The other day a friend of mine asked me for a definition of High Fantasy. I gave him a history of fantasy fiction since William Morris in the 19th c., but the real answer ended up being that High Fantasy involves a detailed subcreation, including political situations and systems, religion, philosophy -- a myriad of cultural details.
When I took a notion to subcreate I knew I wanted to base the world of my novels on our world. Mostly I wanted to create a culture derived from my Sami heritage, and treat its belief system as something that was literally real. My Telmi shamans really do share intimate communication with animals and plants, even with places and the spirits of their ancestors.
The "civilzed" cultures in my work are modeled on real-world social history too. I know they're pretty recognizable -- the Albraharan desert culture that spawns religious movements that are at once mystical and rationalistic; the multicultural Xanthian Empire where various pantheons of gods rub shoulders constantly; the Ravellan League that adopts and adapts Albraharan ideas, makes them even more practical and rational, carrying them to the point of atheism; the northern Vaaselian culture with its rigid social structure and pragmatically scientific turn of mind.
The essential conflict in my stories is between the spiritual and the rational -- between science and religion. It's not a dialectical conflict, but one that occurs on a contiuum, from animism to atheism.
What makes the stories stories, rather than a thought exercise, is the characters. The metaphysical and political conflicts are always expressed through their personal lives, and I think the most attractive aspect of my fiction is the fullness and reality of my characters.
About Me
- Leah D
- This profile image is a folk art calendar from the Sami (Lapps) of northern Finland. My Sami heritage inspires many of the concepts in my novels, expressed mostly through my portrayal of the Telmi people. When I started to create the Telmi I really didn't know that much about traditional Sami beliefs and culture. I wrote what popped into my head. Later I discovered that what I thought was guess-work must have been racial memory, or something, it was so accurate. The identity isn't complete (I must leave scope for imagination, of course) but I'm very happy with the similarities. The only thing more important to me than writing is my family. I have a husband, four children at home, and a black Lab retriever. I was born and raised in northern Wisconsin, moved to New Mexico as a young adult, lived 18 not-so-great years in Louisiana, and finally made it back to my spiritual home in the southwest. When I go out into the city I look to the east and say, "That's our sacred mountain."
1 comment:
To me, high fantasy is what the best fantasy game masters do before players ever set hand to die. They create the map, the nations, the economy, politics, important people, history, etc. etc. etc. and then once they have all these things in place, THEN they create the adventure through which the players will travel.
Writing a spec fic novel works just the same way, whether fantasy, sci-fi, or whatever. You have to create the setting before you can plot within it.
Ian
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