Fantasy worlds populated with dragons, magic and sword-wielding heroes are one of the most popular subjects in fiction today. My Guest this week is an author who will highlight some of the most critical issues faced when writing in this genre. Ladies and Gentlemen...
Paul Cude
Forging
Flaming Fantasy!
Oddly it started with a dream. Sounds a bit crazy
really, but one night, when my elder daughter was just a baby (she's11 now) I
had the single most realistic dream I've ever had. I didn't remember it until
the following day, but when I did, I swear it was just like watching a movie in
my head.....so graphic, so intense, so.....mesmerising. Anyhow, I told my wife,
who was gobsmacked to say the least. And so was what she said to me, "You
have to write it, you just have to." At the time I laughed off her idea,
bearing in mind that at the time I could only type with two fingers. But over a
period of I suppose months, I kept getting more dreams, flashbacks into the
story.......sometimes little details, sometimes insights into the characters,
sometimes twists and turns to do with the plot. In the end I suppose looking
back it was inevitable that I would write it. First I taught myself to type
properly......3 months, and then, well.........I began.
 |
| Amazon Link |
At first I needed
complete silence to be able to write, something there wasn't a lot of bearing
in mind I was taking care of one young child, with another on the way. But over
time I've learned to filter it all out and can now write with the kids playing
around me if I need to, but I still think I do work more efficiently in total
silence. But how do you build a fantasy world? Where on earth do you even
begin?
Jotting some notes, outlining the story of course.
But for me, it was more than that. I know this sounds insane, but subsequent
dreams were so real. Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning with a certain smell
playing through my nostrils, the perceived taste of a charcoal fajita clinging
to the back of my dry throat, or the 'whoosh' of a monorail door sliding
closed, echoing through my ears as I headed towards the shower. So not only
could I see the story running through my head, I could taste, smell and hear
all the elements that made it so vivid. All of this brought a whole new aspect
to my writing. I thought I'd be sitting, staring at a screen and a keyboard,
words fluttering effortlessly from my fingertips. Instead, I'd quite often be
overtaken by the sounds, smells and tastes of the world I was trying to create,
as well of course as the imagery.
It didn't take long before things stepped up
another level. I found myself with questions I couldn't
answer. Odd,
particularly given it was my world that I'd created, to which the questions
pertained. But these were facts....real world questions that needed real world
answers. In my wildest imagination, both in my dreams, and at my desk, I never
once thought I'd be trying to work out things like the top speed a dragon can
fly at. Well, when you think about it, it really shouldn't make much
difference. Should it? But I had a group of dragons travelling half way across
the world, underground. There needed to be details. Oh well, I'll guess then.
But it's not as easy as that. It never is. 'What about the speed of
sound?" I hear you say. Hmmm...you're right of course. If, as a given,
these dragons live and work underground, well most of them anyway, then flying
beyond or close to the speed of sound has to be out of the question. The sonic
boom would destroy everything in their wake. That would be the shortest-lived
fictional world ever. After that I had to work out the underground route they'd
take from Europe to Antarctica, and then how long it would take them to get
there. At about this time I was starting to envy Star Trek's transporter
technology. How much easier would that make things? After all, I think I'm
right in saying that it was invented in the original series to save time and
make it easier to get from the ship down to the planet every week.
 |
| Amazon Link |
This was only the opening chapter of my book, and
there were so many things that I just hadn't bargained for. I thought I could
sit and imagine underground monorails, packed with soft, giant dragon-sized
seats, zooming beneath the surface of the Earth, deftly describing the noise
the doors would make, or the feeling of the warm air as it exited the tunnels
at the stations, caressing the cracks between a dragon's scales, warming their
blood, making them feel alive. But it couldn't be that easy, even with
something as simple as that. There were the G forces to consider, what route
the monorail would take, and would it go through geologically unstable areas or
around? And the seats. There can't be a problem with the seats, surely? Dragons
using the monorail would not only be in their normal form (solitus) but would also be travelling in their mantra enhanced
human disguises (mutatio). Dragons
like this would look like tiny action figures sitting in huge, oversized dragon
seats. How very stupid. Also, just how would a dragon in its natural form sit
down on a seat in a monorail carriage? You're all shouting, 'REALLY CAREFULLY',
I can hear you. No, I mean......wouldn't its tail get in the way? So how do you
overcome that problem?
Again it's imagination vs the laws of physics. I won't tell you the answer - for that you'll have to read the first book in the series. But as a fantasy writer, it seems to be one constant battle between these two forces. Often there's more than one answer. But it seems all about finding the right balance. So while I would always encourage you to let your imagination loose, explain the sounds, the feel of the fabric, the mouth-watering taste of the foods, the overpowering smell of fear from an unbeatable battle and describe the scene as vividly as you see it in your head.
Always remember the imagination/physics balance, because if you don't, it'll come back at some point later on and assume the form of a hulking great, prehistoric, matt black dragon, circle over you, like a leaf falling in the wind, before swooping down at much less than the speed of sound, and rip your head off.
BIO
Eric @ ericjgates.com
As for
me.........I look after my two girls, and when they're at school I'm a teaching
assistant. I love playing hockey, and help coach kids, mine included. Other
interests include reading, building computers, squash, cycling, great days out
with my wonderful wife and kids, as well of course as WRITING! I've just
published my second book in the 'Bentwhistle' series, called 'Bentwhistle
The Dragon in A Chilling Revelation'
When Paul is not using mantra spells to create more dragon mayhem, he can be located here:
Thank you, Paul, for an interesting insight into the creation of believable fantasy; Many new fantasy writers could learn much from your experience, especially the use of sensory data to add a realistic dimension to the worlds they create.
Eric @ ericjgates.com
No comments:
Post a Comment