Hi! One of my writing buddies and I were inspired by what you've done with the appendices for Midst, and consequently started making our own for a fanfiction (entirely different fandom) we've been writing. So, partially out of curiosity, partially out of wanting to do the same—what gave you the idea for making all those cool little appendices expanding on things? How does making them work? And (if you don't mind me asking) which one's your favorite?
📜: AHHHH this is so meaningful to meeeeeee! I'm SO thrilled that the appendices/ephemera have proven to be a source of inspiration for you and your buddy! When we started with OG Midst, we always knew we wanted it to feel like "more than just a podcast", so we just did what we knew how to do: making that extra stuff like art and artifacts to enrich the world. I've always been a big fan of things like The Mysterious Package Company, and when RPG settings include "feelies" (that's an industry term 🤓) like coffee-stained maps, and envelopes of correspondence between characters to intercept and pour through, so it felt very natural to produce menus and letters and agendas and handbooks of things that the characters are interacting with, as tied-in documents from the world of the narrative. Different documents emerged at different times, and getting to fuss over them also helped us learn and establish elements that we could later return to and reference as the story continued to expand! Names mentioned in the UB founding document became whole characters and locations in Moonward and Unend! Details from the Trustee Handbook helped to inform a whole SOCIETY, and the history that characters (like Mr. Pesto and Dr. Rawfield) carry around with them. Process-wise, it's usually a mixture of us suggesting something basic (like a menu, or a graphic novel series) and then imagining you're the one in the position of creating that thing! How would a chef list out the weekly specials they're trying to push? What goes into the layout of a cover meant to entice a bookstore customer to pick it up? There's a lot of comparing/review of IRL texts (notably Bibles and Tax Forms for anything Trust-related) and putting a "Midst" spin on it! How would these things actually function to inform in-world? Verisimilitude (one of my favorite words) is all about "the appearance of feeling true" - so the best advice I can give, is: make your writing feel true. True to the world. True to the characters. True to the story. True to you. Finding that thread of truth, and then weaving/stitching around it is simultaneously helpful world-building, and just a fun exercise in bringing the fiction to life. Through the power of paperwork. 😛
