Fiction Craft: Writing Fantasy (Part One)

by Robert Ferrier

Fantasy beckons a writer's soul like chocolate: So many pleasures. So many paths. Yet so many pitfalls.

Fantasy frees the author's imagination. Unlike science fiction, no rules of physics apply. Magic excites. Worlds enthrall. Demons threaten. For example, In Lord of the Rings, we soar on Tolkien's imagination as Frodo Baggins flees from the Shire and journeys toward the fires of Mount Doom.

With so much story latitude, why doesn't everyone write fantasy?

Because of the rules.

In his book, How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, Orson Scott Card recalls a class he taught at the University of Utah.:

"...At the very first session, I asked them to think of the 'price of magic.' In a fantasy, if magic has no limitation, the characters are omnipotent gods; anything can happen, and so there's no story. There have to be strict limits on magic. Dungeons and Dragons uses a seniority system that may work well for games, but for stories it is truly stupid: The longer you manage to stay alive, the more spells you know and the more power you have. I wanted my students to come up with better limitations, and I wanted them to think of it as a price to be paid for every bit of magical power that was used."

Tolkien knew this. In Lord of the Rings, he set the rules early -- for characters and the reader. Bilbo Baggins, Tolkien's hero in The Hobbit, kept the One Ring too long and grew obsessed with its powers. Only the wizard Gandalf's persuasion brought the ring to its true heir, Bilbo's nephew, Frodo. And when Frodo used the ring's power, he paid a price.

Fantasy authors face more challenges than just establishing rules. Other hurdles loom:

I. Your Story World Seems Too Large

What if you imagine a world too vast for your purposes? How can you shrink your material to manageable size?

First, build a world that plays to your passions. For example, do you love music? Divide your universe into musical realms. One realm could be populated only with characters associated with pop music. Another with rap. Yet another with opera. What conflicts might build if someone -- or something -- crossed over into a forbidden realm?

When you're passionate about your subject, you write from experience, dreams and imagination. Even the research will excite you. You'll discover endless plot possibilities and, hopefully, write the story only you can write.

II. Your Scene Requires Too Much Imagination to Outline

Good news: You've conceived a scene goal and locale with great potential.

Bad news: The potential of the scene (Goal, Conflict, Complication) loom so murky that even you as author don't now what will happen. You can't even outline the scene in advance.

Solution: Get into the character's viewpoint and start writing. Remember that conflict takes over 95% of a scene. Your character will draw on imagination and skills you didn't know he possessed, and you'll write some of your best work.

III. You Don't Know How to "Research" Fantasy

You ask: "How do I conduct research on imagination?"

Again, divide the story premise into realms and subject areas that fascinate you. For example, mythology offers fertile ground. Greek, Roman and Norse myths form the bedrock for much of our literature. The paradox: such classic books as Edith Hamilton's Mythology -- steeped in twelve centuries of myths -- open our imagination to new quests for our characters.

IV. Avoid Common Mistakes in Writing Fantasy

Fantasy authors use proven techniques of scene, sequel, characterization, viewpoint, dialogue and plot. However, avoid common writing mistakes by remembering to:

1. Know the difference between fantasy and science fiction. As Card writes, "...science fiction is about what could be but isn't; fantasy is about what couldn't be."

2. Build three-dimensional characters from the inside-out. Characters drive any story. Construct them using the mortar of your passions, dreams and experience. Only then will they come alive for the reader.

3. Organize your story world in detail. How does value change hands? Where do people live? What language do they speak? How do the characters differ from our world and within their own? Describe history, geography and customs.

4. Avoid overwriting. The more fantastic the scene, the more simple the telling. You're the readers' lens; don't fog their view. Just open the shutter and get out of the way.

Suggested Reading:

1. Card, Orson Scott. How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1990.

2. Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York: Mentor, published by the Penguin Group, 1940.

Copyright 2002 by Robert Ferrier