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To Fantasy or Not to Fantasy
Fantasy was one of my first loves in fiction. Long before I read romance or sci-fi, I was a fantasy reader. My definition of fantasy is pretty broad, and in a large sense, encompasses most of what we now call paranormal.
I suppose it comes as no surprise, then, that my favorite things to write are fantasy romances. Dead (or at least Not Quite Dead) heroes, vampire buddies, selkies and curses and werewolves and witches.
I’m delving even further into fantasy romance with my current work in progress and the most difficult and interesting part of it is the world-building. Trying to develop a society, a language, a culture — even a map! — from the ground up is absorbing work. Questions pop up at me with every step my characters take. What’s technology and what’s magic? What’s their word for this thing or that? Should I make one up or use one from a known language? Or should I just say it in English?
So for everyone here who both reads and writes fantasy romance, what helps make a fantasy world work for you? What details do you like to hear about? What’s the line on too much world-building?
I love it when the author just goes straight into the story and let’s the reader gradually catch onto the details through context. I know this has got to be one of the toughest things to do, to make complicated world building just seem effortless as it’s revealed in layers.
On the other hand, I usually don’t like reading a prologue that tries to explain the history of the world or the gods or what not. It almost feels like cheating to try to sneak it in that way.
Good luck Sela, can’t wait to see what you do with this!
My favorite fantasies are from folklore and mythology. Loved your selkie story, Sela. You included the mythology, but gave it a different spin.
Building a world from scratch is far more labor intensive than adding to the bedrock of myth, but I think as long as you stay consistent within the laws you create for your world, you should be fine.
Less is more, and I agree with the first poster, that backstory has to be carefully orchestrated so as not to overwhelm the reader. Otherwise it becomes an info dump and slows the pace.
I look forward to reading more of your work.
Hi Sela
Great post. Like you, fantasy was my first love.
What makes a fantasy world work for me? – all these things and more.
I love it when a fantasy pulls me right into its world so that I wouldn’t dream of putting the book down, where things lock together in a cohesive world which works logically and makes sense on its own terms. Even in a world with magic, the magic needs to work logically and have impact and consequences, otherwise things become too easy. If magic was like science, our fantasy characters would be using spells the way we use electricity.
And ultimately, there’s the moment where the worldbuilding has to take a back seat to the story and the characters.
I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
R
Fantasy is my first reading love. It’s still my goto genre when I want something to read that I can sink my teeth into. A good story that I can get lost in and if it has a romance or romantic elements then that’s all the better. Having studied folklore, mythology and fairy tales in college stories that are take offs from those are my favorites.
Less is definitely more. The details about technology, magic, the world (or world of the book) has to be carefully handled so it’s not just an infodump. It has to be handled with care. Which is why I’ve been wrestling with the same story for over a year trying to get everything right and smoothed out.
I’m with Jeannie on the prologue that explains the history of the world, the magic system, gods or what have you. It should be able to be explained through the story without being heavy handed.
This is one of my favorite topics but I won’t take over the comments.
Great post, Sela. Like those who posted before me, I’m a huge fan of fantasy. I actually started out writing fantasy until my beta readers told me I was writing fantasy romance. Oops! :)
One of the hardest things I’ve had to tackle with my world-building is to slowly introduce it to the reader without completely shoving them into it. Usually, I end up filling up a notebook about my world (complete with maps, descriptions of cultures and regions, and some “words” or “spells”) and then leak the details throughout the manuscript. The notebook lets me brainstorm and serves as a reference to keep my facts straight.
I like when an author lets me think. For instance, I like reading “her magically enhanced butter knife cut through the ghoul’s flesh as if he was made out of, um, butter” well maybe not exactly in those words but you know what I mean. You don’t have to tell me exactly how the knife works because it would bore me to death and I would probably skip the explanation. And if I have to do too much skipping, I usually end up closing the book.
Then again, I’m just one reader.
Thank you everyone for commenting! I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get back yesterday to talk to you.
Jeannie, that’s an excellent point and one that almost everyone repeated. Not too much information up front.
Cerri, I’m building from mythology on this one, too (I can’t seem to avoid it!) but in this story, the myth is accepted as reality throughout society. The tough part is getting all the cultural connotations while still tweaking it enough to keep it in a fantasy worrld.
RF, it’s funny you should mention that bit about magic having consequences. I was just considering it the other day as I realized that my characters were merrily shifting back and forth, but there is no price they pay. Going to have to fix that!
Angeleque, feel free to take over the comments! I love this discussion. As I said, I’m only sad I wasn’t here yesterday to get it rolling. I’m a fan of prologues, but it never even occurred to me to use it for backstory and mythology. Yay! I did something right!
Crista, since I’m a pantser, I have a separate document that I use for world-building details. Or I just plop it into the rough draft in parentheticals, then I have to go through and winnow out all my little ‘notes to self.’ Having them in a central location, though, makes this so much easier. That’s a great idea.
Magaly, as a reader, you’re the most important part of this equation! And you’ve just reinforced other comments. Too much detail is a killer. I don’t have to explain every little thing. I should have that henna’d onto my hand for easy reference!
Thanks again, y’all, for coming and talking to me. I appreciate all your input and discussion!!