The wrong kind of details: the components of wonder (aka lmp's rant) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

***Mister Underhill*** · 08-05-2002, 11:13 PM

I think one of the attractions of a well-drawn fantasy world is that it’s simple – physically simple and morally simple. Communities are small and tight-knit, and each individual has some value and a well-defined role. Struggles and challenges are primary, visceral, and direct – to get from here to there (and back again), to find food, to overcome evil, to survive. There’s plenty of elbow room and everything is personal and unique – from hand-made clothing to hand-fashioned weapons to one-of-a-kind Hobbit-holes. You can, by and large, tell the good guys from the bad guys (yep, the bad guys live in “caves and maggot-holes” in lands that are “defiled [and] diseased beyond all healing” and tend to project an aura of dread wherever they go; the good guys live in trees near tinkling streams and know lots of nifty rhymes).

In such a world, there are none of the mundane, banal struggles that people deal with in real life: going to school and prepping for the SATs while trying to survive adolescence; working in a cubicle, crunching numbers, and enduring the small humiliations of corporate life while working for a living; getting the car registered, inspected, insured, smogged, and repaired; wondering if the mechanic ripped you off; crowded freeways, smog, and strip malls; and so on and so on.

We read fantasy to escape, to have the grey moral haze of our own world and its conflicts crystallized into primary, black and white struggles. Frodo never had to re-mortgage Bag End or stave off telemarketers; Sam never had to fill out an I-9 and a W-2 for Human Resources.

So my point is that any details that tend to make the fantastic world and its characters seem ordinary, dreary, and dull and life in that world seem like drudgery will destroy that work’s charm and wonder. Any details that make life there seem interesting and beautiful and exciting and fun and so on will increase that work’s charm and wonder.

But of course there’s no substitute for talent. Success or failure lies in the details, and some writers get it right just because they’re good.

Squatter, good to see you around! I get your point, but to nitpick a bit: I’d say that good fantasy can... should... even must have scenes, interactions, and characters that don’t have real-life equivalents.

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08-05-2002, 11:13 PM	#1
*Mister Underhill* Dread Horseman Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Behind you! Posts: 2,744	I think one of the attractions of a well-drawn fantasy world is that it’s simple – physically simple and morally simple. Communities are small and tight-knit, and each individual has some value and a well-defined role. Struggles and challenges are primary, visceral, and direct – to get from here to there (and back again), to find food, to overcome evil, to survive. There’s plenty of elbow room and everything is personal and unique – from hand-made clothing to hand-fashioned weapons to one-of-a-kind Hobbit-holes. You can, by and large, tell the good guys from the bad guys (yep, the bad guys live in “caves and maggot-holes” in lands that are “defiled [and] diseased beyond all healing” and tend to project an aura of dread wherever they go; the good guys live in trees near tinkling streams and know lots of nifty rhymes). In such a world, there are none of the mundane, banal struggles that people deal with in real life: going to school and prepping for the SATs while trying to survive adolescence; working in a cubicle, crunching numbers, and enduring the small humiliations of corporate life while working for a living; getting the car registered, inspected, insured, smogged, and repaired; wondering if the mechanic ripped you off; crowded freeways, smog, and strip malls; and so on and so on. We read fantasy to escape, to have the grey moral haze of our own world and its conflicts crystallized into primary, black and white struggles. Frodo never had to re-mortgage Bag End or stave off telemarketers; Sam never had to fill out an I-9 and a W-2 for Human Resources. So my point is that any details that tend to make the fantastic world and its characters seem ordinary, dreary, and dull and life in that world seem like drudgery will destroy that work’s charm and wonder. Any details that make life there seem interesting and beautiful and exciting and fun and so on will increase that work’s charm and wonder. But of course there’s no substitute for talent. Success or failure lies in the details, and some writers get it right just because they’re good. Squatter, good to see you around! I get your point, but to nitpick a bit: I’d say that good fantasy can... should... even must have scenes, interactions, and characters that don’t have real-life equivalents.