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Fantasy: August 31, 2016 Issue [#7832]

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Fantasy


 This week: Water
  Edited by: Robert Waltz Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.
         -Isak Dinesen

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also learn from holy books and wise people. Everything - even mountains, rivers, plants and trees - should be your teacher.
         -Morihei Ueshiba

My escape is to just get in a boat and disappear on the water.
         -Carl Hiaasen

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/water.html


Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

We need it more than food, but less than air; it's the origin of all known life, but approached carelessly, it will kill you.

Water is something that most of us tend to take for granted, but without it, we wouldn't be here. All life on Earth was aquatic until fairly recently (geologically speaking, of course), and even now the seas and rivers teem with living things. Even as land-dwelling humans, the bulk of our body mass is water.

Part of what makes life possible is that Earth's troposphere exists near what chemists call the triple point of water - that particular combination of temperature and pressure that allows water to exist in all three classical states: solid, liquid, and gas (the actual triple point is 0.01C and 4.58mmHg, for you geeks out there who didn't already know that). Presumably, any life we'd hypothetically find elsewhere in the universe would exist in similar conditions, though the range is quite broad.

Now, we can't rule out that life elsewhere might have arisen around some other substance's triple point - methane is one candidate, and Saturn's moon Titan's atmosphere would be a good candidate for such a thing.

But water possesses some properties that make it uniquely suitable as a basis for, and medium of, life. I won't get too technical here, but one such property involves the way water acts when it freezes. Most substances solidify into something more dense. Imagine a lake of methane, for example, on Titan. Weather gets cold (for methane, this is *really* cold by our standards), and the surface of the lake freezes. What happens? The solid methane becomes more dense than the liquid form, and eventually settles to the bottom.

Not so with water. Put simply, ice floats; it doesn't sink in the liquid from which it formed. This is important to life because, as I mentioned above, life started in water. Once ice forms on a lake's surface, it acts as a kind of thermal barrier, keeping the underlying water liquid.

So - and this is all speculation here, but speculation is what we do - chances are when we find extraterrestrial life (be it microbes or little green women), it'll be based on water.

That's the science part, or rather, the introduction to the science. You can find more on the internet if you're interested. As writers, though, we're interested in more than just the science.

Water, as I said, is both life and death. As essential as it is, we can drown in it fairly quickly, and water at high enough pressure can kill, as well. Water shapes the world, eroding mountains and filling river valleys with dirt from those mountains. We relate to water differently depending on its form; a river evokes different associations than a lake, an ocean, a glacier, a cloud, or rain.

We can use these associations in our stories. Traditionally, for examples, vampires couldn't cross running water. Partly, from a storytelling perspective, this is because running water symbolizes life, and the undead do not mix well with life.

A river is a road, and can symbolize trade and transportation.

An ocean, meanwhile, is a barrier for much of land-based life. A great deal of human history involves our curiosity in finding out what lies beyond an ocean. It therefore represents curiosity and possibility.

Rain is so obviously symbolic that it's become a cliché in stories and movies. The "burial in the rain" trope is probably overused, but that's because the symbolism is rather powerful. Rain in its more extreme forms represents danger; storms can be deadly, but they also have an aspect of renewal and rebirth.

Even the simplest aspect of water, drinking, can be loaded with symbolism. Heinlein used this to great effect in Stranger in a Strange Land.

Our takeaway from this is meant to be that chances are, you're writing about things that need and use water, and if so, be aware of how water appears in your story and what it means.


Editor's Picks

Pour yourself a cold glass of water and enjoy this week's picks:

 Eternal December Open in new Window. [ASR]
This is a poem about an elf forsaking immortality after years of war and hardship.
by Kali Jackson Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 Deny Me Not What Is Beautiful Open in new Window. [13+]
The love a demon has for a human is a fragile feeling, but not always a mutual one.
by AmongstTheShadows Author Icon


 Reapers Tale Open in new Window. [ASR]
A small insight behind the Grim Reapers life.
by originalazrael Author Icon


 Prodigy Open in new Window. [E]
Fantasy: 1000 words An extraordinary gift is bestowed upon the Anaticcans
by WJ Stams Author Icon


 Behind A Pale Mask Open in new Window. [13+]
A woman in law school meets the most unlikely individual, but what does he want?
by Troy Jensen Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter!
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Word from Writing.Com

Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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Don't forget to support our sponsor!

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Ask & Answer

Last time, in "MoneyOpen in new Window., I talked about something even more essential than water.


Quick-Quill Author Icon: I loved this NL! Your thought process brings to mind a whole different set of story lines. I included a short story I'm thinking of editing into a children's book. That being said its about bartering. sort of. I'm saving this NL for a closer look at writing a fantasy short story about your concept. [Submitted Item: "A Dragon with a Bad HabitOpen in new Window. [E]]

         Always happy when something I do inspires people!


That's it for me for this month! See you in September. Until then,

DREAM ON!!!



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