Black Gate

I may have mentioned this before, but now that I’ve started talking about problems associated with plot, I’ll mention it again: There’s a lot of talk out there about plot-driven narratives versus character-driven narratives, where the former is “bad” and the latter is “good.”

Here’s the skinny: these are terms useful to the book reviewer or critic. They’re not useful to the writer and here’s why: There is no plot without character and there is no character without plot. Specifically, there’s no action without a character to perform it, and no characters without actions to define them. Nothing happens unless someone decides to do it, and unless someone does something, there’s no plot. In fact, there’s no story. This is true for every novel, every short story, every film, every TV show, and an awful lot of poetry. Regardless of genre.

There are things like allegories and satires, in which this might be debatable. Of course, the primary purpose of these is not to tell a story, but to get a particular point across, so screwing with the narrative is okay and even expected. But the best of these will at the very least pretend to include character and plot.

Last week, I talked about how badly-used plot devices often arise out of the writer ignoring character and “making” something happen, often to manipulate the reactions of readers and viewers. You can avoid this by asking yourself some simple questions right at the start. Many of us start writing with character in mind, so we ask ourselves, “Given this type of person, what kind of interesting things can happen to her?” Even if you start somewhere else, however, one of the first questions you’ll have to ask yourself is “Whose story is it?”

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“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people… religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”
– Linus, Peanuts

Linus may have been right, but I’ve never been one to follow sensible advice. So today, I’m going to talk about religion in fantasy.

Religion is a touchy subject for some people, but it’s long been a tradition in the genre to create fictional deities and use them in a variety of ways. From Tolkien’s Silmarillion to the extensive pantheon of Stephen Erikson’s The Malazan Book of the Fallen series, fantasy is rich with mythology.

Whenever I begin to brainstorm ideas for a new novel or series, one step of my world-building is to imagine what sorts of religions will be present and how they shaped their societies. I have to ask myself questions such as: do the gods actually exist? If so, do they personally intervene in the lives of the characters? Does prayer possess temporal power? What is the role of religion in the daily lives of the common people?

These questions have vast ramifications for the story world. Even if the deities are unable or unwilling to directly intervene in the lives of mortals, the mere presence of belief will shape (or appear to shape) events. And if the deities actually answer the prayers of their adherents, that opens up all kinds of possibilities, which in turn should alter the structure of faith organizations. Just look to the history of Europe during the Middle Ages, when religion affected the politics and practices of great nations, and then imagine how powerful those priesthoods would have been if they could perform regular miracles, like ensuring bountiful harvests for the faithful or restoring the dead to life.

And what if the gods can physically manifest in the story world? How does that alter humanity’s relationship to the supernatural?

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As it happens, this line isn’t needed where it appears. We’re watching a movie and we can see for ourselves how tall Luke Skywalker is.

But imagine that we’re reading the screenplay or a novel. That one line tells us quite a bit. That troopers are usually tall. That Luke isn’t.

For a really brilliant example of how this works in a novel, consider Tom Holt’s Expecting Someone Taller. Without even opening the book, readers immediately know something about the main character’s appearance: he’s shorter than anyone expects.

I thought I was finished with exposition in my last post – or as finished as a writer ever is when talking about the elements of writing. But then I realized that, in a way, description is a particular form of exposition, just as necessary, and just as likely – yes, I’ll say it – to be skipped, or at least skimmed, by readers if it’s too long.

And description, like other forms of exposition, carries its own peculiar difficulties. What I’d like to talk about this week is how characters, especially main characters, are described. You know, what they look like, not their personalities.

[Aside: Is a fictional character an object? In giving them human characteristics, are we indulging in personification?]

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