Over the past two years of reading fantasy and critiquing it, I have come to notice many flaws and cliches that surround the genre like a perpetual fog. Through the fog, I feel that I have identified in my own mind what makes a good or bad fantasy novel. It seems that many writers whose work I have read or heard of make at least two of the three following mistakes.
1. They attempt to accomplish overly much, and to give an account of a multitude of characters. I believe that a story can be complex and intricate, but the writer should limit himself to encompassing only two or three major characters.
2. The writers tend to focus on the character's journey of self-enpowerment far, far too much. Never- the- less this aspect can at times, be compelling if portrayed in the proper light, and with the proper focus.
3. Fantasies often become distracted and fall into the trap of becoming formulaic. A fantasy writer should decide on what point he wishes to most strongly emphasize. This he should decide before he even touches his pen to the empty page!
On the flip side of all this criticism, there are certain qualities of writing which I believe can, if used properly, be the makings of an extremely compelling and enthralling epic.
1. The characters must be admirable, but not perfect, comparable to the mundane, but by no means unextraordinary. Formidable, but not overly so. Often it is the mistake of the writer to make the character powerful and perfect. However, it is even worse if the character is weak and self-serving! In order to create a hero that everyone can root for, the writer must locate a balance between the aforementioned qualities.
2. Some may disagree with me on this point, but in order to make a fantasy inspiring to its audience, there must be a definite good and evil, for there is no point in risking one's life for his friends, his country, his family, or even himself if there is no right or wrong.
3. The story, the characters, the locations and the creatures of his fantastic world, must be well-described, but not overly detailed. For if the writer falls into the pit of boring his readers with lengthy description, and/or overly complicated conversation, he will soon lose his audience!
Since I am very interested in this subject and am just beginning to create a fantasy novel of my own, I would greatly appreciate anyone who has any experience or ideas on the subject to respond to this blog. I do not claim to be a critic and a connoisseur of the world's fantasy novels. I simply thought it might be fun to state my opinions/ ideas on the subject of fantasy and to open up a possible thread for discussion.
by Sir Colin
6 comments:
it seems, you have a fine grasp on writing fantasy. I would add only one thing. the writer must help the reader become one with the characters, something that the reader responds to.
sir Colin, huh. very wise, sir colin
When you said, "become one with the characters", I take it to mean that the reader must admire and become attached to the character or characters. If this is what you meant to imply, then I am happy to inform you that I realize this, and if I am not badly mistaken, I have already mentioned this aspect in my blog on fantasy, just not in so many words. If this is not what you wished to communicate in your comment, then I must ask you to enlighten me as to your intended meaning? Oh, by the way, I am thinking about changing my user name to Fantaman.
not just admire or become attached with the characters, but relate to them...
fantaman, huh?
don't you wanna fanta, don't you wanna fanta... remember? have you seen the commercial? before movies, it's the fanta man.
Well Sir Colin, I have finally had time to catch up on reading. Your blog is very interesting, and I would definitely agree with you on many of your points cited. What kind of fantasy novel are you working on? What is it about? I know I'm being nosy, but my nose has always had an elongated curse attached to it. I've also been working on a fantasy novel, though I am easily distracted so progress has been rather slow.
Your warning on waffling and verbosity is something I can definitely relate to. My correction comes with editing (something I don't much do with blogs). Though when I start writing I attempt to get everything down on paper while my motivation is peaked. Ideas can be quite random, though a certain amount of randomity can aid in correcting the formulaic structure your talking about.
Character development is extremely important as you have pointed out.
Good and evil definitely are effective means of communicating effectively and interestingly to an audience, I would agree. Most science fiction/fantasy books I've read fit that criteria. Though I've read other works where good and evil are a bit obscure, where the main characters struggle with reality and life in search of something meaningful.
There is a book I recommend to anyone who would like to refine their writing though it is a bit hard to read. Personally, I am not a big fan of Stephen King's horror stories, but I do respect him as a writer. He wrote a book entitled, "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" a few years ago. I wouldn't have even given the book a glance at the bookstore had it not been for an English professor of mine who required it for an English class.
At first I didn't like the book because the first half is autobiographical -- and if you don't know anything about Stephen King, he has had a tough life. So he uses not-so-reserved language when referring to past experiences.
But there is a part that is encouraging in the first half. Writing to him is a way of life -- he can't help but write (even if he were bad at it). When he and his wife first start their lives together they are as broke as can be, and King works for years at a laundromat where he writes everyday. My point is that he wrote so many manuscripts and stories that he sent to publishers that he had a spike near his door where he put all of his rejection letters. Needless to say, before writing a best seller the rejection letters were over-flowing at his door -- hundreds of books, poems, essays, stories that were deemed unworthy by publishers.
In the second half of the book he talks about a writer's tools and a writer's toolbox. The subject matter is not necessarily science fiction or fantasy, but the words of wisdom are definitely worth knowing for any writer looking to tone ability.
I think I have a copy of the book somewhere in a box...if you'd like to read it, just let me know and I'll send it to you. The language is not academic, which is a nice change of pace.
Speaking of fantasy, I'm in the process of trying to finish two books right now, one by Eddings entitled The Elder Gods and then another book entitled Indigo by Graham Joyce (which is more sci/fi).
I'll have to tell you about my fantasy/sci fi novel I've been stabbing at a little later, but now I must return to work and stop cluttering up cyber space with verbose rambling.
I enjoy your writing style...keep writing creatively...
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