Finding fantasy genre a bit too complex
Although I like reading fantasy / adventure I am finding it too complex for me to write. I also like watching murder mysteries and I have read a few too. I find this type of genre a lot of fun.
The problem with me is that I give up too easily. Like for instance I started planning a fantasy story for a few months now, but it's getting more complicated and I feel now like switching genres.
Do any of you feel the same way as I do? How do you overcome it?
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
When you say "fantasy," I assume you mean "world-building" as well. That involves many elements, all of which are fantastic. It can become very complicated.
On the other hand, murder mysteries do not involve world-building. Characters are in a realistic location, where they say and do realistic things. The older you (the writer) get, the easier it is to write this genre, since you have a large stock of experience that you can use.
I suggest that you do some reading by authors Algernon Blackwood and H.P. Lovecraft. Blackwood's work can be found online, as it is past copyright. Both of them are likely to be in any well-stocked public library.
I recommend these authors because they (often, not always) write fantasy, but it is largely set in the author's own place and time. This remains understandable to us today. There is not much world to build.
Blackwood prefers to have a very small fantastic element, in stories that otherwise would be literal truth. Lovecraft preferred to have a larger element of fantasy, sitting beside the ordinary world.
My point: To get from nearly-factual murder mysteries, to largely-unfactual fantasy, start small: Read fantasy with a small or confined fantastic element. Begin here: "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood.
In the modern era fantasy writing is perhaps a genre on its own. (I'm not a fan). It is more in line with traditional writing from previous centuries.
Examine the following:
As we took off from Charles De Gaulle the Eiffel Tower shrank to a mere child's toy. The next time I opened my eyes the skies were clear. From the cabin window I witnessed Everest in all its glory. As we approached Sydney, the sun glistened off the Opera House roof.
In the modern era, media has shown us images of all that is known. In writing I've no need to describe anything - the task is to ask you to recall your brain's stored images. This engages the reader and is akin to visual empathy. The method is fast and engaging.
Fantasy requires the writer to describe images that are new to the reader, often resulting in TLDR.
It's a psychological effect. If I write a story about a high-school romance the reader will instantly connect. If the reader hasn't experienced the same - they have witnessed the scenario and will recall the experience. The reader will build and manufacture all ancillary scenes and characters themselves.
With fantasy you're building a world which you asking the reader to buy into.
Not an easy task.
You don't specify what length of story you are trying to write, but a novel, at full length, is a highly complex piece of work regardless of genre. If you were learning to be a programmer, you probably would not choose to write an enterprise content management system as your first project. You would find it far to complicated, not simply because of its size, but because of all the different elements of software and system design that would be involved in making it all work.
Most writers begin by writing short stories, simply because they are a simpler form that you can get your head around as a beginner.
Now, the short story is an artform in itself, and you may not manage to reach the heights of the great short story writers. But a great short story is something simple done extraordinarily well, and it is the simplicity you want as a beginner.
Short stories may not be the thing you really want to write, and there is certainly very little market for them these days, but the same is true of most of the programs you would write in your early days of learning to code.
Writing short stories will help you learn basic story structures and, perhaps just as importantly, it will teach you to finish things, and show you that you can indeed finish things.
Start with a project of manageable size and complexity. That way you will get to learn the basics and become comfortable with them so that it will be easier to tackle a larger project later on.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.