I think a topic often overlooked in fantasy is food and drink. I say this in respect to a more Medieval-type fantasy setting, and I say it because meals back then were very different from meals we have today. So in regard to this topic, I’ll be writing about a more archaic time.
Food was an integral part of society. Not only was it a basic need for survival, but it reflected social status and culture. Meals were a time for gathering and communing with friends, family, and other people of significance—just as our holidays are often focused around a meal. Meals brought people together.
Where you lived dictated what you would eat. Without extensive transportation or frozen foods, you ate what was around you. Plants and animals (game or domestic) indigenous to your region would be the basis of your diet. If you live by the sea, you’re eating fish, crabs, etc. If you cannot farm your land, then you rely upon hunting and gathering to obtain your food.
Your social status also dictated your diet. Spices were hard to come by and were often expensive imports. Only the rich could afford honey, sugar, cinnamon, and the like, and they were saved for special occasions. Meat was also expensive, and so the poorer folk survived on vegetables and fruit---often mixed in a sort of brothy composition so that it would last for days. Food was also difficult to preserve, as meat needed salting and was often rotten (hence spices to cover the flavor). No refrigerators back then! Think of what you would pack if you planned a lengthy journey and would not have access to a refrigerator. That rather limits your options, doesn’t it?
Meal preparation was an all-day affair. If you stayed at home (that’s right, ladies), you would be in charge of the meals. Without microwaves or stoves, you had use of a fireplace or a stone oven. In our culture today, meals are almost instant. Because of this, we neglect to think about where our food came from. What are the ingredients in jellybeans? How are they made? Can we honestly say we know the origin and the process through which our edibles come? In Medieval times they did, as they slaughtered the animals themselves, harvested the wheat, gathered the eggs, etc.
Because of the time involved in preparing meals, the necessity and fortune of being able to eat for a day, and the social importance of the gathering, rituals, customs, and etiquette evolved as well. Pre-meal prayers are offered in thanks to a higher power, elbows are kept off the table, and you don’t salt your vegetables until you taste them first (lest you offend the chef). We can all think of personal customs that couple our meals.
All this taken into consideration, you may be wondering just what these meals were. There are many great resources to find out about Medieval cooking, beverages, and meal customs. That takes a bit of research, but the time is well spent when you think of believability. Lord Binterman cannot sit down to a dinner of chicken nuggets and a cheeseburger on his trencher, and nor can you ignore that yonder peasant won’t be entreating himself to snowcones and elephant ears. You may find that in your studies, you will come to appreciate a little more the meal you set in front of you (unless those peppers really did come from your garden).
-Stefanie
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Good, the Bad, and the B.E.S.T.
So Stef and I are waist-deep into writing our new trilogy, and we have it centered on a single character and his life over the course of about ten years. This is a major departure from our Raven’s Heart series in that those books followed a diverse cast of characters and their quest which took place during a relatively short span of time. Our main character in Black Earth—we’ll call him “Jack”—is not your typical hero. In fact, he is what might be referred to as the antihero. (Anti-hero: A protagonist whose character or goals are antithetical to traditional heroism.—Wikipedia) We might even go so far as to call him the villain. Now that I think of it…he’s all three! Allow me to explain.
Hero, anti-hero, and villain. How does Jack acquire all three titles? Simple. Define him as a half-blood demon born into a cold and abusive life. Have him run away, get captured, and thrown into slavery. Free him from slavery by a group of infamous thieves. Have him become the most infamous of the infamous thieves. Allow him to be captured again and be tortured by a lunatic. Keep a BIG secret from him. Make him destitute. Push him to the brink of suicide. Show him a light at the end of his miserable tunnel and smite it. Destroy his professional and love life. And let’s not forget to lock him in a dark dungeon while under the influence of an experimental drug for about a year.
That ought to do it!
Then again, that doesn’t quite explain everything. I only gave you all the reasons why Jack slips into his dark persona. What was he like before all of the above experiences changed him? He was a volatile youth with a lack of direction and no mentorship. Aside from his loving mother—who was of a different race and a slave—Jack had very little guidance. However, his mother’s compassion left a big impression on Jack, and it stayed with him through his many tribulations. Unfortunately, a mother’s love can only go so far, especially when she dies. Most of Jack’s teenage years are spent running from his past; he comes to believe a misconstrued idea of reality.
But what about choice? Choice is what separates us “normal,” everyday people from the “villains”. Most people choose not to lead a life of crime because they know it’s immoral, while a small percentage seem to have no choice but to be criminals because life is a matter of survival. Poverty, lack of education, poor parentage, and the ever-present draw of gangs all contribute to what the majority of society considers a form of villainy. But is it truly villainy? That’s the million dollar question we pose in the Black Earth trilogy.
When Jack’s path leads him down a dark and shady road, he must choose between a life of destitution and the promise of a reputable future amongst royalty. Easy choice, right? Perhaps, but what if this “reputable future” is not as golden as it seems? What if Jack’s true position is a member of the B.E.S.T. (you’ll have to wait to learn what that stands for), a group of thugs trapped beneath the thumb of a corrupt king? What if Jack discovers the cons of his life-altering decision long after all the warning signs present themselves? What if Jack becomes that which he fears most: a killer?
Interested yet? We hope so, but you’ll have to wait until we publish the trilogy. Sincerest apologies!
-Matt
Hero, anti-hero, and villain. How does Jack acquire all three titles? Simple. Define him as a half-blood demon born into a cold and abusive life. Have him run away, get captured, and thrown into slavery. Free him from slavery by a group of infamous thieves. Have him become the most infamous of the infamous thieves. Allow him to be captured again and be tortured by a lunatic. Keep a BIG secret from him. Make him destitute. Push him to the brink of suicide. Show him a light at the end of his miserable tunnel and smite it. Destroy his professional and love life. And let’s not forget to lock him in a dark dungeon while under the influence of an experimental drug for about a year.
That ought to do it!
Then again, that doesn’t quite explain everything. I only gave you all the reasons why Jack slips into his dark persona. What was he like before all of the above experiences changed him? He was a volatile youth with a lack of direction and no mentorship. Aside from his loving mother—who was of a different race and a slave—Jack had very little guidance. However, his mother’s compassion left a big impression on Jack, and it stayed with him through his many tribulations. Unfortunately, a mother’s love can only go so far, especially when she dies. Most of Jack’s teenage years are spent running from his past; he comes to believe a misconstrued idea of reality.
But what about choice? Choice is what separates us “normal,” everyday people from the “villains”. Most people choose not to lead a life of crime because they know it’s immoral, while a small percentage seem to have no choice but to be criminals because life is a matter of survival. Poverty, lack of education, poor parentage, and the ever-present draw of gangs all contribute to what the majority of society considers a form of villainy. But is it truly villainy? That’s the million dollar question we pose in the Black Earth trilogy.
When Jack’s path leads him down a dark and shady road, he must choose between a life of destitution and the promise of a reputable future amongst royalty. Easy choice, right? Perhaps, but what if this “reputable future” is not as golden as it seems? What if Jack’s true position is a member of the B.E.S.T. (you’ll have to wait to learn what that stands for), a group of thugs trapped beneath the thumb of a corrupt king? What if Jack discovers the cons of his life-altering decision long after all the warning signs present themselves? What if Jack becomes that which he fears most: a killer?
Interested yet? We hope so, but you’ll have to wait until we publish the trilogy. Sincerest apologies!
-Matt
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
A Believable Fantasy: 10 Points to Consider Point #6: Back to Nature
I have a confession to make. I’m a naturalist (not to be confused with a naturist). By day I rove the trails at the park in which I work, and by night I try to be a writer. So when I have the chance to combine the two “jobs,” I get rather excited. Consider three topics when creating your own wilderness: terrain, flora, and fauna. All are interrelated, whether you think about the food chain, habitat, etc.
In a mountain range, one side of the mountains is typically lush from an abundance of rainfall. The other side is as dry as a desert, as the clouds have already unleashed all their moisture. I know we’re creating a fantasy world, but it helps to know what the real world is like before you distort it to your mind’s content. When you design your world, you may want to consider where to place your deserts, your mountains, and your forests. What feeds the magical pool of youth in yonder garden? Why are giant mosquitoes drifting about a frozen wasteland? The meaning of “logical” is not synonymous with “reality.” Believable fantasy has its share of logic.
Dare to ask the question “why”. The sands of the Syuna Desert in Southern Secramore are blue. Why? Because the desert consists of the crushed fossils of sea creatures which contained a blue pigment in their bones. Does the reader have to know this? Of course not, but you better have your explanation ready anyway. It helps guide you in consistency when creating your world. One thing leads to another. If fossil sea creatures are found in the desert, then the desert was once a shallow sea. What else might be buried in those sands? Could you find the remains of an ancient civilization?
As for the mystique of the fantastical, you’re the writer. You decide just how much explanation to give the reader. Will you explain the bizarre landforms in your forest, or will they remain a mystery? If someone inhabits that forest, do they know why it is the way it is? Or is there folklore surrounding the land?
With so much to consider, you should start from the bottom. Literally. What does this land look like? Is it mountainous? Swampy? Does the setting of the story take place on the coast? Look into these habitats and see what sort of weather is typical for them. Mountains are cold and often snowy. Coastal regions get weather based on ocean currents and wind. Your landforms and climates will determine what can live there.
Next think about plants. We often take them for granted, but plants are food. Plants are medicine. Plants are clothing. Plants are shelter. Can crops grow in the mountains? You won’t be drinking cactus juice from a lofty and snowy peak! Plants that grow in the swamp must be able to handle lots of water. Do they have roots like buttresses (check out mangroves in your search)?
Now think about the animals that feed on these plants. What insects pollinate the vegetation? What eats those insects? Who is top on the food chain? Maybe you have created a super-predator that munches on people. It’s all about who eats who.
Finally, you bring all this research together when you consider the people. (Yes, it always comes back to us, doesn’t it?) Pretend you are stranded somewhere in the world you created. Ask yourself how you would address your basic needs: food, shelter, water, space. What would you eat? Would you farm or would you be a hunter/gatherer? What would your house be made of? If it’s stone, then you better have some rock under your feet! If it’s wood, then you better have a forest nearby. Once you establish how a person would survive, then you can expand your ideas into folklore, clothing style, religion, economics, etc. See how quickly world-building can expand into a wonderfully complex creation?
Once you start, all the pieces fall into place logically. Then you can add your twist of magic, the fantastical. But the best place to start is at the roots! Go back to nature and see just how amazing it is. You may find you will marvel at the real world just as much as the fantastical one you’ve created.
-Stefanie
In a mountain range, one side of the mountains is typically lush from an abundance of rainfall. The other side is as dry as a desert, as the clouds have already unleashed all their moisture. I know we’re creating a fantasy world, but it helps to know what the real world is like before you distort it to your mind’s content. When you design your world, you may want to consider where to place your deserts, your mountains, and your forests. What feeds the magical pool of youth in yonder garden? Why are giant mosquitoes drifting about a frozen wasteland? The meaning of “logical” is not synonymous with “reality.” Believable fantasy has its share of logic.
Dare to ask the question “why”. The sands of the Syuna Desert in Southern Secramore are blue. Why? Because the desert consists of the crushed fossils of sea creatures which contained a blue pigment in their bones. Does the reader have to know this? Of course not, but you better have your explanation ready anyway. It helps guide you in consistency when creating your world. One thing leads to another. If fossil sea creatures are found in the desert, then the desert was once a shallow sea. What else might be buried in those sands? Could you find the remains of an ancient civilization?
As for the mystique of the fantastical, you’re the writer. You decide just how much explanation to give the reader. Will you explain the bizarre landforms in your forest, or will they remain a mystery? If someone inhabits that forest, do they know why it is the way it is? Or is there folklore surrounding the land?
With so much to consider, you should start from the bottom. Literally. What does this land look like? Is it mountainous? Swampy? Does the setting of the story take place on the coast? Look into these habitats and see what sort of weather is typical for them. Mountains are cold and often snowy. Coastal regions get weather based on ocean currents and wind. Your landforms and climates will determine what can live there.
Next think about plants. We often take them for granted, but plants are food. Plants are medicine. Plants are clothing. Plants are shelter. Can crops grow in the mountains? You won’t be drinking cactus juice from a lofty and snowy peak! Plants that grow in the swamp must be able to handle lots of water. Do they have roots like buttresses (check out mangroves in your search)?
Now think about the animals that feed on these plants. What insects pollinate the vegetation? What eats those insects? Who is top on the food chain? Maybe you have created a super-predator that munches on people. It’s all about who eats who.
Finally, you bring all this research together when you consider the people. (Yes, it always comes back to us, doesn’t it?) Pretend you are stranded somewhere in the world you created. Ask yourself how you would address your basic needs: food, shelter, water, space. What would you eat? Would you farm or would you be a hunter/gatherer? What would your house be made of? If it’s stone, then you better have some rock under your feet! If it’s wood, then you better have a forest nearby. Once you establish how a person would survive, then you can expand your ideas into folklore, clothing style, religion, economics, etc. See how quickly world-building can expand into a wonderfully complex creation?
Once you start, all the pieces fall into place logically. Then you can add your twist of magic, the fantastical. But the best place to start is at the roots! Go back to nature and see just how amazing it is. You may find you will marvel at the real world just as much as the fantastical one you’ve created.
-Stefanie
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A Believable Fantasy: 10 Points to Consider Point #5: Name-Calling
No, I’m not talking about insults. Consider with me two ideas: names and languages. In believable fantasy, they should be related. I’m shooting with bullets today:
•Cool landforms on your map
Starting with the “big picture,” you have a map with mountains, forests, rivers, and all sorts of topographical features. Naming regions on a map can be fun. There’s always the telltale something “of Doom.” Swamp of Doom, Forest of Darkness, Shadow Mountains, etc. If you’re going to apply such colorful names, you better create some folklore behind those names. Think of the people in your world who named these places. What in their culture would supply them with descriptive nomenclature? If the forest supplies them with wood for furniture, then the forest could be named after an important species of tree (Silver Maple Woods, for example, but you can be much more creative than that).
•Place to place
How do you name places on your map? Cities, kingdoms, territories—all must be marked by names and boundaries in the civilized world, because land is power, and you can’t have mine! Seriously, history works this way. So you will name your land after the ruler…or after its discoverer…or after some prominent feature around which the culture is centered. Those are some ideas, but don’t forget about language. People who speak a harsh, guttural language will not have flowery names for their villages.
•Speak to me
And speaking of language… I’m not saying you have to be like some over-the-top fantasy authors and create your own language. In fact, unless you have a degree in linguistics, you really shouldn’t. Why? Because what seems vitally important to you will not be for the reader. Most readers are there for your story and not the fine details of how various characters pronounce the word “apple.” Your story comes first, and if the reader can’t understand what you’re relating, everything else becomes irrelevant. Some ways to deal with language and dialects:
•People have names too
Baby name books are great places to find meaningful names for characters. Why not be symbolic? Or be consistent and choose names from the same culture? You don’t have to pull the name straight from the book, either. Mix up the letters and add or subtract a few to give it that foreign twist.
•All in all…
With any name in any case, the best possible advice is to make sure it’s readable. Say names aloud, and if you stumble over them, then so will your reader (of course, there is purposeful use of tongue-twisters, but only if you really, really mean it). Don’t add accent marks and hyphens unless it’s absolutely necessary. Names can be foreign-looking without-the-hyphens-and-áçents! In their heads, readers will pronounce a word they way they want, but there are those who appreciate a pronunciation guide in the back of your book. If you have a lot of unique names, you might want to consider this. It also gives you the opportunity to add a glossary if you have a multitude of places, faces, and objects.
So have fun with name-calling. Just make sure you’re not speaking a foreign language, lest your fantasy tale get lost in translation.
-Stefanie
•Cool landforms on your map
Starting with the “big picture,” you have a map with mountains, forests, rivers, and all sorts of topographical features. Naming regions on a map can be fun. There’s always the telltale something “of Doom.” Swamp of Doom, Forest of Darkness, Shadow Mountains, etc. If you’re going to apply such colorful names, you better create some folklore behind those names. Think of the people in your world who named these places. What in their culture would supply them with descriptive nomenclature? If the forest supplies them with wood for furniture, then the forest could be named after an important species of tree (Silver Maple Woods, for example, but you can be much more creative than that).
•Place to place
How do you name places on your map? Cities, kingdoms, territories—all must be marked by names and boundaries in the civilized world, because land is power, and you can’t have mine! Seriously, history works this way. So you will name your land after the ruler…or after its discoverer…or after some prominent feature around which the culture is centered. Those are some ideas, but don’t forget about language. People who speak a harsh, guttural language will not have flowery names for their villages.
•Speak to me
And speaking of language… I’m not saying you have to be like some over-the-top fantasy authors and create your own language. In fact, unless you have a degree in linguistics, you really shouldn’t. Why? Because what seems vitally important to you will not be for the reader. Most readers are there for your story and not the fine details of how various characters pronounce the word “apple.” Your story comes first, and if the reader can’t understand what you’re relating, everything else becomes irrelevant. Some ways to deal with language and dialects:
| 1. Buy a foreign dictionary. Assign different cultures in your world a different language. Look up words and rearrange the letters for an occasional foreign expression to be uttered by the character. But use these expressions sparingly and only for emphasis. | |
| 2. Italics. Rather than adding footnotes or spelling out long sentences of jumbled foreign words, use the power of reader intuition. If a character is speaking in a foreign language, and it’s important to know this, write the character’s lines in italics. Otherwise, you’ll have to blatantly tell the reader the character is speaking in another tongue. |
•People have names too
Baby name books are great places to find meaningful names for characters. Why not be symbolic? Or be consistent and choose names from the same culture? You don’t have to pull the name straight from the book, either. Mix up the letters and add or subtract a few to give it that foreign twist.
•All in all…
With any name in any case, the best possible advice is to make sure it’s readable. Say names aloud, and if you stumble over them, then so will your reader (of course, there is purposeful use of tongue-twisters, but only if you really, really mean it). Don’t add accent marks and hyphens unless it’s absolutely necessary. Names can be foreign-looking without-the-hyphens-and-áçents! In their heads, readers will pronounce a word they way they want, but there are those who appreciate a pronunciation guide in the back of your book. If you have a lot of unique names, you might want to consider this. It also gives you the opportunity to add a glossary if you have a multitude of places, faces, and objects.
So have fun with name-calling. Just make sure you’re not speaking a foreign language, lest your fantasy tale get lost in translation.
-Stefanie
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Sauron or Darth Vader?
I’ll wager a wooden nickel that the title of this blog caught your attention. However, despite what you might be thinking, this post is not a fanboy argument forum to decide who the more memorable villain is. This is a legitimate topic about two infamous villains—Sauron and Darth Vader—and the notable differences between these unique individuals. One is the embodiment of incorruptible evil, while the other is a tortured soul who lost his way. Both wreaked unspeakable devastation, though only one was capable of redemption. Sauron is obviously the soulless evil, and Darth Vader—a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker—is the tragic evil soul. Which one is more terrifying? Well, that’s a matter of opinion, but perhaps I can help explain why my I prefer a face over the faceless.
Now let’s not get into semantics over the above comment. I am fully aware that Sauron’s humanoid from can be seen at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring, and that Emperor Palpatine is the true force behind the Empire, but none of that matters. Ask anyone about Sauron’s appearance, and they’ll probably tell you about “A great eye. Lidless. Wreathed in flame.” Ask any casual Star Wars fan who the main antagonist is, and the majority will describe our favorite Sith Lord: Darth Vader. The Eye of Sauron and Darth Vader stand out because they are both striking and haunting images. How can one forget an image like a ten-story reptilian eye immersed in an unquenchable conflagration? How many people have had nightmares about the dark-helmed murderer of Jedi? Armor-plated Sauron and cranky old Palpatine just don’t give us the heebee jeebies.
So we know what makes our villains scary, but which one is more effective when it comes to employing their sinister beliefs? Let’s take a closer look at what makes our baddies tick. Anakin Skywalker, born into a life of slavery and bereft of a father, is taken away at the age of ten to train in the Jedi arts. He harbors great anger because of his difficult childhood and does not undergo the proper tutelage which a Padawan (Jedi-in-training) requires to combat the devious lure of the “Dark Side”. Eventually he becomes recognized as the one to bring balance to the force, though as we all know, prophecy is stupid, and no one can ever seem to understand it properly. After a string of painful episodes in his pursuit to Jedi mastery, Anakin eventually falls prey the nonsensical ramblings of one Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine) and dives head-first into his new lucrative career as a genocidal maniac. Of course, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Anakin’s friend and teacher)—being the peaceful, gentle Jedi that he is—decimates Anakin in a duel by cutting off his arm and both his legs, leaving him for dead. Needless to say, Anakin isn’t happy, and he vows revenge as he is fitted for his new mechanical tuxedo. I’d go into detail with the rest, but everyone knows episodes IV-VI much better than the first three. In a nutshell, Anakin—now Darth Vader—spends about twenty years or so killing people and blowing stuff up until his son—Luke Skywalker—becomes a Jedi Knight in about seven days and strikes him down. Vader loses his hand (again) and finally sees the error of his ways. Vader defeats wrinkly Palpatine, dies, and is cremated.
Sauron is evil objectified.
That’s it.
I’m serious.
He’s evil just because.
Look, Mr. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wanted Sauron to be that way. Deal with it. Besides, I didn’t read the Silmarillion, so quit bothering me with your nitpicking.
Anyway!
Anakin Skywalker’s susceptibility to evil clearly—in my opinion—makes him the more terrifying antagonist. He’s human, and people can easily relate to his plight. Sauron is definitely scary, but he/it is just evil. There’s no redeeming quality about him/it whatsoever. He/it has no substance. However, Sauron is perfect for his role in the Lord of the Rings since it is a classic tale of Good versus Evil. I believe Tolkien meant for Sauron to be a one-dimensional villain. And as we all know, Tolkien’s decision worked!
But when it comes to infamous scoundrels, no one can compete with a master Jedi who has fallen from grace. Look at it this way: what would bother you less? Learning that your father is a sinister murderer of people like yourself, or throwing an evil ring into lava?
Hmm… I’ll be getting emails regarding this post for sure.
Regardless of whether or not you agree with me, both villains succeed as images of evil. It might seem unfair to compare the seemingly incomparable, but I hope that this rant gave you a little insight into the kinds of characters Stef and I like to create. We believe that people like to read about—or watch—other people. It’s easier to understand human beings better than a faceless darkness bent on destroying all that is good for the sole purpose of making everybody miserable. With a few exceptions, the “Saruon” approach is boring and overdone. Anybody can create a “Dark Lord” and set them loose on the good people of said fantasy world. Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to uncover said villain’s imperfections? You may find that you have a little more in common with him than you think.
That would be truly terrifying.
-Matt
Now let’s not get into semantics over the above comment. I am fully aware that Sauron’s humanoid from can be seen at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring, and that Emperor Palpatine is the true force behind the Empire, but none of that matters. Ask anyone about Sauron’s appearance, and they’ll probably tell you about “A great eye. Lidless. Wreathed in flame.” Ask any casual Star Wars fan who the main antagonist is, and the majority will describe our favorite Sith Lord: Darth Vader. The Eye of Sauron and Darth Vader stand out because they are both striking and haunting images. How can one forget an image like a ten-story reptilian eye immersed in an unquenchable conflagration? How many people have had nightmares about the dark-helmed murderer of Jedi? Armor-plated Sauron and cranky old Palpatine just don’t give us the heebee jeebies.
So we know what makes our villains scary, but which one is more effective when it comes to employing their sinister beliefs? Let’s take a closer look at what makes our baddies tick. Anakin Skywalker, born into a life of slavery and bereft of a father, is taken away at the age of ten to train in the Jedi arts. He harbors great anger because of his difficult childhood and does not undergo the proper tutelage which a Padawan (Jedi-in-training) requires to combat the devious lure of the “Dark Side”. Eventually he becomes recognized as the one to bring balance to the force, though as we all know, prophecy is stupid, and no one can ever seem to understand it properly. After a string of painful episodes in his pursuit to Jedi mastery, Anakin eventually falls prey the nonsensical ramblings of one Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine) and dives head-first into his new lucrative career as a genocidal maniac. Of course, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Anakin’s friend and teacher)—being the peaceful, gentle Jedi that he is—decimates Anakin in a duel by cutting off his arm and both his legs, leaving him for dead. Needless to say, Anakin isn’t happy, and he vows revenge as he is fitted for his new mechanical tuxedo. I’d go into detail with the rest, but everyone knows episodes IV-VI much better than the first three. In a nutshell, Anakin—now Darth Vader—spends about twenty years or so killing people and blowing stuff up until his son—Luke Skywalker—becomes a Jedi Knight in about seven days and strikes him down. Vader loses his hand (again) and finally sees the error of his ways. Vader defeats wrinkly Palpatine, dies, and is cremated.
Sauron is evil objectified.
That’s it.
I’m serious.
He’s evil just because.
Look, Mr. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wanted Sauron to be that way. Deal with it. Besides, I didn’t read the Silmarillion, so quit bothering me with your nitpicking.
Anyway!
Anakin Skywalker’s susceptibility to evil clearly—in my opinion—makes him the more terrifying antagonist. He’s human, and people can easily relate to his plight. Sauron is definitely scary, but he/it is just evil. There’s no redeeming quality about him/it whatsoever. He/it has no substance. However, Sauron is perfect for his role in the Lord of the Rings since it is a classic tale of Good versus Evil. I believe Tolkien meant for Sauron to be a one-dimensional villain. And as we all know, Tolkien’s decision worked!
But when it comes to infamous scoundrels, no one can compete with a master Jedi who has fallen from grace. Look at it this way: what would bother you less? Learning that your father is a sinister murderer of people like yourself, or throwing an evil ring into lava?
Hmm… I’ll be getting emails regarding this post for sure.
Regardless of whether or not you agree with me, both villains succeed as images of evil. It might seem unfair to compare the seemingly incomparable, but I hope that this rant gave you a little insight into the kinds of characters Stef and I like to create. We believe that people like to read about—or watch—other people. It’s easier to understand human beings better than a faceless darkness bent on destroying all that is good for the sole purpose of making everybody miserable. With a few exceptions, the “Saruon” approach is boring and overdone. Anybody can create a “Dark Lord” and set them loose on the good people of said fantasy world. Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to uncover said villain’s imperfections? You may find that you have a little more in common with him than you think.
That would be truly terrifying.
-Matt
Friday, April 3, 2009
A Believable Fantasy: 10 Points to Consider: Point #4: Magic
Ah, yes, that wonderful, unexplainable phenomenon we call magic. It’s the impossible made possible by some unseen and mysterious force. It’s what makes a wizard a wizard, a witch a witch. It’s what makes unicorns real, what makes dragons breathe fire. Princes turn into frogs and back again with spells, and magic talismans are sought for their inherent power. What would a fantasy tale be without magic?
Often, magic replaces technology in a fantasy world. It is the distinction between the fantasy genre and the sci-fi genre. “Magic lives through the imagination,” and vice versa. But there’s just one thing….
Magic needs to be believable.
“What?” you say. “It’s magic! It can be whatever you want it to be!”
Yes and no. True, you are the creator, the “imaginator”, the writer. But there are boundaries—unspoken rules that allow the reader to place credence in the impossible. You must define your magic.
If your magic-user had no rules, no limitations, then what would stop him from ruling the world? From snapping his fingers and destroying all his enemies? From making a wish and achieving that impossible goal? No, no—it would all be too easy, and it would be BORING! Conflict, struggles, effort, consequence, the journey—these generate interest in any novel.
In our world of Secramore, Matt and I have drawn a distinction with our magic-users (or medori, as we dubbed them). Wizards need items and spells of power to conduct their magic. Mages do it naturally through their own will, and they are limited to manipulating the natural elements. It is also hard work to call upon magic—that nameless energy—to do their bidding. Some tasks are more trying than others, and the magic-user will certainly feel that exhaustion when he is through. In fact, calling upon more power than you can physically handle just might kill you!
Other fantasy writers have utilized the idea of negative consequence. For example should a wizard tap into some great magical power, he may lose part of himself (mentally or physically). Maybe the spell causes you to relinquish part of your memory.
Don’t forget the non-magical consequences of magic. Are wizards and sorcerers revered, feared, or both? Do non-magic people persecute magic-users or the other way around? Do you not allow people to have magic at all (is it something that resides in creatures or the environment)?
Will you create different kinds of magic? Healing powers, pestilence, spells of transformation, etc. Be inventive and attempt something you’ve never heard of before.
There is plenty of room for creativity within a set of given boundaries. And best of all, you design the boundaries. You just have to be careful you don’t overstep the boundaries into the ridiculous or the ludicrous. Everyone—readers and writers included—want to believe in magic. It’s up to you to make it real.
-Stefanie
Often, magic replaces technology in a fantasy world. It is the distinction between the fantasy genre and the sci-fi genre. “Magic lives through the imagination,” and vice versa. But there’s just one thing….
Magic needs to be believable.
“What?” you say. “It’s magic! It can be whatever you want it to be!”
Yes and no. True, you are the creator, the “imaginator”, the writer. But there are boundaries—unspoken rules that allow the reader to place credence in the impossible. You must define your magic.
If your magic-user had no rules, no limitations, then what would stop him from ruling the world? From snapping his fingers and destroying all his enemies? From making a wish and achieving that impossible goal? No, no—it would all be too easy, and it would be BORING! Conflict, struggles, effort, consequence, the journey—these generate interest in any novel.
In our world of Secramore, Matt and I have drawn a distinction with our magic-users (or medori, as we dubbed them). Wizards need items and spells of power to conduct their magic. Mages do it naturally through their own will, and they are limited to manipulating the natural elements. It is also hard work to call upon magic—that nameless energy—to do their bidding. Some tasks are more trying than others, and the magic-user will certainly feel that exhaustion when he is through. In fact, calling upon more power than you can physically handle just might kill you!
Other fantasy writers have utilized the idea of negative consequence. For example should a wizard tap into some great magical power, he may lose part of himself (mentally or physically). Maybe the spell causes you to relinquish part of your memory.
Don’t forget the non-magical consequences of magic. Are wizards and sorcerers revered, feared, or both? Do non-magic people persecute magic-users or the other way around? Do you not allow people to have magic at all (is it something that resides in creatures or the environment)?
Will you create different kinds of magic? Healing powers, pestilence, spells of transformation, etc. Be inventive and attempt something you’ve never heard of before.
There is plenty of room for creativity within a set of given boundaries. And best of all, you design the boundaries. You just have to be careful you don’t overstep the boundaries into the ridiculous or the ludicrous. Everyone—readers and writers included—want to believe in magic. It’s up to you to make it real.
-Stefanie
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