 Fantasy: March 19, 2008 Issue [#2290] |
  Fantasy
This week: Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
-Genesis 1:1-3,The Bible (King James Version)
In the beginning there were only two: Tawa, the Sun God, and Spider Woman, the Earth Goddess. All the mysteries and power in the Above belonged to Tawa, while Spider Woman controlled the magic of the Below. In the Underworld, abode of the Gods, they dwelt and they were All. There was neither man nor woman, bird nor beast, no living thing until these Two willed it to be.
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The Genesis Error
Everybody knows you don't reveal the end of your story at the beginning. Even if your readers know in advance what the general ending is, like in an historical drama or an action story where the hero has to come out on top, you let the ending happen through your plot and character development.
What may not be so obvious is: Don't reveal the beginning of your story at the beginning.
This is a special problem for fantasy and science fiction writers, because we're setting our stories in strange locations: worlds in the depths of space, a parallel universe or something even stranger. Other writers can feel comfortable that their readers are familiar with the beginnings of their stories, because they're set in something akin to our own world. But we need a Silmarillion.
The Silmarillion was Tolkien's basis for his Middle-Earth; the mythopoeic history of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It wasn't published until 1977, and with good reason: IT IS MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING.
That is, it's mind-numbingly boring if you're like me and decided to read it before reading The Hobbit. Big mistake. I had no idea what the heck was going on. I didn't know the "present," and so I had no referents for the "past."
However, if it hadn't existed in some form, if Tolkien hadn't written it down prior to crafting his stories, those mainstays of fantasy literature wouldn't have had their power and internal consistency.
Time and again, I read stories of fantasy or science fiction that spend the first few chapters explaining how things got to where they are in the story. Many of them are even published works. I can't ever get past the first few paragraphs. Let me implore you now: Don't do it. I've said this before, and I'll say it again here: start with action. Drop your reader into the middle of a situation, in medias res, as Virgil did in the Aeneid.
Which is not to say that you shouldn't have a background fleshed out. Quite the contrary. As with your characters, it helps a great deal to know more about the world than you're going to reveal. Figure out how your world came to be: naturally, supernaturally, or whatever. Draw maps. Just having the background worked out will help you to decide how certain events unfold. And then, over the course of the story - and only if it's critical to the plot - drop hints or reveal how things got to be the way they are. And, if you do this right, if "now" flows naturally from "then," your readers will get as deep a sense of resolution as they do when you wrap up loose plot threads. |
Of course, not all fantasy requires world-building from scratch. I've looked around for some stories that are set in the sort-of "real" world...
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Last month, I covered the similarities between Fantasy and Science Fiction, and asked for some ideas for future newsletters.
⭐Princette♥PengthuluWrites  : I read it, I read it!  I don't, however, have any suggestions.  Good point on the cross-over between fantasy and science fiction, though, by the way...
Thanks! The genres are similar enough to share plenty of writing techniques, but one day perhaps I'll go into their essential differences in greater depth.
ImagineTryingToLearnToBeSingle  : Could you possibly define any rule of thumb for creating a trilogy. Let's just cover the situation at hand.
My primary work, needing incredible improvement of course covers several genres. I have placed it on hold due to a rule advised to me.
This work can only be told in history format, climatic book form before the earth story can be told.
It is too complex to begin and remain on earth I informed the individual. To no avail the rule appeared to stand.
My problem is quite simple. There are too many complications for the reader to swallow from earths view point.
The only way this can be appreciated and understood is too follow from the very beginning.
The rule is history is told from one viewpoint i.e. earth.
Hopefully, this month's newsletter can give you insight into your problem; that is, "don't give us the history; give us the story." As for "creating a trilogy," I don't know of any rules of thumb - there are different approaches. The original Star Wars trilogy is one classic approach to a trilogy.
dejavu_BIG computerprobs : Hello Robert, Welcome as editor to the Fantasy newsletter. I enjoyed your first issue and look forward to your series on world building. Fantasy is a new genre for me to write, but I must say it is very interesting creating worlds.
I would enjoy seeing an article on turning ancient myths into fantasy stories that give a message. SM Ferguson
Good idea for a newsletter. Meanwhile, read the works of Neil Gaiman. He does this masterfully.
Cubby : I'm so glad you mentioned that it is sometimes difficult to tell one from the other (fantasy vs. science fiction). Even as a librarian, I've come across this. And I couldn't agree with you more that many authors cross over into other genres. I have a SciFi-Fantasy sticker to put on the spines of books that fall in both categories.  Also, I liked your reference to Orson Scott Card's statement... fantasy covers have trees, while science fiction covers have rivets. Another genre I hadn't heard of until recently, is Christian Fantasy. I ordered a few books from this genre and was pleasantly surprised that they are being checked out regularly. I try to keep my patrons happy. I'm always looking for new authors and book suggestions... in any genre. Congratulations on your new editor position!
~Cubby ")
Thanks! One approach, of course, is not to worry so much about genre. A good story is a good story, regardless of genre. In some ways, genre is misleading. One example of this is Kurt Vonnegut, whose stories were mostly, technically, science fiction, but who refused to be associated with the genre.
lulubelle: Thanks for the newsletter. You're going to do a great job in the future I bet. One thing I might like to see in your newsletter is coming up with names for your characters, worlds, or places in your world in your fantasy or sci-fi story.
Thanks again and good job!
Ashton Rose
Thank you! zwisis covered this in "Fantasy Newsletter (February 27, 2008)" , as did Prosperous Snow celebrating  in "Fantasy Newsletter (March 5, 2008)"
mlarsen05: In response to you asking about "anything specific you want to see" in the newsletters, might I suggest the finer points of description and the senses. Most stories I read state something like her hair was black, she was 5 feet tall with blue eyes and a pointy nose with high cheek bones, etc. I find that when sound, smell and touch are incorporated or subsituted for sight, the details become much more rich and interesting. After all, the reader does most of the work when visualizing a person, place, time. Sometimes you only need a well-crafted sentence or two and the reader fills in the rest of what they want or need to see.
Very good point! And besides, in fantasy & science fiction writing, we may have the opportunity to incorporate senses beyond those of our human form. Great idea for a newsletter.
Izkata :
Only he went to the store.
He only went to the store.
He went only to the store.
He went to the store only.
I wonder how many people will catch this... That last one should be "He went to the only store", shouldn't it?
Depends on what you're trying to convey. Was he the only one who went to the store? Or was the store his only destination? Or was there only one store in the town? More importantly, how can you rewrite the sentence to convey more interest and action?
Thanks for the comments, and keep 'em coming! Until next time,
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