The characters I can do, and the plot comes as it comes. But the setting descriptions…holy hell that is not something I find easy to do. Unfortunately for a fantasy story they are almost de rigueur; the forests, the mountains, the villages, the castles, in detail.
They can’t just walk up a mountain pass, they have to go up ‘a barren mountain pass darkened by the towering rock formations on either side, the late afternoon sun coming through the thin mist doing little to illuminate the narrow, rock-strewn path before them’.
I drew out maps for the two main locales. –rolling my eyes- Yes I’m visually anal. If I have something to look at it helps keep me on track. I found pictures that somewhat match what I’m thinking as well.
But the mindset isn’t one I’m used to.
Dialogue, emotions, I can handle. For most stories just a suggestion of what a room looks like works, a leather sofa, chrome and wood bookshelves, something to give a hint about the man inhabiting the house or apartment, if you get what I’m saying.
Fantasy however is world-building if you want the reader to know where they are, what this ‘strange’ quasi-imaginary world is like.
It’s most definitely a learning experience that is pushing my boundaries but I am not giving up…yet.
It's not easy to push beyond your comfort zone. (That's why I stick to contemporary settings.) Keep it up, I'm rooting for ya.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pender. It's definitely an experience.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the fantasy you've written and I have every confidence in the fact you can do it. It's like me writing contemporary I suck shit at it and prefer the paranormal. Don't give up, dude :winks:
ReplyDeleteI'm trudging forward. Up the mountain, through the verdant grasslands. LOL. I'm not giving up, I'm just...ranting? Would that I was half as good at fantasy as you are at paranormal, Fallen. - E.
ReplyDeleteROFL! Try discovering that a sugar-rushed gargoyle works well in the futuristic genre as effectively as he does in pretty much everywhere else!
ReplyDeleteOooh...paranormal...ghost gargoyle...now there's one to experiment with...*shifts butt in armchair and opens up Word again*
You go girl. I'm waiting with bated breath for the results you know. - E.
ReplyDeleteEdward, take a breath honey! :P It will take me a long while to make Freddie something beyond what he currently is...and to keep the 2 separate hims from merging by mistake...Oooh, my head now hurts...
ReplyDelete-handing over a large bottle of aspirin after breathing deeply- You can do it, I have all the faith in the world in you.
ReplyDelete