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Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end.
― George R.R. Martin
Dreams are glimpses into life’s truths.
― Larry Itejere
One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.
― C.S. Lewis |
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Literary snobs sometimes like to dismiss fantasy as "escapism." And of course, sometimes it can be. With all that's going on in the world right now, who couldn't use a little bit of escape every now and then?
But I'd argue that a lot of fantasy stories exist not to bring us entirely out of this world, but to hold up a mirror to it, to say something like, "Hey, this is what this looks like from the outside. This is what's holding us back, and here are some ideas of what to do about it."
Fantasy lets us take issues of the day and transform them, to look at them with fresh eyes. Sure, sometimes it does so without a great deal of subtlety, but subtlety is often overrated. Pick an issue -- racism, maybe, or sexism -- and instead of depicting Us and Them, you can show Them and Them, possibly exposing the injustice or silliness behind the issue without making the reader feel personally attacked.
Readers then have the opportunity to examine their own thoughts and assumptions, possibly coming away with a different attitude. I know that both fantasy and science fiction have done that for me in the past, and hopefully will continue to do so.
Have something to say about gender issues? Make up your own genders for the story, or have the characters be fluid. Got a political point to make? Make it using a culture different from your own. Concerned about homelessness? Think of how it could be addressed on a different world, and maybe some of those ideas will percolate into our own.
Humans are creatures of metaphor, and we respond to symbolism on a much deeper level than we do to mere rhetoric.
Yes, sometimes these points end up hammering a reader over the head. But subtlety can be lost on people, and sometimes we need to have the obvious smack us in the face.
No, fantasy is not automatically escapism. Sometimes it's a key to the lock on the door of a closed mind. |
And now some escapism... or not.
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Last time, in "Plants" , I talked about incorporating flora into fantasy.
hullabaloo22  : I love plants, or rather using them for inspiration for poems, or stories - especially of the horror type. I have had a book planned for years based around trees but I've yet to write it.
Trees, too, take their time.
brom21  : The movie Little Shop of Horrors came to me with this NL. I imagine Venus fly traps so big they could eat small animals may exist. Many new organisms happen to live in wild jungles, coniferous forests and such. I believe some species are stranger than fiction. Who knows what is out there!
I did have that movie in the back of my head while writing it. Always did have a love for that story!
SB Musing  : This really inspired me to take a closer look at plants with my fantasy pieces. I know a lot about insects, but plants, I have to learn to understand host plants for certain species. You could definitely create a new plant species that powers things or doesn't use sunlight. Imagination is the only thing stopping you!
And science. Even when creating species in fantasy, I always find myself wondering about their inner workings and their ecosystems, and I generally end up giving up because I run into contradictions with science.
Mastiff : I hadn't thought much about this, and I have a degree in landscape architecture! What wonderful ideas for stories! And, I need to remember to add these descriptions, because I'm so familiar with them. Nice article!
I worked with landscape architects for most of my professional career. Whenever I'd get annoyed at them, I'd call shrubs "bushes," and they'd get annoyed right back. But anyway, incorporating what you know about plants is a good way to "write what you know."
Ugly Christmas Sox  : Farscape had a character that was a sentient mobile plant. I can't remember her name, and there is Groot!
I am Groot.
So that's it for me for this month. See you in July! Or is that too optimistic given the way things are going in the world? Anyway, until then,
DREAM ON!!! |
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Fantasy: June 03, 2020 Issue [#10207]
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