 Fantasy: May 18, 2011 Issue [#4403] |
  Fantasy
This week: Time as a Medium Edited by: Jay's debut novel is out now!  
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I've been reading a lot lately-- I suppose that's always the first sign of trouble with me.  In my notes and observations I've been obsessed with a few different questions about time and how we express it in worlds that may not have the same precision about time as we 21st century humans of Earth might have.
Time is a dimensionality that we all take for granted; we each get a finite quantity of it and we spend it in many different ways. How does the passage of time affect the characters in a fantasy story, though? It'e easy to assume we all experience time in the same way, but of course that's impossible.
There are of course lots of questions to be asked, and many have been asked over and over again. Immortality, for example-- a quintessential what-if question tackled from many different angles. What happens to someone who can never die? Is their immortality linked to everlasting youth? How do immortals live among mortals? Can a mortal being become immortal, and at what cost to themselves?
And then there's time travel-- a science-fiction oriented topic, but one that's been addressed in fantasy as well. Is it possible in your world to stop or alter the effects of time? How does this affect the present-day conditions of your story?
How about the ways that we mark time? While our calendar has changed little in many centuries, it's easy to imagine other ways to count the time that has passed. Weather, astronomical findings and seasons are common factors used to meter time in worlds without a typical "year" cycle, but surely there are other ways. Some may be more precise than others-- what effect might this have?
With time comes history, too-- how do the ages add up to form culture and civilization over time? Do the populations of your fantasy world have an accumulation of recorded history? How has their civilization grown and changed as time has passed? What knowledge is lost and gained as time passes in the history of your world?
Until Next, eh, Time,
Take care and Write on!
~j |
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