Fantasy has been my favorite genre for as far back as I can remember. Be it movies, TV, or books, I’ve always been fascinated by alternate universes featuring fantastical creatures and people, elaborate magic spells and artifacts, and epic quests. Growing up, Tolkien, Piers Anthony, and Terry Brooks were a few of my favorites, leading to present day masters such as Sanderson, Rowling, and Rothfuss. Characters such as Conan, King Arthur, Legolas, and many others shaped my perception of the fantasy genre, eventually leading to a desire to write one of my own. When I set out to write The Witchbreaker Saga, I made a list of things that enable immersive fantasy and also a list of things I wanted to avoid within the genre. Eventually I’ll write a post about the tropes I like, but for now, let’s settle in and look at the tropes I try to avoid that shaped my work. Let me preface this by saying it is possible to still use these tropes and get away with it, as long as your characters are interesting, your world complex, and the conflict realistic.
5. The oddly specific magical item that saves the world or completes a quest. Our heroes have encountered a problem. Perhaps it’s a curse, plague, sickness, or a villain with a specific power. What’s a writer to do? Why, invent a magical item or god that just happens to possess the exact effect needed to counter that problem. Serialized fantasy TV such as Legend of the Seeker, Xena, and Hercules are most responsible for this one, yet it is still seen in books as well. This trope becomes even worse when this object is encountered later in the book as a Deus Ex Machina, only existing to solve the heroes dilemma without sufficient foreshadowing. Once could argue that Lord of the Rings possess multiples of these such as the eagles, yet, Tolkien’s skill allows us to overlook them. Most of us aren’t anywhere in the same galaxy with Tolkien, so we must ensure we aren’t inventing oddly specific items to solve problems out of thin air. Out of the multitude of examples, my least favorite has to be time manipulation, such as the Time Turner in Harry Potter, which could have been used to solve any number of problems, yet only cropped up once to save Buckbeak and Sirius Black, and for Hermione to take more classes. 4. Stereotypical Races It still surprises me how so many writers still rely on the classic Tolkien-esque races. Be it the savage but honorable orc, or the wise, beautiful, and immortal elves, virtually every fantasy story still relies heavily on these stereotypes. Warhammer, Magic the Gathering, Warcraft, and many others still use these classic racial stereotypes, rarely injecting anything new or original into the formula. 3. The One Dimensional Villain I love Harry Potter. I even own a Sorting Hat, and have read each book and watched each movie multiple times over. Yet, Voldemort has to be one of the worst villains ever conceived. Despite the world of Harry Potter possessing some of the best world building of all time, somehow Voldemort ends up as one of the worst one note villains in popular fiction. Generically evil villains have to be one of my least favorite tropes in any media, because in real life, every villain believes they are the in the right, and can usually list off a litany of reasons. Even the worst of the worst, such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, could easily articulate why what they were doing was correct in their mind. Let me give an example of one of the greatest villains ever created: Magneto, from the X-men. Unlike many of these villains, Magneto has actual, believable, and sympathetic reasons why he does the horrific things he does. As a Holocaust survivor, he saw what happened when a certain class or race of people were targeted, and he is determined not to allow that to happen again. So even though he is committing horrendous acts, we can at least understand why, and on some level, empathize. Thanos is another. His Malthusian philosophy is actually a real philosophical belief, and in his mind, he is the only one with the will to ensure the long term survival of the universe. 2. Idiotic Decision Making This rakes on my last nerve. If there’s one thing I can’t stand in fiction, it’s the hero making absurd decisions and justifications to advance the plot. Not confined only to the realm of fantasy, this one is everywhere, but most prevalent in horror. This usually ties into themes related to a trope known as Joker Immunity, where the hero utterly refuses to kill the villain, no matter how much havoc they’ve created, i.e. Batman refusing to kill the Joker, thus enabling the Joker to kill hundreds or thousands more. This is particularly idiotic since no such a thing exists in real life. No one would bat an eye at executing Hitler on the spot, yet Batman is perfectly willing to keep the Joker alive no matter how many dozens of times he’s broken out of Arkham Asylum and murdered thousands. At a minimum, if the villain has perpetrated sufficiently evil acts, the hero should at least attempt to kill them. Now, if the villain escapes because of their own cunning or skill, that is a turn I can live with. 1. The Chosen One and The Prophecy The alpha and omega of overused tropes. The stable boy that finds out he’s the only one that can save the kingdom, and he’s actually a secret prince. The maid that wakes up one day infused with some magical ability prophesied to save the world. Listen, I’m all for a hero’s journey. It’s a classic storytelling arc that still works to this day if executed properly. However, the Chosen One irks my last nerve. When it just so happens that this completely unremarkable person is destined to save the world, it drives me bananas. I realize this plays on the psychological need for us to feel special, that we wish we could wake up one day and be granted supernatural powers leading us to greatness and fame. Many people live unremarkable lives, so this sort of wish fulfillment psychology will always work on some level. The worst part of this trope is that many times it grants what’s known as Plot Armor, which is a term given when you absolutely know the hero isn’t going to die. This is a big reason Game of Thrones got so popular, is that the perception of characters having plot armor was shattered multiple times over. The other element of this trope I hate, is that it sometimes demonizes talent and hard work. Yeah, I know you worked your entire life and prepared diligently, but this lazy doofus over here was born to save the kingdom, so hey, sorry about your luck. What’s your least favorite fantasy trope? Hit me up on social media and let me know! Steve Mager If you enjoyed this article, please share it and follow me on social media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/StevenAMager Twitter: https://twitter.com/StevenAMager Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steve_mager/ Get my book, Forging the Iron Mind: [https://amzn.to/2uxRvCs]
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Horcrux. Deluminator. Howler. Marauder’s Map. Deathly Hallows. Remembrall. And my favorite, the Monster Book of Monsters.
These are just a tiny sampling of the magical items and artifacts scattered throughout the wizarding world of Harry Potter. In the first article in this series, I explored how the Houses were an incredibly effective piece of the world building puzzle, and for this article I will look at why the artifacts and items worked as effectively as they did. As any fantasy reader knows, magical artifacts are commonplace in every fantasy novel. Whether it be the One Ring in Lord of the Rings, or the Wardrobe in Chronicles of Narnia, magic items have always been a backbone of the fantasy genre. One of the most used fantasy tropes is that the hero must find artifact X to prevent catastrophe A or villain Y from taking over or destroying the world. What then, separates the Harry Potter artifacts from all the others? Let’s have a look at how Rowling used these items to perhaps greater effect than any other fantasy author. Let me establish a premise at the outset: magic items generally produce an impressive, fantastical effect. What Rowling understood is that we as readers like to experience awesome things that aren’t possible in our world, so those fantastical elements needed to be ramped up to a higher level. So, if we accept the premise that magic items are cool, and readers like to experience them, what is an aspiring fantasy writer to do with that information? Rowling’s answer to that question: Shower the reader with them and make each memorable and unique. What Rowling teaches us is a master lesson in pacing and leading the reader. When we, as a reader, experience something we think is marvelous or interesting, we want more. She knew this, and from the beginning all the way to the end, led us by the nose from one wonderful item to the next. Notice that there is ALWAYS an insignificant amount of time that elapses between the discovery of magical items. In the very first chapters of the series, lets look at how she paced us from one nifty item to the next: 1. Flying Motorcycle 2. Deluminator 3. Flying letters from Hogwarts 4. Diagon Alley Shopping (numerous) 5. Magic train station (9 and 3/4) 6. Sorting Hat 7. Potions 8. Etc. Note I did not include magical occurrences such as shape shifting, disappearing glass, etc. If you ever wondered why the Harry Potter series had such a “one more chapter” feel to it, one of the multitude of reasons was that Rowling had interesting magical things happening constantly. There was, even in later books, virtually no down time from showing off some new form of magic or artifact. Even something as simple as a Remembrall showing up, effectively leads us from one interesting item to another. By doing so, she establishes such a trend of showing us interesting things, that we assume another is bound to show up within the next few pages. As a reader, I have the attention span of a toddler in a room full of toys. I tend to read in short bursts, and I usually effortlessly find a stopping point to pick up later. I never read through books in a short number of sittings, even books I love such as Mistborn usually take me quite some time. Potter, however, was different. I plowed through those books as though a million dollar prize waited at the last page, and a big reason was that there was so little downtime between interesting things happening, making it difficult to find a stopping point. Even if the characters were doing something mundane, there was always some neat item or magical effect to handle the “cool factor” load. Thus, she established a pattern of always wanting to see the next interesting item or effect, and forcing the reader to assume there would be another coming up, which there invariably was. From a technique standpoint, the staggering of magic effects was already brilliant. She further upped the ante by not only having magical items but also giving them actual names that fit like a glove. As I outlined in the previous article, naming can be a highly effective technique of persuasion to immerse a reader. I’m not sure Rowling ever studied persuasion technique, but her items are filled with master level persuasion and naming conventions. She did not just insert a magical map; she created the Marauder’s Map, a brilliant name design because of the use of a unique word: marauding. Everyone knows the word, but it isn’t one you hear every day, thus when you hear it, it sticks in your mind better than say, words like move or mobile. Marauding vs. Moving or Mobile is a world of difference in both cool factor and connotation. Someone using the Marauder’s Map is likely sneaking around, so the name implies what the map is used for. Then there is possibly the alpha and omega of brilliant naming: Quidditch. With Quidditch we see another effecting naming technique: inventive uniqueness. It’s one thing to use a relatively unique word like marauding, but to invent multiple new words is another matter entirely. Quidditch, Quaffle, Bludger, and Snitch. All four highly unique words that bear the sort “sticky” quality that almost forces them to stand out in your head. I once read in an article she had five pages of names that began with Q before settling on Quidditch. First, names that begin with Q are automatically relatively unique, but then she leveled up even further by settling on a name easy to pronounce, yet not something you’d ever read before. In terms of world building, it does not get much nigher level than this, and the amount of effort and attention that went into even ancillary items shows it was not an accident that Potter became so iconic. There is yet another element: the creation of insignificant, yet awesome items. Example A: the Howler. This is an item that is, for all intents and purposes, is irrelevant. It bears virtually no significance to the plot, except to establish how the Weasley family operates. And yet, the Howler is one of the more memorable items. The ability to take a mundane thing such as a letter from parents, and turn it into a compelling world building object that also serves to develop characters, is a master stroke in creating audience investment and interest. What is your favorite magical item in the series? Let me know on Twitter! Steve Mager If you enjoyed this article, please share it and follow me on social media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/StevenAMager Twitter: https://twitter.com/StevenAMager Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steve_mager/ Get my book, Forging the Iron Mind: [https://amzn.to/2uxRvCs] I’ve long admired those who are seemingly endless fountains of creativity, unimpeded by such limiting factors as writer’s block, self-doubt, naysayers, and criticism. Let me give an example of what limitless creativity looks like: Mark Rosewater, lead designer for the card game Magic the Gathering. Here is a list of just some of the machine like production capabilities of this man:
1. Writes a 3-6,000 word blog each week. 2. Answers hundreds of questions on his Tumblr a week. 3. Does a Drive to Work podcast every day. 4. Answers people on Twitter. 5. Head designer for a game with incredible complexity and interactions. 6. Spends time with his family and multiple children. 7. Writes a comic every single day, Tales from the Pit. The man is a machine that would make the Terminator envious. I follow a lot of people in the writer, mindset, and creative community, and he is at the top tier as it relates to content generation. Even now, sometimes I sit and wonder how one man can churn out such a high level of content, day in and day out. He is not the only one; another of my favorite people to watch is Delilah Dawson, a writer I follow on Twitter. Here’s what she does daily: 1. Her hashtag TenThings, where she helps new writers overcome problems of all kinds. 2. Answers questions throughout the day on Twitter. 3. Writes daily poems from the perspective of a dog, which are fantastic. 4. Still manages to write and edit books at a high level. 5. Manages a family as well. How do they do it? How are they able to churn out relentless content so consistently? Do they not suffer from writer’s block or doubt? One of my favorite fantasy artists, Kazumasa Uchio, issued the following quote on Facebook, which I found to be profound. (forgive the poor translation): “When you draw it without making it through the brain, it's going to be a good painting. When I think about it, it's full of failures, but if you don't repeat this many times, you won't be born unconscious.” - Kazumasa Uchio Allow me to issue my interpretation of this quote: Kazumasa is saying that in order to achieve the unconscious “zone” of creativity, you have to plow forward and do it, even when it sucks, and by doing so, gradually the content will improve, because you achieve the “zone” more often. As one trudges through the suck, they start to gain a near immunity to the mire of mediocrity. In other words: To be more creative, you have to push forward by doing creative things continually, persistently, even they are total trash. I’ve noticed this in my own life. If I take any length of time off from undertaking creative projects, I can feel myself getting more inept over time. The words struggle to flow, and I become frustrated at my ineptitude, thus causing me to produce less. The process then becomes a cycle that feeds on itself, becoming an endless vortex of frustration. My thinking seems to revolve only around the most simple concepts, and I fall into a pit of consumption instead of production. The adage “practice makes perfect” is true obviously because the more you do something, the better you will get at executing. Yet, there exists a higher level. The “zone” if you will. Every writer, artist, or performer knows exactly what it feels like to be in the zone — that sequence where the words or brushes or shots flow like an endless waterfall. The question then becomes, how does one get into the zone more frequently? By embracing the suck. The one consistent thing I see from the people who seem to live in the zone is that they don’t take time off. Ever. They plow forward even when they know they are not at their creative apex, and by doing so, reach their creative zenith more often than others. Science of the of the brain confirms this, where consistent artistic interpretation and processing serves to activate the neural networks within, allowing one to operate at a higher level more consistently. Essentially, to be more creative, you have to continually be doing creative tasks, as it feeds upon itself and becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Several months ago, as I began work on my first fantasy novel, The Witchbreaker Saga, I vowed to do some level of writing every single day. Whether it be editing a chapter, or writing a new one, I decided to take no days off, no matter what. As a result, I find the ideas flow more freely, and writer’s block has not impeded me for any significant length of time. I also spend time every single day world building. Inventing new plants, animals, cultures, magic systems, all of the things required for a fantasy novel. Due to the constant creative thinking, I now have the “aha” moments far more frequently, which translates into a higher degree of confidence as I write and build. Here is the critical part: There are times when I KNOW my work is atrocious, yet I place the terrible words down regardless. There are many ways we can optimize our mindset for creativity. Generating endorphins and serotonin in our brain can be achieved through proper sleep, diet, and exercise daily. Even if it is only walking the dog, I find that most of my best ideas come as I hash out plot points, world building items, and characters while walking the dog around the neighborhood. Even if you have to talk to yourself on the way to work, or driving to a meeting, try to stay in a creative mindset as much as possible. Mark Rosewater did a podcast on creativity awhile back, which I recommend everyone listen to, that I will outline for you here, with several tips for stoking the creative fire. Mark Rosewater on Creativity: Connect things that don’t usually connect. 1. Believe you can be more creative, make the mental shift. 2. Don’t approach problems the same way don’t apply previous knowledge. 3. Seek a variety of expertise to connect more things in unique ways. 4. Understand it is a stepping stone process. Use multi-step impractical ideas to lead to solutions. Answers might be multiple steps away. 5. Be willing to experiment. Mistakes are excellent teachers. Get new information by trying things. Learn what’s irrelevant. 6. Accept that there’s more than one answer, making the process less daunting. Multiple solutions create more paths. 7. Collect feedback from those most affected by the problem. 8. Play games and do puzzles. Stay mentally active. Creativity is a muscle. 9. Think about why things are. Examine multiple solutions. 10. Find more answers to a problem you’ve already solved. With the pressure off, learn more. It builds confidence to see things in action. There you have it; I hope this helps someone inch a little closer to achieving their dreams. Let me know either here or on social media what works for you to peak your creativity. Thanks for reading! Steve Mager If you enjoyed this article, please share it and follow me on social media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/StevenAMager Twitter: https://twitter.com/StevenAMager Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steve_mager/ Get my book, Forging the Iron Mind: [https://amzn.to/2uxRvCs] |
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