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Quote:
Being a writer is the closest you can get to schizophrenia without getting locked up, and in nothing is this more true than in the fantasy genre.
Fantasy writers are, quite frankly, closet nerds; people who shrink away from a life of (apparent) teenage binge drinking and parties or turn on their rock music (not ‘cool’ enough for the emo scene, nor consistently heavy enough for credibility), and daydream of angels, dwarves, vampires and dragons. People who would rather stay in bed and muse over odd dreams rather than get up to straighten their hair or obsess over the colour co-ordination of jewellery. People who spend their school life doodling in the backs of exercise books and attempting to make up alien languages so that one day those cosplaying convention members will be talking in their language- not Klingon or Tolkien elvish. Those who lurk around the internet forums and dream of their own cult-based websites where they too can claim fame over ‘the blue nowhere’ that is cyberspace. Their world is not here, and they generally breeze through in a daze until homework drags them back to reality with a bump.
Alright, perhaps we’re not all as odd as me, but like most young writers, not only can fantasy writers be socially awkward, but are also afflicted with the problem that if they should ever talk about their ideas to their friends they are met with glazed, confused faces.
(I myself practically give up nowadays trying to explain an entire angel hierarchy to my friends)
You see, with fantasy there is always the idea that there’s some sort of childhood reversion involved; that you’re just playing at being a novelist. While family sagas or crime dramas are adult, serious and potentially enlightening, fantasy and sci-fi can often be viewed as simply an indulgence – more like a comic book than a ‘proper’ novel.
Well, for me, this isn’t true – and it shouldn’t be true for you either. Terry Pratchett put it perfectly; he said that writing a novel is like painting a picture, only that fantasy writers have a few more colours to work with – and who would turn down more colours?
Perhaps the criticism is due to how easily it is for fantasy writers to make cringe-worthy slips. After all, when you can make your own worlds and people from scratch, you can also open yourself for greater danger of falling into clichés or (at worst) the unreadable farce. Even when there’s the possibility of bug-eyed monsters about you have to be very careful to stay just as rooted to the real world as many other novel writers.
Although I’m a young writer myself and certainly have never been published, the fantasy / sci-fi genre is something I love to write. Hopefully I can share some of what I’ve learnt in my writing to help any potential fantasy writers, or at least offer hope to the unconverted.
Tip1 – Keep it real
The great thing about fantasy is that it can take you anywhere to create anything; however readers are rarely interested in completely flights of fancy into cloud cuckoo land. That’s not to say you can’t be very creative, but often the weirdest things can be the most effective because authors ‘keep it real’. If a reader can’t see at least something they recognise in your fantasy creatures and world, then they will very quickly lose interest.
Even the weirdest looking deep-water fish is affected by the laws of nature and physics. Just look at the structure of your hand, for example. You have 5 fingers and a bony mass for your palm. You can see this structure in a fish’s fin, a horses’ hoof, a bat’s wing. There are always consistencies. The best of fantasy has these consistencies – it is based in fact.
I remember researching for the fantasy / sci-fi novel I’m trying to write. I spent a whole day attempting to figure out how many times light speed my space ships would have to travel to reach Pluto in a few hours. It was something the readers will probably never even notice, but the attention to detail is an important little component.
Tip 2 – Characters: Even if they’re an alien, they’re still ‘human’.
The most important part where realism is key is in characters. If a reader doesn’t have any characters that they can empathise with, then the story is list. Be your character a vampire, elf or alien, their must always be a degree of humanity in them. How would you characterise a normal human character in any other genre of novel? Any writer should know that you just cannot let yourself create 2d characters; characters have to have hopes, fears, hobbies and insecurities – they must have drives and reasons behind their actions. Heck, even the angels themselves had doubts - just look at Lucifer!
An author I always look to for keeping this fantasy realism is Dean Koontz in his fantasy and/or thriller books. No matter what happens to his characters, (be it a dimension hopping boy, a serial killer or even the apocalypse), they are always very grounded, interesting and usually likable. Another master of this is Terry Pratchett characters and settings in his Discworld novels. Although his fantasy settings are extremely imaginable, both the places and people maintain a great realism (and are often hilarious parodies of real life humanity).
Balance is key and can give real life to your fantasy stories.
Tip 3- ‘Xyzdenqzksr’ is not a name…
One of the biggest bugbears of fantasy writers is the names. The very words you use can make your story either interesting and perhaps a little exotic, or (unfortunately) pretentious and confusing.
You can easily get carried away with weird names; after all, you don’t have as many restraints as most ‘normal writers. If you’re making up your own cultures and races, then who makes the laws of language? You do.
But – and this is a big but- you can so easily end up looking like a fool if you ignore these points.
• Don’t make you names too long – the reader doesn’t want nor need a name 17 syllables long. It’s boring, confusing and oh so pretentious.
• Don’t just slam your hand on the keyboard to make a name. It actually helps if you can pronounce it. ‘Xyzdenqzksr’ is not a good name! No, I don’t care how weird your alien is – don’t do it. You just won’t be taken seriously.
• Try to link your name to already established words, or at least keep it within the normal scope of human language (preferably English, if your audience will be primarily English speaking.) for example ‘Qu’ would be preferable in most cases. Again, say it out loud, get a friend to read it and say it out loud, and check that it’s easily understandable. If your reader can’t pronounce a name in their head, they’re falling over hurdles, therefore slowing down the pace, and getting frustrated. Not something any author would like.
For example, I tried to keep my names in my fantasy / sci-fi book relatively simple, and I think they’re pronounceable (so far I haven’t had troubles in my writing group). Here they are:
Kaisa Smith: Her first name is a bit exotic (in keeping with the futuristic setting) but is limited to two syllables. ‘Kai’ is a relatively well known Japanese sound too. Her second name is so bog standard, it balances out her name. In the feedback I got from it people liked it – again, it makes her seem more human and they can relate more to her because of it. Though she is set over 400 years in the future, she is human. Human surnames tend to carry across centauries too – I would say don’t be afraid to use them.
Kero: Again simple. It sort of links with ‘hero’ too, which is useful.
Tyran: A ‘proper’ alien character. Nevertheless his name is still pretty simple and links nicely to ‘Tyrant’ which is what I based his name on.
Veretrix: a longer name, but the syllables are still relatively simple and pronounceable. The name seems to me more detailed and gives some indication to his intelligent, maybe reserved character.
Xenon: I used this directly from a word in the English language. Xenon is an unreactive gas, which is quite an ironic name considering that this is my explosive, insane baddie character.
I would say that the standard rules of naming apply to alien/non-human languages you create too, but to a lesser degree. Just remember that less is more.
When characters are speaking/using your own language in the book I would say don’t constantly drag your readers to the appendixes at the end of the book – they need to know what you’re talking about quickly or they lose interest.
(Yes, making alien languages are fun- heck, I know I spend far too much time on it, but I’d say again be sensible in using them.)
I know that my tips are perhaps simplistic and of course form the mouth of a novice, but I hope any budding fantasy writers can find it useful.
The greatest part of fantasy writing is that you can really use your imagination and truly enjoy yourself – it’s pure escapism. After all, you have this full spectrum of literary colours to play with – and I know I will do my best to use them all. I hope you will too.
