Environmental Fantasy

[Phantasy]

How does one go about creating an eco fantasy story? I have one in the works, and I need some ideas on how to make one from scratch.

 

[Genly]

I guess the starting point would be defining the ecological crisis that the main characters have to deal with. Then, how do they deal with it? Magic? Science? How does the crisis affect the existing political structure? How does it create conflict?

A recent example (although, IMHO, a kinda silly one) is from The Rings of Power. The elves noticed that their world was starting to fade, in that trees started to die and so on. This took place during what Tolkien probably would have considered to be a ridiculously short period of time (months, if I remember correctly). They tried to address this issue by creating the rings of power.

 

[Incanus]

Genly makes good points here.

I would add that no matter the genre or theme, learning the basic tools of writing fiction will go a long way toward getting where you want to go. How to present a character, point of view, pacing, exposition--getting good and familiar with these things will put you on firm footing no matter what kind of story is being written.

 

[pmmg]

Not really my realm, but I think I would want a world in which the eco system was greatly important, perhaps almost a character itself, and then a large ominous threat to it, that would make the defenders of the eco system have to take great and daring risks to prevent it.

I think a great example of this is the first avatar movie. All the trees and living things were connected, and destruction in one area could be felt by all.

To make the story as interesting as I could, I would probably want to bring more than just plants and trees, I would want to bring in things that seemed fantasyish, and perhaps have characters who could somehow interact with them. A world of giant mushrooms and super giant trees, and plants with leaves that were so large, one could bed down on them...and I might even throw in a bit of bioluminescence Weird bugs and strange creatures that matched the landscape.

I think the real key though is just having the eco system by what the conflict is about.

What are your thoughts on this? and what have you struggled with so far?

 

[Phantasy]

Not really my realm, but I think I would want a world in which the eco system was greatly important, perhaps almost a character itself, and then a large ominous threat to it, that would make the defenders of the eco system have to take great and daring risks to prevent it.

I think a great example of this is the first avatar movie. All the trees and living things were connected, and destruction in one area could be felt by all.

To make the story as interesting as I could, I would probably want to bring more than just plants and trees, I would want to bring in things that seemed fantasyish, and perhaps have characters who could somehow interact with them. A world of giant mushrooms and super giant trees, and plants with leaves that were so large, one could bed down on them...and I might even throw in a bit of bioluminescence Weird bugs and strange creatures that matched the landscape.

I think the real key though is just having the eco system by what the conflict is about.

What are your thoughts on this? and what have you struggled with so far?

My thoughts about it are that I think it makes perfect sense with what you are saying. Yet, I have struggled with making the characters interact with the environment in a way that is understandable. If you get my drift.

 

[Devor]

So, the first question is: By telling an eco story, are you trying to get a real-world-applicable message across? If so, what is that message? And would your primary audience be people who already like eco-friendly messaging, or people who don't?

No message - message for an eco-friendly crowd - message for eco-resistant crowd - > Three very different stories, possibly in ways that are subtle and require a lot of tact to do well.

 

[minta]

I'd think about a world where environmental problems are at the heart of the conflict, the characters could be guardians of the earth or people with special powers to heal or control nature

 

[Phantasy]

I'd think about a world where environmental problems are at the heart of the conflict, the characters could be guardians of the earth or people with special powers to heal or control nature

Well, there are witches in my story who heal sentient mosques to keep them alive. I'll mull those over.

 

[Phantasy]

So, the first question is: By telling an eco story, are you trying to get a real-world-applicable message across? If so, what is that message? And would your primary audience be people who already like eco-friendly messaging, or people who don't?

No message - message for an eco-friendly crowd - message for eco-resistant crowd - > Three very different stories, possibly in ways that are subtle and require a lot of tact to do well.

I am aiming for people who like eco-friendly stories. Would reading some novels like The Overstory help? Also, I am not sure about the message yet, as I am trying to think of something of the sort.

 

[pmmg]

Yet, I have struggled with making the characters interact with the environment in a way that is understandable. If you get my drift.

I am not really getting this. How are they interacting with the environment as you have it? What is the threat to them and to the environment? What does it mean to them if some portion of the environment is lost?

 

[Phantasy]

I am not really getting this. How are they interacting with the environment as you have it? What is the threat to them and to the environment? What does it mean to them if some portion of the environment is lost?

That's what I am trying to figure out. Hmm, can I get back to you on that?

 

[pmmg]

Its all on your schedule.

 

[Devor]

I am aiming for people who like eco-friendly stories. Would reading some novels like The Overstory help? Also, I am not sure about the message yet, as I am trying to think of something of the sort.

I'm not familiar with a lot of eco-friendly fantasy novels, but there were some RPG-like board games I've seen recently which hit the eco-themes pretty well. They all involved exploring the big monster threats as having a natural role in the ecosystem that needs to be protected. It's a little on-the-nose, but that's okay if your audience is already friendly. The creature in question gets to personify the idea of a complex system of interconnected parts that need to be protected.

So for example, maybe there's a creature in the river that's started acting up and wrecking boats. So the city puts out a bounty, and most of them are hunted down. Only, they were acting up because of the trash the city was putting in the river, and now without these creatures their main food supply swarms until the river is unusable. That kind of thing. If you want to use it as a side plot, maybe some villain orchestrated the problem to weaken an enemy nation before they attack, or else an inept party did it with their cruel indifference.