Tags
Deus ex machinae, Discworld, fantasy worlds, g k chesterton, gaming, god, Magic, magic and religion, pedants, Terry Pratchett, World design, worlds of wonder, writing
Worlds are difficult.
On the one hand, writing a story set in the real world has a host of issues involving
One of the strangest fantasy worlds in existence…
research – especially if you want to make sure that all the details are accurate to prevent pedants from picking holes in your creation. On the other hand, setting your tale in a made up world means you have to make up all those details in order to create things for pedants to get picky about. You could sit and debate about which is the most difficult but, in my opinion, they are both as difficult as each other – assuming you do both properly.
In terms of made up worlds, there is a belief that ‘it is only fantasy’ – meaning that you can get away with a lot of things because of the existence of magic or advanced science or whatever. However, this is not true at all. While there is scope for some strangeness in the make up of a world it is actually a really bad idea to mess around with a world higgedly piggedly and then claim that it’s fine because ‘magic can make anything happen’. The truth is that magic can do nothing of the sort.
Or, to be more precise, the human mind which we use to study the world in which we live and which we naturally also apply to the study of any worlds we encounter, including made up ones, likes to see rules in place. From the earliest humans looking up at the stars and wondering what they were right up to modern man sitting at his computer, we have attempted to make sense of everything. In the early days we created the rules of magic and religion to explain some of the phenomena that we could not explain – gods made it rain, therefore it is a good idea to sacrifce to the god of rain to keep them happy so it would rain when we wanted it to and not when we didn’t. In other words, we not only created the rules, we tried to use them to change the universe.
Rules therefore are important. As G.K Chesterton said “Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame”. I take this to mean that, in writing, it is the limitations which drive the story. Characters thrive on the challenge and adversity of not being able to do what they want, drama and emotion spring from their need to achieve something that cannot be had without a great deal of effort. The existence of magic in the world does not mean that you can ignore the rules. Fairy tales tell us what some of them are – there are only three wishes allowed (and no, you cannot ask for an infinite number of wishes), you have to stick to the path when walking in fairie, the ogre can always be outwitted… And what about other occult laws such as the doctrine of signatures or the threefold law of return? Even in worlds that are as outre and fantastic as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld there are limitations on magic. Wizards there have to be careful to avoid using it in case they attract the denizens of the Dungeon Dimensions, they are not allowed to use the number 8 because of a connection with Bel Shamaroth (and coincidentally with the 8th colour of the Discworld rainbow – Octarine) and old magic items like books and scrolls are treated like unexploded nuclear bombs – carefully shielded in lead and buried in case they go critical. This sort of thing does not happen in worlds where magic is free to run riot over the laws of the universe without some payback.
So, the lesson here is to examine your magic system carefully. Is it too easy for characters to achieve things just by using their magic? Is magic too cheap? Too easy? To lacking in consequences? Can every plot line be solved with a character simple waving their hands and declaiming ‘Deus ex machinae’?* Magic is a force which usually requires time, energy, effort, expense and many other things to achieve. There should be expensive materials (gems are common, as are things made of gold or silver or rare herbs and spices that are hard to obtain), lots of confusing and esoteric research in libraries, elaborate preparations (drawing circles, dancing, chanting, purifying yourself and your ritual space), exhausting and dramatic rituals (drumming, screaming vocals to the heavens, blood sacrifice) and all sorts of other gubbins of that ilk. To paraphrase Pratchett, by the time you have spent all your life learning the spell to summon naked women into your bedroom you are too old, tired and have a body too damaged by exposure to dangerous chemicals to do anything worthwhile with them….
Overall, it makes for a far more ‘believable’ magical world than one where ‘just anything can happen’.
*as god does, in fact, do at the end of one Simpson’s episode… but he is god, he is sort of allowed to Deus ex machinae things by dint of his job description. Though, it is best not to use this approach too often save in parody…
Ok, you know the rules on this by now. You have to visit the other people in the chain or little goblins will come out in the night and eat your shoes. And then die of leather poisoning because goblins are not supposed to eat shoes (they have intolerances, poor little dears) and it will all be your fault you heartless gits… So, to save the life of a goblin today, please read and comment on the following excellent blogs:
dclary (comic) – www.hardhobbittobreak.com (link to this month’s image)
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to this month’s post)
Proach – http://desstories.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
pyrosama – http://matrix-hole.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
areteus – https://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Diana_Rajchel – http://blog.dianarajchel.com/ (link to this month’s post)
writingismypassion – http://charityfaye.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
randi.lee – http://emotionalnovel.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
magicmint – http://www.loneswing.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Sweetwheat – http://gomezkarla.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
AFord – http://writeword.blog.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Nick Rolynd – http://30minfiction.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
dclary (blog) – http://www.davidwclary.com/ (link to this month’s post)
MelodySRV – http://createamelody.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Lurking Musings 
Interesting view. Makes me happy I don’t write any sort of fantasy.
Some prefer it, some hate it, so it does take all sorts. Thanks for your comment.
Really enjoyed this post on ‘creating worlds’ – so true that the rules have to be followed. And I have noted ‘rule of three’ as a plot bunny to think about sometime, so thank you for that!
Great picture chosen to illustrate!
There is a lot in old superstitions, Bible stories, occult beliefs and the like which can be dredged up for ideas. I have a couple of occult glossaries and encyclopedias just for this purpose. A cheap book I bought in a publisher’s outlet store on methods of divinition has been incredibly useful for me (especially in researching some very bizarre methods beyond the well known ones).
I am really going to seek out similar, such a good suggestion for ideas, thank you!
Wow. Interesting photo. Very different.
Nice essay! I used to obsess over how hard it was to write realistic fiction, since everyone knew that world already and would naturally nitpick it to the nth degree. Much easier to create a whole world and its rules from scratch so there was no frame of reference!
Of course, now I realize that, as you point out, it’s just the opposite: people mentally fill in real-world details so you don’t always have to be super-specific, and fantastic realms invite close scrutiny for contradictions.
I think it comes down to what you find easier to do. You will always get nit pickers no matter what you do so it comes down to how you deal with that. No matter how good your historic research, for example, it is likely that someone will spot an anachronism.
I’m not a fan of rules.
I agree with your points on magical systems. It’s so very true. Don’t create a magic system like those in MMORPGs… that’s the way I am interpreting your point.
Good read 🙂
Oh definitely – not a ‘rules system’ like you would have in a game. I suppose rules is a bad word to use because of that connection but I can’t think of another one that works as well.
Explicit rules can be annoying and should be used sparingly – if a character mentions one of the rules everytime someone uses magic it will get tired quickly. I think it is better to have the rules implicit – not sharing them but having an awareness of them yourself.
This was my favorite part: “by the time you have spent all your life learning the spell to summon naked women into your bedroom you are too old, tired and have a body too damaged by exposure to dangerous chemicals to do anything worthwhile with them….”
It’s so true! As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think of the attention to detail Brandon Sanderson puts into his worlds. It’s probably why being a fantasy writer is one of the hardest things to do.
Thank you for your wonderful insight!
I can’t claim credit for that. It belongs to the great Master of comic fantasy himself, Sir Terry Pratchett. It is paraphrased from Eric and I think the concept may appear in several of his other books too. And it is paraphrased because I couldn’t be bothered to go look up the actual quote (the bookshelf was in another room… that’s miles away and I was feeling lazy! 🙂 )
And yes, this is the difficulty with fantasy – getting the level of detail right. But even ‘real worlds’ need some world building. If you are making any changes to a world (such as having magic in there or other supernatural elements) there is likely to be just as much consideration of how these things would change the real world.
Your post really hits home. I have a greater appreciation for the DMs who have to create RPG worlds for a variety of game players. The rules have to be balanced and you never really understand why. But you’re right, how can this world be imaginable if you can’t make it realistic in all it’s fantastical awe?
Great post!
There is sometimes a lot of work involved, yes. But it is ultimately rewarding 🙂 Like any creative act – lots of hard work followed by a lifetime of basking in the kudos if you pull it off.
-claps- A post chock full of excellent points. Thanks for the read. =3
I think you have elucidated for me why, while I have a personal magical worldview, I’m often reluctant to write pieces that express that.
That was like a seminar. You should take it on the road. Very well done.
I always had a hard time with Q on the Star Trek Next Generation series because he had no rules. If he had now rules, why would he even bother with those silly mortals? It made me uncomfortable.
I like sci-fi books that deal with natural, environmental, and zoological topics. Even though there are very definitely rules, there are some pretty fantastic creatures that really exist, like the clear headed fish or the giant coconut crab.
Seminar? Hmmm, I think my teaching skills are coming out in my writing again… I often get accused of lecturing 🙂 But if people wanted to pay me to take it on the road I’d definitely do it 🙂
Q is a hard one to judge, I think. He appears to have no rules or restrictions and his actions seem to be magical to our viewpoint but I am not convinced that this is the case. There were episodes of TNG where it was clear that the Q continuum were limited in their ability to meddle with reality if not by physical laws then by a sort of internal vetting system. I think the major problem with Q is that he violates the paradigm of Star Trek because he seems to have no scientific basis for his abilities. While characters in Star Trek can happily heal wounds, communicate across vast distances, transport themselves instantly and do other apparently magical things there is always a scientific explanation for it (albeit often one which makes no sense if you actually understand science). Q just does stuff. This causes a cognitive clash because, even if you follow Clarke’s law about suitably advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic, what he does seems so far removed from what we understand about science that it knocks you out of your sense of disbelief as much as if you had Gandalf appear on the Enterprise fighting a Harry Potter Griffin…
One of my favourite series recently has been the Wess’har series which concerns a race of aliens who are fantatical about environmental issues – to the extent that they ‘cull’ species who are seen as exceeding their natural balance with the environment. I think you can guess where that plot is going when they encounter earth… 🙂
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