April 22, 2022

Further reflections on Genre

Sci-Fi is about the hypothetical human condition - how do we behave, what changes, when we learn something new about the natural world?

Fantasy is about the superhuman condition - tapping into knowledge beyond the natural world, and asking how we respond to a larger reality.

- Horror is a sub-genre

Drama is about the human condition - how do we behave in natural, human conditions, both happy and sad?

Romance is about the male/female relationship - how do we respond to the other sex?

February 1, 2022

Magic in fantasy stories - What makes a good fantasy story?

Elements: Hints at truth deeper than apparent reality

Apparent reality is what we see around us everyday: through our five senses, our mind, and our heart, we recognize how the world appears, how society is structured, and how people interact in relationships - all as they appear from a physical and sensual reality.

Genres:

Reality Novels:

Stories about apparent reality portray reality according to one’s senses, emotions, and experiences.

Fables:

Presents things as other than how they appear.

Sci-Fi:

Imagines a different world

Fantasy:

Speaks in stream-of-consciousness, tapping into the subconscious, to portray true but unseen realities.

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Books that deal with these physical and sensual realities are dramas, mysteries, animal stories, and historical fiction. Fable is more similar to reality stories than sci-fi or fantasy, because fable portrays everything as it truly is, only with the replacement of animals instead of humans.

Deeper truth penetrates to the things we do not see: emotions, choices, and spiritual realities. This includes things like love, free will, and angels. Fantasy stories use various combinations of analogy, imagination, metaphor, and a free-flow of the subconscious to connect with realities deeper than that which we see around us everyday.

No fantasy story is ever a direct metaphor - if it were, it would cease to be fantasy. Direct metaphors limit the fullness of portraying the unknown, because it reduces the imagination back to what can be understood. Fantasy does not aim to show what can be understood, but metaphor does. The purpose of metaphor is to lower the defenses of the reader in regards to truth by telling a story that is apparently about something else, but at the last minute, unveiling the apparent layer to reveal the original, hidden truth. Fantasy, however, is not a layer concealing something beneath - it is a story in it’s own right. Only by accepting the story as it is, and letting it sink deep into your imagination, will you perceive the deeper realities it is portraying.

Magical creatures

No magical creature is a direct metaphor for a deeper reality, although some will symbolize ideas: for example, an imp is impish. Dragons represent evil and temptation (see article on page 130), tree and water nymphs represent nature, and lions represent kingship.

January 14, 2022

This fairytale is unfinished…

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy prince who was the son of a wealthy king and a wealthy queen. The king had been accumulating wealth for many years, aqcuiring it from his neighbors through raids and wars, and from his people through heavy taxation.

One day, Saint Nicholas came to their kingdom, and preached in the streets. The king and the queen were struck by the eloquence of the saint’s words, and their hearts were converted. From then on, they sought to raise their son and their people in the way of Christ and his Church.

When their son came of age to marry, they decided that only the holiest and sweetest of women would be his wife. So they began to search among their dukes and nobles to find a maid who loved God more than she loved anything else on earth.

To find this woman out, they formulated this question and story, “We have struck rock-bottom and are no longer wealthy. We are hated by all of our neighbors. But our son is good and kind, and he will help you in the way to heaven, and he will provide for you and for your children by the sweat of his brow until the day of your death. Will you marry him?”

One by one, the maidens of the land turned down the prince. And then, when the king and queen revealed that it had all been a lie, and there was still wealth to be had in the castle, and still favor to be found in court, many attempted to retract their statement and begged to marry him, but the king and queen knew now the shallowness of their hearts.

So this happened in each household, all among people who claimed to be kind, cultured, and good.

Soon the king and queen exhausted all the daughters of the nobles and dukes in their kingdom. But they decided not to be proud, and turned to the common people of the land. They did the same thing that they had done among the dukes, traveling from house to house, repeating the same question over and over again. And still, each maiden turned them down. Not only that, but they openly scorned the royal family, something the Dukes and their families had not even dared to do. But the king and his queen persisted in their search, believing that any indignity was worth finding a good wife for their son. But in the end, they had searched through their entire kingdom, and no maiden was to be found.

When they conveyed this to the prince, he was deeply saddened, as he desired more than anything to begin his own family, and yearned for a wife of virtue, beauty, and good humor with whom to begin that life.

Now the prince was very choosy with his friends, but he had three, and they were good men, like himself. They were named Frederick, Dietrich, and Franz. When they saw the crestfallen face of their comrade, they clamored over him until he yielded, and confessed the reason for his sorrow.

Frederick immediately stood straight up in indignation, and cried out that the prince had better not give another single thought to those damsels. They were too good for him, and they had proven it.

But the prince said he did not think of them. He thought of the maiden of his dreams, the one he wished to marry. Surely, she was somewhere in the wide world? Surely, there was a good maiden born of God, and living out His Word, who would not scorn to marry him? “I am not much,” he said, “but I am a good man, God-fearing, and in love with my neighbor. I am just, and kind, and a man of my word. Anything I am not, I beg of her forgiveness, and will strive to make myself better. If only I could meet her and tell her! If only I could find a heart to woo.”

Then he left his friends and retired, heavy-hearted, to his chamber.

Franz watched him go, then gestured to the other friends, and they gathered round, their heads pressed together like conspirators.

“Comrades,” he said with a quiet fierceness, “our friend is sad, and has exhausted all the women in this realm. Let us pack bags upon our backs, and set off to the world round-about, and not return until we have found a maiden worthy of our prince.”

His friends agreed with gusto and without hesitation, so much did they love their friend. “Let us go!” they cried with one voice, and by morning, the palace was a quieter and more sedate place.

When the royal family came to breakfast, the king asked the Lord Chamberlain why the palace was so quiet.

“My Lord,” said the Lord Chamberlain, “It has been conferred to me the honor to tell you that the prince’s brethren, Frederick, Dietrich, and Franz, have departed the palace.”

The prince let out an involuntary cry of dismay, but the Lord continued.

“They have set out three ways into the world, and will not return until they each find a maiden worthy to be wooed by the prince.”

He departed, and the family fell silent. Then the prince said, “Well, let us eat. We must only wait patiently. No man can ever earn such friends.”

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Three months later, there was a great clatter in the courtyard of the palace. Such a clatter had not been heard in a long-time past, and when it came to the prince’s ears, he leapt up and vaulted to his window. Sure enough, there below were his friends, riding into the palace, each with a maiden behind him.