Fantasy setting experience

When I experienced the movie Avatar in the theater it enthralled me. Notice, I'm not only saying I saw it. I experienced it. It drew me in. The characters came to life but so did the Pandora fantasy setting. The 10 foot-tall humanoid cat-like species known as the Na'vi lived in harmony with their fantastical world. In looks, it reminded me of the Yessongs Awakening print by Roger Dean from back in the 70s. Falling in love with the Na'vi and their world was instant, and with it's 3D effect, it ranked near the top among movies worth seeing on the big screen.

The Avatar story starts with a common futuristic theme. Earth suffers an energy crisis and with its natural resources depleted the humans are harvesting what they need from space. In this particular story, the RDA (Resources Development Administration) plans to mine a valuable mineral from a forested moon known as Pandora. The story gets interesting quickly. With an atmosphere poisonous to humans, and the Na'vi who are one with their world, instant conflict arises.

Importance of setting in fantasy writing

I could go on about the movie, but what I want to talk about is the importance of setting. In a story, characters function within the setting as the story unfolds. If surroundings are not clear, strong characters can usually pull off the scene, but if that's the case, we're cheating the reader. It's like eating a slice of pizza without smelling it cook, without the anticipation of waiting for it to be done cooking, without choosing favorite toppings. A weak setting throughout the book makes the story less interesting. A setting that doesn't provide sounds, smells and visuals to create a complete experience within the reader's imagination, even with a great plot, will be mediocre. If Dorothy is told to follow the yellow brick road but we never see it, feel it, hear our footfalls click upon it...we feel a little lost.

 

 

Engage the senses

Along with creating a visual, it's important to engage the other senses. You want to deliver the whole package. To do that, a fantasy world needs to be experienced on more than one dimension. As you write ask yourself what makes your fantasy world different than the real world? In some cases it might be fantasy characters like dragons, fairies, elves or other lifeforms walking around in a world much like the one in which we live. Whether or not you've created a whole new world or have decided on a world similar to the one in which we live, it takes more than landscape, unique creatures and characters with special powers. To help give your readers a complete experience ask these questions:

• What smells and tastes are experienced?
• What customs are practiced?

Avatar answers these questions in such a way that you are drawn in and become one with the world. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy learned the "custom" for her to return home required her to retrieve the Wicked Witch's broom and bring it to the wizard. Many times these small details play an integral part in the plot, but are so subtle that it isn't realized until the climax and/or conclusion of the story. Without them, it's like a tapestry with threads missing leaving bare spots that detract from the picture and make it less than it can be. 

 

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Photo credits: etsy.com

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About The Inheritance by Donna Sundblad

Written within the allegorical tradition of classics like Pilgrim's Progress, The Inheritance offers a literal but symbolic story for today's fantasy enthusiasts. This cleverly devised tale doesn't tell you what to think, but stimulates thought as to why you believe what you believe in your own quest for the Eternal City. The Inheritance is an ideal discussion starter for youth groups, homeschoolers, and families who enjoy meaningful discussions. 

 

The Inheritance is available on Kindle, paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo (Christian fiction), Smashwords and Google Books. When you read it, be sure to leave a review! Thanks for your support. 

Coming soon! Dragonborn by Donna Sundblad

Coming soon! Dragonborn by Donna Sundblad

Dragonborn conjures up a winning fantasy with dragons, humans, time travel, and magic. Follow the journey of the young prisonguard, Ervig Greenfields, as he seeks out dragons to remove a curse. The dragons offer him access to the Labyrinth of Times, which will purge the dark magic. But there’s a catch. Erving must take the Dragon Oath that requires allegiance--to fight alongside dragons for centuries, never to return to his own time. He and a handful of others take the selfless oath and become Dragonborn. The Dragonborn and their dragons become seeds of change, in this epic tale, of sacrifice for the greater good. Ride along with them as they slip through a tear in time to the past to change the future.

 

Show Not Tell

As a new fantasy writer, I stared at the critique. My mentor's words struck me. Show this. I thought I was showing. What did she mean? As writers, it's important to know the difference between showing and telling. Today, as an author and editor, I regularly meet writers who confuse the issue. In this article, I present a quick checklist to activate your writing, moving it from passive telling to active showing. Use this list to test your manuscript and eliminate passive telling language.

Emotional Expression:

Show emotion. Whether it's a flushed face, or a slammed car door, body language and facial expressions show emotion. Passive language tells the reader what to think.

Tell: "I'm not putting up with it," he said angrily.

Show: He slammed his fist against the table. "I'm not putting up with it."

Avoid the use of modifiers like the word angrily that tell the reader what to think. Even the use of a word like hissed in the speech tag modify the dialog by telling the reader how it is said. Instead, use strong verbs or beats to show the reader the emotion.

Descriptions For Character and Setting:

Have you blended character description a little at a time like an ingredient to a favorite recipe? Or, have you heaped a load of description in one paragraph and created a lump of facts clumped in one place. Consider how you learn about things in life. If a person walks in a room, do you think: That woman wearing the green dress has eyes that match and long blond hair falling across her shoulders. She walks like a gazelle and everyone in the rooms seems to notice her.

No, that's not how we process information. When you add character and scenic description, too many details added at one time bog the story down and tend to tell rather than show like the example above. Description dumps do not follow the way we perceive information.

Readers want a forward moving tempo. Keep the pace active with verbiage that lures them to wonder what happens next. Incorporate detail naturally within the story. Notice the difference:

The woman's green dress shimmered under low canister lighting. She slipped through the crowded room with the grace of a gazelle and stopped at the rich mahogany desk. Her blond hair draped across her shoulders as she flipped her head, turned and looked at me. Her eyes reflected the color of her dress. I smiled. Everyone in the room stopped.

Telling description stops the action. Showing the description makes it part of the natural flow. Include description in dialog and action to make it real.

Dumping Background Information:

Much like heaping description in large portions, writers may be tempted to use dialog to include large doses of information and facts they want the reader to know. Do this sparingly. If details don't have relevance within the context of the conversation these facts tell the reader information that should be gleaned in a more natural way. When dialog becomes an unnatural information dump, it stops the action and the reader loses the feel of an exchange between characters. It removes the reader from the scene, and becomes an explanation of what the author wants the reader to know.

Long character speeches used to show off hours of research (including interesting facts) need to flow unpretentiously. If piles of content do nothing to move the story along, it's time to cut it.

Repeating What the Character Knows

Search dialog for repeated information. Sometimes in an effort to be sure the reader understands what's happening, writers repeat information. Two things need to be considered. First, if you wrote it right the first time, the reader understands. Second, if you repeat it as if the reader didn't understand, you're insulting their ability to grasp the details.

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Check out Pumping Your Muse. The prompts included in this creative writing book challenge the imagination to take new direction and if followed to the conclusion of the book, provide a detailed outline along with completed scenes and developed characters for one novel, as well as a solid start for a second novel.