  Fantasy
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You see things as they are and ask 'Why?' I dream of things as they never were and ask, 'Why not?'
-George Bernard Shaw
Fantasy's hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.
-Lloyd Alexander
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
-Tom Clancy |
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Realism in Fantasy
Ever watch Star Trek? Sure, most of us have. It's a cultural icon now, at least The Original Series (TOS) and The Next Generation (TNG).
Ever seen a restroom on the U.S.S. Enterprise?
I don't have every TNG episode memorized, but I don't recall seeing one. And I'm certain there was never one shown on the Enterprise in TOS. Presumably, by the 24th century (or whatever; I never did get the chronology straight), humans have evolved beyond the need to relieve themselves?
No, I don't think so. Thus, there had to be restrooms somewhere, but the scenes were cunningly crafted to avoid mention of using the "head," as I'd assume it'd be called on a starship as well as on an ocean vessel.
Interestingly enough, another science fiction series, Babylon 5, not only acknowledged the need to "go," but actually had at least one scene taking place in the restroom.
But getting back to Star Trek, ever noticed how much space there is on the ship? Wide corridors (okay, they did that originally because they had to have room for the bulky recording equipment) and an enormous shuttle bay. Heck, even the Bridge had plenty of open space. But in reality, space on vessels is at a premium, and you'll rarely find a ship or submarine with that much elbow room: It just doesn't make sense from a cost/benefit perspective; more room means more materials, which means more energy and cost expenditure.
Maybe it's just because I'm a civil engineer by profession, but fantasy - or science fiction - without the little realities of everyday life just doesn't seem to have as much depth.
Take for example a medieval city, which serves as a common setting for classic fantasy stories. The archetype for this sort of town is a walled fortification with gates, arrow slits, and places to pour boiling oil off of to repel invaders. But wait: Does your world have dragons, or flying machines? Flight makes city walls obsolete, so unless flight is a new thing in your world, there's not much use for such massive fortifications. And you may have a vivid image of what your city, or countryside, looks like, but it would be perceived by more than just one sense. What does it smell like, what is the sound of the wind in the trees, or through the carillons? These details add depth and realism.
Or, back to the necessaries: How does your city handle its sewage or, for that matter, water intake? The aqueducts of Rome are famous; not so famous is how they handled the other end of the cycle. Apparently, there was an enormous sewer called the Cloaca Maxima, which drained directly into the Tiber River. And they even had a goddess of the sewer: Cloacina. She was also the goddess of sexual intercourse within marriage.
I'm not making this stuff up: http://www.sewerhistory.org/articles/wh_era/cloacina/cloacina.pdf
Okay, so maybe there's a such thing as too much information, and too much reality in fantasy. But at least a nod to the everyday needs of transportation, clean water, food distribution, trade, war and going to the bathroom can make your story that much more believable to the readers.
Even if it does have dragons. |
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Last month, the topic for my newsletter was marriage. I have to admit I felt some trepidation over the possible responses, since marriage seems to be a "hot button" in the here-and-now political arena, but my fears were ungrounded:
bazilbob wrote: I also find it interesting that the actual ceremony was very different in the past than now, so that in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, for example, their exchange of tokens could have counted as an actual marriage.
Which reinforces my point: if marriage customs change over time and among cultures - and they do - adding a bit of local flair to a fantasy or science fiction marriage makes your world more interesting, and emphasizes the differences between our own world and yours.
And until next time...
DREAM ON! |
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Fantasy: June 11, 2008 Issue [#2439]
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