FROM INSOMNIAC

I have only begun writing this year and although I have a few shorter M/S out, I am not published. My writing is done for my own enjoyment, and because it is something that I always wanted to do. The short stories / novellas I have written and sent out are all horror / suspense, but the novel I am trying to write is fantasy and that’s where I am having a major problem.

When I write the horror stories, the backdrop is based in the world as we know it and therefore it is much easier.

“The young man drove his car down the two-lane road to the haunted house, a slow jazz song playing on the radio like some snappy dirge signifying his eminent doom.”

Everything with the exception of the paranormal theme is based in reality, a car, a road, a radio. Nothing requires thought in regards to those things. However in attempting to write fantasy, in addition to trying to write the story itself, I also have to write a background history to the “world” I am creating and it is becoming tedious and slow. No explanation is needed for the radio, or the car in the previous sentence. In the fantasy story however, I find that it is necessary to give explanations of events and geography to “quantify” the story itself. I would not need to describe to anyone in a non-fantasy story what and where New York is < example> but would need to let the reader know what and where “Blithia” came from.

I am close to giving up on the project as too great an undertaking for an amateur like myself and going back to collecting my rejection slips from magazines.

Ever have such a problem and if so any suggestions? Slamming my head in a drawer isn’t helping.

Thanks

RESPONSE

Well, to my mind, you're fretting a little too much about details. I don't write fantasy, but I've read a bit, and I don't believe it's necessary for you to explain every detail like that; context usually provides more than enough clues to lend sense.

For example, if a character says, "Tonight, I ride to Blithia to confer with the King!", most people would readily understand Blithia to be a major city, probably a capital. The details come in as the story unfolds and conflict emerges, like when the head sorcerer tells the King, "Long ago, at the birth of Blithia, two mighty warriors, Akon and Mirak, fought for dominance. Though Akon was a mighty sorcerer, Mirak prevailed, and with his dying breath, Akon uttered this curse upon the descendants of Mirak, of which you are one, O King..." You see? Write details only when they impact the story, otherwise let context do most of the work.

How did Mirak prevail? "He whipped out his thrognythe and sapticated Akon," saith the First Counselor. It isn't necessary to define those words instantly. Readers gather a thrognythe is some kind of weapon and that saptication is something unpleasant else Akon wouldn't have died from it. Later, have the hero witness the saptication of one of his men he tried to save, then when the meanies capture the hero and say "Traitor! Prepare for saptication!", readers get the cold shivers. Let the story dictate when and how much detail to reveal. If Blithia is a huge key to the story and characters spend tons of time there, then yep, may need some detail up front, but do it through the actions of the characters.

I always kind of liked that kind of jabberwocky in fantasy.