Can you skip the "ancient past" of a world in epic fantasy or low fantasy?
I read Silmarilion and noticed that it reads like a history book and has almost no story. I don't want to write anything that reads like a history book, because lets be honest, not much people care about your invented millennium long history if there is no story.
I would like to write a story, rather than a "history book".
How do I explain why are things the way they are after the "ancient past"? I find the ancient past thing necessary only for one reason, it allows the stories and characters to naturally progress. You see, the present has a connection with the past, the things in present can be a result of past decision. Dynasties, states, characters, conquests (border changes), all of these have root in the past.
Is there any other way to explain "ancient past" that doesn't involve infodumping in a separate "history book"? Through the story that focuses on characters and actual events instead of history.
I read Silmarilion and noticed that it reads like a history book and has almost no story. I don't want to write anything that reads like a history book, because lets be honest, not much people care about your invented millennium long history if there is no story.
I would like to write a story, rather than a "history book".
How do I explain why are things the way they are after the "ancient past"? I find the ancient past thing necessary only for one reason, it allows the stories and characters to naturally progress. You see, the present has a connection with the past, the things in present can be a result of past decision. Dynasties, states, characters, conquests (border changes), all of these have root in the past.
Is there any other way to explain "ancient past" that doesn't involve infodumping in a separate "history book"? Through the story that focuses on characters and actual events instead of history.
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