Sharp Swords, Magnificent Magic, and Dragons Taking Flight
Based on a workshop first presented at the West Virginia Writer’s Conference, 2014 which became an article for Stage 32 in 2022
Prologue: Venturing forth
The PROTAGONIST, often
a simple, unassuming person at least somewhat content in their everyday life, is
given a quest. A journey must be made—both physical and psychological. Leaving
the familiar, they cross the threshold into a new and dangerous world, where
they will be tested time and again. Allies and enemies abound. The stakes are
high. Will they prevail?
All fantasy is based on some form of this opening paragraph.
Not coincidentally, it is also the “formula” for our oldest myths.
Fantasy is driven by a handful of tropes. It looks familiar.
It unfolds for us in a way that hits us in our gut, because it is our oldest
form of storytelling.
And it is beloved, for that reason and many others. As are
its greatest imaginations: J.R.R. Tolkien. Anne McCaffrey. C.S. Lewis. Marion
Zimmer Bradley. George R.R. Martin. Ursula K. Le Guin. Dan Parkinson. J. K.
Rowling.
Fantasy is large in scope. It gives us new worlds. It often
breeds trilogies, or sometimes dozens of books. It lends itself well to
long-form narrative, as demonstrated by Game
of Thrones, and hours (and hours) of screen-time (The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings
and Harry Potter).
Fantasy is, of all genres, our clearest moral barometer. It
is based on a past that seems so far removed from modern life, yet is
intimately familiar to us. It is in our DNA. It is where we came from. Its
politics are not our politics, its culture not our culture, and yet it serves
to remind us of our own challenges, our own areas in need of improvement.
Fantasy remains one of the most popular genres, and it shows
no signs of slowing. The Harry Potter
franchise lives on in stage plays and the Fantastic
Beasts films, and as I type this we are four months away from the
much-anticipated final season of HBO’s Game
of Thrones. More and more television series are situated in a fantasy
setting—even History’s Vikings has
magic and fantasy elements.
There are abundant opportunities if you can write good Fantasy.
I am writing a spec pilot script and outlining a season for television based on
my fantasy novel, as well as finishing the novel’s sequel. The following is
based on years of workshops I have taught on this rewarding but challenging
genre.
It’s time to cross the threshold. It’s time to take the
journey. Are you ready?
1. What is the Fantasy Genre (of What are such
Dreams Made)?
Fantasy traffics in the Macro and the Micro. It is about the
Big and the Small. It is about the Community and the Individual. It is about the
Evil and the Good.
It has a clear Three-Act structure. Using Joseph’s
Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, they are the Separation, the Initiation, and the
Return.
Fantasy also uses other triads: the Triple Goddess
(maiden-mother-crone); the Rite of Passage (page-squire-knight); and Hierarchy
(commoners-nobles-gods), just to name a few.
Fantasy gives us new pantheons, new lands, new races of beings. Fantasy readers reward those who can give these worlds the necessary details to make them real (including maps, family crests, genealogies) and still maintain a driving narrative.
Fantasy operates on a handful of tropes, mostly situated in something that looks like our own Middle Ages. There are knights, castles, princesses, dragons or other kinds of monsters, sometimes elements of magic, and quests. As I said in the Prologue, the tropes of the Fantasy genre are also the tropes of Mythology.
Read/Watch the Very Best (and then DECONSTRUCT them)
Chances are, if you want to write, or are writing, in the
Fantasy genre, you’re a fan and have read many of the authors I’ve mentioned.
Now it’s time to read them (and watch Fantasy films and TV) with a critical
eye.
I’ve been doing this all my life. The Hobbit was the first book I ever bought, through Scholastic, in the 1970s. I still have it.
Although space does not allow me to go over everything I’ve learned, here are
some of the major features:
·
Fantasy works well with the Three-Act structure
and Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey: Separation, Initiation, Return.
·
Major mythic elements are easily visible. Use
them to your advantage.
·
There’s often a layer of allegory and metaphor.
Like the Western, there are plenty of themes to be explored.
·
There are meta and micro journeys. The meta
journeys, like the “Nine Walkers” in Fellowship
of the Ring and the alliances in Game
of Thrones, present a writer with opportunities to enhance the micro
journeys, which are the journeys (both exterior and interior) that the
traditional hero undertakes, as all the other characters illuminate aspects of
the hero.
·
The prevalent theme is Power Politics. In the
case of Game of Thrones and Vikings, there is also a clear sexual
power aspect, just like in much of the histories of the European
monarchies.
·
There are clearly demarcated lines of Good and
Evil. That said, characters do change sides and alliances. That’s some of the
fun of it.
·
There is a Quest: a throne to claim, an object
to find, a monster to destroy. There are endless metaphorical possibilities, as
well as the conflicts and climax as the hero or collective fight(s) for what
they need.
3. Learn to LOVE Research
Fantasy is at its best when all of the, well, fantastical
elements are grounded in a detailed world that the reader/viewer can immerse
themselves in.
That means research. The good news is, we have come a long
way since I was checking books and VHS tapes out of the library 35 years ago.
There are online documentaries, video games, and YouTube channels about
everything from Middle Ages diets to building a period castle. Dungeons and Dragons, which I started
playing in 1980 in friends’ basements (think Stranger Things) I now play electronically.
For inspiration, I also collect and paint miniatures
Museums and Renaissance festivals are another terrific
source for research. You can SMELL and TASTE and HEAR inspiration all around.
Understanding the
Scope, Responsibility, and Opportunity in CREATING ENTIRE WORLDS
It’s a wonderful challenge to create entire worlds. From
political and economic systems, to pantheons of gods and goddesses, to unique
monsters and races of beings—all while grounding in the familiar tropes of
those who’ve gone before—you have a chance to work in detail and fill your
world with the textures and nuances that will make it come alive.
I say responsibility because politics and religion provoke
strong responses. Plot a Character Continuum with the extremes on either end, with each character linking to the Theme [think Yoda and the Emperor from Star Wars]. Having all points of view represented ensures that
your Scope is big enough and that you will have plenty of opportunities for
organic conflict.
Once you’ve created your world, decide how much of it to
share and when. Start small. Introduce them to one or two areas and slowly,
surely expand outward.
Once you create the rules of governance and economic
structures, be consistent. Again, concrete realities become the needed familiar
for your audience to comfortably take your fantastic journey. This is also the time
to define any conventions—Is it a magical world? If so, how does that operate?
In a 2017 Paste
interview, Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke, creators of the TV show Timeless (and many others), said this about
world-building: “The audience doesn’t know much about [the] people yet. We had
to do some laying pipe for the world, the rules and stakes and all of those
things that genre world-building require[s]. … We were then able to focus on
the heart and emotion of the people.”
Who is your
audience and what do they want?
As with any writing, but especially genre, audiences have
expectations. In the case of Fantasy, they’ve seen and read the best, so those
expectations are high. Before you write in this genre, think about why people
love it…
·
Why do the myths of Camelot endure?
· What is the romance of the times of castles and knights that makes people love to see and read these works in the millions?
·
What is there about the quest and Hero’s Journey
that is so universal, so compelling?
Questions like these, and the answers you come up with, will
contribute in substantial ways to the stories you create.
Bring something
new to the genre, or don’t even bother
I know this is harsh, but think about it—if you are just
replicating what someone else has done, there isn’t any point. It’s like a
cover of a classic song that sounds EXACTLY like the original.
So how do you bring something new to a genre whose tropes
are numerous and strong?
·
A new point of view. Find an underrepresented
archetype in the Fantasy genre to be your lead character.
·
A new race or new type of monster. You can also
use a familiar one of these, but provide a new back- or origin story.
·
Change the stakes. Instead of a physical
treasure, a psychological one. Instead of everyone being at war, examine the
challenges that come with long-standing enemies navigating peace.
In my Fantasy novel, I combined two archetypes, the jester
and the knight, into a single character. It had never been done and it’s been a
rich playground for looking at the physical/psychological aspects of the hero
and working with the history of the court jester to find new expressions of the
functions it serves.
Within all of this
fantastical fantasy and inspirational illusion, be REAL
I don’t use a lot of magic. It can make creators lazy,
allowing them to kill off major characters knowing they can bring them back;
using Deus ex Machina (God out of the
machine)—the fix that (sometimes literally) comes down out of the sky, solving
all the problems; and it sometimes lacks rules and consistency.
Ground your Fantasy in as much Reality as possible.
Historical research, clear rules in your world-building, and working out
fantastical problems with realistic solutions are essential.
Epilogue: With the
heart of a warrior and the wings of a dragon go forth!
In the end, Fantasy is like all other storytelling—people
relate best to characters in struggle, on a path of growth. So keep your
problems simple and the stakes sky-high.
Frodo Baggins is a simple guy with a straightforward task—drop
a ring in the top of a fiery mountain or everything he knows and loves will
end.
How he gets there—the people and creatures he encounters,
the obstacles he faces, the inner crises he must overcome, the new places he
sees and different cultural customs he learns—is what makes Tolkien’s story
truly great.
I wish you Greatness in your Fantasy-writing as well.
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