{"id":37018,"date":"2019-09-23T06:30:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T18:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=37018"},"modified":"2019-09-17T23:10:48","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T11:10:48","slug":"finding-adventure-in-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/finding-adventure-in-fantasy\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Adventure In Fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

It feels a very long blog ago to August 2014, but awa’ back then I penned a short essay on Finding Adventure in Fantasy<\/strong><\/em>, that appeared as part of a feature on Awkward Paper Cut<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I stumbled over the draft on the weekend and thought, given the “long blog ago” element, it might be fun to share it again here today.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Finding Adventure In Fantasy<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"~ by Helen Lowe<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

My writing style is primarily intuitive, with stories springing from an initial \u2018flash\u2019 of an idea, before evolving. So in terms of \u2018finding\u2019 adventure (or any other element) in Fantasy, I agree with Ursula Le Guin that: “The world\u2019s full of stories, you just reach out<\/strong>\u201d (Steering The Craft<\/em>). But I believe we also reach out for the kind of stories that \u2018speak\u2019 to us most profoundly. In my case this will probably always include adventurous stories, because I love them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"As a craftsperson, however, I know that an adventurous story will work best if there are peaks and subsequent levelings-off in the telling. The number of these ‘peaks’ and ‘plains’ will depend on the book’s length. In\u00a0Thornspell<\/strong><\/em>, which is a relatively short (ca. 70,000-word) retelling of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the prince who breaks the spell, the structure comprises: an opening set up (aka a ‘small hill’); the transition (a ‘plain’) of the prince from childhood to early manhood; a hunt sequence where he first crosses swords with the tale’s antagonists (the central ‘peak’ of the book.) This is followed by a regrouping and gaining of necessary knowledge (another ‘plain’), with a subsequent build-up of\u00a0adventurous incidents\u00a0resulting in the final resolution (peak) of the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

USA<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

A longer story, like\u00a0The Heir Of Night<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(ca. 145,000 words) or\u00a0The Gathering Of The Lost<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(ca. 207,000 words), will require more ‘peaks’ and ‘plains’ to sustain story tension and reader interest. This is particularly important where a story, as frequently occurs in fantasy, is based around adventure, whether\u00a0quest, contest or combat<\/strong>. The ‘plains’ are as important as the ‘peaks’, because, as in real life, adventurers in stories cannot be constantly journeying through the wilderness or fighting off enemies without becoming exhausted \u2013 while reader interest may be correspondingly blunted. From time to time, both must come to the wayside inn or castle where the weary can eat and rest, regrouping for the next round of adventure, which will consequently press more sharply on both characters and reader.<\/span><\/p>\n

The importance of balancing ‘peaks’ with ‘plains’ does not mean that both must be given equal treatment within the narrative. Transitions, such as Sigismund’s passage from childhood to manhood, geographic periphery to centre, in\u00a0Thornspell<\/em>, may (and almost certainly should) be dealt with swiftly, before the rising ground that heralds the next peak \u2013 however blue with distance still \u2013 begins its climb\u2026 This reflects the principle that the story should always dwell longest on its most crucial elements. In an adventurous story, these will always be the high points of the adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

If you want to read the original series, which includes four other short essays, you can find them here:<\/p>\n

Creating Other Worlds: Fantasy and Adventure on Page and Screen<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

Happy Monday, Team! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It feels a very long blog ago to August 2014, but awa’ back then I penned a short essay on Finding Adventure in Fantasy, that appeared as part of a feature on Awkward Paper Cut. I stumbled over the draft on the weekend and thought, given the “long blog ago” element, it might be fun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epicfantasy","category-funstuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37018"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37024,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37018\/revisions\/37024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}