Greetings from the Green Chair! Today I was thinking of an article I read once, which sorry, can’t link to because it was in a real paper magazine and was about 20 years ago. The article said you don’t really have to know much about science to write science fiction. For example: you don’t need to know how a warp speed star ship works, to be able to write that your characters are flying on one. You just describe it all science fictionie like, but in reality warp speed star ships don’t have to really exist or be realistically functional they just need to be part of the story like in Star Trek. (Yes, I really did just make up a word ‘fictionie’.)
I think it is the same with writing fantasy. However, having said all that I do believe that fantasy needs to make sense. You can have your evil characters grow out of primordial slime, but you don’t have to say where the slime comes from, but you want there to be a reason they are choosing that time to come out of the primordial slime.
Fantasy in general is/can be derived totally from your imagination, but should make sense. I like to create my worlds from things I like such as: mountains, snow, ice, castles, waterfalls, etc. That is the way my Kingdom of Jior series was created. I even drew a map of how I envisioned the whole continent of Vedt looks like drawing in mountains and rivers, cities, deserts and plains. Each individual country has its own landscape, economy and culture. I think that makes a fantasy more inviting in that it is so far from reality that it is a great place to escape to.
That brings me to back-story/set-up. It is what builds a beautiful fantasy. You can’t just dive into a story without having some history or description that explains the who and where before you get to the what and the what’s next.
I’ve recently started reading a story that BAM! It hits the ground running and fills in all the blanks as the story rolls. There is nothing wrong with that but I kind of feel like I’ve gone to the theatre and am looking at a blank stage setting that gets props and furniture added on as the actors get into the play. It is sort of frustrating to me because I want to know where my character is and what a little setting is before I just jump right into the action. Also, it is nice to have some background about a character and where they are so that you can picture it in your mind. Plus it makes for smoother transitions as the story progresses.
That is how I write. Yes, I take the time to set up the story line, but if I didn’t describe the history, mountains, the dark castle, etc. You wouldn’t know where or even when (medieval times) my story takes place.
In addition to that I also like to put little hints in that feed into the next book. That is the way I planted a seed of knowledge about Lorn’s full name, Forlorn Icefall in book one #OfDemonKind but didn’t reveal it until book two #RedemptionoftheFallen. That also led me into a whole naming scheme for all my Ny-Failen characters. If I can say so myself, I thought it very clever to reveal Lorn thought it was a poem upon hearing his name for the first time from the woman who turned out to be his mother. Spoiler alert, it was actually her calling him by his full Ny-Failen name. It makes a connection in the second book and explains a lot.
I think writing fantasy is like writing down a weird dream I’ve had. I write the dream down and then go in and build the story. Some building bricks of story writing are characters, setting, history, description, location, time period, culture, etc. All those parts are necessary to a story and make it worth writing. I always picture creating a story as walking along and the road I’m on and that road gradually starts to climb up like a hill. At the top of the hill is the height of the action and then you start to go down the hill to the conclusion. Gradually it explains important parts of the story and makes sense. IMHO
You can find both of my books on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. I hope you check them out and remember is it so important to post a review. It helps me immensely and enables me to publish more stories about the Kingdom of Jior and King Forlorn Icefall. Tune in next Monday for more Greetings from the Green Chair! Until then, enjoy the fantasy!
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