2 types of worldbuilding:

A. Tolkien - the world first, then find the smallest person that could exist in that world.

Even in the Lord of the Rings trilogy: a result of Tolkien’s period in the trenches and his trauma. Frodo was created in that light—the dichotomy between safe Oxford (Shire) and the War (evil in Middle Earth).

B. George R. R. Martin. - the people first and then design a world in which the characters can exist.

You have an arena, your protagonist or team. Before the inciting incident, a thing happens to the protagonist. In the story, they have the opportunity to succeed, succumb or transcend. Transcendence is the most satisfying for the audience because by conquering fears.

Stories are about externalizing internal dichotomies.

Protagonist wants to do something but it is also the thing they are most afraid of. The environment is designed to allow the protagonist to conquer those or succumb to them or transcend it in a higher level. This is why New York is a different city for each different superhero. E.g. In Spiderman, it’s a high-school New York which is wholesome and filled with teenage drama (melodrama) but at the same time there’s the superhero side.

The island is my arena. It tests the team — how do team member respond to challenges the island throws at them? Do they succeed, succumb, transcend? LOST is a good example of this, characers perish.

How to design a team? & how is their composition dependent on the arena?

Use a so called casting wheel.

If it’s round, it rolls.

There are 4 types.

1. Internal dichotomy of the character externalized through surrounding characters. see spider man example: peter parker vs. spiderman (is the internal dichotomy) and the different parental figures, girlfriends and best friends depending on which side of PP/SM we see reinforce this duality.
2. Dichotomy of the team: The Office protagonist Michael’s sides are reflected by the different members of the team. e.g. Dwight is the asshole character (show M’s asshole side), Jim the angel character (shows M’s good boss side), Jan (M’s asshole side), Holly (M’s good boyfriend side).
3. The arena can also appeal to two different sides of the protagonist rather than it being an internal motivation, example: X-Men. Xavier feels both like a hero, mutant, and different characters in thes how appeal to these sides.
4. This can also remove the protagonist as a whole, and the secondary characters can embody those different sides of the coin. E.g. you’d have a hero character and an evil mutant character.

Up next: decide who is in the archaeological team & make a puzzle for each team member. Puzzles: the guy drowned in the temple —> connecting the right song to the right time; entry to the sacred room —> the word search puzzle in original language.

(see: story)