GWN Online New Fantasy Editor Cindy Speer
Introduces You To Her New Fantasy page 

The Roots of Fantasy, what you can expect from this new page, 
and how I fit into it all.

All fiction, to paraphrase fantasy author Neil Gaiman, is fantasy. In a way I think he’s right. Jude Deveraux’s lovely romances, Raymond Chandler’s almost poetic hard- boiled detective stories and Isaac Asimov’s Robot series can all be called fantasy. After all, they all fit the first prerequisite of fantasy: they were made up. Unfortunately, that’s probably too broad of a definition.

So, what is fantasy?

Fantasy as we it see it today started developing before bookstore owners actively began dividing fiction up into categories, in the nineteenth century. One of the very first fantasy books was George McDonald’s 1858 book, Phantastes, A Faerie Romance for Men and Women. It is a story about a young man’s quest across fairy land, lauded for its richly dreamlike quality and beauty of prose. (The full text for this book is available for free at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MacPhan.html  or at Project Gutenberg http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=325) Quest tales have been popular since before Jason thought he wanted the golden fleece, but this tale is the one that started the most popular type of fantasy story of all - a young man’s travels into Fairy. Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, and several of the other books I am about to mention, can all claim to be the great grandchildren of McDonald’s Phantastes
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Another man credited with starting the fantasy movement is William Morris. He is best known, perhaps, for his amazing designs, especially in fabric and glass. He wrote several books, his The Well at the Worlds End in 1896 being his most famous. (Available at Project Gutenberg http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=169) It follows the adventures of Ralph, a Prince who runs away from his father’s lands and ends up on an adventure for the well at the world’s end. Along the way he meets Ursula, and therein is one of the most charming of love stories. Incredibly well done, you can see bits that end up in later books, such as Tolkein, Lewis and modern day writers such as Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind. 

While you may not recognize Henry Rider Haggard, his character Allan Quartermain has since gone on to spawn many predecessors, including Indian Jones. Based on his own adventures in Africa, Haggard’s stories are a combination of adventure, romance and the hunt for treasure. King Soloman’s Mines and Allan Quartermain are the two of the books in this series. (Page by Page books has a copy of King Soloman’s Mines online: http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/H_Rider_Haggard/King_Solomons_Mines/Allan Quartermain and many other of his books can be found at Project Gutenberg, http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/t9.cgi?entry=711&full=yes&ftpsite=ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/)
Lord Dunsany (who took us away from the fields we know and into the twilight lands of fairy in The King of Elfland's Daughter, (newly released in paperback) and James Branch Cabell both made huge steps in establishing fantasy. In Cabell’s Jurgen (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/CABELL/title.htm) the title character goes on a search for his wife, only to meet several characters from myth. Also, about this time, Robert E. Howard was also writing - his Conan the Barbarian would, in itself, spawn a whole league of sword and sorcery fantasy. Without Howard, we may never have be able to read Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series.

In the 1930’s an Oxford club called The Inklings would create two of the best known fathers of fantasy - C.S. Lewis, who’s beloved Narnia series is practically the required reading of childhood, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkein worked forty years to develop every aspect of middle earth, and his works are the first to truly introduce a secondary world - a world totally different, with different rules, languages and myths from our own. The popularity of his works earned fantasy its own place on the bookshelf.

Fantasy can be divided up into several sub genres. There is Heroic Fantasy, or High Fantasy, where people go on a quest to rid the world of a great evil. Good examples of this would be Dennis L. McKiernan’s Iron Tower Trilogy and Ian Irvine’s The View from the Mirror series. There is Humorous Fantasy, which is where Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and Lawrence Watt-Evan’s The Misenchanted Sword would fit. There is also Adventurer fantasy, or Sword and Sorcery fantasy. This differs from Heroic Fantasy in that it’s the adventures themselves that are important, not the struggle for good over evil. Tanith Lee’s The Birth Grave and Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar are good examples. 

The one definition I couldn’t find is for the most common type of fantasy of all - the one where a man or woman travel from our reality to another world. My favorite example is Barbara Hambly’s Windrose Chronicles. Perhaps we can name these stories Parallel World Travel, at least until I find out what people really call them. There are many more terms - Dark Fantasy with its werewolves and vampires, and Romantic fantasy with its themes of love, are just two. Of course, the lines blur between the sub genres just as much as the lines blur between genres themselves. This might be why author Ursula K. LeGuin said in an essay about the subject "Basically my attitude is that "genre" is A. an unpronounceable French word, B. a very useful descriptive tool, and C. a pernicious instrument of prejudice." (The rest of her essay can be found here: http://www.ursulakleguin.com) This blurring may well also be why the publisher of Stardust published the paperback version with three covers - one to be placed in the romance section, one to be placed under fantasy, and one to be placed in regular fiction.

In this page, I will keep my definition simple: if it has magic, or fantastical creatures, we’ll call it fantasy. 

This segues into the first - and probably best piece of fantasy writing advice I will ever give you. Read the older stories and see where so many of the conventions of this genre began. Read the people others point to as being important - Ursula LeGuin, Andre Norton and Roger Zelazney, to name a few. Sometimes this is not easy advice to follow. For example, the first twenty pages of Morris’s book was hard to read until I got used to the language, but after that I was entranced. The things I learned were invaluable. 

Now, for how I fit into all this...as the new Fantasy Genre editor here at GWN, I will be responsible for bringing you content about fantasy. My goal is to make this a useful and fun page for you to visit. I hope to do interviews, as well as articles about writing and fantasy in general. I’ve been reading fantasy for most of my life. My mother is a voracious reader who, when I was little and wanting attention, would bring me up on her lap and read to me whatever it was she had. Thus I was introduced to simplified versions of James Bond, Star Trek, and many others from an early age. I have written two books, both fitting more into contemporary fantasy. When I started writing around thirteen years ago, it was high fantasy all the way, so it was a bit of a surprise when I realized the only things I ever really got finished writing were anything but...

Fantasy has come a long way from the nineteenth century. I think that, in some ways, fantasy has to be more flexible than other genres, because it is the ultimate escape - and as society’s need for escape changes, so will fantasy - and the sub genres that represent it.

Building a Better World
by Cindy Lynn Speer
GWN's Fantasy Genre Editor

World building is one of the most important parts of writing fantasy. Indeed, no matter what we write, from a contemporary novel about a woman dealing with divorce to a dark fantasy world inhabited by vampires, the world we build and the rules we create for our story is what gives cohesiveness to the tale. Without a solid setting, your characters and plot will lack sense and realism. World building is actually dangerously addictive, and all it requires is for the writer to do what he/she is best at...making things up.

My way of world building is to ask myself questions and to find appropriate answers. This article focuses on those questions and other important subjects. So, take a few notes. As you go along, you’ll add a few of your own world building issues that I haven’t touched upon. Some writers love the challenge of creating another world because it kindles the imagination. In the end, the hardest thing is to ignore descriptions and laws you’ve made up, wanting desperately to use everything you’ve discovered about your planet, but knowing there’s no where you can apply it in the story. That’s ok...the more you know about the world, the richer the context of the story will be. I’m also not, as an aside, going to stand here and act like I know everything about the subject...this is just an approach, one that I hope will be very helpful and fun.

The main theory behind this is that every action has a reaction. To have certain characteristics, to have certain settings, you’ll need to create a world whose workings allow for it.

1. What kind of characters are you going to have?
The rules that you’ll need to work on the most depend on this. Are they going to be humanoid? Are they going to have the ability to cast spells? You’ll need to start with your main character, and then work on the other characters you’d like to add. For example, let’s say that I decided that I wanted a world where all the inhabitants are vampires. My main female lead will be a human mage, who has fallen through a gate into an unknown world. My main male lead will be a vampire. I will eventually want to decide how magic works on this world, how the sun affects the people of this place, and how the moon cycles run. If you choose to have a character with green skin, then did the sun’s color cause and effect in the character's skin (like our own tannins) somewhere along the evolutionary chain? If the character's eyes can see much better in the dark than in the light, is it because the world is more dark than light, or is it just that the character lives underground? Special features can cover everything from webbed fingers and gills to taste sensors under the fingernails. In the end, how a creature evolves through time is based on how the world he lives in effects his body. Therefore, I like to have a basic list of all these things when I sit down to begin.

2. What tone or general feel to the setting are you looking for?
Now, if I’m going to write a novel about a vampire world, I’m not going to want it to be bright and cheerful. If I’m going to write a gentle, whimsical spoof about fairy tales, the world would be entirely different, painted in much happier colors. You need to know what kind of feel you want the reader to get while reading the story. In one example, I’m going for a spooky, melancholy feeling. In the second, I’d want charm galore.

3. The Planet
Now that we’ve got the pre-considerations out of the way, we can roll up our sleeves and get to work. Let’s look at the planet. What kind of surface are you going to need? If you’re writing a quest adventure with lots of monsters and traveling, you’re going to need some seriously interesting terrain. This is the part where some people whip out their world building software, but I usually feel more content with a pad of paper and some colored pencils. Make that a ream of paper...things are just starting, and so they’ll be changing, the plates shifting until the world satisfies our needs. Which, I’ll admit, is where world building software would come in handy.

a. Planet Size

Is actually not the most crucial element, but it helps. The size of the planet defines the border of the world, and allows us to put a limit on how many people and how many things we’re going to have. If we’re sticking to the vampire world example, we’re going to want to make it medium sized, because we don’t want to allow for evolution to create a whole bunch of nasty predators for our night time creatures, yet we want to make sure the vampires don’t eat themselves out of a home. It also makes it a manageable size, allowing us to cluster out cities together more to make a slightly post industrial effect I want, yet allows me to have some wide, barren sweeps of plain. If we want a great variety of dragons and elves and such, then we’ll need a bigger world, so that all of our different races will have plenty of elbow room.

b. The Sky

How many suns? How many moons? How clearly can you see the stars? What color is the sky, and what kind of cloud formations can you expect? The sky, as we know from our own planet’s myths, often is a great draw for the imagination. It’s characteristics may be a part of your calendar, your time keeping, and even some of the religions. It also determines your plant life. In a vampire world, it would be helpful to have limited sun, say, three hours a day before the planet’s path carries it too far away to really see. That’s going to majorly change your flora and fauna. You might want to draw in a little equator to equal where the sun(s) hits your planet. How many hours of sun, how many hours of moon, moon’s phases, when sun set and sun rise/moon set and moon rise are. Also mark down colors, so that if you have a purple sun, you don’t forget and have a brilliantly orange sunrise. Unless you really, really want to.

c. Landmasses and the Ocean

Do your main people live in an archipelago? Are they being attacked by a previously unknown species of squid-looking pirates? You’ll need to decide the size and shape of your land, and how much water you want to leave. The types of creatures that you’re going to have, and races will determine the look of the lands. If you’re going to have cliff dwelling elves, then you’ll need a mountain range. If you’re going to have a castle by the sea, you might want to arrange it so the forest where your main heroes’ best friend lives is pretty handy. Placing things where they’ll likely be needed will do a lot for your story. If the Frost dragons live in the North, and you’re going to need the assistance of one at a certain time way down near the middle of the ocean, then you might want to plan ahead. After you’ve gotten the what I call plot-places in, the cities and such I know when I write the story I’m going to need, then I like to go around and fill up the white spaces with random bits of terrain. You can always change it if it becomes a huge pain, but in the meantime it can be a great writing device. Say that you’re sending a war party half way across the continent. As they’re tromping through on their way, and you look and realize that soon your map there’ll be coming up on a pair of rivers. In a way, it’s like you, the author, have run up against this river...and you have to get your characters across. Sometimes this makes some nifty scenes, or added interest to the story. Sometimes it’s unworkable, and you need to, um, shift the river a little more to the North.

d. Fauna and flora

Now we’ve determined that, in the vampire idea, that we’ve got very little sun. So, how does that change our animals and plants? What about the environment?

Thoughts for plants -- defense mechanisms, do they bite, are the edible, who eats on them, what are their colors, fruits, propagation, seasons and beneficial properties. Thoughts for animals -- Going back to the example, are there some animals whose blood is poison to the vampires? What are their shapes, numbers of legs, are there insects, birds, an fish? How do they defend themselves, what do they eat? What color are their coats? Are there any with sentience, are there any domesticated?

e. Weather and Seasons

Weather plays a big part in the plot. A storm can bring trouble, while a lovely sunny day can be symbolic. Seasons, too have symbolism inherent in them, and can have impact on the religion, culture and actions of the people. This also comes last because in some ways, all the previous planetary parts lead into this. The placing of your equator in relationship to your main town will determine if your characters live in a place that feels like Hawaii or Iceland. It will also determine their likelihood of running into a monsoon or sand storm. Your seasons will change in degree according to that equatorial position. In some of the milder climates here on our own planet, the seasons change, but the differences are smaller, gentler.

4. Culture

The planet will create some of the culture. The rest will be created by your desires and needs.

a. Religion
I’m putting this first because sometimes religion is a huge motivating factor in the actions or mores of a people. Sometimes it’s not important, either because there is no religion, in which case you might want to explain why. A lack of religion can be just as interesting as a huge organized one. Also, you may have more than one religion. In which case, do they have any connections, similarities or rivalries? There are many questions to ask yourself in this section. How many gods? What are their names? How did they come about? Is there a creation myth? Does it have sacrifices, offices, organizations, magic, rules about their priests (if, indeed, there are priests) or special holidays. What is a sin? How powerful are their holy men? Settling these questions will help you determine things about politics and community structure. You may have characters who swear by the name of their deity. More than one story has been started by a vision. You might also want to record the deity's stance on magic, marriage, between the genders, between same genders, and between other races. Thoughts on the after life, or some reward for worshiping the god is also important.

b. Language

The rules of language is important because any proper noun you encounter will need a name fitting in with the setting. You can decide if everyone shares a common language, then has a language for just among their own kind, or, if the Tower of Babel syndrome never struck, so that everyone speaks the same, but with small dialect changes. How you name towns and people also plays with the feel of what you’re writing. Towns with names like Aziranath and Calivnia create a different vision than Berry and Wood Pike. This is also your chance to create words that the characters use in their thought or dialogue that add color to the setting. Do they curse when they stub their toe? What kind of words do you use for your magic? What do goblins call their lands, and is it a different sounding language from what the dwarves call theirs?

c. Clothes

What kind of clothes do the they wear? Is it practical? Is it unpractical or meant to incite desire? What is considered high fashion or last century? What do the different classes wear, and are there restrictions, as if, even if a man could afford to buy sapphire brocade, can he wear it? Restrictions are more than just if you’re not the king, you can’t wear gold. Some cultures might think a certain color unlucky, or a jewel is forbidden to wear because they are the manifestation of their god’s tears. Perhaps only women can wear pants. And for every rule you create, you need a reason, a reason that is often determined by weather and wealth. There are always exceptions to this, of course, but generally if a place is extreme in heat or cold, it has a huge impact on the clothes. A wealthy country can afford fashion trends much more easily than a poor one. Also, clothes will impact the effectiveness of a character’s actions. If they’re running in wooden clogs, you’ll need to have them kick them off, or convince the reader beforehand that the character is so used to them that he could run the mile with no problem.

d. Government

What is the structure? Is there a separation of church and state? What’s their take on women in power, and vice versa? What is the government more interested in, taking care of it’s people, furthering it’s own interests, honor, isolationist politics or keeping peace? How successful is it? Has it been in power long? Who are some of the past leaders, and were they loved or hated? Do you have to be noble to take part in it? What kind of representation does the lower classes have? Are there lower classes? Who controls the army? Who controls the (for lack of a better word) church? Is there more than one faction?

e. Commerce

What kind of commerce does each major place engage in? How about the smaller places? Remember commerce is not just created by the natural resources around the area, such as coal, a good supply of fish, or huge flocks of sheep. Successful commerce depends on the work force and shipping. Are there trade routes? Are there guilds, and what are the rules for belonging to one? Do you have to belong to one or else? What kind of taxes are there? What level of industry is possible on this world? Are there machines? Slaves? The level of industry will determine, in many ways, what is available, how much is available, and how many people can afford it. Slaves create a whole set of problems...how are slaves taken? What are their conditions? Can they be freed after a certain time, and allowed the benefits and privileges of the free? Can one indenture oneself for a period of time, and in what circumstances? What products do the towns produce, and who buys them? How is payment made? Here is where you might want to make a side step and take care of coinage. How are things paid for, what are their values, and what is it made out of? Whose likeness is on it? How is the money stored and value assayed?

f. The Arts

The arts are always fun. Here is where you can decide what type of art your people indulge in and where. Is there an oral tradition? Are there books, paintings, music? Are there bards? Are artists respected? What kind of general reputation do they have? Are they a class by themselves, or do most people create art? Does art have any religious or ceremonial importance? What about patronage? Are there schools? What things are allowed to be represented? Some cultures don’t allow the human figure to be represented, or if it is, not represented well. Are there forbidden arts? Forbidden paint colors? What are the tools and instruments? What’s the paper like?

g. Magic

Is the lifeblood of any fantasy based society. Therefore, the system can be as detailed or loose as you want, depending on how established magic is. Which, actually, is my first question...is there a great magical tradition, or has the ability only been recently discovered? How many people does it effect? What races possess magic, and to what degree? Is it accepted? Does anyone resent magic users? Is there an organization? A governing, controlling class, or a school? What are the magic users called? Are there different kinds? Different abilities? What is the language of magic, and is it universal? How is magic kept, passed on? How does someone discover that they have the ability? Are you born with it, or given it? How do they decide who can have it? Can it be taken away? In what circumstances? What happens to a wizard gone bad? Do both sexes have magic and is it different? Can you visibly tell that someone is a mage? Are they born with a mark, or do they tattoo themselves? Are there special clothes, colors, jewelry or makeup? What keys the magic? Spells, dancing, incantations, force of will? Is magic related to religion, or do holy people disdain it? What is the general reputation of magic users? Are they allowed to marry? Where does magic come from? How strong is it? Is it a force of evil or good, or is that determined by the user? Are there places where magic can’t be used?

h. Warriors

Are there warrior classes? What are the requirements to join? Are there armies? Mercenaries? Is it a familial requirement? Who can become a warrior? Are there ranks? Schools? A code of honor? What arms and armor are there? What does a warrior of a certain rank need to know? Are there cavalry or just foot solders? Who commands them? Are there ceremonies, or for that matter ceremonial arms and armor? What is the penalty for not following orders? Are they allowed to sack towns? What is their place in society?

And After All That...
You’ll hopefully have a better idea of the society that your story is set in. Secretly, I always thought that it was an awful lot of work that no one will ever see. Especially since I fully intend to have a “burn everything or you won’t see one cent of your bequest” clause in my will. It is amazing how, once you sit down and do at least parts of it, how it primes the imagination. Things that you would never have considered show up, and sometimes you co