  Fantasy
This week: Edited by: shaara
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As your newest Fantasy editor, my goal is to challenge you to think outside the KNOWN and to help you inject your tales with fascinating facts while jagging left and right through troublesome frolics and teethe-writhing dilemmas.
Perhaps we can help each other to safely jog through these twisty turns of radical thought, alternate viewpoint, and dynamic detail. Come! Let’s head down the Path of Dimensions untextured by any earthly array.
In other words, let’s drop out of reality for awhile. Shall we?
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Fantasy. It’s true I prefer outer space, aliens, and visions of quirky futures, but like most of us here on Writing.com, I enjoy cross-dressing through the genres. I get a kick out of writing fantasy that doesn't evolve from pure scientific endeavor. I like to wear a witchy hat, ride my broomstick into semi-spooky environs, and question a Halloween cat with its snarly mouth and crooked, twitching tail.
Sometimes I like to ride a dragon or roam deep caverns with shy dwarves. I wish that. . . (No, I don’t REALLY wish I could dwell with dragon flames overhead or train with powerful witches that might turn me froglike. If demons rose up from the ground and vampires frolicked about at night I definitely would not be happier.) Yet, to write about them . . . Ah, that’s a different simmering soup in the night black cauldron of our imagination, isn’t it?
But what is Fantasy? How should it differ from cosmic alien-filled works?
When I looked through my personal selection of dictionaries, I discovered that the word fantasy actually represents a river-wide range -- from ghoulish horrors to cheerful daydreams of dancing mathematical shapes. Fantasy, in other words, is anything that vibrates your imaginative mind.
However, according to good old Wikipedia it does have its limits: “Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting." Wikipedia informs us that "Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively." Wikipedia goes on to explain that "there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction).” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy )
As is usual, whenever I delve into something, I have to follow every link. That's great fun, but very time-consuming. The most interesting of the leads above was the one that took me to speculative fiction. There I discovered that Heinlein, that great among science fiction authors, was (probably) the creator of this “crossover" type of literature. Heinlein apparently hated having to follow the formal guidelines of sci/fi. He wanted to dabble and meld.
Bravo! I say, and I think most of us feel that way. (After all, aren’t our lives regimented enough without being further confined by fenced-in corrals of genres?)
But back to probing the depths of fantasy . . . Have I outlined it sufficiently yet? Do these two different definitions of fantasy give it full body?
I continued my reading. I especially enjoyed the section on Traits of Fantasy in which I was informed that Fantasy must provide a set of rules -- rules that govern either a kingdom or a magical quality: For example: Harry Potter cannot perform magic among Muggles. The genie only gives three wishes. A Leprechaun will trick you if he can, then leap away without granting a single wish.
I suppose this law of magic makes good sense. If a hero (or villain) had no such restrictions, could there be a story? Such a hero would be infallible, god-like, prefect. Therefore, our story would have no beginning and no ending; this is how it is and will always be.
(Suppose the genie could do magic for himself, then what use would Aladdin be?. What if the witch’s magic didn’t boomerang when she produced evil spells? What if the princess kissed the frog prince, and then she, too, turned into a frog?)
While tumbling these examples about in my head, I thought of Sleeping Beauty. At her christening, all the fairies gave ONE rather small-size offering. They couldn’t just say the infant would be perfect in every way. Why not? Another example of the law that says magic has its rules? The wicked (ugly) fairy enters the palace and settles a curse on the child. Thus, ends the story. Everyone dies. Right?
Of course not. Wrong -- because the law of fantasy states that magic has rules. So the tiny princess is saved from the curse because the last fairy allows the handsome prince to place his kiss upon her lips, which will bring her back to health. Rules and regulations. Rough on villains, sometimes, and even rougher on the heroes. (The wand dies from overuse. The princess kisses the frog but it's not an enchanted frog so it doesn't change into a handsome prince. Rupmelstiltskin's name is given and he must relinquish all rights to the baby.) Justice, I suppose.
Anyway, for us writers, that means that part of our burden is to plant our background information to explain these rules of our kingdom. Afterall, It wouldn’t be fair to merely dump that bag of regulations <<Plop! >>> at the end of the story. (Like saying in the FINAL paragraph that because the princess had a star on her forehead, the townsfolk knew the girl couldn’t be a witch. Instantly they recognized she was their own dear princess. Huh?)
That's too much like the old deus ex machina, . a concept evolved from Greek theatre in which a play could end with unsolved problems. The Greeks simply dropped a stage prop marble god down on the scene. The god magically fixed everything (INSTANTLY.)
Today, everyone would boo and hiss if we tried that, so we writers have to be sure to let our readers know the rules long before the story concludes. Anyway, that’s my analysis of such restrictions. What do you think? Is it possible to write a fantasy without allowing for designated boundaries? Could magic be limitless? Wouldn’t that doom a hero to becoming the villain? (What if Harry Potter became someone NOT humble and downtrodden?)
CHALLENGE FOR THE MONTH: Write a story of 2000 words or less in which one rule of magic (as we’ve been taught it) is cast aside: ie. The witch gets wet but doesn’t melt. The genie has unlimited powers. The magic carpet no longer runs on magic. The dragon cannot fly.
In return I promise to give all stories a full review and to post my favorites in my next Fantasy Newsletter (Dec.3). [Please e-mail all entries to me in the bitem format and put at the top: Imagination is more important than knowledge (Einstein)]
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The following are delicious pieces I have run across this month:
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This one really proves my point about magic having rules! What a perfect dragon poem!
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And this one -- the proof lies in the spit and gunk in a sink belonging to an efreet.
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This essay gives us all something to think about. It is so true, so true, so true. Brilliance!
This piece reminds us that magic also uses the rules of plain commonsense. This is a wonderful tale, one that made me clap at the end.
There is no story that better proves the rules of magic than this one. What a dreadful price magic users paid!
Okay, now I get to list one of mine. This is about the disappearance of magic from our modern world. It includes a test. Would you pass it? | | | Invalid Item
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The following two writers were brave enough to attempt my CHALLENGE from last month: I asked for a story based on the following idea: What if there were NO units of time:
Bravo!
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Fantastic!
I had only one comment for my October Newsletter: Here it is:
Responding to my quote: A child who doesn’t understand enough words in a passage will not be able to read it with comprehension. How many foreign concepts, words, and alien ideas can we throw at our reader before he loses comprehension?
Michelle said, I disagree with this. A reader who is interested in a story may take the time to understand foreign concepts and ideas whereas an uninterested one won't. As a child, I read many books that were well beyond my reading range - I was reading Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and many other adult books by the time I was 10. There were still concepts that were unknown to me at the time and I was able to understand them fine.
I believe a lot of it has to do with how well a writer has created the world for the reader and helped develop their understanding of this world.
As a fantasy writer I tend to use themes and ideas which are similar to the real world around me rather than creating completely unknown and foreign ideas which helps my reader understand them easier.
michellekeyes
Michelle, I certainly understand where you're coming from. It is true that some people are willing to sit with a dictionary and translate an entire story word for word, but most of us aren't. I have first hand experience with bilingual second graders; more than two words in a paragraph that they don't know, and they basically don't understand nor make the effort to look up those nasty mystery words.
However, your next comment about using the real world as a base is exactly the point I was trying to make. Some writers turn me off when they don't give me something to stand on, something to identify with. As a reader, I will make an effort to follow their vision, but I still lose interest if they don't give me a handhold of familiarity.
Thanks, Michelle, for the feedback. I really appreciate your comments.
Please, won't the rest of you drop me a line to let me know what you're thinking? What do you agree with or disagree with in my newsletter?
Until next month . . .
dream a little world
and remember always
that imagination is its conduit.
Smiles,
Shaa r a
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Fantasy: November 05, 2008 Issue [#2696]
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