Fantasy: October 24, 2012 Issue [#5323]
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Fantasy


 This week: Way Out There
  Edited by: Robert Waltz Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

Fantasy mirrors desire. Imagination reshapes it.
         -Mason Cooley

All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination.
         -Carl Jung

All fantasy should have a solid base in reality.
         -Max Beerbohm


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

Way out there

How far is too far?

It's an axiom that stories need at least one character to whom the reader can relate. Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was an ordinary human thrust into weirdness; Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories was the one who could explain stuff to the audience; and it's even sometimes a nonhuman that still has humanlike qualities, like Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit.

But enough about Martin Freeman.  Open in new Window. The point is, the Interlocutor in his or her various forms is a staple of fantasy and science fiction - that is, it's almost ubiquitous, but it's not cliché.

I wonder, though, about the challenges of writing something set on another world, another dimension, in space, in time, whatever, without someone like The Doctor's Companion from Doctor Who. Showing something truly alien, truly outside of our experience, without being able to relate it to things we know, like "That's taller than the Burj Dubai!" or "This planet has more severe weather than Earth" or whatever.

I'm sure it's been done, though examples escape my memory right now. I'm pretty sure Asimov tried his hand at it.

The trick, I would think, besides trying to convey something outside our experiences without relating it to our experience, would be to keep the reader engaged. It's a bit like describing color to someone blind from birth, I'd suppose, only you have to hold the audience's attention for far longer.

I've tried to write fantasy settings as if from the point of view of someone who was there, and not someone from Earth describing it to someone from Earth. It's not easy, but it's worth the effort, if only as an exercise in descriptive prose.

So give it a try next time you're writing something not of this Earth. You may learn things that will surprise you.


Editor's Picks

And some fantasy from around the site:

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 An Odd Job Open in new Window. [13+]
A man gets an unusual job as a pet sitter. WINNER of Writer's Cramp 2/28/07
by Fish*sWife - I'm Baaaaack! Author Icon


 the fallen lord Open in new Window. [E]
books are scary..very scary....heres why
by tomie Author Icon


 Breath of Steam Open in new Window. [13+]
Two hunters for buried treasure unearth a wealth of trouble.
by CeruleanSon Author Icon


The Last Dragon Open in new Window. [13+]
Dragons and their extinction. R&R Welcome!
by Kaya Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 
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Word from Writing.Com

Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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Don't forget to support our sponsor!

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Ask & Answer

Last time, in "Fantasy Newsletter (September 26, 2012)" Open in new Window., I talked about the science-fictional possibility of warp drive.

Quick-Quill Author Icon submits "Space Exploration" Open in new Window. [13+]: my take on space exploration and space warp

         Thanks for the story!


And that's it for me for October - until next month, keep calm and

DREAM ON!!!

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