Why Writing Fantasy is Difficult: Setting

I've always done things the hard way. It's basically become part of my personality at this point, and something I've tried to embrace over the last few years.

Frankly, I think it's why I chose to start writing Fantasy above all other genres. It is an ungodly challenge. Now, I'm not saying it is the most difficult genre to write, but it certainly is for me. To be successful, one must create a living breathing world full of differing cultures, interesting characters, and--above all else--rules.

Yes, it's a Boris Vallejo.

Many people think writing Fantasy is easy (if not simple) because it's all fictional and you can "do whatever you want." Some people think this about fiction in general, which makes me chuckle a bit. Let me be the first to assure you that this is not the case. For one thing, "doing whatever you want" implies that things don't need an explanation. Things can just "pop into being" at any time, with no history and no purpose. If you want fairies, *bang* there are fairies. Unicorns? Why not! A magic sword that talks and cupcakes that sing? Sure.

I believe this stems from Fantasy being pointed to as a "childish" genre. Of course, this has changed in the past decade-or-so, with many "gritty" fantasy titles that clearly appeal to a more adult audience. But, still, there seems to be a stigma attached to the genre in general that can't be cast off through a bit of blood and gore.

At any rate, even the Disney "fantasy" movies have rules. Ariel doesn't just happen to be a mermaid; there's an entire mythology behind her existence. Belle's boyfriend in Beauty & The Beast adheres to a strict backstory, as well. It's important to note that, even though a "magic" concept is present in both worlds, it isn't used to supplant an actual storyline and plot. Even though magic is present, there are many things the hero and villain can't "just do" to make everything okay. Whether the good guy is destined to win or not, they have to follow the world's rules to do so.

Flounder ruins another Family Picture.

Rules in Fantasy are part of the setting. Far from just names and places, the setting is what produces your characters. They have to come from somewhere, therefore the culture they originated from leaves its mark on them. Ariel is a mermaid princess, therefore she must act like a mermaid princess. No matter how much of a rebellious streak she has, she grew up in a palace under the sea and therefore comes with all the trappings that entails. Frodo Baggins comes from The Shire, and he begins the story every bit as simplistic and myopic as all the other hobbits there.

This is what makes those characters so interesting--despite their sources, they are distinct from their peers.

With that being said, the setting in Fantasy is probably the most important initial piece. Where does the story take place? How do you define what can happen there? No matter how interesting your characters are, if you do not define the parameters in which they life, you can't possibly push them toward their next part of the hero's journey.

With The Ninth Avatar, I had a very clear picture of the world that my characters lived in. Thanks mostly to having originally planned it as a video game, of course, I had sheets and sheets of character drawings, place descriptions, and other intricasies of a "fantasy" world. I even had a map (which, I found later, was sort of inadequate... but at least I had one).

The problem I'm running into with Scions of the Shade is that I did not begin with this solid framework. I took a few very good ideas and began running with them, as far and as fast as I could. But now, even though I'm almost at 50,000 words in the initial draft, I have basically written myself into a corner. The story is not going where I want, the characters are not doing what I want, and there's very little I can do about it with the MS in its current form.

Believe me when I say that writing a novel is one of the hardest things a person can attempt. This goes double for Speculative Fiction (Fantasy and SF). There's so much you have to keep in mind at any given time, so much you have to know; about a world that doesn't even really exist; about characters who you invented out of thin air; about a plotline that ties these two together with threads sometimes as weak as spidersilk. On top of all that, you have to make sure your style is coherent, your characters are believable and sympathetic (if not likeable), and that the story arc is clear.

One example of a great fantasy setting is in the books I've been re-reading lately: The Coldfire Trilogy. Many of you know this is my favorite series of books (which isn't a small thing for me to proclaim, particularly with so much great Fantasy under my belt) and during this latest re-read I have really discovered why. C.S. Friedman's style is a little repetitive, as she tends to remind you of a character's feelings in chapter after chapter, and constantly reminds you what happened previously in the story, but these things are minor in comparison to how rich and deep her setting is.

With a brilliant mixture of SF and Fantasy, she created a planet called Erna that a group of Earth colonists traveled to and settled on. We get hints of the result of that in the first book, Black Sun Rising, but it's not until the prequel of the second book, When True Night Falls, that we see what really happened after the Landing.

Erna is similar to Earth in that it has a breathable atmosphere, natural processes (weather/earthquakes/volcanoes), and native species. But what it also has is a "magical" force called the fae. This is really the twist that sets Coldfire apart from its peers, as the fae is not just your run-of-the-mill magical force.

Humans landed on Erna, but they don't belong there. Therefore, the fae reacts differently to them then it would a native species. This manifests, usually, by bringing the humans' greatest fears to life to feed on them. It reacts to their emotions, this intangible force that they cannot even see at the outset, and I don't just mean in small ways. Sure, it summons demons out of their nightmares, but the changes are much more broad than that.

Imagine a world where your own thoughts can actually cause things to happen. Fearing that a gun will misfire will make it misfire. Believing in a deity will make it manifest and feed on that faith. With how fickle and fearful humanity is, we were doomed to failure before even landing there. Ah, but there's one other thing: to give humans the ability to utilize the fae, one of the colonists sacrifices a few hundred of his shipmates (and the ship, itself) in a huge explosion. So they're stuck there.

Of course, all of that happens in centuries past. What the setting entails "today" is how humanity adapted to their conditions with the constant presence of the fae. There are cities, semi-safe havens, but walls cannot truly protect against the faeborn creatures. Basically what you have is a "middle ages" of sorts, where people use swords and the like, since the fae can influence the unpredictability of gunpowder, and numerous religions and sects who consciously or subconsciously utilize the fae.

Do you see how deep this goes? What could possibly come of these "rules?" And I haven't even gotten to the characters borne of them, yet. The world Friedman created is incredible--so rich that I have barely scratched the surface here.

So, it's with this in mind that I "go back to the drawing board" [fully] with Scions. I can't abandon the project outright, my mind won't let me, but I can start over with a better plan in mind and draw on what I've created and written already to feed this process.

Wish me luck.