in love with the series and fully understand why people advocate so hard for it. I have read some great books, and a few bad ones (Eric! and Reaper Man). Sorry the b-plot in Reaper man just ruins the whole book. It has no ties to the main story and it’s story doesn’t make sense on it’s own. The b-plot was parody that missed it’s mark. I do love the Death of Rats though, and the a-plot was amazing.

      The take away is that you have to read these books. Just pick one up. Personally I love Rincewind and Luggage. Starting where I did helped me get into the world because of those two characters. But if you need the flow-chart, use it. It is loaded with good information and will help you if the idea of 41 inter-connected but non-serial stories scares you.

      That part did not scare me. That part attracted me. This is how more fantasy writers should approach their world building. You don’t need A BIG OVERARCHING PLOT! You can just tell stories. It is what made the the pre-Infinity War MCU work. Just tell some stories, sprinkle in some refences, and have some friends swing by occasionally. This is the real magic of Discworld.