Save the Cat. A book I've never read, but I'll discuss it anyway.

This semester, I took a class called Intro to Film. It was basically just a filler credit to get my Fine Arts requirement, but I'm happy to say that it has become more than that. It seems that I fell into a wildly beneficial learning experience without even realizing it. How's that for good luck? I'm only three weeks in, but so far we've discussed a variety of subjects, each one either directly, or at least feasibly, relating to novel writing. The format of the class runs like this: we have an hour lecture, a two hour movie, and an hour discussion. I've already gone into this in a previous post, so I'll be brief. In the hour lecture, the professor teaches us something about narrative structure, themes and motifs, character development, set dressing, lighting, or music, etc. Some of it is amazingly helpful in my own writing, and even the other stuff, such as set dressing and lighting can still be taken for what its worth.

Let me explain. There is a term in the film business, mise en scene, which basically means the style of what you see. The Director and Production Designer of a movie try their best to keep this consistent, and it's what gives the film its "feel". It can include furniture, set design, color palette, lighting, makeup, costuming etc. Think of films like Moulin Rouge, 300, or any Tim Burton production. These have a very strong mise en scene. The same goes for an author writing a book. While reading a book isn't a strictly visual medium, the visuals are still important, if you know what I mean. The author acts as the Production Designer, creating a world through description, not images. A good, or shall we say, successful writer, can plant a literary mise en scene right in the reader's mind. By keeping descriptions of objects, clothing, and buildings consistent, a writer can maintain a distinct style that persists in the reader's mind throughout the story. Not only that, but the way in which a writer forms their sentences or uses pronouns and adverbs can give the actual words a recognizable style. Harry Potter, The Wheel of Time, and the Codex Alera books all accomplished this in my opinion.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I've come to appreciate movies as a learning experience for my own writing. This leads me to the subject of this post. In class last week, we discussed narrative structure. I've done a lot of my own self-learning about this, listening to podcasts, attending panels, etc., but I've always been a little hazy on how to properly structure my stories. My professor told us about an old Hollywood staple, taken from a book called Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder. It's intended to be a help for screenwriters, but it applies just as well to novelists. In it, the author outlines a series of "beats" that every successful story should touch on. It's not a formula per se, simply an outline of what will keep an audience/reader interested in the story. Since you can find it on the web in a million places or in any film class, I'll outline it really quick here:


Opening Image (where we see the character, and get a basic idea of who they are):
Theme Stated (the viewer/reader gets to see what the movie/story will eventually tell them):
Setup (Characters living life):
Catalyst (the big "thing" that happens):
Debate (where we see the characters trying to sort out their options, figure out what to do):
Break Into Act Two (this is where they take their first step toward and attempt to resolve the problem):
"B" Story (a different, but associated character's story, many times this is a romance):
Fun and Games (think training montages, newly dating couple having shenanigans, etc.):
Midpoint (disaster that commits character to their path, halfway through the story):
Bad Guys Close In (this is where stuff begins to escalate, become more serious):
All Is Lost (low point, everything bottoms out and the worst has happened):
Dark Night of the Soul (kinda self-explanatory, characters question everything, superhero hangs up his cape in despair, oh crap):
Break Into Act Three (Where things begin to turn around, characters begin to fight back in earnest):
Finale (the big finish, sword fight, dog fight, Luke cuts off Vader's hand, and the Emperor is thrown down the ventilation shaft):
Final Image (new life, we see the aftermath, people are reunited, usually a happy ending, but not always):


I may have misconstrued some of those points, and if I did, let me know. But the general idea is there. A successful screenplay hits all of these beats at some point, and so does a novel (in my opinion). Today I went through, and applied my own book to these beats. I was surprised to find that most everything was represented, though the order was a little out of whack. I'm not saying this will work for every novelist, or even every genre. As for me, it's been a big help. Take a look at it, try to assign your favorite movie or book to these beats. I guarantee you'll be able to. Then maybe try your own book. Story and character are the most important thing in any novel, so take some time and give them some love.

How watching films critically can help you write better.

I had my first Introduction to Film class yesterday, and despite the four-hours-in-one-really-old-theater-seat syndrome, I'm pretty excited for it. As I'm sure you can guess, we view a film once per class, book-ended by an hour lecture and discussion afterward. This gives the instructor a chance to teach us about a particular concept, allow us to watch for it, then discuss and identify the film-maker's usage of that concept.

As most of you know (at least, I hope so), movies begin with a screenplay. Which is writing, btw. Instead of writing a five-hundred page novel, a screenwriter writes something like one-hundred twenty pages (about 90 minutes of movie). Both novels and screenplays share a lot in common, from the basic structure (generally three-act, though there are always exceptions), to the need for natural, but informative dialogue. As always, characters and plot require hard work and probably tears of frustration in all forms of writing.

The interesting thing about watching a movie with critical eyes (as far as the writing portion goes), is that its format is perfect for catching all the ways the film makers handle the story elements. Such a condensed version of a story makes it east to identify character conflicts, quirks, and flaws. It's readily apparent what character's hold which place in the plot, and who does what.

We watched Little Miss Sunshine, a pseudo-indie film made back in 2006 or 2007 (maybe). We were instructed to watch for motifs (repeated themes), character parallels (and foils), and metaphors. During the discussion we talked about what we had found, and it struck me how easy it looked on screen. Of course the VW bus breaking down was a metaphor for the family's steady deterioration. Of course the beauty pageant at the end symbolized all of the character's misplaced dreams. Why can't it be so simple while writing a book? Well, maybe it is.

Next time you watch a movie, try to look at it with a screen writer's eyes, instead of a movie-goer's. Try to identify the techniques the film maker uses to draw you in, to define character, to advance plot, etc. See if any of those things might benefit your own writing. Hopefully I'll find some good stuff of my own.

Finding your groove.

Finding the rhythm and flow of writing isn't easy. I think some new writers think that once you finish your first book, or sell a novel, that suddenly writing becomes easy. I know I did. Unfortunately, it never works that way. It has been several months since I finished my first draft of The Sometimes Sword, and yet the last few weeks have been the most difficult for me to find motivation. Now, I don't want to focus on the difficulties; I want to highlight some of the things that will, first, help you realize you aren't that different from the rest of us, and second, maybe find some good advice to help you out.

I don't have much in the way of advice today, but I do want to say this: ask yourself why you are writing. Is it just a hobby? For fun? Are you just bored? Do you want to someday sell a book? Whatever your answer is, be it ambitious or laid-back, that's fine. But, you need to look at what your intentions are, then carefully assess what you've been doing, and how it supports, or doesn't support your dream. If you want to make a living writing novels, then approaching it like a hobby is probably not going to work, etc. Just try to make good decisions, and constantly re-evaluate your priorities.

Now I want to hear from you. What advice can you give other readers about managing their dream, and finding the healthy groove of writing?

New friends, new writers... Good to meet you!

It seems like the interviews are going to be a pretty fun feature, because I got a lot of interest from all of you on Melanie Chasten Fowler's from yesterday (or maybe it was just the fact that it was Melanie). Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment. A special thanks to those of you who added me as followers! I look forward to some good conversations.

As I've said before, the purpose of this blog was originally to give myself a writing outlet while I was in school, and didn't have time to actually write in my own novel much. Since then I've had several people tell me that they had found some worth in something I posted, and it had helped them with their own writing (I don't claim to be any kind of expert in the slightest). So the blog has morphed into something I think might be beneficial to the writing community. The way I plan to accomplish this is to open it up to everyone to contribute. I know many of you have blogs or websites, and I want to be a support for those. If you have an event or contest you'd like to spread around, let me know. If you have an awesome local writer you'd like me to interview (even if it's yourself), also let me know! Feel free to post any questions about writing you might have in my post's comments, or email me.

If you discover a great website or book that has helped you in your own writing, let me know so I can post it. Throw quotes from authors' blogs at me, notify me if you get published or self-publish. Let's pull some of the great writers here in Utah into the spotlight and get some great books out there!

Research and Writing.

Why should writers/authors do research, and what benefits does it have? I'm sure opinions on this subject vary wildly. I wanted to give some of my thoughts, along with recent experiences while working in The Sometimes Sword.

I've never been a research buff. I've always fancied that, in Fantasy at least, the author's mind should be sufficient to provide details in the world they themselves made. (Makes sense right?) Well, not so much. recently I've been taking advantage of research more, and I wish I had started earlier. First though, let me define research, as there are two parts in my opinion. First, what most people think of: basic fact finding such as discovering the different parts of a horse's saddle, looking up what different metals were used in weapons in medieval societies, or the names of the individual pieces in a set of plate armor, etc. Second, there's the research for story, character, and setting ideas (this one is especially important).

It's true that an author can invent most anything they want to, and a really smart author can bluff their way through many details, or just make them up on the spot. Writing in extreme High Fantasy makes this easier than say, modern crime thrillers, but for those of us who want to ground our fantasy world closer to home, we need to introduce some solid facts to forge that link. For instance, back when I first started The Sometimes Sword, I knew I wanted to have a horse in there somewhere, but knew nothing about them. Not wanting to treat a horse like a motorcycle (as Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary fame phrases it in several Writing Excuses episodes), I had to find out something about them. What do they eat? How much do they eat? How fast can they run, and for how long? Do my characters need to worry about the cost of maintaining their mount? Do they sleep standing up or laying down? These things were important. Even though the story I was writing might have been okay without them, I knew I needed to have those details to give it a sense of reality. So I jumped on the Internet (yes, it really is that easy) and looked up a few reputable sites dedicated to caring for horses and began to read. Truth be told, it ended up being pretty dang interesting all by itself. I took some notes and added a few bookmarks.

I've done the same with pieces of armor, and terms for different weapons and styles of swords. These details, when integrated seamlessly into your story, help to flesh the world out, and give the illusion that you really know what you're talking about. After all, telling a story is all about creating illusions, because an effective one hides everything that doesn't make it into the book, along with any failings the author might have in say, horsemanship.

The other kind of research is a little more involved, and ultimately, serves a story better than fact-finding alone. I'm talking about using the world's thousands of stories as an inspiration for yours. There's a lot more of this than we realize, even from the greats: Lloyd Alexander's Horned King came from an old legend in Ireland (I think) about a spectral hunter with antlers on his head called Herne the Hunter (much of his world is loosely based on Welsh legends). Banshees in countless tales come from another set of Irish legends. Sherlock Holmes's(?) case "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is based on the legend of the Beast of Bodmin Moor. Nearly any modern witch you read about has some characteristics tie back to Black Annis, the English legend of a witch in Cornwall. (Feel free to correct me about these facts or add to them, I haven't actually done research for this blog article, pathetic I know.) J.K. Rowling with Harry Potter and Brandon Mull with Fablehaven use countless fairy tales and mythical creatures from our world to fill their own.

Don't be afraid to do some searching. Need a crazy creature to put your reader at unease? Look no further than the some of the anal-fixated monsters in South America and some of the American islands, or the old crazy stuff Japanese freak the crap out of their kids with. You can find legends about everything: kings with curses, sorcerers who turn people into animals, witches who eat children, demons in disguise, etc. Now, I'm not saying you have to lift details straight from them (though you definitely can) or that you have to base your story on an existing legend. What you can do though, is research these things to give yourself a kick in the pants, or to find something that sets a spark in your brain. When you feel completely squeezed dry of creativity, it helps to take some time looking for stories that intrigue you, then determine what qualities made them stick out, and convert them to something you can use. (I know I've always been fascinated with the old school creepy stuff, hence all the talk of witches and old Irish legends.)

I'm currently doing this for The Sometimes Sword, and I'm finding that so far it's helping to pump some excitement back into the writing process, along with informing some changes to fundamental characters. So next time you sit down to write and feel a little bored, think about doing some research to liven up your story and increase the illusion of reality.

The excitement of a new book, and how I learned from the last one.

So I briefly posted that I was moving on from The Sometimes Sword, and I wanted to kind of dig in deeper and explain what I'm doing now.

After an initial decision to leave TSS as a stepping stone and nothing more, I have now amended my way of thinking, and decided to leave it as a work in progress for now, to be picked up at a later (much later) date. Right now I need to focus on improving my craft, and while useful, editing an old story isn't working toward that end.

So I've decided to start a new book, this time in a different way. In the post about My Beginnings, I talked about how I started TSS with absolutely no world building or character development. That was the direct opposite to my first work where I world-builded the crap out of it (and that failed horribly). With this book, I am seeking a balance between the two methods. I want to have a more engaging plot and conflict, along with a more detailed and fleshed out world. This requires some basic world-details and plotting before hand. However, just as with TSS, I want the focus to be character and I will continue to steer toward that. Another important point is that of Discovery with a capital "d". I find that if I world-build too much, I lose my own sense of excitement and discovery as I write and garden the book. So yeah, that's something to keep in mind also.

Really, I want this post to be aimed at what TSS did for me as a writer, and what I can take away from it. I won't go into the specific details, but I want to highlight the process I used to make sure I learned all I could from it.

First, I wrote down a list of fundamental flaws withing TSS. (I used a giant 24x16 whiteboard. I have three of them, and seriously, they are so useful.) Then I had Becky and my alpha readers Travis and Robyn write up a list on another board, this time with everything that was good in the book.

Once I had both lists hanging on the wall, Becky and I went through them and defined the underlying issues/successes of each. I transferred them to a computer document and began to explore the methods of fixing/achieving each. This way, I essentially made a writer's guide for myself, allowing me to build a better book the next time around.

I'm in the middle of some foundational world building, and hopefully at the start of next week I'll begin writing the first draft. I'm excited to start this new project, and hopefully I'll experience the same level of improvement as I did when I first started TSS.

What are you working on right now?

My Halloween mood is starting up early this year.

Every year I get an itch between my shoulder blades, usually around the first of October or so. Halloween is coming soon by that point, and my brain gets filled with thoughts of pumpkins and little plastic witches hung from doorways. Its like Christmas for me. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas like no other, but Halloween just has this... feeling to it. It's a million things rolled into one: the sharp scent of fall in the air, the sound of red and yellow leaves skittering across the sidewalk, the haze of cinnamon and nutmeg streaming from cookies and bread. Ok, most of that is just Fall stuff, but it's also the smell of old latex and fake blood, not to mention the musty smell of fog machines. Every where you go you can hear the cheesily recorded wails of plastic ghosts and ghouls, or see the flashing red lights of a novelty skull's eyes. Haunted houses, black and orange decorations, and Halloween costumes carry their own distinctive smells and sights, all of which combine to form the feelings I get at Halloween time.

Why I find enjoyment in writing dark fiction.

"The Sometimes Sword" isn't dark. At least, on the whole it isn't. There are dark elements for sure, even some scenes that might deserve a "thriller" tag (my first, unfinished book has a great many dark scenes, and lots of violence). But as far as YA goes,

What I'm currently working on (a continuation to the post about my beginnings).

Back in mid-April I was struggling with a 75k-word behemoth of a book that was only a third of the way through. I had been working in it for over a year, and knew I was floundering in a sea of details and plot points. I needed a change.

Some thoughts about why I (and you) write. And maybe some advice. Why should you listen to me? Dunno.

To me, the natural result of reading is dreaming (and we should all be reading. Seriously, pick up a dang book), dreaming about all the things that a good story sparks in your brain. A truly great book (and subsequently, author) can completely satisfy in the way of it's own content, but at the same time, create a desperate need in the reader to experience more.

This sometimes leads to reading more books (go ahead, pick up another one dang it!), and sometimes it stays in your brain, torturing you at night as you think about that perfect little hobbit hole you just read about, or the two mile-high bridge built in the clouds from that one book.

This is the work of your imagination, something every person should be as familiar with. You should be as close to your imagination as your privates are to your underpants. Seriously, exercise it every chance you get (your imagination that is). There is something so wonderful about our ability to rise above our current surroundings and find a new world in our own brains. We are a creative species; it is only natural.

For years I would do just as I described above, lay awake at night in bed, thinking about the Redwall book I just read, thinking about running with The Long Patrol, or walking calmly through Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings. The things that came from wonderful authors such as Tolkien, Jordan, and Rowling ignited my heart and mind.

At some point you, like me, might find the day dreams too persistent (and dare I say, unfulfilling?) to simply pick up another book in an attempt to satisfy your need (sounds a little like a coke habit doesn't it? But I have a feeling that most of you know what I'm talking about). One day the itch to write down or sketch (for those of you who were wondering, yes, many writers start with a dinky little map doodled on a napkin) out an idea drives your sweaty palms to the paper (or keyboard for you who were born post 1990).

Most of us fail horribly and embarrassingly at our first attempts, as awkward as a freckle-faced ginger at his first high school dance. The words flop from our fingers like a trout that thinks it can stroll up the bank. Perhaps the travesty-on-paper survives for a day or so, or like the trout above that won't die, some may even last creepily into weeks. Don't be afraid. Bash it's head in with a stick. Go for it. Then cast your line and try to catch another. (Am I taking the trout analogy too far?)

The worst thing you can do is give up (well, worst after not starting at all). Seriously, quitting is for losers. If the first ugly step-child you put on paper isn't worth keeping, send it out for adoption and get a new kid. Start out fresh. Teach this one all the qualities you wish the  other one had. Don't be afraid to keep trying. (And no, I stopped talking about real children after the first reference. Keep your gingers, please. They are people too.)

Bottom line is this: Don't be afraid. Really. That's it. If you are smart enough to read and want more, you are smart enough to write. You won't be good at first (heavens, I was as horrible as a cherry-sized nose pimple on the first day of eighth grade, and I still have a lot to learn), but who is? Your favorite authors probably hid their first novels in a shoe box under the bed, and rightly so.

The first step is to sit down and think, "what excites me?" (Try to keep that in context. Though, if your goal is erotic slash fiction, go for  it. I suppose.) Then explore that; take your idea and step back. Examine it like a sixth grader examines the latest issue of Cosmo in the grocery line. Then begin fleshing it out. Do you have a character that won't leave your brain? How bout a kick@ss setting and magic system? Write it down!

Don't be afraid to explore. (Just make sure you practice fire safety when you burn the inhuman results of your first try.)

My beginning, and the book no one (besides Becky) will ever see.

There's a lot to write about, now that I've started to relate some of my experiences. Where to begin....


The way I started out writing was probably pretty common. Like many pale denizens of the MMORPG scene, I am an avid World of Warcraft fan (shhhh). I had played for maybe a year before thoughts of RP began entering my head (RP means "role playing"), just something to make the grind of leveling yet another character to max level less boring. All these ideas suddenly sprung into my head about my character: backstory, setting, internal conflicts, and so on. I began to write as feverishly as a five year-old girl colors a picture of a pony pink, typing away at my phone (yes, I did begin my first project on a touch screen cell phone) on lunch breaks. When I say feverishly, I mean feverishly.

Why fantasy is important.

Fantasy:

More Than Wizards And Dragons

By Trevor Green

Image from theonering.net

Fantasy has long been a part of every society. For centuries, people across the world have told stories of wondrous events, larger than life people, gods, heroes, and villains. Those with the imagination to dream filled their family and friends' hearts and minds with tales of the Sun Gods or the Goddess of War, of malevolent beings that rotted the crops, and even the grim apparition of Death given human form. There are many reasons that our ancestors created stories from nothingness: fear of the unknown, confusion at a tragedy, a desire to understand the mysteries of a vast, unknowable world. “...there was a time when all literature was fantasy. How could it be otherwise, when a bad corn crop or a sudden epidemic among the new lambs could only have been caused by the anger of some god, or the spiteful sorcery of the people in the next village, eight miles over the hill, who were all demons, as everyone knew?” (Beagle). At what point did the telling of fantastic stories change from a response to fear, and become a way to improve lives? What are the characteristics of fantasy as a genre, and why is it important to our society and our children?

With such matters of fear and terror propelling invention forward, it comes as no surprise that fantasy was rooted into our collective minds, from the dawn of time. From stories told with crude language around a fire, to the latest best-selling door-stop of a novel from Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, The Way of Kings) or Pat Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicles), fantasy has become a major genre in its own right, and continues to grow.

How did the genre of fantasy come about? This is an interesting question, and one not easily answered. Through the ages, men and women have written works that touch on fantasy, or even embrace it fully, but simply happen to have been published before the term “fantasy” was coined. Writers such as the Greek poet Homer scratched out masterpieces of mythology that dealt heavily in other-worldly or divine matters, with strange creatures, and powerful men who defied gods. William Shakespeare wrote of witches and satyrs, ghosts and demons. Edgar Allen Poe penned dark works of the supernatural, filled with horror and the unknown. Hundreds of others dove head first into the stranger side of fiction, building their craft over decades, and across audiences.

Eventually fantasy began to take form, separating itself from its origins to become its own genre. There are many characteristics that define fantasy, nearly as many as there are books in the genre. However, fantasy is usually set in a defined world, written with the intent of being fictitious. Primarily seen as a form of entertainment, fantasy can include wizards, sorceresses, rangers, dragons, elves, and dwarves, like The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. However, many successful fantasy novels include none of the above, such as the masterful The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, whose work consists entirely of human characters battling twisted creatures and evil men. W.H. Auden's essay on The Lord of the Rings states, “Many quest tales are set in a dreamland, that is to say, in no definite place or time. This has the advantage of allowing the use of all the wealth of dream imagery, monsters, magical transformations and translations, which are absent from our waking life” (Zimbardo and Isaacs). From this we see that fantasy cannot be defined by conventional means, having the whole canvas of the human mind to paint upon.

Modern fantasy has been described as “escapist literature”, and with good reason. While quality fantasy does incorporate elements and ideals from our world, its primary goal is to take the reader away, filling their head with the fantastic, whether the end goal be a sense of wonder, spine-crawling fear, unease in a lonely bedroom at night, triumph of the human spirit, love for mankind, or any of the myriad emotions such books can draw from the hearts of its readers.

At some point in its long, ambiguous history, someone had to introduce the world to what could be called the very first official fantasy novel. Widely considered by many people to be the grandfather of modern fantasy, that person was JRR Tolkien. Born in 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an enthusiastic student of linguistics, and also a professor at the University of Oxford (Doughan). A contemporary of C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), and George McDonald (The Princess and the Goblin), Tolkien was already surrounded by the burgeoning field of fantasy before it was called such. One day while grading papers, he wrote a simple but fateful sentence, his reason or inspiration for doing so a mystery: “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” Years later, The Lord of the Rings was born, and over the decades, its popularity swelled without the media hype we have come to expect today, gathering speed by word of mouth and rolling into the juggernaut of literature that it is now (Zimbardo and Isaacs).

The Lord of the Rings proved to be a cultural revolution, proving once and for all, that fantasy had the guts to stand up to its larger, beefier literary opponents. The tale of an unlikely hero, a humble hobbit, rising to do great good, impeded by foul creatures and treacherous men, but most importantly, battling valiantly against his own heart's selfish desires spoke to its readers. “The game of The Lord of the Rings is miraculously designed to be played and won by anyone who takes part, but the reader who doesn't see the significance of its urgent bearing on humanity will always be a loser” (Zimbardo and Isaacs). The story of Frodo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, Samwise Gamgee, and the evil lord Sauron brought a definitive flavor to the new genre, setting the stage for many works to come.

As the years went on, new contenders waded into the field of fantasy. Authors such as Terry Brooks with his Sword of Shannara series continued where Tolkien left off, furthering the cause of fantasy. Books began to grow off the shelves, each work employing a working formula that has proven able to stand the test of time. Fantasy began to develop sub-genres as more and more writers explored all the recesses of its possibilities.

Robert Jordan helped perfect the Epic Fantasy, working off of Tolkien's travel-log style questing, translating age-old themes into modern day words. With his incredible talent for bringing characters and conflict to life, he created a world many a reader has lost themselves within. The New York Times, speaking of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, states that he has “...come to dominate the world that Tolkien began to reveal.” Terry Goodkind and George R. R. Martin took fantasy to its dark side, with gritty pages filled with violence and tragedy. Young Adult fantasy such as The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander emerged, followed later by the likes of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, and Fablehaven, written by Brandon Mull, catering to a growing fan base of young readers, eager to devour anything to take their minds off the drudgery of school and social awkwardness, while at the same time growing their love for the written word. Urban Fantasy invaded our world with stories of magic breaking through into our streets, entangling young boys and girls in problems beyond their depth. In a recent post on Tor Fiction's website, Emily Asher-Perrin relates a bit of what made Harry Potter (a young-adult Urban Fantasy series) so special to her:

“While J.K. Rowling’s seven book saga was created for all generations to enjoy, there was something about growing up with the series that will forever define my generation. We are a group of people who believe in the impossible, in the power of love’s ability to protect and create, in silly things like jelly beans that taste like dirt and earwax, in bravery wrought through friendship and the need for a few basic spells to ease our way through daily life. (What? Chocolate and tea are homemade spells of a sort.) I can’t say whether Harry gave this to us, but I know that he was a part of it all, a uniting factor that allowed children and teens all over the world to lock eyes, smile and know that we weren’t so different after all”.

The genre has grown immensely, adding to itself, encapsulating mystery, thriller, horror, romance, suspense, and many other genres. No longer is fantasy relegated to a small, shadowy shelf set in the back of the local Barnes and Noble.

“It should come as no surprise then, that heroic fantasy fiction has had a slow, inexorable rise in both popularity and critical recognition. For several years, best selling lists have been dominated by epic fantasies by writers such as Tad Williams and Katharine Kerr. The US Realms of Fantasy magazine has claimed that 'fantasy outsells SF [science fiction] by a factor of three to one' while Tolkien's epic heroic fantasy The Lord of the Rings was recently chosen as the most popular and influential book ever published, by readers in three separate continents” (Forsyth).

Now, miles down the road from its humble origins, fantasy can have many qualities and components. There will always be the common tropes and clichés: the farm boy destined for something greater, the venerable wizard, a brilliant young girl, the evil overlord bent on destruction and chaos. Not always are things so cut and dried however. Dark plots, antiheroes, and morally gray protagonists color fantasy, giving it depth and texture. Universal themes run deeply in fantasy, pumped into the pages from the author's own heart, telling tales of the small conquering the mighty, courage and faith winning the day, sweat, blood, and tears barely justifying the victory. While the characters and settings may change, the fundamental purpose of fantasy stays the same: stories about humanity, and all that entails.

In her essay, Fantasy: why is the genre so popular?, Rowena Daniells quotes Kate Forsyth (The Chain of Charm), who states:

“Fantasy fiction does not deny or diminish the existence of sorrow and pain, as so many people seem to think. The possibility of failure is absolutely necessary for the “piercing sense of joy” one feels when victory is finally and with difficulty won. Like a candle-flame, fantasy casts a shadow at the same time that it illuminates. Yet it is the illumination that is important. Fairy-tales all offer the hope that a happy ending is possible and we need to believe this. Fantasy denies ultimate despair. It holds out the hope for a better world, and signposts the way”.

What can the average reader gain from reading fantasy, and more importantly, what can young minds benefit from this? She continues:

“For the very best fantasy enlightens as well as beguiles, passing on the accumulated wisdom of our ancestors, mapping the boundaries of behaviour, and challenging our preconceptions of what is right and true”.

These qualities can have a profoundly positive affect on a person's mind, imprinting young and old readers alike with a sense of wonder and desire to not only see good done, but to be the ones who do it.

Fantasy has grown as a genre, filling bookshelves, filling minds, and expanding imaginations. Fantasy books have spawned numerous movies, guide books, television shows, trading card games, video games, and much more. Much of today's popular media is brought about by the intrepid few who dared the critic's ire and wrote The Lord of the Ringsand The Chronicles of Narnia.

It hasn't always been a smooth road. Fantasy as a whole has come under attack from many sources, and for many reasons. Religious fanatics condemning magic as unholy, professors and educators calling it down as worthless, and men and women who simply cannot suspend their sense of disbelief calling it childish have sought to belittle its authors and readership. Even some fans of fantasy themselves rail against the beast it has become, calling newly released books by the derogatory term, “extruded fantasy product”, believing the archetypal stories to be squeezed-out drivel. Such criticisms can be the most hurtful, for they misunderstand the whole reason for fantasy's existence, to the accuser's loss. Fantasy is not intended to push the envelope, or walk the edge of what is socially acceptable, but to reinforce stories of goodness, and encourage imitation of such in real life. Once again, Kate Forsyth has a solid point, in fantasy's favor: “When it was published, one critic dismissed Tolkien's mammoth and scholarly work as a 'don's whimsy'. Yet is has never been out of print, has spawned countless imitations, and is now an industry in itself, ranging from scholarly critical appraisals to pictorial guides to the habits of hobbits. There is graffiti in university toilets that reads 'Frodo lives'; and you can buy car-stickers that say: 'Tolkien Is Hobbit-Forming'. Very few people have ever read James Joyce; most have read Tolkien.”

So why would anyone read about elves and dwarves, magic and dragons? Each fan might have a different answer, each passionate and thoughtful. For some it might be the magic, a wondrous and ethereal power that can do amazing things, or a dreaded black hole of fear and control, depending on its use. For others it may be the long standing theme of good versus evil, where anyone, no matter how insignificant or poor, may stand up to evil and all its powers, if only given the chance. Kate Forsyth quotes Stephen Donaldson on the subject of why fantasy is relevant in today's world:

"One of the oldest and most enduring forms of literature in all languages is fantasy. We need metaphors of magic and monsters to understand the human condition. It's only in modern times that we have suddenly decided this narrative language isn't serious, that it's for children; grown-ups don't believe these things... We've reached the point in our sophistication of our self-perceptions when it no longer seems possible to make epic statements about the meaning of life. You get laughed at for doing it, and epics ceased to be written. But in order for us to have this type of heroism, beauty, glory, magic and power we have to get away from real life” (Forsyth).

Peter Orullian, author of the newly released epic fantasy novel from Tor Fiction The Unremembered adds this, “There are many reasons I love to both read and write fantasy fiction. But high among them is the opportunity to treat Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. Few fiction genres can do it so well”. The hero's journey is the quintessential story of the departure, initiation, and return of a hero, usually following the path of personal growth and development of character (Bronzite). Such stories empower us as human beings, bolstering our hearts and minds to reach for the unattainable. It may simply be a book clutched in the hands of a fourteen year-old girl or boy, but one day, that young person will wake up to find themselves a grown adult, ready to face the challenging world, armed with the heartfelt truths and goodness of the stories from their youth.

It is clear that fantasy is here to stay. Going forward, readers will continue to discover not only strange new worlds inhabited by fantastic beings and creatures, but also discover a bit of themselves within every book they read. After all, fiction and non-fiction alike have had one purpose from the beginning of time: to explore ourselves.

Works Cited

Asher-Perrin, Emily. Growing Up Potter, Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Beagle, Peter S. The Secret History of Fantasy, 2010

Bronzite, Dan. The Hero's Journey - Mythic Structure of Joseph Campbell's Monomyth

Daniells, Rowena Corey. Fantasy: Why Is the Genre So Popular?

Doughan, David. J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch, 2002

Forsyth, Kate. Altair Magazine, Issue 2, 1998

Orullian, Peter. Personal Interview, June 19, 2011

Sanderson, Brandon. Goodbye Mr. Jordan, September 19, 2007

Zimbardo, Rose A. and Neil Isaacs. Understanding The Lord of the Rings, 2004

Works Consulted

Schwartz, Evan I. Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story,2009

Jordan, Robert and Theresa Patterson. The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time,1997

Jordan, Robert. The Eye of the World, 1990