originally published on: 2/27/12 by me.
I sat back today and thought about what it means to be a fantasy
author. That led to me thinking about what it means to be a comedic fantasy
author. My stories have a certain Pratchett/Asprin/Piers Anthony feel to them.
My wife seems to think they are most like Piers Anthony with plays on words and
full of puns. I kind of agree. But When I thought about things for a bit I came
to the conclusion that to be a fantasy author, your first and foremost job is
to create a wondrous world where the reader can get away to and relax.
If you take a look at each of the greats
of fantasy you arrive at a different and complete world. That is what
distinguishes fantasy authors from each other. Their world. Sure Tolkien uses
verbose and rich language while J. K. Rowling speaks to the average young
adult. But their worlds are unique. C. S. Lewis goes so far as to have
his world start in our own and enter a completely different one with different
rules.
When you think of what makes up your
fantasy setting, the first bit of architecture you need to lay down is what the
rules are. I was forced to analyze that a bit today. I already have a few ideas
of what my world should be like. But I set out today to hammer down as many of
the rules of my world as possible. The premise of the Infinite Castle Series is
simple. Take an enormous castle suspended in space. Fill it with
every single fantasy idea ever made and make the rules as absurd as possible
while retaining some semblance of cohesion. There you have the Infinite Castle.
But the rules themselves, that's where the world building comes in. The premise
is simple enough. It's what you would tell a publisher or a new reader if they
asked you to sum up the world.
After you have the basic premise hammered
out, you get specific. The Infinite Castle is a world of
absurd literalness. It is a world where the college of wizardry is just
that a college, complete with keg parties and hookah rooms. A world
where every single thing in the world is named in accordance with rules set
forth by a naming council, the Council of Nomialization. But those laws are a
subject we will approach in a future blog post. And laws are to be
followed, no matter how absurd. That absurdity is what sets the world
apart from other fantasy worlds. That's what makes the Infinite Castle awesome.
What interesting laws/rules do you have in
your fantasy world? Whether gaming or fiction related?
1 comments:
I use to love mmo's but i don't get a chance to play anymore. Too busy with writing.
Post a Comment