What is your approach to writing fantasy? What are some tips? I have been asked these questions several times. Normally, I fumble over the answers unsure of how I actually came up with all the details in my world, until now.
Creating a fantasy world, or even writing in one, has a great number of challenges. There is a staggering amount of detail to consider. Character design, world building, research, planning, and the story itself are just a few of the steps.
When I first started writing, I was simply scribbling ideas for my D&D game and such. I would see something on TV or read something in a book and questions would pop into my mind. Things like that influence everyone, in one way or another.
However, it's what we choose to do with that influence that makes our story, or world, come to life. So the big question is: Where do you begin?
Start with What You Know
I think the best approach is going with what you know. El’Anthar had another name when I first started writing seriously. It was a name I had used throughout my D&D games in high school. Like any kid, I borrowed ideas from the influences around me, games, movies, etc.
I drew maps, created creatures, key villains, and antagonistic groups. As time went on, the world expanded and cultures developed. Everything was rudimentary in the beginning, it was never intended to be more than just a few simple notes.
Ironically, for me, like Tolkien (so I am told), it started with the Shay'in (my elves). I had a friend express interest and encourage me to do more, this changed my perspective and, suddenly, rudimentary was not enough.
Devil in the Details
The devil is in the details and I researched them until I found them. When creating a culture you have to be able to give an account to the reader and be confident in who your characters are as a people.
In order to sell the reader on the realism of a race, you have to make them more. Customs, traditions, infrastructure, history, these things have to be considered. Your race must be more than words on a page.
The people you create need to have a scope on the scale of the Roman Empire, with the culture and history behind it. They need that spark of life. As I learned about different cultures, I began seeing snippets that jumped out at me and made me say, “That’s them!”
With each new lesson, other questions surfaced. How do they live? Why do they live that way? What factors influenced their development? What level of technology do they possess? How powerful is their magic?
Rules
You see, every world needs rules. It needs a fundamental way in which it functions. Once these rules are established, you CANNOT break them. The temptation to do so is easy. After all, we are the gods of our worlds. However, saying “it is” simply because we want it to be will turn off the reader. If there is a loophole, it needs to exist for an acceptable reason. Readers aren’t dumb. They will know what you’re doing, trust me.
Part of my approach is taking things we know scientifically and seeing how it can be applied to magic or some other effect. I tend to hold the belief that, given the proper information, ‘primitive cultures’ can know surprising things. Mages and alchemists, for example, are much like scientists in their own way. Builders and architects are similar to structural engineers and so forth.
Just because these people don’t have computers, cell phones, and the internet, doesn’t make them morons. I mean some of our most basic principles were founded by people who have been dead for centuries.
Who’s to say such discoveries haven’t also been made. Take a farmer or educated person who dedicates themselves to study plants for example. They could document their findings, and pass them on to future generations. In some ways they could be seen as a botanist. The apothecary who has been studying herbs, learning their medicinal properties, and learning new ways to apply them to heal others, could be considered a pharmacist.
Regardless, the point is that each of these are important factors to look into as part of your research and thought process when developing your world. I’ll give you one such example from El’Anthar.
House Mileka is chiefly responsible for providing food for the Kingdom of Dae’shal. Growing food in the Shadow Wood is difficult and dangerous. One reason is because the thick canopy prevents a lot of sunlight from reaching the ground far below it. The great redwoods that encompasses the kingdom are massive, and the upper boughs are very dense.
The age and size of the trees also make agriculture difficult. The redwoods have an intricate root system, with some of the roots being as thick as a person is tall. To compensate for this, House Mileka uses the natural caves in their province like giant green houses.
These caves are deep underground. However, using various methods, they have learned how to simulate sunlight through a mixture of magic and alchemy. The caves have been shaped and expanded over time to meet the needs of their people. As farmers and scholars go, they are considered extremely knowledgeable in the areas of agriculture and botany.
What Do We Know?
So what do we know about them? We can assume they understand, at least fundamentally, photosynthesis. They use both magic and chemistry to simulate sunlight to help their crops grow. To provide for their people they have created a controlled environment to grow without having to attempt to cut down the great redwoods and harm the ecosystem.
They use multiple cave systems and chambers, some of which were expanded. Doing so enables them to grow specific types of food. While I didn’t say this, I did put it in my personal notes, they rotate their crops. I could go on, but you get what I mean. The devil is in the details.
So we’ve touched on research, world building, and a little on the planning that goes into it. I want to take a look at character design. One of my approaches to character design is the interview process. It’s a schizophrenic method in a sense where you sit at a table and put an empty chair across from you. Then, with a notepad, you begin asking questions.
Write down the first answer that comes to mind. Don’t hesitate. As the questions come, so will the answers. While you may not use them all, it can help give you a detailed idea of who this person is and what they are about.
Villains are especially fun when doing this. Some of the answers might shock you. But it’s just one method. Another one I use is more on a subconscious level. I come up with an idea and then let it play out as I write. I write about the person, maybe in a short story or something similar.
Characters
Lastly, some of my characters come from all the D&D games I’ve played in over the years. I’ve been the hero and the villain. Both of which are fun. But, while I can’t use certain elements for obvious reasons, the persona I create is absolutely viable.
Many times these personas grow much further than the original inception. They become more than the sum of their parts. The villains and MC’s in my current WIP are examples of this. They have become so complex, some adopting the belief that they need to prove themselves to show their value to the people around them. Others struggle with the bonds of loyalty over doing the right thing.
All of this is meaningless without something at its core, however. I think above it all, the story is the chief driving force behind some of the creative process. It has to resonate with the reader. It needs to be like a breath of fresh air, something that takes them away from the mundane world we all live in.
In most cases, the main model I use is Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is a collection of story elements that, regardless of culture, has shown up time and again in some of the best stories ever told. It carries the hero(es) through a journey with a series of incidents, struggles, helps, and resolutions.
These events both challenge and change them. They make them different people from when they started. A boy can be forced into adulthood much too soon due to a traumatic event in his life. He must learn how to move forward, perhaps, receiving help along the way. This encounter, or series of encounters, change him, weakening or strengthening him for an even greater fight ahead of him. Maybe, at some point, someone steps up at the right moment to give him the strength he needs to overcome this last challenge.
Finally, there’s a resolution, a type of change happens and when he looks back, the boy realizes he has become a man. The journey has strengthened him in some powerful way and he is changed forever by the experience.
While there is more to this, these are just some basic elements on Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey wheel. What makes it so effective is how it touches so many different points that resonate within us. I think it’s what makes many stories so successful. We get to experience the story and journey with the hero or heroes.
- A Solivagant Writer,
Matthew Brown
Thank you for joining us for this week's Solivagant Writers. Leave us a comment below and tell us what you thought. This week's Solivagant Writer was Matthew Brown. You can follow him on social @matbrown012. Give us some love and share this post if it helped you in your writing. Farewell until next week, and have a happy Monday!
Written by: Matthew Brown
Produced by: Bethany Lord
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