  Fantasy
This week: The Birth of a Fantasy Edited by: Fyn  
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Some quotes from my favorite fantasies:
"For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo."
- Lois Lowry, The Giver{{i}, Ch. 23
"To light a candle is to cast a shadow."
- Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea
"Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known." -J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
"Because we build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there."-Anne McCaffrey |
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When I first started to write my book, Alyndoria it was just that, not 'yet' a trilogy or what would eventually become Alyndoria:Tales of Inner Magic.All I had was a premise:that one could use up all one's tears--waste them so to speak and that the 'princess' (in my case) would have to learn the 'why' of crying and that 'crying happy tears' was the best reason of all to cry.
I didn't have much more than that, but I knew I needed the characters and a place to plop them in. The idea was in my head, but before I could write I needed all the background. I was writing this as a fairy tale for (in a sense) my eldest daughter who was (at the time) six going on twelve. She was already reading and was the inspiration . The idea came from my telling her over her noisy and teary temper tantrum that one day she'd use up all her tears. Then she'd have a really good reason to cry and wouldn't be able to! She was actually listening and then I ruined the moment by exclaiming, "What a great idea for a story!" She did stop crying though as she mulled over what I'd said.
The name 'Alyndoria' just sort of popped into my head and the princess, of course, needed to be a variation of my daughter's name. Thus, Princess Kelly Katheryn Anne Miranda Thistleweaver came into being. (Princesses, I was so informed by my daughter had at leastfour names. She had three so we added one.) But it was the where the story would take place that needed to be created. I needed to create a world.
What would it look like? One big continent or a bunch of islands? One king or one over many lesser kings? What types of people (read that people/creatures/animals) inhabited this world? This wasa fairy tale, so we had to have a unicorn--her request, a mean troll and some boys--my son's admonition, and for me there had to be a literary dragon. The upstairs neighbor teenager said I needed quests and a wizard and my mom suggested a fairy or two flitting around. Suddenly my story was being taken over, added to, and invaded by creatures and characters. Suddenly everyone had a suggestion, idea or some other absolutely necessaryingredient. Me? I was still lost in creating this new world.
Eventually I took the general shape of the British Isles, turned them upside down and went from there. As ideas generated, I created places where different characters lived. I decided who had power, who had magic and who didn't. The place was taking shape; it grew form and substance. It had a greater and a lesser sun, moons, and weather. Mountains formed and fog banks shrouded. Villages sprang forth and culture developed. Belief systems settled into place. Different races of people had to coexist in some fashion and it had to make sense. My quick little idea had morphed into something huge. Suddenly, I realized, before I'd even begun writing it that I had three (or more) story ideas generating in my mind. These prompted my incorporating other places in my world and Alyndoria grew. Geography existed and I kept adding to my map. I need to know what was where and how far this was from that.
By now the world of Alyndoria was becoming real to my entire family. I could see its castles and the gardens. I had traipsed through its forests and clambered over and through the Fresian Mountains. I'd encountered Lub-dubs and gotten to know the bully troll and knew he was really an insecure overgrown child. I'd realized the three driving forces behind each of the stories. I had kids who talked about characters as if they were part of the family. (You can just imagine some of the phone calls I received from their teachers!)
The three tales had names. I knew I wanted them to be able to be read by gifted readers in the younger grades (ie; at my daughter's current reading level) and that I also wanted them to work for reading out loud. Every night I'd read a chapter or two to the kids from whatever book we were currently reading. I also wanted to include essences for the parents reading to the children that while the kids might not get it,the adults would. Each chapter had to leave you hanging in suspense until the following night.
All this and I hadn't written word one except for character sketches. But finally, I was ready to write. I rapidly realized that I needed to separate that the several stories in my mind and concentrate on just one. Yet i continued to think about the ones I wasn't writing--yet. I introduced characters that would be in the later ones. There was cause and effect that might not evolve until story two or three, but the ideas were planted. I was constantly hit with questions of the "Are we there yet?" variety only they were more like, "Is it done yet?" or "Can we read it yet?" I also got comments like," I think the dragon should wear glasses." (Eldest was going through that phase of being 'forced' into wearing glasses and she was NOT happy about it.) All idea were duly noted and some were incorporated and others, thankfully, were forgotten about.
Characters grew form and features. The spectacle-wearing dragon was named 'Dalthyrian' and my son (now thirty-ish) still uses it for his online name and email. The unicorn was christened 'Fyndorian' and we all know howthatturned out! Two years (and a youngest daughter) later and after papering two and a half walls in the den with rejection notices, Alyndoria was in print. My fantasy/adventure is used for advanced readers in the younger grades. It is used for remedial reading in older ones. My (then) sixteen year old illustrator is now a commercial artist and comic book creator. There's a two year old little boy somewhere in Kansas (I think) actually named Fyndorian!
All from a story whose germ was a little girl who wouldn't stop crying. Fantasy/reality blurred into fiction. |
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Not fantasy, just a piece I love! My fantasy place to visit!
| | The Magic Fiddle (13+)
The old antique dealer warned Mara she would be back within a month to return the fiddle.
#1014238 by Cubby  |
And just because this newsletter was based on it:
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| Just guest editing this week and my last Fantasy newsletter was ages ago. So I have a question. Which fantasy place from a novel would you like to visit for a while and why? Me, I'd head for Pern. I know where it is, just beyond that mist at the edge of my vision. I'd impress a fire lizard, and make friends with a dragon rider so that I could fly dragonback. |
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Fantasy: July 28, 2010 Issue [#3885]
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