Where is the "fantastic" in fantasy worlds?

[D. Gray Warrior]

I have started reading Eragon, and I am now absorbed in it. I have tried building my own worlds for years now. My first world was pseudo- medieval like most books out there, but I started over when I learned it was too overused.

I am now trying to build an arctic/taiga culture, but it seems pretty dull and mundane. My question is, what makes a fantasy world fantastic? By "fantastic", I mean the thing that absorbs us into the world and its story.

 

[Trick]

Since I'm at work I will say the only thing I have time to.

It would take me at least an hour to address, only partially, every aspect of your question. I hope one of my betters has time to post on here. If not, I'll do my best later tonight.

 

[Steerpike]

Good characters and strong writing do it for me. The world can be more mundane, or more 'fantastic' as the author sees fit, and I'm happy either way. Some people may focus on other aspects of the story as priorities, but that's really where my focus lies.

 

[Jake Belsten]

I'd say the "fantastic" elements in fantasy really come down to the world itself and the characters that inhabit it. Some general prompts in no particular order:

1. People - what sort of people live in your taiga/arctic world? What is their day-to-day life like?

2. Culture - what parts of society are most important to these people?

3. Religion/language - this is often a big element of fantasy fiction but doesn't have to be. Do your people believe in a God or are they more of a worshippy-naturey type? Or do they just see the world in a non-religious way?

4. Magic - again, this is common and often said to be what puts the uh...M... in fantasy, but it isn't necessarily needed. Is magic commonplace in this society? Is magic frowned upon?

5. Creatures - what sort of animals and races live in this society? Are the "people" even human? Do common magical creatures (eg. dwarves, elves, trolls) exist or are there any less common ones?

6. The World as a whole - what sort of stage is your world at? Do the people in this taiga society have links with other communities or races? Or are they cut off? Even ARE there other communities out there?

Sorry if this list is a bit all over the place, I was just sort of brainstorming to myself! But hopefully these might prompt you because, in my opinion, all these things put the "fantastic" into fantasy.

 

[Devor]

To me the power of the setting still comes from the story. It comes from the way your setting lets you tell a story you couldn't tell without that setting.

Sometimes the story is just window dressing. A piece of flavor thrown in. Maybe the story is still great, but the setting wasn't, and maybe didn't need to be. But if we have a setting with magic, or a frozen tundra, or a great pine forest, then whether that setting is compelling or not will depend on the way it shapes the characters and the plot.

To get all literary for a moment, the story is the path of growth your character takes to overcome a conflict. So whether your setting is going to be compelling or not depends on the compelling ways your setting influences that growth.

For instance, as a starting point, in your arctic taiga, does a harsh environment make harsh people? Does it make them communal? Does it make them insular? Or maybe your arctic taiga doesn't feel harsh at all. Maybe they've mastered the environment. Almost certainly you have other elements to your setting that you need to consider. What kinds of people form in your setting, and what kinds of conflicts do they have? What else can you throw into the mix to get to the conflict you're looking for?

 

[Svrtnsse]

There was/is another thread about this just recently and someone posted something about how the fantastic elements interact with the characters.

I think this is also significant. If the fantastic elements add to the world/story in a meaningful way, that's good. If you just throw in a bunch of random fantastic wonders to be able to say it's a fantasy story, then that's less good.
In the arctic taiga setting, it might make sense to have the inhabitants be skilled with fire/heat based magic - something to help them keep the chill away.

 

[Mythopoet]

I'm going to come in here and be the dissenting voice. (I know everyone is shocked.)

I'll start by saying that I am sick to death of "fantasy" that has almost no fantastic content. This does not mean that I don't like low magic settings. The Lord of the Rings is actually a very low magic work of fantasy, but the magic of faerie so infuses the world of Middle-earth that people often forget it. It doesn't stand out and it is hardly ever used during the story, but it's a natural and integral part of the world.

Then there are the works that manage to achieve a fantastic setting without using any magic at all. The Night Land is set so far in the future that the landscape and the living conditions of the characters are utterly strange to us and not even the humans living in the world understand much about it anymore, since so much knowledge has been lost to time. Yet they still view the world in the scholarly way of natural scientists. There is no "magic" and the inhabitants do not even view the monstrosities of the Night Land as "super" natural. They observe and study them as we observe and study the world all around us.

These are works that I love because they tap into the very heart of what we call "fantastic" without cliche, without gimmick, without superficiality. It's as natural as a fish in water.

Contrast that with much of the fantasy being written today. What I have experienced of today's "low magic" fantasy seems to fall into a few different categories that I like to think of thusly...

1. "This really should be historical fiction, but then I would be burdened by research and facts and the historical genre isn't as profitable as fantasy."

2. "I want to write respectable fiction, but I also want to make money, so I'm going to write 'speculative fiction' that's as boring as literary fiction."

3. "I'm going to write about common people and criminals and the dark underbelly of the city where everyone is dirty and poor and if they're not actively being a horrible person then they'll suffer and have a tragic end. And there will be no magic and nothing pretty. Just blades and blood and dirt and death. Oh, and sex. Just like, so much sex. Because everyone living in this world has to have all the sex just so they don't kill themselves from depression every day. No one has EVER done this before! Ha! I'm SO original!"

I'm not trying to say that all low magic fantasy being written these days falls into this category, but, my god, I'm so sick of all the works that do. I want some good traditional fantasy again like a man lost in the desert wants water. I want the fantastic. Not "this world is pretty much indistinguishable from our world, but trust me, it's not the same. See all these funny names?" I want the magic and strangeness of faerie back.

 

[Jabrosky]

Some of my fantasy worlds are really historical settings which I modify to make them more appealing to me. For one recent story I took medieval Spain, with its division into a Christian north and Islamic south, and replaced the Muslim Arabic culture with one based on West Africa (most of all Mali). I got that idea because I've seen the medieval term "Moor" applied to Black Africans as well as Arabs, so I asked myself "What if the Moors who conquered southern Spain really were African instead of Arabic?"

All right, so the big change there is mere race-bending instead of anything more substantial, but then I've always been partial to the idea of advanced African empires challenging or influencing the West.

For your tundra world, I would ask yourself why you consider it to be boring or mundane and see if you can find anything to spice it up more to your taste.

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

Thanks everyone! This is helpful. I decided to spice up my world with sympathetic magic and a surreal afterlife.

 

[Trick]

3. "I'm going to write about common people and criminals and the dark underbelly of the city where everyone is dirty and poor and if they're not actively being a horrible person then they'll suffer and have a tragic end. And there will be no magic and nothing pretty. Just blades and blood and dirt and death. Oh, and sex. Just like, so much sex. Because everyone living in this world has to have all the sex just so they don't kill themselves from depression every day. No one has EVER done this before! Ha! I'm SO original!"

A particular author comes to mind on this one... who could it be I wonder?

 

[Lvl20wizard]

First off, I think you guys are definitely correct on the indepth characters and a solid plotstructure that makes for an engrossing writing.

On the note of making a fantastic setting, I'll back up Svrtnsse on the fact that it's a healthy idea to have some meaning or interaction of fantastical elements with the story. It could be described thus that whenever the setting has a direct and meaningful effect on the characters or the plot, it makes for an absorbing tale since we feel it is all connected! And thus a triangle could be made: Whenever these three things (setting, characters and plot) fit neatly together and touch one another I believe it makes for a more absorbing story.

In general, I think any theme, setting and story can work as long as there has been some solid thinking behind. You want the world to make sense, and you (along with the reader) want an explanation behind why it is as it is.