Writing Christian Fantasy Tip #1: Be Familiar
Writing Christian fantasy is a blast because you get to create whatever kind of world you want. Purple, flying monkeys? Done! A world with no snakes or spiders? Done! And then you want to share all the cool aspects of your world in the first few pages of your novel because everyone will love it. Right?
This excitement can lead you into making a dreadful mistake. If you want to keep readers turning pages, do not begin with all the unique stuff. Instead, start with the familiar. Do not expound greatly about the strange places, difficult names, new customs, or all the unique creatures your world has.
Writing Christian Fantasy Tip #1: Be Familiar
J.R.R Tolkien began The Hobbit by describing a house. Yes, the house is a hole in the ground, but it is still easy to imagine. The Lord of the Rings starts with a birthday party. Robert Jordan, author of the massive series of fourteen books, opens his books with a peaceful farm scene with a farmboy just wanting to dance with a girl he thinks is pretty. Terry Brooks, in the Sword of Shannara, has one of his main characters walking home through a forest. Of course, the Pevensie children start in London in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but even after Lucy enters Narnia, it is a familiar place with snow, woods, and a lamppost. Only after this normal scene does a faun introduce himself.
I can hear you saying, “But wait! My new world is cool! You’ll love it! I can’t wait to show everyone all the wonderful things about it…
Why can’t I show all the great stuff first?”
When you hit the reader with too much newness, they will find it too much work to read. If it’s too much work, then they will put it down and go to the next book. However, if they find a scene they can picture or a feeling they can relate to, they will keep reading.
Action Steps
Read through your opening paragraphs. Check to see how much new information you have given the reader. If you have a lot of new situations, customs, names, creatures, or places, save some of that for later. Weave these unique details into the following chapters slowly in order to give the reader time to enter your world.
Using the comments below, feel free to share your first paragraph of your Christian fantasy novel so that we can see more examples of how the familiar draws in readers.
[image error]
The post Writing Christian Fantasy Tip #1: Be Familiar appeared first on Vicki V. Lucas.
newest »
Love it, Laurie! Such a simple beginning that places us in a whole new world and gives us something to grab! As I know the story, I know the rest of it is a great book! Thanks for sharing!
Julyiah’s tiny fingers searched the grass shimmering in the sunlight. Dragging her hand through the growth, she allowed the cool, silky blades to run through her fingers. Scrutinizing the spots of ground that showed up, she found a pointy rock to dig a little path in the dirt where the grass grew thinly.
Where could they be?
Shaking her head, Julyiah’s four-year-old brain worked with increasing frustration. They had to be in the valley, because her teacher told them that morning that Gwenla brought them with her to the fortress, and since no one had ever left, they must still be here … somewhere. She flopped down on the green blanket and gazed up at the sky.
Could they be in the clouds?
Pink and gray colors formed among the white puffs overhead as the sun lowered in the west. Julyiah’s eyes filled with the beauty, distracting her from her mission.
“Jul!” her mother called from the nearby trees. “It is getting dark soon—time to go.”
“Yes, Mama,” Julyiah said, her eyes darting around the area in one final effort before her mother made her leave.
Maybe they are in the water!
Julyiah scurried back to the stream and stared into it, the edge of her talia trailing in the wet current. She grabbed some pebbles out of the water, and studied the dripping handful before looking back into the sparkling depths. The creek reflected the vibrant clouds, her blonde hair, and her clothing—a yellow talia, which ran over the top of her muddy blue leggings.
Someone was approaching.
“Time to go home,” her mother said again as she walked up beside the child. “What are you looking for?”
“Secrets,” Julyiah said, unwilling to move her gaze from the water.
“What secrets?”
“The Secrets of Gwenla.”
“What?” Laughing, Livi took her imaginative daughter’s hand and helped her up to a standing position. “Come, we must go,” she said, still chuckling to herself.
Julyiah stood in compliance, but she did not plan to give up. She would come back and keep searching—the entire valley if she had to. The leaders said no one had ever found the Secrets of Gwenla.
She would do it herself.