  Fantasy
This week: Edited by: Colin Back on the Ghost Roads  
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This newsletter is for everyone who enjoys the magic and mystery of a good Fantasy, be it Tolkien, Jordan, Rowling, or a host of others. I will also be attempting to give some time to other types of fantasy, as written by the likes of Asimov, Wilson, Clarke and a galaxy of talent.
I hope to present some information that will be useful to other fantasy authors on site, and entertaining to all our subscribers.
So, let the wonder and glory of all that is fantasy engulf you.
The Fantasy Editors:
Colin Back on the Ghost Roads
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John~Ashen 
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Steampunk
Continuing the series of different kinds of fantasy stories, we come to Steampunk. Well at least I do, but I guess if you're reading this you've followed along for the ride. Steampunk was originally defined as a Victorian setting, sometimes as early as the Industrial Revolution, but using much higher technology that might have developed from the advancing technology of the age. As is indicated by the genre name, steam power is the most common power source for the technology. By this definition, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's "The Difference Engine" is a clear member of the type.
I prefer to use a broader definition of the genre, however, to keep things from being pigeon holed by a too narrow view. In my view, Steampunk includes any fantasy or science fiction setting where the advance technologies of our world do not exist, but where other, more archaic, advanced technologies do. Steam power is still very much the most common, but other possibilities exist. Some examples include Labyrinth (for the Goblin robot at the gates to the city), The World of Aden books (with its firearms and steam driven Thunder Trains), Terry Brooks' "Voyage of Jerle Shannara" (for its airships, even though it effectively had postmodern advanced technology as well), and a host of other stories in books and other media.
Steampunk in this broader definition is generally divided into two types, Historical Steampunk and Fantasy Steampunk. Historical Steampunk is an alternate history style of story, usually where sometime during the Industrial Revolution or the Victorian Age technology makes huge leaps forward. The stories are typically set in the historical time period, but with much higher technology that was actually evident. In order to properly write this sort of story, you will have to research the time period and the location you want to set the story. Once you have a good idea of the way life was back then, you'll have to figure out how everything would change with the more advanced technology you will introduce into the story. Typically it is advances to steam technology and computing technology (as seen in The Difference Engine) that lead to the changes, however other possibilities exist. In addition to Victorian and Industrial age Britain, the American Wild West is a strong possibility for a location, and some colonial regions could also serve well. The key again is research, research research and then carefully consider what changes would result from the new technologies.
Fantasy Steampunk would essentially consist of any fantasy setting with more advanced technology. Steam powered airships and robots, firearms, computers and the like could all exist. Of course, as a true fantasy setting magic will also play a role. In some settings it may be possible to blend magic and technology. In others, magic and technology are opposed forces and cannot work together at all. Which one is best depends on how you choose to write the story. Again, you will have to consider carefully what ramifications technology will have on your story. It will have to be controlled in much the same way as magic is in a fantasy story and can cause many of the same problems as magic can in a story. You cannot make it too powerful, or it will overwhelm the story and make any challenge uninteresting. By the same token it cannot be left useless or it serves no purpose. Technology can be treated a lot like magic, with universities teaching the secrets of technology (rather like some do now) and there being a number of technological guilds. Technology can also be treated very different from magic. Perhaps one of the two is kept by schools and colleges, while the other is generally the tool of independent researchers and hermits. If you want an odd setting, make magic the studied and academic discipline, with lone, often mad, wanderers the purveyors of technology.
One place that offers a wealth of Steampunk and other technomagical settings is the realm of video games. There are a host of console and computer games that merge magic and technology in many different ways. The Final Fantasy series often has airships, guns, explosives and other miracles of technology often working in conjunction with magic. Arcanum features a system where Magic is the old way, and technology the new, and the two cannot function together. The world of Aden started as the Computer game Thunderscape. In addition to these, many anime and Manga series offer strange technomagical combinations. It may be worth looking in to these sources if you have an interest in doing technomagical stories.
So, if you feel constrained by the boundaries of typical fantasy and science fiction, you may want to give Steampunk and other technomagical stories a try. |
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From: Midnight Cobra
This is some good advice. I was thinking about writing a urban fantasy when I finish my current story. Charles de lint does some excellent urban fantasy reading his work will yield ideas for your own urban fantasy...
Thanks for the suggested reading, it's always good. Glad you liked the newsletter, and keep me posted if you do write an Urban fantasy.
From: Raine
Thanks for a fantastic newsletter, Colin. Researching the setting for an urban fantasy is very important. Authors who write series set in a specific place have to keep up on developments within the city of their choice, too. If the city puts a freeway through the neighborhood you've chosen, the author has to adapt. Sherrilyn Kenyon (yes, a romance author) had her Dark Hunter vampire novels set in New Orleans. Since the stories are supposed to be happening as current events, Katrina forced her to relocate her crew. Makes inventing your own neighborhood or town more appealing.
The critical thing to remember about a setting for Urban Fantasy is that there is always the chance that someone who reads the story will live there. Do you know enough about the setting to concvince someone who lives there that it is real? If not, it's generally better to create your own location, either neighborhood or entire community. Current events can definitely make problems in a setting as well, so you have to keep up. This can be particularly difficult when novel writing, as events may unfold after the book gets to the publisher, and after changes are no longer possible. There's always a balance to be had.
From: nebroc
One of the hard things that every good auther has to do when writing a story, is to have good character development, so the reader can get to know the character's feelings and personality by reading the book, but doing this is often hard to do!
While I've been writing one of my stories, I have made the main character have some abilities, like he is an Empather (can feel peoples emotions by looking into their eyes), since iI have been putting a lot of action in almost straight away in the story I have been finding it difficult, so what I've been doing is putting in "flash-backs" of when he was a child, and he was just starting to get his abilities, this way I have been able to do a lot more with my story!
There are many other ways of course to add character development, but flash-backs is a very good way to do it and is used in a lot of stories and movies too!
Flash backs can be useful, but there are some things to watch out for when writing them. First, make sure it is clear when the flash back is starting. There are few things more annoying for me than a story that flip flops through time with no warning. Second, make sure there is a reason for the flashback. Just going chapter to chapter shifting time frames feels very disjointed, so usually there is a trigger in the story that causes the flashback. Third, like any writing method, don't over use them. Moderation is always the key.
From: Karen Rump
In response to Strange Wulf (since I seemed to have missed a newsletter on death which is a fave topic of mine in Fantasy), Bleach (a popular anime) has a very intriguing way of dealing with spirits that should have gone home but didn't and turned into something else. And necromancers are dealt rather well in the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix. Just a random note. ^_^
Always happy to get more reading suggestions, thanks.
From: Strange Wulf
I had an idea for a book series that was sort of an urban fantasy, though now that I think on it, a lot of it was a bit like The Chronicles of Narnia. Sure, the kids might've trained with their powers in this world, but they'd be fighting in others.
Still, it might be worth it to dust off that old idea and polish it up. Hey, if it worked for J. K. Rowling... =P
For another example of this sort of story, check out The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. Most of the main characters are from the University of Toronto, but are carried to a fantasy world where they have to become major players in order to stop the unraveling of the multiverse.
From: Nighala a.k.a. Doxie Do-Right
Great newsletter. Urban fantasy has really been coming into the fore of late. Are there any trite devices you would reccomend watching out for? It is on the verge of being done to death I think.
The best way to see what has been done before and done too often is to read a lot of the sort of story you plan to write. That way you'll have a much better idea what has been done nigh unto death.
Any ideas, even the most trite and overused, can be made new and fresh by handling them differently. For example, at the moment, a hidden school of magic might seem derivative (due to Harry Potter being set almost entirely in such a place) but with some different plot ideas, less focus on an individual character and some other new ideas, such a setting could still result in a truly unique story.
The key with any genre is to avoid doing exactly what has been done before, and the best way to avoid that is to read read and read some more.
From: Pyewacket
I notice that one is limited to only 1,000 characters--is there a submissions place where one can submit work that is quite a deal longer and have fellow members critique it?
If you look just above the feedback box at the end of the newsletter, you'll see a small box with "Writing.Com Item ID To Highlight (Optional):" written beside it. Just find the item number of the work you want to highlight and put a brief reason why it should be highlighted in the large text box. It should be sent automatically to the Items for inclusion section for the newsletter editors. It's probably a good idea to do a separate send if you have feedback on the newsletter, since they go to two separate sections. Hope that helps. Feel free to email me if you have any further questions or comments.
That wraps it up for me. Come back again.
Colin |
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Fantasy: July 19, 2006 Issue [#1152]
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