Fantasy: Nerds like it and so should you.

As a few of you who have been reading this know, I've been working on a novel for the past few months. Writing a complete fantasy novel is #2 on the list of things to do before I die (#1 being a tour of Ireland). I want to do a lot of things before I kick the bucket, so it's pretty far up there.

When I was in high school, I spent the time during my history class writing a story. It was ridiculous and pretty terrible, focusing on my three best friends as the main characters and involving some silly quest. I still have it stuffed in my closet somewhere. After that, I decided I wanted to actually try a real novel. You know, one with a real plot and characters and a story that doesn't suck too bad. Unfortunately, I had an extremely short attention span. I'd write the first two chapters, get bored, and trash it.

It's amazing that the thing college has taught me the most (besides the fact that no one really knows as much as they and myself think we do) is patience. Over a period of a couple of months, I have a good plot, complex characters, a better command of writing narrative, and the realization of how people actually talk. I'm up to Chapter 8, nearly Chapter 9, and still going strong. I'm sure the story is pretty terrible, but I want to at least say I wrote a full-length novel.

Being an enormous fantasy nerd, this is the genre I've always been settled on. Also, being one who reads more fantasy (and tons of other books) than is healthy, I've come up with a few qualms with the fantasy genre.


Firstly, most fantasy is set in a Celtic, Norse, or medieval European inspired setting. It's what we like and are comfortable with. Tolkien based his books off of Norse mythology, and since he is the grandfather of fantasy, many followed. I like books set in this type of world, don't get me wrong. But what about other cultures? The world has such vibrant, beautiful, and rich mythologies, yet it's somewhat rare for those to inspire fantasy books. What about sub-Sahara Africa? The Aztecs and Mayans? The Japanese Shinto or the Mongolians, the Soloman Islanders, the Saudi Arabians, or the tribes and people around the Caspian and Baltic seas?

This is awesome.

Because of this, my main character is from a desert land, a mingle of Arabia, pre-colonial America, Mongolia, and the Pacific islands. She is a shaman apprentice, one who can control the faucets of nature and dive into the spiritual realm.


Second, a lot of fantasy uses the same rules as Tolkien or Dungeons and Dragons for different creatures and races. Elves are aloof and eternally wise, dwarves are grumpy and love drinking, humans are a young jack-of-all-trades race. Orcs, drow, and the like are evil, with extremely few exceptions.

When I played Dragon Age, it was a breath of fresh air to have elves that were not all-knowing and superior, but with a dying culture that was seen as inferior to humans. Dwarves still loved drinking, but they were backstabbing politicians that divided their people into castes. I've read a couple of other novels where the author bends the rules, but they're hard to find.

The way I'm trying to go about it is make races more realistic. The antagonist land is not evil, just loyal to their dying king. No one realm or race is evil, just individuals who choose to be. Humans are varied by culture, none really good nor bad. Light elves and drow live begrudgely in the same land, and dwarves are tied to the earth, choosing to live along side it instead of mining its ore and making flasks and battleaxes. Not to say that dwarves who drink lots of ale and swing weapons around aren't awesome, because they are. Everyone likes Vikings, except the rest of medieval Europe.


Third, I like character-driven story over plot-driven story. I think most people do, in fact. If something completely ordinary happens in a character-driven book, you'll still care because you feel attached to the protagonist. If something insane and surreal happens in a plot-driven book, you wouldn't give a damn because you don't care for any of the characters too much. Plot is necessary to a good story, but I feel that characters are more important. I've read a ton of fantasies with unlikeable, boring characters that had a great story, but I couldn't enjoy it because I felt no attachment to anyone there.

I have to say I've spent more time developing the characters than writing the damn book. I know their pasts, dreams, personalities, secrets, strengths, weaknesses, etc. I've done character studies, written up background stories, and created extensive profiles for each.


In conclusion, I'm a nerd. My novel is probably really bad, but it's fun. Something to pass the time while I can't sleep for my 24th hour and am hallucinating gnomes crawling into my vacuum cleaner.

Crafty bastards.

So tell me, what would you like to see in a story? Doesn't have to be fantasy. Any cliches you're sick of seeing that you might enjoy seeing a insomniac write about?