The Architect, who begins with the setting—crafting landscapes, lore, and systems until the story grows naturally from the world itself (J.R.R. Tolkien)?
The Storycrafter, who starts with a strong plot—shaping the world and characters to serve a compelling narrative arc (J.K. Rowling)?
The Psychologist, who builds from the inside out—creating vivid, complex characters whose choices shape the world and drive the story (George R.R. Martin)?
The Philosopher, who begins with a theme—exploring big ideas and moral questions through a world built to embody and test them (C.S. Lewis)?
The Engineer, who uses mechanical systems as a world scaffold - building characters, stories, and lore to support and explore those systems (Brandon Sanderson)?

Which one best describes your process? Or do you switch between them depending on the project?

EDIT: Added The Engineer thanks to CaptSatelliteJack

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[–] stingpie@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

I typically work backwards from observations of people and extend my conclusions to a logical extreme. Like, people want smart conversational AI that can feel, etc. But they also want AI that can take over the worst jobs and prevent people from suffering through them (like robots displacing child slave cobalt miners). Taking this to it's logical conclusion, we get a world where people design conscious robots, and force them into slavery in order to displace human slavery.