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I want something different. I'm just not sure what. What are some ways you've seen fantasy veer away from the straighforward Tolkienesque kings and lords and swords and spears? It has been done so often, and I want a change of pace. I messed around with something more colonial (think muskets), but got bored with that. Star Wars comes to mind as a nice variation, blending the medieval feel with a sf setting. Any other ideas you've seen? I'm sure a good idea or two would help me get my hampster spinning in its wheel.
[This message has been edited by TheoPhileo (edited May 26, 2004).]
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I have a plan for an industrial-era fantasy story. There are a few people with the ability to use magic, and their presence completely distrupts machinery, chemical reactions[1], etc. So as soon as one turns up, everyone drops their gun and gets their sword out
I haven't devised the political set-up in depth, but I'm thinking monarchy-with-democratic-parliament, except the magic users tend to exert a rather large influence over who gets elected to the parliament.
[1]: No, I haven't figured out how this avoids problems with just arbitrarily killing people who get too close to them yet. I'm working on it. Maybe they're trained from birth not to do this, and they have to make a conscious effort to let themselves do it. Or something.
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My advice to you: Stop looking at how other people have done it.
Well, not entirely. You do need to be well-read in the genre. The most obvious way to make it "different" is to set it in modern or post-modern times, as Jules has suggested. Personally, I like fantasy set in modern and futuristic times *bettter* than that set in medieval times, but that might just be because of the same tired old story being told again and again. I'm telling a fantasy novel right now set in modern times that's also a mystery. (We've been having a discussion about it's title down in F&F.)
Some other things to make it different...go ahead and set it in the "age of magiC' as I like ot call it, because it always fails to be medieval, but don't use the adventurer's plot. Make it a suspense or a romance or even a mystery. (I've contemplated the last two myself, though I don't have any specific ideas.) This wlil be more difficult, but if you did well, I'd pick it up in a second.
Then there's the possibility of setting a fantasy on another planet, as I've done in the past and will continue to do. It sort of throws out the whole nonexistant magical kingdom feel and puts it in perspective. Have you ever read C.S. Friedman? She has atrilogy set on an aline world that's classified as science fantasy (even though it's far more fantasy) in which the planet is the source of magic and when the human colonists settled there their machines went bonkers and stopped working and magic started working....it was a fun story.
Piers Anthony also did a magic on another planet approach....except his had a twist. There were two different phases of the planet...a tech and fantasy one. he calls it the adept series, and I thought it was pretty good, though not as good as my favorite series by him "Incarnations of Immortality", in which science and magic is combined in a light-hearted way in the future.
You could try alternate histories, like Alvin Maker. You could try aliens with magical powers propellling their space vehicles instead of scientific powers. (That plot feels a bit cheesy to me whenever I say it, but I keep thinking if I put a good story around it I could make it work.)
And here's something that I'm just going to say because it frustrates me. Why on EARTH (and maybe that's the problem) are we stuck with the same elves, dwarves, halflings, trolls, ogres, and other creatures that have been written about a million times? These work great in mindless role-playing games, but have you ever considered inventing your own creatures? I have. I don't know if it wuld sell, but I'd read it just because it was different, if nothing else. Might want to feel this out in a short stoy form first.
Free your mind. ANYTHING can happen in fantsy...so let it!!! : )
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You might also try urban fantasy, a la Neil Gaiman. Set your magic users in the modern world, or in the Forties, or whenever. And dump the trolls, orcs, etc, as per Christine. Make up your own beasties and creepies.
quote:[1]: No, I haven't figured out how this avoids problems with just arbitrarily killing people who get too close to them yet. I'm working on it. Maybe they're trained from birth not to do this, and they have to make a conscious effort to let themselves do it. Or something.
Evolution would take care of this. Any magical person whose power disrupted the chemical reactions inside living beings would have killed his mother before being born. Therefore, only those whose power disrupts non-living chemical reactions would survive to grow up and pass on their power. From the viewpoint of people in that world, it would therefore appear to be a rule of magic that the magical disruptions do not affect living beings.
Posts: 1517 | Registered: Jul 2003
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My current WIP is a medieval fantasy, but there are no elves, dwarves etc. There are Trolls, though, and I've twisted one of them and made him an outcast. There is magic, but it's been outlawed and the use is punishable by death. The protagonist is not a king or prince or great wizard. He's an average Joe that gets thrown in the middle of world changing events. Just when he thinks things are getting east, I throw something worse at him. I think this is the biggest difference any story, and a fantasy story in particular, needs. There are too many fantasy stories that feature Kings and Queens, and Merlin and Gandalf clones.
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Doh! Here's a passage from the fantasy novel I'm working on. Now I'll have to change the plot.
quote:"So each of these little babies will grow up to be either Merlin or Gandalf," said Rodney.
"Yes, Mr. King. And since we have magically accelerated their growth, they should be ready tomorrow."
"Excellent! With my army of magical clones to fight for me, Martin Luther King, Jr., will be forced to look on in horror as I become President of the United States! Mwuhahahah!"
Suddenly, a man with thick glasses burst through the door. "Horror? What do you know of horror? I will teach you the true meaning of horror."
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Have you, as a writer of fantasy fiction, read the great PRE-Tolkien works of fantasy literature? Have you read Homer and Virgil? Have you read Sophocles and Euripides? Have you read Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? In other words, have you read the roots of the genre? These authors and works, along with a lot of other ancienct and medieval literature, are what Tolkien feasted upon. These are also the works that most aspiring fantasy writers don't read. I don't know why the don't read them; it's like a horror writer not reading Dracula. But I'd bet an organ that fantasy writers such as Tad Williams, Robert Jordan, George R. R. Martin--and probably even the god awful R. A. Salvatore--have read these works.
You'll be surprised what kind of inspiration you'll receive from these tales.
[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited May 27, 2004).]
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there is a d&d source book called 'Urban Arcana' that has a interesting fantasy in modern setting. Tolkein's Elves Dwarfs and junk stems from mythology. From norse and british to be exact, in fact his Dwarfs in the Hobbit are straight from one story even listed in the same order. Someone, (sorry I forgot who) wrote a fantasy with an midevel Indian setting. so try mutating from other mythology, Chinese, Samoan, African, Slavic. wherever
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Lots of good advice in the above posts - of reading the old masters...of making your setting stem from some mythos. I especially like Christine's idea of making your fantasy story - whatever the setting - be one of romance, mystery or suspense. (And to me, her suggestion is what will help make your story different, even if it's set in the same-old, been-done-to-death realm. It's all about character, and the problems they face, yes?)
Since your post is labeled "medieval fantasy?", I'll note the one book I really loved - based on the ballad about a medieval minstrel - THOMAS THE RHYMER, by Ellen Kushner. In the story, Thomas is abducted by the Queen of Elfland, but in my mind she could have been the queen of any strange land, because to me this story wasn't about elfen things, but more about *Thomas* - his desires, his weaknesses, his decisions and actions/reactions...
I bring this up because you say you want to veer away from the "straightfoward Tolkienesque kings and lords and swords..." To me, you could set your story in such a place, but what would make it *different* is how you tell your story, and how you tell your story is based in the character whose story you choose to tell. Which is why I think Christine makes such a good point - what is your character's story about, a romance, a mystery, etc.?
Anyway, for what it's worth, I liked your thought of a fantasy set in Colonial times. (I *really* liked it!) I have to wonder why you got bored with it... Most likely the passion wasn't there - and here I mean the passion for the characters you chose to inhabit this setting.
From your post, I think what you really need to do is decide *what* your story is about, and why *you* need to write this story, and, mostly, why *you* are the best person to write this story. In other words, you need to dig deep into the gut-most potential you possess and pull from all of that brilliance and insecurity your main character. Decide what his/her story is about, what his/her passionate action/response will be to all that happens. I think, in doing this, you'll come up with your setting. You'll realize where - and only where - this story could have taken place.
That's my take.
And lastly, Jules, your idea of an industrial-era fantasy sounds really neat! It made me think of Regency England - how the decisions of Parliament (quick or not) mapped out a person's entire existence. So much happening in this time frame - radicals plotting, stockjobbers making wild profits from the Cits, who, really, kept England alfoat during the war, and inventors just going wild with their discoveries, plus the writers and the painters doing great things, and the wealthy spending outrageous amounts of money (sounds like today, yes?). Anyway, good luck with this idea. I hope you're creating some passionate message in your story about this revolution of industry...that you're spilling onto the page all the inherent conflict of this era, and also adding to that a main character who says things none of us ever will, who does things none of us would dare, and who makes positive changes all of us only dream about. (In other words, mirror the boldness that was the industrial revolution in your protagonist - the successes *and* the failures.) Okay, enough from me; that's just what your few sentences made bloom in my mind. Imagine what a whole book could do! Good luck with it.
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If you want something more along the lines of Modern Fantasy, check out The Knight of The Word series by Terry Brooks. It starts with Running with the Demon. Great story and believable characters, set in modern times. Good VS. Evil doesn't get much better than this.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Along the lines of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is a series of 5 books (quick reads, not super long) by Leo Frankowski . The first is called "The Cross-Time Engineer" - they are set in Poland starting in 1231, 10 years before the Mongols show up. Guess what the hero wants to do?! They were very enjoyable, and combine the sf of time-travel (not that the protagonist did it on purpose), with the medieval-type/fantasy setting and characters. And oh yeah, alternate history. A fun read!
[This message has been edited by punahougirl84 (edited May 31, 2004).]
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I forgot The Knight of the Words was by Terry Brooks...he usually writes the epitome of Tolkien-knock-off-been-done-before-fantasy-worlds. But he really had something in that series, set in modern times. I enjoyed it thouroughly.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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Have you read the " Guardians of the Flame " series by Joel Rosenberg ( i think that's who wrote it ) He took a group of kids and transported them to their D&D rpg and made them their characters ( pretty nifty ) just wondering if you had or not
just reading it gave me tons of ideas...might work for you
Jules...in your story does the magic disrupt the guns and they HAVE to resort to the swords and other weapons of that sort?...Just an idea
[This message has been edited by Monolith (edited June 03, 2004).]
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