Magical Me

Filed Under Worldbuilding | 2 Comments

Concluding this week’s crash course on worldbuilding, I offer you the core of fantasy: the magic system.


Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

There are endless possibilities when it comes to creating a magic system, especially if you’re being more creative than normal. But it all boils down to deciding what magic can and cannot do.

Like I said, endless possibilities.

If you don’t know where to start, draw on your favorite stories for inspiration. Harry Potter’s world uses wands and latin-based spells. In the Lord of the Rings, there were a limited number of wizards in the world. In Narnia, magic is everywhere, and accessible in many different ways.

I can’t go through every type of magic system. First of all, it takes too long. Second, there’s too much you can do with it! All I can really do is make sure you think about all sorts of things you might not have considered by asking questions. Ready? Ok, let’s go:

Magic
What are the limits on magic (remember the Genie from Aladdin? Can’t raise people from the dead, can’t make anyone fall in love)? How do wizards call on magic (wand/staff, willpower, etc.)? What types of spells can be done? Is there any illegal magic (raising people from the dead again, etc.)? What’s the price of magic (lose some of your life force, etc.)? Does magic come from the gods? If there are different types of magic, what is each’s strengths and weaknesses? Are spells easy to cast (Harry Potter) or do they require a ritual (basic sacrifice to devil)? What kind of ritual? How long does it take to cast a spell (D&D’s stupid 10-minute casting time)? Is the world filled with magic, or is magic scarce? Are there magic items? Is there a way to strengthen spells (blood, etc.)?

Wizards
How many wizards are in your world? How do people treat them (respect/admire, mistrust, hate, etc.)? Are people born with magic or can it be learned? How long does it take to train in magic? What happens if someone runs out of magic (temporarily, as in ran out of spells, and/or permanently, as in no more magic ever)? Are there jobs in magic (potion-maker, etc.)? Are there ways to travel by magic (Floo Powder, Knight Bus, broomstick, etc.)? Ways to communicate by magic (two-way mirrors, etc.)? Does magic co-exist with or replace technology? Any Laws of Magic (both physical and political)? What happens if you break them? Is there a wizard hierarchy or government?

Species
What kind of races inhabit your world (elves, dwarves, etc.)? Where do they live? Do they have any special talents as a species? Advantages/Weaknesses? How do they interact with humans? With each other (Legolas v. Gimli!)? Do you have magical creatures (unicorns, dragons, etc.)? Where do they live? How do they interact with humans? Do their body parts have any magical significance (Harry Potter’s dragon’s blood, etc.)? How do humans treat them? Which are considered dangerous? Which are kept as pets?

You’re on a roll, keep going with your own questions!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s crash course on worldbuilding – and maybe learned something along the way!












And yes, I am more awesome than Lockhart.

OMG = Oh My Gods!

Filed Under Worldbuilding | Leave a Comment


Memnonium of Seti I, courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

Religion plays an important role in Fragment of the Moon and other fantasies, so I thought this would be a good second chapter to our crash course on worldbuilding, using the religion of my Southern Lands as an example.

First, you have to decide what kind of religion your world will have. Will there be multiple gods and/or goddesses? Or just one god? Or some great unknown power? Most fantasy writers (including me) go with the first option, and create their own pantheon. And since that’s the most complex, that’s what I’ll be discussing for the rest of the post.

One of the most common methods for making a pantheon is to either use or adapt the Greek/Roman or Norse systems, especially if you’re a fan of Dungeons & Dragons. If you want more information on these pantheons or would like to look at some of the world’s other religions, take a look at Godchecker. They have information on over 3,700 gods, goddesses, spirits, demons, and saints. I used it to find some fitting powers for one of my goddesses.

Since I originally designed my religion for an ancient society, I went with a nature theme, starting with elements and working my way up (I know, SO overdone). Obviously, that’s only one way. Do whatever you want!

Now, the problem I have with the European pantheons is their reliance on dichotomies, especially in the realm of morals. Good vs. Evil, War vs. Peace, Love vs. Hate, etc. It’s too black and white to be super interesting to me. So instead of the “classic” elements, I went with the Chinese elements.


The Chinese elements and their relationships

Their relationships are more complex than the Pokemon-esque “Water beats Fire beats Earth beats Air” which, to my case, allows me to translate this frame into a moral system that is more complicated than dichotomies. In my pantheon, there’s a Goddess of War and a God Who Loves War (And Is Arguably More Ruthless than the Goddess of War).

What you should take away from this: find ways to tweak traditional systems to make them your own.

Given that religious systems’ practical applications are to guide the morals of its people, this is an extremely important facet of creating your religion. Remember two days ago, when I asked you to figure out what your society prized? This is where you create a religion that rewards it.

Example: Vikings prized bravery. The reward for dying in battle? Valhalla.

Other details to consider: how do people pray to the gods? Or do they leave it to the priests? Why do they pray to them (luck, advice, help, etc.)? Is there a priesthood, or is there another type of organization dedicated to the gods? How do you join the priesthood? What do priests do? What do the gods sanctify (birth, marriage, death, etc.)? Do the gods have any direct control on the world (can show themselves to certain people, can trigger events, etc.)? Are there other beings associated with the gods (angels, etc.)? What do people believe about the afterlife? Is entry to the afterlife automatic or is there a judgment (weighing heart against a feather, etc)?

Oh my gods, think of the rest yourself!

Eat Your Heart Out, Mr. Morgan

Filed Under Worldbuilding | Leave a Comment

Welcome to A Single Bell’s week-long crash-course in worldbuilding! Over the next few days I’ll be giving you advice and questions to consider when building your world’s society, technology, religion, and magic system (saved the best for last!).

Deciding your world’s society and technology might very well be the easiest worldbuilding you do. (It is for me, anyway.) For some people, these two aspects go hand in hand – and since I studied anthropology, I can’t resist the chance to take a few jabs at Lewis Henry Morgan.

For the uninitiated, Morgan is infamous for his theories on social evolutionism. He claims that every society follows a natural progression to civilization, and has the audacity to decide what qualifies as civilization and what is decidedly lower. The spectrum is divided into three main stages: savagery, barbarism, and civilization. A society’s place on this spectrum is determined largely by its level of technology. For example, only civilized societies have writing systems – never mind that the Incans held a vast empire without one. And if you couldn’t work metal, he’d be darned if you were going to be any higher than a savage! I’d tell you to prove him wrong if it wasn’t so ridiculous. After all, he’s assuming that every society is going to go through the same progression as did Europe. It’s a big world out there, Mr. Morgan; we can’t all live in the rat-and-sewage dumps that were Medieval cities.

But wouldn’t that be original? An ancient society, armed only with stone weapons, possessing the power of flight with machi – oh wait, Disney already did that with Atlantis.

But you see what I mean. It doesn’t always have to be swords and catapults with knights and castles. In this crummy economy, you have to learn to Mix and Match!


RR Train, Great Britain, courtesy of Flickr

So, what kind of technology does your world have? Is it your run-of-the-mill Sword & Sorcery medieval realm? Or are you going to throw in some gunpowder? Maybe a magic train or two (it’s not like Harry Potter has a monopoly on them)? Maybe you want to do Steampunk? Or a world that exists within our own, which uses the same technology? Is technology (a.k.a. Science) banned by religion (a.k.a. the Church)? Does it replace it?

Now we’re getting into the realm of society. You can have your kings and your emperors. You can have a world run by merchants or no one at all (especially useful in post-Apocalyptic worlds). What’s marriage like? Gender roles? How old do you have to be before you’re considered an adult? What responsibilities do adults have? Has society changed (hopefully)? How? Any great events (civil wars, reigns of terror, etc.)? Is your world peaceful or militaristic? Who are its friends and enemies on the global stage? Is there a class system (don’t say of course, this is a relatively new concept)? A caste system? Are the lower classes educated? Only to a certain degree? What does your society value (intellect, bravery, faith, etc.)? How does it reward exemplary people?

I think that’s a good start. Once you’ve answered all (or any) of these questions, try to come up with more of your own. It’s all about the details.

Remember: worldbuilding is like set design. When you watch a movie, everything is perfectly detailed (compare the differences in design between Rohan and Gondor, for example). Maybe you don’t see all of the details that were created, but if they weren’t there, you’d notice.

Progress!

Filed Under Updates, Worldbuilding | 2 Comments

My novel’s had a busy two weeks! Not only did I find a villain and create an appendix, but the word count jumped up to 11%!

The evil demon guy from Fantasia.

My villain is hardcore. At least, I like to think so. My original villain was just going to be your generic demon king [see above]. I hate “take over the world” schemes but couldn’t think of anything better – until I did! He’s got a whole history with my main character, and pretty much hates her guts for reasons I won’t go into (needless to say, it involves death and destruction of everything he held dear) and has sworn revenge. Not just her death, that would be too simple. He wants to make her suffer just as she made him suffered. Revenge is also an old scheme, but I think it’ll work out well.

I made a non-scale map of the novel’s setting, the City of the Gods. I used Gimp, which couldn’t make circles, so…yeah. I’m still proud of it though. Not quite sure what to do with the orange dots (the “Centers”). Lauren suggested ruins or gardens. I like the ruins idea, but everything in between the dots is forest or field, so gardens didn’t make sense. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

I’ve got a plan for the progress bar, too. I wasn’t quite sure what to put as my word count goal, so I just used NaNoWriMo’s (50,000). But once I finish the first quarter of my novel (which I will know thanks to my Snowflake, which builds novels by quarters), I will recalibrate it. That should be more accurate, hopefully.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and bump that progress bar up a few more percents!

P.S. If you look at My Del.icio.us, you’ll get an idea of what I’m going to talk about next week!

Officially in the Middle

Filed Under Tales from the Author's Desk | 1 Comment

Earlier this week, I ended Chapter One and officially entered: The Middle.

Ask any writer – especially those who take part in NaNoWriMo – and they’ll tell you that the hardest part to writing a novel is the middle. Beginnings and endings, you usually have some idea of what you wan to do. But figuring out how to get from Point A to Point B? Not so easy.

The Middle is where you are most likely going to go astray, plot- and character-development-wise. The Middle is where you write twenty pages and then realize there wasn’t conflict in a single line of it. The Middle is where you sputter out and give up because you can’t take it anymore.

Sounds like a great place to stay, right?

*insert evil laugh here*

Planning is supposed to keep you in The Middle for as short a time as possible, but it’s still a trial no matter how much you’ve outlined. You can saturate yourself with pep talks, but none of them can keep you from quitting if you lose your spirit. (Can you tell how much I’m looking forward to this?)

Every distraction is potentially fatal. Your brain becomes too tired to focus on this novel anymore. It starts throwing new [easier] novel ideas at you in the hopes you’ll come to your senses and give up. Of course, mine’s been doing that since Day 1. (Heck, I came up with a new idea just last night, and I really want to work on it! But – discipline!)

Your only hope is to plug on through and hope you have something useful when you arrive safely at the end.

Jamming Session

Filed Under Creativity, Music | Leave a Comment

As a percussionist, I like to play with whatever comes to hand. But I’m nothing compared to these guys. Make sure to lock your doors before you leave your house, so they can’t destroy it during their jam sessions.

Click!

Filed Under Age-Old Debates, Tales from the Author's Desk | 2 Comments

I love it when everything clicks together without any proper planning. I submit that it is one of the most satisfying feelings ever.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I wanted to discuss the different ways to approach a novel from the organization side – basically, whether or not to plan out your novel.

First, we have the die-hard planners. Not only do they have a detailed outline that is almost as good as the novel itself, they have the character super-dossiers, a to-scale map of every forest or castle or closet ever, a history of their world that begins “At the dawn of time,” and probably a few alternate universes mapped out. (Obviously, I’m exaggerating. But if you know someone like this, please seek help.) These guys take hours to make sure everything is perfect, that there are no plot-holes to be seen, not even so much as a plot-dent.

Then, we have the seat-of-the-pants writers. Planning? What is this planning you speak of? They never know what’s going to happen from one sentence to the next. They could be writing about a schoolyard bully one second, and purple polka-dotted bunnies the next. It’s, quite frankly, a crapshoot.

Of course, this works for some people. I don’t begrudge them for it (don’t envy them either, though). Like most of my fellow writers, I fall somewhere in the middle.

As you might remember, I used the Snowflake Method to help plan out my novel’s plot. I didn’t use all the steps, meaning I didn’t go as in-depth in the method as I could have. I didn’t take a page or so to describe one quarter of the book; I did it in a paragraph. I didn’t write dossiers for my main characters; I marked down their wants and conflicts and called it a day.

As you can imagine, that left a lot of wriggle room. I have the big picture, but almost none of the small details. Which brings me back to my original statement.

I absolutely love it when story elements click together with no planning.

Allow me to show you why I’m gushing. If you’ve read my project summary, you’ll know that demons are chasing my protagonist. The plan was to have her make her first friends by them teaming up and fighting/beating the demons. That’s what my Snowflake says.

But how to get there? The following was all written by a semi-seat-of-the-pants model (i.e. off the top of my head, but with some larger goal in mind):

I start the novel with her breaking school rules by leaving the grounds. She gets chased by a demon. Then, instead of telling her sister what happened, she says she’s upset because a professor gave her detention. I thought, wouldn’t it be amusing if the professor approaches the group to really give her detention? So she did. Then I wondered, what detention should I give her? I gave her something that put her back where she was breaking the rules because I was too lazy to think of any real punishments. I mean, I didn’t think I’d need to show any of it! But now she has a week’s worth of chances to get chased by demons, and for her future friends to figure it out and decide to help her get rid of them.

The cherry on top? Where she’s doing detention will, I soon discovered, actually help move the plot!

Click-click-click-click!

A Reliable Bore

Filed Under Book Reviews | 3 Comments

A Review of A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick

“It was a road without end, a conversation with no point.”                                             - A Reliable Wife

I think this quote accurately summarizes the novel. The story “arc” was more of a horizontal line. The tone of the writing was pretentious. I did not sympathize with any of the characters, unless considering them pathetic counts. In short, it was boring and depressing. If I hadn’t been reading it for a book club, I never would have finished it of my own accord.

It could have been good. The plot is that rich businessman Ralph Truitt places an ad for “a reliable wife” in the paper, and Catherine Land is the respondent he picks to marry. However, both of them have ulterior motives for marrying the other, and Catherine’s involves murder. Sounds exciting, right?

Wrong. Each of these pathetic characters is in a slump, which is understandable, but none of them – not a one – cares enough to try to get past it. Cue suicidal thoughts and memories of the “golden” past that was equally crappy and depressing, but had a nice gilded cover.

The piece of the story that really interested me (strangers placing/answering an ad and getting married) was a bit of a flop. The intrigue of the situation is moot if she’s planning to murder the man for his money and he’s using the woman to reconnect with his family. What was wrong with putting normal people in that sort of situation? Not “exciting” enough of a plot for you, Mr. Goolrick? And what, it would have killed you to put even one semi-happy person in your book?

Granted, the book is probably supposed to depress you. It’s probably supposed to suck the life out of you like a dementor’s kiss, with its endless void of despair and freezing Wisconsin-winter setting. Goolrick is probably making some very poignant statements on human frailty and sin.

But who wants to read that? It’s not cathartic. It doesn’t raise interesting questions. Perhaps we, the readers, are supposed to read it and think “Thank God my life isn’t that much of a dump heap.”

What a waste of $15. Save your money, time, and sanity, and skip this book.

My Rating (out of five stars)

★

How Not to Write a Metaphor

Filed Under Creativity, Tools of the Trade | 7 Comments

In case you forgot your high school English classes, here is the difference between a metaphor and a simile:

metaphor: (n.) a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.”

simile: (n.) a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in “she is like a rose.”

In case you were too lazy to read that, or you didn’t understand it: a metaphor uses “is,” while a simile uses “like” or “as.”

The trick to writing a metaphor or simile is to come up with a striking image, which is harder to do than it sounds. You want to avoid overused phrases like “her voice was angelic” or “the waves crashed on the shore.” But you also don’t want to throw your reader out of the story by mashing your images.

Below are some *ahem* colorful examples of real metaphors/similes that people used in their essays. (If these catch your fancy…well…more power to you!) Either way, enjoy!

Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

McMurphy fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a paper bag filled with vegetable soup.

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a tumble dryer.

She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the centre.

He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.

Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left York at 6:36 p.m. travelling at 55 mph, the other from Petersborough at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the full stop after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

The thunder was ominous sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.

The red brick wall was the colour of a brick-red crayon.

Even in his last years, Grandpa had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.

Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

The plan was simple, like my brother Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.”

She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like the sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had ever seen before.

The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a lamppost.

The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free cashpoint.

The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric fan set on medium.

It was a working class tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with their power tools.

He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a dustcart reversing.

She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature British beef.

She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.

Dungeons & Doldrums

Filed Under Creativity, Tales from the Author's Desk | 4 Comments

At some point in the fantasy writing universe, everyone decided it would be awesome to write a high adventure story about a boy who was secretly a king team up with fighters, thieves, mages, and priests to defeat the villain taking over the medieval-based world. Since when did we (the writing community) allow Dungeons & Dragons to overrun our creativity?

Don’t get me wrong. I love playing D&D and other rpgs. But I am so tired of seeing the same plots over and over again. And if it’s not the same plot, it’s the same setting with the same characters. Thieves with hearts of gold, priests questioning their god(s), mages learning to harness their ultimate powers, etc. I’m sure these were good characters at one point (maybe in the mid-fifties), but now they’re just dull cliches.

Cliches can have their uses, however. For my NaNoWriMo novel, I took those basic characters (prince, mage, thief) in the medieval setting, and turned them on their head. I had the omniscient narrator of the story step up and take over the novel. Granted, I could probably do a lot more with it than I did, but that’s for editing to sort through.

But glancing through other books, where did the creativity go? It’s like people just gave up and decided to follow Tolkien’s example, complete with elves, dwarves, and orcs (which can also be found in D&D).

Please, do yourself and your readership a favor: take the time and effort to build an original world.

Next Page →

  • Welcome

    new haircut

    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

    You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or email me at:
    jennifer.a.johnson7 at gmail dot com

  • Official Progress


    4/21 segments

    A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.

    Status: Second revision



    1,639/70,000 words
    A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.

    Status: First draft



    1,087/70,000 words
    When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?

    Status: First draft





  • All writing, unless otherwise specified, is the property of
    Jennifer Johnson © 2010