Writing on Writing – Entry 003

Writing Fiction

I am in the process of writing two books. One is a fictional tale of the fantasy genre and is, I believe, the most difficult to write. It seems a little odd that writing a fantasy tale is difficult for me as fantasy/science-fiction and horror are my favorite genres whether in reading, movies or television series. However, I must admit that any form of writing other than non-fiction finds me floundering. While I find these genres fascinating, exciting, and have the ability to take me out of the concrete world, I have to say that in truth that I am a very realistic, rational, and logical person at my core. However, any good stories of these genres hold true to those attributes in their otherworldly depictions, their characters, and their character’s adventures.

I believe that stories of this genre have to have logic, as do the actions of the characters within the boundaries of their own personalities and life experience. The worlds in which the characters live, and/or the worlds in which they travel, have to have realistic perimeters. In the telling of stories in these genres, the writer must bring the audience into other worlds and make them believe that that they do or did or could exist. As an audience member, I want to believe that parallel realities exist, that magic is real, that vampires/werewolves/aliens/ghosts/dragons and all other sort of life forms exist within our real world realm. I also want to believe that I can as easily as the characters of the story travel to or step into these worlds as easily as they do. 

The most important reality, however, is in the believability in the characters, whether human or otherwise. The audience must relate and understand the actions of the characters on an emotional level. We must know who they are and why they do the thing that they do whether we agree with their actions or not.  While I find most authors of these genres have the ability to do this for me, I am constantly questioning as to whether I can do this with my story for my audience. However, I am determined and doing all I can to produce a tale that will do exactly for my audience what other storytellers have done so well for me. It may take me awhile, but in the end, I guess, time will tell.

Thanks for reading. ~ Yvonne