Post by account_disabled on Jan 6, 2024 3:59:22 GMT -5
In my interviews with 9 publishing houses that publish fantasy, interesting things emerged, but some were also obvious. Obvious in the sense that we all expected them: words like originality and uniqueness have been used by many, as many have shown a decisive refusal for the usual characters and elements that have been found in fantasy for decades. I therefore started from that multiple interview to try to understand how a perfect fantasy novel could be packaged or, better yet, a fantasy novel that could be welcomed by multiple publishers. You will surely remember my clumsy attempts to write a fantasy story, but luckily we are talking about over twenty years ago, when I had very little experience of reading, especially fantasy, and writing. Over time, then, my ideas for fantastic stories have radically changed. There was a desire for originality. Originality: what is it? This word means everything and means nothing. Being original is a wise move, but we need to understand what originality means.
It's certainly not writing yet another Tolkien fantasy, that's all too clear. How can we be original, then? We will answer this question later. Or, rather, the answer to this question will come after Special Data making a series of other considerations. First of all there is another question to ask yourself. Why do you want to write a fantasy? There is a strong tendency to emulate, to ride on the success of others, to propose again, in the hope of achieving the same success, of conquering new readers. The tendency, however, is not the will. A writer must write fantasy because he finds in that genre his best form of expression. In a fantasy story he must find his true world, his environment, he must feel more at ease than in other worlds, in other genres.
The Fantastic is a literary genre apart from the others, it should be placed in a parallel track due to its peculiarities. But above all the writer must feel a call to fantasy. A drive to explore distant, unknown worlds, one must be drawn to mystery and the unknown, ancient history and mythology. The fantasy must already be inside him, it must be part of him. The basics for writing a fantasy Why did my attempts to write a fantasy novel remain attempts? Because I didn't have the basis to write a fantasy. I've said it here and elsewhere: I had read and written little in general and very little fantasy in particular. What should a writer who wants to write fantasy do? Where should it start? To answer these questions I still rely on what emerged from the interview, because they are points with which I totally agree. Mastery of narrative techniques Put yourself in the shoes of someone approaching fantasy for the first time: the reader will find themselves catapulted into a world totally different from the one they are used to, that is, the real world, even if they have read stories set in the past.
It's certainly not writing yet another Tolkien fantasy, that's all too clear. How can we be original, then? We will answer this question later. Or, rather, the answer to this question will come after Special Data making a series of other considerations. First of all there is another question to ask yourself. Why do you want to write a fantasy? There is a strong tendency to emulate, to ride on the success of others, to propose again, in the hope of achieving the same success, of conquering new readers. The tendency, however, is not the will. A writer must write fantasy because he finds in that genre his best form of expression. In a fantasy story he must find his true world, his environment, he must feel more at ease than in other worlds, in other genres.
The Fantastic is a literary genre apart from the others, it should be placed in a parallel track due to its peculiarities. But above all the writer must feel a call to fantasy. A drive to explore distant, unknown worlds, one must be drawn to mystery and the unknown, ancient history and mythology. The fantasy must already be inside him, it must be part of him. The basics for writing a fantasy Why did my attempts to write a fantasy novel remain attempts? Because I didn't have the basis to write a fantasy. I've said it here and elsewhere: I had read and written little in general and very little fantasy in particular. What should a writer who wants to write fantasy do? Where should it start? To answer these questions I still rely on what emerged from the interview, because they are points with which I totally agree. Mastery of narrative techniques Put yourself in the shoes of someone approaching fantasy for the first time: the reader will find themselves catapulted into a world totally different from the one they are used to, that is, the real world, even if they have read stories set in the past.