Writing Prompt Eleven

I’m excited as this week we have a special guest post from young adult author Arthur Slade. Arthur Slade is the author of seventeen novels for younger readers, including the bestselling Dust and The Hunchback Assignments. He lives in Saskatoon, Canada. http://www.arthurslade.com

Here’s what he has to say about writing fantasy.

“Fantastical stories are often about an alternate world where human beings can transform into wolf-like creatures or, just by sucking blood, they will live forever. As an author who is exploring the fantastical side of literature you have to let your audience know what type of book they are in for. Your biggest problem is getting your audience to believe the fantastical elements of your story. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways.

One way is to gradually introduce the fantastical elements into the story. Give the reader details about the real world, and slowly layer in the details about the fantastical elements. This slow process of adding fantastical elements  like building blocks allows for the gradual suspension of disbelief.  Frankenstein is a perfect example. It begins with a letter home from a ship’s captain in the Arctic. It seems like the start of a normal historical novel. Then they pick up a stranger who tells them a horrible tale that eventually turns the story into a fantastical tale.

You could also introduce the fantasy immediately. Here’s an example sentence. “Edward plunged the knife into the man’s chest, then leaned in close, nostrils flared to suck in his soul. It smelled like cinnamon. Souls always smelled like cinnamon.” Now that first sentence forces the reader to confront the fact that it is a fantastical world within the first sentence.

As with all types of writing, fantastical fiction depends on the same rules. Make your characters believable and your reader will believe what they believe. If your character suddenly shouts, “There’s a ghost, someone get me a plasma gun,” you might lose your reader. Instead what is it the character feels when they first see a ghost? Disbelief? A coldness along the spine? A euphoria that their long held beliefs about the undead are true.”

This week’s prompt from Arthur Slade is for you to write up to 400 words of the opening of a fantastical novel. Your choice of idea, character, and…well…everything. Introduce the fantastical immediately, or just hint about it.