A recent blog by fantasy author Nyki Blatchley on the prevalence
of medieval, or at least pseudo-medieval settings for fantasy stories brought
back the thought processes that lead to my major fantasy project of the moment.
I was on holiday at the time in Italy, near Lake Como.
Wondering through the cobbled streets and winding alleys, ancient through-ways
that no longer led anywhere, I was struck by the inherent sense of adventure in
the place. I felt an irresistible urge to write something in this sort of setting.
A few days later I started a new book, The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss. It was a good read, I had ordered the sequel from amazon
before the holiday was over, but it set me thinking. Why were nearly all
fantasy books in a medieval setting? Why couldn’t they be in any setting?
Futaristic? Victorian? A 30esque Italian
setting? Now there was an idea! And so began ‘The Walls of Tamorria’.
However a year and a half and three versions of the story
later I began to understand some of the reasons why medieval has become the
de-facto setting for fantasy. Whilst twists and turns are essential to a good
plot (at least in my opinion) they have to follow some rules. The thing about
unexpected events is, in a book they can’t really be unexpected. Of course this
doesn’t mean the reader should be able to predict what is coming, but once it
has happened they should be able to see that the story had been leading up to
that point.
If for example James Bond were to have boarded the Orient
Express in the climax of From Russia with Love, only to find it infested by KGB
goblins, the reader would be left thinking, what
the #%$*? Likewise if Dracula were unexpectedly defeated at the last moment
due to a nut allergy, the reader would be left feeling somewhat cheated.
In creating a fantasy world it is essential that the presence
of magic and fantastic creatures feels ‘right’. Our sense of the medieval world
is so infused with legend and myth from that time, unicorns and giants, evil
mages and mysterious damsels, that we are automatically open to the inclusion
of such elements in this setting. By setting a story in a later age, one of
diesel power and industrialisation, such associations need to be built up from
scratch.
My first intended incarnation of the story was called ‘The
Book Bound in Blue’ and was a novel planned to be the first in a trilogy. However
when I started writing it something was wrong. I got maybe a third of the way
through before I realised that it was the setting. I hadn’t taken the time to
develop the world as a coherent and logical backdrop to my stories. It was
merely ‘you know fantasy, yeah? Imagine that, but in the thirties.’ The fantasy
elements seemed bolted on to the world, not a part of it.
My next step then was to do some world building. I expanded
the plot, reworked characters and tried to tie the whole thing together. In the
process the story changed from a trilogy to a series of novellas. I wrote the
first of these ‘The Winds Awaken’ and it was definitely better. But it still
wasn’t right. I realised now that my story, despite all its trappings, was High
Fantasy. And as such, it really wasn’t suited to novella form. I had given the
main character, Lorenzo, a lot of background which ties in with the meta-plot,
but none of this really came out in the first novella. I knew he was a troubled
individual, eventually ripe for redemption, but to the reader he was just a cliché.
I needed time and space to show the deeper aspects of him, and the other
characters around him.
And so I changed again. Now we are back to a series of
novels, I’m not sure how long a series yet. By changing form, not only does the
reader leave Lorenzo at a later point in the plot, allowing them to see him
develop, I can also slow the pace in the earlier scenes, allowing me time to
insert some subtlety to his character that was missing from the novella.
So, in conclusion I think I can say that fantasy doesn’t have to be placed in a mediaeval
setting. But doing so certainly makes life easier.
Hey, glad to have got you thinking. I think you're right that high fantasy in a modern-type setting can be difficult to do convincingly. In the stories I've written in that kind of setting, I've tended to use the "discovering ancient evil" trope that's associated with contemporary fantasy.
ReplyDeleteStill, there was a lot of world before the mediaeval period started in one small corner of it, and there are fantasy-friendly models for worlds ranging from mythical Greece to pre-Columbian America, and lots more.
Vampire versus nut allergy *makes note*
Yes, there are a lot of earlier settings could work. They are probably not as well developed in the average reader's mind as medieval settings though and so will still take a bit of setting up I should think.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't really call Name of the Wind a medieval setting, actually. It's pre-industrial, but its level of social organization seems more sophisticated, less feudal, than the middle ages, and for all that it's a class-conscious society and pretty sexist, "commoners," and even women, seem to have a lot more freedom than peasants and women did in the middle ages.
ReplyDeleteMine's set in a similar sort of world, I suppose. It has winding, cobbled streets and underground closes, taverns, horses and swords. It also has universities, alchemy labs, indoor plumbing (at least for the wealthy), astronomy and healers who actually do more than lance boils, bleed and purge their patients. It's really more of a Renaissance era world in some ways, though with some significant differences due to the religions that are present and the presence of a materials based magic system.
It's actually a pretty standard approach to fantasy, but since I show the processes of the magic in a few places, I get a bit more of those "Well if they have this, then why don't they have that" kinds of questions.
I do agree with you, though, that more modern settings, especially time periods that have been underused as fantasy settings before, have special challenges. You have to figure out how to integrate the mythology and magic into a world where people are less willing to suspend disbelief (because of their familiarity with it). Until you start a fad and enough people have done it that it's no longer unexpected ;)