Every time I think I’m over this, I come across another well-recommended fantasy book that blatantly ignores the idea of a “story” in favour of worldbuilding. I’m not even saying that I have very high standards when it comes to the stuff I read (entertain me, and I’m happy. Hell, try your best, and I’m happy). I’m just saying that 50% into a novel, stuff should have happened. They don’t have to be particularly world-changing or anything. Just…stuff. I was promised a story, not a history lesson.
Worldbuilding is a pretty big part of this genre, no question about it. Poor worldbuilding will quickly show in a fantasy novel: the writer may end up using tired old cliches or tropes to support their story, or have situations that just seem overly ridiculous: I remember reading a fantasy novel once where every so often, the characters would stop and eat leaves. Okay, salad greens. Whatever. But that’s all they ate. The rest of the world was fairly generic.
This is the dilemma many fantasy writers run into. You want to write a novel, probably a series (most likely a trilogy; I’m not even going to pretend I don’t fall into that group). But you really can’t get started unless you do a minimum amount of worldbuilding (or, you switch genres to urban fantasy or something). Except…that time you spend worldbuilding, well, you’re really supposed to be crafting a story, too. So the bottom line here is that you’re easily spending two or three times the amount of time to write the same amount of work as someone from another genre.
I read an interesting, and very controversial, Facebook post a few weeks ago on the same subject. The OP argued that beginner writers should avoid fantasy just because they’re supposed to be spending time learning about the mechanics of storytelling, rather than getting sucked into the very addictive worldbuilding process, first. His message needed a soft touch, I think, but I can see a grain of truth here and there. I just encounter too many fantasy writers who end up doing nothing but portraying their world, rather than actually telling a story. Sometimes a story is told, but not until the last third of the book.
I mean, I do like the worldbuilding aspect of certain novels enough that I’m willing to turn a blind eye to this glaring fault, but…
Can’t we have both?
Can’t we have more page-turners with convincing plots and characters who weave through a world that slowly unfolds as the plot goes along? I don’t want to hear about the various relatives of the King or how to make saddles unless it’s relevant to the plot somehow. If you really want to tackle worldbuilding, then give me an everyday life look, not a lecture. Let me know what it’s like to be a person in that world, not some alien studying it for school. Let me feel it come alive.
Yeah, I know it’s hard work. I know that the romance writer only has to do research about their decided setting, pick their cast, and start writing (I’m not dissing on your craft, romance writers–I know you’ve got your own challenges, plus, some of my favourite people are romance writers). I’m just saying that when it comes to fantasy, particularly epic fantasy, writers do have their work cut out for them, and that’s okay. That’s what makes this genre so great. The possibilities, the adventure, the excitement, the scope…don’t be lazy. Do immersion right. It may take a lot of time, but it’s worth it, in the end.
Bla bla bla The Agartes Epilogues bla bla bla.
