On Writing | Fantasy Tropes Revisited

I am the editing and revising machine lately! Rawr. And I've not been posting much, sorry. Ironically, the blogs I watch have been posting so much more in recent weeks - I've had a hard time keeping up. 

Source: Actionpointcomic.com

Let's cut to the quik - I like fantasy tropes. No, I LOVE them. I know there's at least two generations of people who grew up with Tolkien and Asimov and T.H. White who have spent the past five or so decades watching their favorite fantastic stories told over and over and over again in books, television and film.

You know why those stories get retold? Because they're good! To this day, people still know about Helen of Troy ("the face that launched a thousand ships") and what a Trojan Horse is. That story is two THOUSAND years old. (Uh, right? Older?)

Anyway, I read this post by forthcoming debut novelist Jeff Salyards over at SF Signal, entitled "Jeff Salyards on Avoiding Tired Tropes When World Building."

Nicely written post, I really enjoyed it. GO READ IT. Here's an excerpt.

What they all have in common is they don’t lazily rely on established motifs or character types. Can you still write about elves? Sure. I guess. But if they are sing-songy, lyrical, tree-dwelling hippies, then you’re missing the grand creative freedom of being a fantasy writer. Make them terrifying cannibals, or disenfranchised revolutionaries. In fact, somebody’s probably done both of those already. Tread carefully. 

And I left a lengthy comment, like so:

This is a good post. Tropes are a tricky topic, you have to admit. On the one hand, there is comfort in familiarity – and it’s that comfort which allows the reader immersion, escape, into the entertainment that is reading. On the other hand, the market and experienced readers demand freshness, creativity, originality.

It’s almost impossible anymore to write something that hasn’t been told. Even traditional fables have tons of variants on the same theme, across different cultures. Yet they persevere throughout the ages, and are retold to each generation, in one form or the other.

I’m comfortable with the tropes, personally, and employ several. Theoretically, I make them my own, but there’s no reinventing the wheel, so why bother – it’s almost an insult to the reader. What I try to focus on is to take that wheel and put it somewhere unexpected, or go further back, and discover why the wheel is the way that it is. (Well, not literally wheels, of course.)

There’s only so many ways that “departing from the classic tropes” can go, before they go too far and THAT becomes the new trope. For instance, ‘gritty’ is the new big thing – but that’s going to wear itself thin. Fantasy wasn’t built upon rape scenes, and readers will get tired of that, just like they grew tired of the peasant boy who becomes a king. After awhile, a good old-fashioned ‘boy becomes King’ yarn will be more popular (again) than Blackie McBlackNight the dirty rotten scoundrel’s tale.

What’s an author to do? Write a good story: cream always rises to the top.

Truly, this is a topic that I could go on and on for days about. But I have revisions to attend! However, if you want to engage the topic with me - revisions can wait, because this is my favoritest topic ever!

Anyway, what about you? Tired of the same ole stories? Do you want a refreshing take on the classic tale? Do you want something more realistic? Both? Neither? How about a re-imagined Middle Earth where the Dwarves aren't comic relief and the Elves aren't entirely feminine? Hmm? Hmmmmmm?

Fantasy Races Physiology | Overview

True confessions of a world building geek.

Whether from mythology and legend or borrowed heavily from J.R.R. Tolkien's notes or the D&D bestiary, the fantastic races are another literary vehicle by which to explore the human condition, in a manner which is equally incredible and yet relatable.

No matter the origin of their usage, there are general expectations of the fantasy races which most readers will have.

My own world building includes several Fantasy races, hence the interest. I have mentioned elsewhere that I am not interested in calling a short, stocky bearded race of fantastic creatures Puddlefuds (or whatever) for the sake of being original. Nor am I interested in giving Elves facial hair for the sake of being different (with all due respect to those who have).

Rather, I'd like to go a step further; I want to explore what is expected of fantasy races as a trope, and craft some rules and ideas that I (and others) can build from further on down the line. In this, I expect to debunk some accepted ideas and give strength to others.

This becomes my new project, and I hope to get some feedback - because it'll make it more fun. I should note that I am not a doctor, psychologist, or a biologist, but I like to dabble. I haven't done the research (yet) to know whether someone else has already done what I'm about to do (I suspect someone has); if that's the case, then this becomes Zherlios canon and nothing more. No harm, no foul.

To begin, we have to answer the basic question of why there must be fantasy races to begin with. Because it's fantasy? No, of course not. There's plenty of fantasy tales that don't incorporate non-Human races. It's a lesson in cultural awareness. Non-human races allow us to explore (potentially exaggerated) themes of the human condition from the perspective of an outsider. The same holds true for aliens in science fiction.

In this post, I'm simply going to cover a few of the more well-known races and what will be my jump-off points for future articles.

Elves - In Tolkien mythology, Elves are a race of long-lived humanoids. They can represent longevity. Patience. A race that can look at humans and say, "Ah, you humans, always in such a hurry." They are nearly always attractive, graceful and particularly adept.

Physiology, not magic, can answer the questions of long life. Cellular regeneration must be high and overall metabolism must be slow.

Image source: Fanpop.com 

Dwarves - In Tolkien mythology, Dwarves are short, stocky, strong and bearded. Their affinity for mountains and mining seems to me a representation of labor as a human theme. Where power and magic can corrupt, can make humans greedy, Dwarves potentially represent the power of good old work ethic.

With Dwarves, we have to address muscle density. I've noticed that short, human athletes tend to have better muscle definition and are stronger, "pound for pound", then their taller counter parts. If you go with the trope that all Dwarves live in mountains (I don't see why that would necessarily be true), then there has to be some other considerations. For starters, a throat/nose/lung filtration system for the amount of dust that would be encountered in living underground, for mining, for forging, etc. (Otherwise, what, all Dwarves die at the age of thirty to emphysema?) Secondly, their blood would be more oxygenated from living at high altitudes where the air is thinner. Each breath has to carry more oxygen to the lungs, assuming near-Human O2 requirements, etc.

Which, aside, would mean that Dwarves outside of their natural habitat, and at sea level, would be virtually cheerful and giddy (if not flat-out dizzy) from the extra amount of oxygen. (At least for a few hours?)

Image Source: lotr.wikia.com

Halflings - These are pretty much Tolkien's creatures, through and through, despite the use of this race in fantasy games. I believe that Tolkien wanted us to connect to their simplicity, their love of nature and its abundance.

Physiologically, I am drawn to the idea that they are a race of people that work with their hands and go barefoot, in addition to the scientific implications found in Homo Floresiensis. I am reminded of GRRM's Hornfoot tribe in ASOIAF, as well as the particular talents of relatively short people throughout human history, such as Bruce Lee, Sylvester Stallone and Napolean Bonaparte. If we use Dwarves to explore muscle density in their stockiness, then we can use Halflings to explore agility and litheness - think "The Amazing" Yen in Ocean's 11.

Image Source: Scifiscoop.com 

This post is getting longer than I wanted it to be, so I'm going to summarize the rest.

Giants, Amazons, etc. - Whether an all-female tribe or an entire race, I want to explore the physiological aspects of a humanoid race that are much bigger than humans. Basically, fiction meets WWF, right? Casual observation has been that human giants tend to have reduced life expectancy.

Half Elves - To be honest, I don't buy into the idea of Half Elves as a race of people. Going back to the idea that Elves will live hundreds or thousands of years - would you get married and have children with someone who was only going to live ten years? And if you have children with them, your children would only live twenty years? It's a great idea as a fantasy trope (My character has the best of both races! Magical, but real and relatable, too!), but functionally it's ridiculous.

It'd be like marrying your favorite pet. Having said that, it has to be pursued - love is stupid like that, and doesn't always embrace practical considerations. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has heard of some crazy old lady leaving her entire estate to her cat and her butler. But, you better believe I'm approaching it with a scalpel.

Orcs, of course. Goblins, too. Evil things to represent the dark sides of humanity.

Dog people, cat people, lizard people. Yes. Well. Eventually.

Centaurs. Unicorns. Pegasi. Dragons. Why stop at the humanoid races... though I'd like to focus on the races that can some how, some way, be a reflection towards human themes in storytelling. This project, however, as an exercise in world building and magical realism.

And... I'm taking requests! What fantastic race do you want to put under the scope and scalpel?

FTA: What makes a great fictional Villian?

In response to a series over at Magical Words, today I'd like to chat with you about bad guys, particularly in epic fantasy.

I'm not talking about "antagonists", per se, though often these are one and the same.

Let me organize my thoughts for a moment. Undoubtedly this has been bounced around a bazillion times on the internet, so we can skip the redundant.

Types.

1) The GREAT EVIL. Taking our cues from Sauron in LoTR, what we have is someone bent on world domination, through the most destructive means possible. Non-sympathetic. Never in the story, do we get the impression that Sauron is misunderstood. (Notably, in Silmarillion, he at least has an interesting backstory, but he was always hungry for power.)

Thoughts: Necessary evil. Generic, in a sense. However, I think they can be written right, given some intelligence, some interesting vulnerabilities (drop the ring in some lava and it's all over!)

Overall, I don't mind reading about an overpowered megalomaniac, but I am not inclined to write about them.

2) The OTHER ONES. They are not us, therefore they are evil and must be destroyed. The Canids in Jim Butcher's Codex Alera, (evil) Saxons in Roman Britain, Spartans vs . (evil) Persians, etc.

Thoughts: This is far more common. The villians are sympathetic, they have followers, people who believe in their philosophies. This becomes a conflict based on economy, on religion, on geography - in short, the history of the world was built on this sort of conflict.

This villian is always in the telling. In my own writing, I prefer to make them understandable, to the point where the conflict lies between a fence as thin as a single strand of diplomacy. The cultural divide between warring nations often - if not predictably - falls upon the head of one despotic character (which again, history confirms). Kingdom of Heaven comes to mind as a movie which shows both sides of the conflict.

3) MAN vs NATURE. Nature as an external force, not internal urges. Even if you believe in creationism, Darwinism has a solid view in that the natural world will seek its own sense of balance. Hurricanes will come, Volcanoes will erupt, and predators will protect their hunting territory.

If you're considering mythological semi-intelligent creatures who follow the laws of nature, this makes for what? Understandably sympathetic aspect? Training, domestication, the fencing in of the natural world - the conflict is built right in to the perceived "correct" actions of the humanoid biological imperatives to thrive and survive.

Where this gets fun, in fantasy, is the usage of semi-intelligent "natural" creatures, who are capable of a degree of civilization - but are still bound by the very balancing laws of nature - versus the more Human nature of taking what is needed. Going back to LoTR, we have Ents.

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Ah, there's more. I'll go on all day.

In my current WIP, there is an "evil", but they are not the antagonist of the main story arcs. The fact that there is any major conflict in what is an established paradise, is the issue.

In reading about villians, though, it occurs to me that I will have to go back and make them more sympathetic (More "other" and less "great evil"). The WIP is slightly a bit of a prequel, so the goal is to portray the possible lines of future changes.

My goal, as a writer, is to make all characters sympathetic (eventually). Some will be more interesting than others, and others that are doing the "right" thing will be easy to dislike.

We don't live in a moral vacuum, you know. That's the thing to remember. How wrong is the man who kills to protect his family, or who steals in order to not starve?

A Great Villian heightens the reader's moral compass, teaches a lesson about the portrayed path of actions and consequences, provides fuel for thought and introspection and self awareness - above and beyond the action/adventure the story portends.

Tell me about your favorite fictional villians, and why you remember them so.

FTA: Pirates

Fantasy Trope Analysis: Pirates



Drunken Pirate pic from Halloween 2005.

Today, boys and girls (gentle readers!), we're going to talk about pirates.

Pirates, in my observation, are a fairly common occurrence in the fantasy stories I've read (and space pirates, in sci-fi, too). Are they a legitimate trope?

Should pirates exist in any fantasy story involving ocean voyaging and distant ports-of-call, that has the naval technology, i.e., boats that could support an aggressive sea warrior crew while also having enough cargo room to carry booty long enough to be sold (can't raid with canoes or rafts, eh)?

Are they overused? Should there be more pirate perspectives, more stories? Is it better to include them as part of the world events, but not build a story around them?

I assume that they are a common element in stories, one way or the other, because they are actually a historically based profession. So, let me share some of what I learned with you. (I'll provide a list of links that I plagiarized and used and such at the bottom, no worries.)

The earliest documented instances of piracy occurred in/around the Aegean and the Mediterranean Seas, as early as the 13th Century BC, during the Bronze Age.

These first pirates were categorized by the Egyptians as Sea Peoples, and they were made up of migratory tribes who formed (relatively undocumented) groups that sought to harass and deter the growing Egyptian empire.

In Classical Times, Illyrians and Tyrrhenians were known as pirates, as well as the Thracians, very resistant to Greek influence. The Phoenicians sometimes resorted to piracy, specializing in such to obtain slaves. Plutarch is said to have given the first definition of piracy as -'an illegal attack on a ship or coastal town, that was not of a warring nature, but for plunder of monetary gain alone'.

The Illyrian raids were detrimental to the Roman Republic, until they were defeated in 168 BC. By the 1st century BC, several pirate states along the Anatolian coast continued to plague the Romans. Julius Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates in 75 BC, and held prisoner. They opted to ransom him for 20 talents of gold - and he insisted he was worth 50; the pirates conceded. Afterwards, Caesar raised a fleet, found the pirates, and put them to death.

As the Roman Empire expanded north into Europe, Frankish and Saxon pirates raided the coasts of Armorica and Belgic Gaul. The word we know today as 'pirate' or 'pyrate' comes from the Roman historian Polybius around the mid 100 BC era, who used the word 'periato' to describe sea marauders.


Right?

From there, we get into Vikings, which is a whole new discussion. Vikings attacked as far as the Baltic Sea, Persia, the coast of North Africa and even Italy.

Muslim pirates were common in the Mediterranean Sea towards the end of the 9th century.

Piracy seemed to rise in the orient at the time China was enduring great political change in their central power beginning at the end of the 13th century. During the Ming Dynasty(1368-1668) Chinese pirates ruled the China Sea. Pirates using huge ships that could carry over 300 men pillaged the China coastal cities for several centuries.

The Dutch East India Company tried to recruit Chinese pirates as privateers to help them control the Asian market trade. The European traders created a base in Jakarta and enlisted the Chinese pirates to help them expand their interests. Eventually the Chinese pirates, who were always out for their own self interests, formed their own trade companies and made double the money on their looted goods.

The 15th century and forward contains the gist of what is considered the pirate trope, by modern day standards. The time between 1519 and 1780 was known as the Golden Age of Piracy.

Pic of CBS cast of "Pirate Master", from this link.

A few descriptions:

Pirate: A pirate is really a robber who steals from other ships out at sea.

Privateer: A privateer was a captain of a ship that attacked and captured other ships and stole valuable items from them. A privateer was not considered to be a true pirate because they were given special licenses called a Letter of Marque from a nations government. Of course they were hunted down and punished as pirates by the countries who they stole from. Many of these captains who were sent out to capture pirates soon became pirates themselves. They saw how much money a pirate made and could not resist the chance of getting rich.

Corsair: A corsair is a French seaman or privateer who sailed mostly in the South Mediterranean Sea.

Sea robbers:These pirates roamed the open seas and were not loyal to any particular government, but only wanted to capture riches for themselves.

Ruthless robbers:Most pirates who earned this nickname were very cruel and did not care if they killed their victims. They just wanted to be rich and tried to get rich by stealing as much as they could and left no witnesses.

Buccaneers: These pirates were made up of a group of men from Holland, England, France, and another group of pirates called the Barbary corsairs who were chased out of the Barbary Coast when merchant captains from France and England got tired of being captured and robbed by the French Corsairs. They went to the island of Hispaniola and lived with the Indians there. The Indians used special knives called "boucans" The pirates began to sail the Caribbean Sea and used the boucan knife as a weapon. It became the favorite weapon of these pirates of the Caribbean and they were eventually given the name of buccaneer. The Caribbean Sea became known as the Spanish Main.
Despite the mythology, pirates did not actually “bury their treasure” or make others “walk the plank” and they actually stayed within a very regimented code of conduct. They were paid a daily wage, and that wage was dependent upon their participation in raids and conflicts.

A few Pirates of note:
Sir Henry Morgan - sacked the city of Panama in 1671.
Barbary Corsairs - Privateers authorized by the Ottoman Empire
Sir Francis Drake - Privateer authorized by Queen Elizabeth I

Blackbeard - Edward Teach - Caribbean Pirate - he was caught in NC, so I have to share:

In November 1718, Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia, knowing that Blackbeard and his men had continued taking ships long after the period of amnesty had expired, sent a Royal Navy contingent to North Carolina, where Blackbeard was killed in a bloody battle at Ocracoke Inlet on November 22, 1718.

During the action, Blackbeard received a reported five musketball wounds and more than 20 sword lacerations before dying. Blackbeard had captured over 50 ships during his piratical career, and his death virtually represented the end of an era in the history of piracy in the New World.

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In conclusion, pirates have a rich and sordid history in modern culture.

Have you seen them well portrayed in print or media? Poorly portrayed? And the questions I asked at the beginning, what do you think: Should they be a part of any story involving oceans - should they be a main perspective, or perhaps simply an aspect of the world building?

Hot XXX Pirates. Why not?

Links used in research or because they're interesting:
Wikipedia Article
Strongblade.com
Helium.com
Thinkquest.org
NC Maritime.org
Associated Content
Snopes
Neatorama Pirate Lore
Pirate Flags

Talk Like A Pirate!
Yarr.org
WikiHow - Talk Like A Pirate

Fantasy Trope Analysis: TBA

Note: I started this post two weeks ago, and then you know... but I read it and I liked and here we go.

While my belly isn't aching (you may say, "Quit yer bellyachin', Bill!"), I do a lot of reading and this morning, I was catching up on blogs from around the world and stuff.

Found this article which talked about writers and blogging and other social media. Nicely done post.

And the warriorwriter had a dern tootin' good idea. We should talk about more geeky stuff! (Which is essentially what they were saying, sua?)

I'm torn, in a sense, because my novel is incomplete/in draft, so I do not like being specific about what I'm doing within it. (I also happen to think that I'm being delightfully original in my handling of tropes and global cultures and I'm spiffy-tastic, and I don't want to spoil the surprise just yet.)

But, eh, WW makes a good point about writers writing to writers, which gosh darn, isn't a good way to get more (potential) fans.

I'm going to thread the needle, and find some topics that I can get excited about, which might suggest what I address in my writing, without giving too much away.

It'll be fun. Or stupid? Well, either way, I haven't seen anyone else mashing things up, and that Suvudu Cage Match was certainly interesting in its own way (or nerdgasm-ish, according to Larry).

As I said yesterday:

Any fantasy tropes you wanna kick around? Vampires vs Elves, Vikings vs Pirates vs Ninjas vs Assassins, Dragons vs Griffons, etc, etc. Yea, eventually, I'm going to cover them all, because (ha!) I write about them all. I do. It's a REALLY big world and I like to mash things together that shouldn't BE together. (They have super cool conversations!)(Okay, I'm not really planning on Vampires and Werewolves, per se, but I do have a derivative idea where I can mock.. er.. mix them up a bit.)

Aside, when I say "mash" them together, I don't mean like "Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter", I mean - put two or more things in the same room that have never been put in the same room, like I dunno, Reagan and Hitler, for instance, and watch the scene unfold.

While I'm thinking about it...
- real world history of the trope, cultural origins (I like this sort of research)
- popular character identities of the trope
- good examples, in movie, tv, or print
- horrible examples, in movie, tv or print
- why is it a trope, overused, underused, general commentary on it

Either you pick one, or I'll just start picking them at random, we'll do one and see how it goes, and semi-regularly depending on what I've got going on.