The Power of Fantasy

The worlds of Middle Earth, Hogwarts, Narnia and Forks have a strange power.  They have the power to make us believe the impossible and feel at home in an improbable world.  Fantasy literature provides a unique mythology, an allegory that echoes human history, an example of courage and endurance, and a vacation from the ordinary.  Fantasy has the power to make us believe that good will win after a long, nearly impossible struggle.

Fantasy literature has some common elements.

• Supernatural Creatures: Elves, dragons, dwarves, enchanted plants, vampires, werewolves and talking animals. The right combination of these, alongside a few lowly humans, creates an essential dynamic between the real and the surreal.

• Magic, or a lack thereof : Characters have to be able to perform some form of magic. Most often the hero or heroine possesses a very strong magical ability that they don’t initially have, or don’t know they have, and learn to develop.

• Love: Although the love factor must remain on the PG-rated side, a love interest exists in order to pull at the heart strings of readers. Usually the love interest of the main character is unattainable. It helps if they are not of the same genetic make-up (i.e. Human and Vampire, Human and Elf, Werewolf and Vampire, etc.)

• The Villain: The Villain must be extraordinary and not easily defeated. The villain is often not revealed in person until the end of the story, in order to create the most impact.

• A Great Battle: Without an epic battle in which the hero is nearly defeated, ultimate victory would not be so sweet.

• The Weapon: Harry Potter has his wand, Eragon has his sword and Bella has her ability to hide her mind from others. Whatever the weapon, it has to be special in not only its capabilities, but also in the reason behind its existence.

• The Setting: From Middle-earth, to Narnia, Alagaesia, Hogwarts, and even Forks, the setting is another character in the story. It is the unique quality of the landscape that allows for most of the events in the story to take place.

• Language: Whether it’s a fabricated language, such as the Elvish speak in Tolkien’s works, or it’s the manipulation of how an existing language is spoken, common vernacular won’t do. The inclusion of a fantasy language heightens the reader’s ability to transport themselves into a different world.

Archetype Characters of Sinister Shadow

I have been working on my second fantasy novel, Sinister Shadow.  Hence my hiatus from posting on this blog.

My characters in Sinister Shadow fall under certain archetypes.

Hero -  The hero is a protagonist character who fulfills a task and restores balance to the community. He/she is a born leader, whether they know it or not. He/she is a real survivor who has faith in good. Others are willing to believe in this hero and will follow him/her.

 Mentors – Mentors are the teachers who counsel initiates almost the way a parent does. They show examples, sometimes magical, to teach the initiate skills and information. 

Loyal Companions – These loyal peers are there to protect the hero at all costs. They are willing to face hardships and dangers and even death either because they believe in the hero, or the cause.

The Fool – This character is always optimistic that things will turn out well. He/she is symbolic of blind hope and always has time for silly things and always sees the best in people. 

The Traitor – A character who uses words carefully, he/she weaves elaborate plots in order to trap heroes. Most others don’t realize how dangerous or manipulative this person is.

 The Creature – This character is reminiscent of a wild animal. It plays on our deepest fears of being eaten by something we never quite saw. 

The Professor – The professor is usually cool and intellectual. He is a thinker, logical, honest and faithful. He has a tendency to not be flexible. 

So here is a short plot summary of Sinister Shadow using the archetypal character types.

Tom is on a journey with his parents when they are killed by an evil creature.  He is saved from harm and  taken to a safe place where he is nurtured and protected.  He finds loyal companions there, including a foolish companion.  He learns about the evil creature from several sources, including a wise intellectual character and his mentors. He risks his own safety for one of his companions and becomes an accepted member of their society.  In return, the companion agrees to help him find and defeat the evil creature. Along the way, Tom discovers that one of his mentors is a traitor, and he is in jeopardy of losing his place in society and losing his life to the creature.

Stories Have Rules

So many stories are about someone who knew the rules, willfully disobeyed the rules, and suffered the consequences.

The opera Lohengren is about a woman who is falsely accused of murdering her brother.  She dreams of a knight in shining armor coming to rescue her.  He in fact does appear!  A knight arrives on a boat pulled by a beautiful swan.  He defeats the accuser in battle and proves the lady's innocence.  He asks her to marry him and she accepts. The condition for the marriage is that the lady must never ask his name or where he is from.  The wedding is planned and the bride to be is very happy.  But scheming and jealous people tell her lies that make her curious and doubt that her knight is truly noble and good.  The wedding takes place and the couple are very happy until the seeds of doubt become too much for the bride.  She asks her husband to tell her who he is and where he is from.  That is when everything falls apart.  Battles take place and people die.  The knight reveals who he is, the son of one of King Arthur's knights. He tells her he has to return to the temple of the Holy Grail.  She lost her true love because she couldn't obey the rule not to ask.

Strega Nona, a picturebook by Tomie DePaola, is about a witch's assistant who breaks the rules.  Strega Nona has a magic cooking pot that makes pasta when she says certain words.  Her assistant, Big Anthony, tries to do it himself while Strega Nona is away.  He causes a disaster when the pot makes a great sea of pasta!  It makes so much pasta it fills the streets of the village.  Big Anthony did not know about the rules of using the pot.  You must blow three kisses to make it stop.  Strega Nona returns and stops the pasta deluge.  But Big Anthony is required to eat, eat eat until the pasta is cleaned up.

Many classic stories set someone up for great success if they can meet certain conditions.  The story tension comes from breaking those conditions.

Can you think of another story about the consequence of breaking rules?

Fools Serve A Purpose in Stories

April 1st, Fools Day! 

Many stories have a foolish character.  You remember the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, for example.  These characters serve at least one purpose and are essential to many stories. Foolish characters introduce information to the reader by speaking out of turn.  They move the plot forward by introducing problems.  They act as a foil to the main character, helping the hero figure out the right action to take.  They provide comic relief that breaks up dramatic tension.  They provide an example of what not to do either for other characters or the reader. They may suffer consequences that were intended for the main character, sparing him so he can continue on his journey.

Foolish Characters may display these characteristics:

• make bad decisions
• act impulsively
• are gullible
• take the easy riches but loose everything
• reveal sensitive information
• follow false clues

 

How many foolish characters can you think of?  What would the story be without that character?  Kind of makes you have more respect for the fool, doesn't it?

Stories that Enrich, Enhance, and Expand

·        Stories expand your imagination.

 

·        Stories of myth enrich the soul.

        ·        Stories offer solutions to story problems that may in turn help solve real problems.

 
      ·        Stories allow enriching vicarious experience.

 

·        Stories are windows to other cultures.

 

·        Stories with humor relieve stress, sadness and grief.

 

·        Story characters model skills such as making friends, making decisions, and enduring through hardships.

  

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

 

The Many Faces of Cinderella

Cinderella stories are common around the world.  In most versions the protagonist is a noble young woman who is treated badly by a stepmother.  She recieves help from a mystical being adn then meets a wealthy and prominent young man.  He immediately falls in love with her but she leaves suddenly.  He finds an aricle of clothing that belongs to her and uses it to find her.  They marry and the stepmother gets her just rewards.

There is an Algonquin story called the rough-faced girl.  She is mistreated by her older sisters and her father.  She is forced to sit close to the fire and tend it, which leaves her face and arms scarred with burns.  All the young women hope to marry the Invisible Being but they are all passed over.  They cannot see him because of their hard hearts. Because the rough-faced girl is noble and kind, she is the only one who can see the Invisible Being that lives across the lake. They marry and live happily ever after.

A story from China is similar.  Yeh-hsien is good and kind but is treated badly by her stepmother.  She takes care of a fish and is kind to it, but her stepmother kills and eats the fish.  Yeh-hsien is told where to find the bones and how to make a wish.  She marries a King at the end of this tale.

In the Russian version, called The Wonderful Birch, the heroine is helped repeatedly by elements of nature, such as a birch tree. The stepmother here is also an actual witch, going back to Russia’s rich history of magical fairy tales. With the Scottish tale of Rashin-Coatie, it is a red calf that helps the heroine, in keeping with the tradition of raising cattle for a living in that country. Finally, in the Irish story Fair, Brown, and Trembling, the heroine is actually a princess, and, as with any good Irish tale, there is a nice amount of combat and royal appearances scattered throughout the story.

Cinderella stories give us hope that inner beauty and kindness will be rewarded.  I hope you will find one and read it today!

A New Story about Giants

by guest blogger Daniel Tracy

Giants! Once believed to be extinct, they have been seen again in this small village in Appalachia.  Everyone in the village knows someone who has gone missing.  Most of them believe their brothers, fathers and cousins were probably eaten by giants. But those disappearances happened long ago.

 Now, everyone feels safe.  They hunt for game in the woods.  They gather mushrooms in the woods.  They tend to their bees and gather their herbs without a second thought about the massive menace from those old stories.  But one day, an old man was walking alone in the woods when it happened.  He felt the ground tremble and heard the birds go silent.  And then he heard screams. Hobbling faster, he came to the edge of a clearing. A huge shadow draped the spring grass and the vegetable patch in blackness. The shadow began at two boulder size feet. His gaze traveled from the feet, up hairy pillar legs, to a leather clad torso, a toothy Cheshire cat grin, and stopped at black pin prick eyes, cold as unlit coal.

Who will be the next victim?  Who will come to defend these peaceful mountain people from the horrible giants?

Massive Menace by Daniel Tracy, published by Glowing Ember Press