xlii - Day 13 - What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?

Please accept my apologies.  Once again, I failed to register the difference between "Save" and "Publish" so that this post sat in my queue for a week.  I'll post the next day's question and answer tomorrow!

I have to address my first impression of this question before trying to answer it at face value.

A writer shouldn't try to write "cultures", a writer should try to write "characters".  Individuals.  Influenced, of course, to lesser or greater degrees by their own culture and any they might encounter on their journey, but, and I can't stress this enough, independent actors.  To think of culture without focusing it through the lens of character strikes me as a recipe for cookie-cutter (or clichéd) characterisation at best or unquestioning acceptance of discriminatory stereotypes at worst.

Of course, it would be hypocritical of me to pretend it couldn't happen to me.  One of the reasons the human mind is remarkable to me is its ability to seamlessly fill holes in the "big picture".  Without even knowing it, we grab pieces of information and stuff them into the lattice work of our understanding of the world.  There may come a time when my own untested assumptions are brought to light, and it's going to be at least a bit embarrassing. After all, I'm undertaking an art form intended to shine light into those holes.

But that's not addressing the question. I can, in fact, answer it in the way I'd like to believe it was intended.

I created a culture for my fantasy setting based on elements cherry-picked from various points in French history.  Social structure and dress influenced by the Franks, and the regional dialects influenced by Old French.  Environmental and other influences made the people compact and mean, like wolverines. In retrospect, they answer the question of what it would be like if a whole people had a Napoleon Complex.

The reason I think they're so fun to write is because stories are about conflict, and this particular people has conflict at its very core.  Each and every interaction with them, even between themselves, has such potential to go in any direction that it just opens up possibilities having them around.