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Once upon a time ...
Nov. 28th, 2006 12:38 pmSunday, I turn in The Mirador. Monday, I come down with a cold.
The universe just LIVES for moments like this.
I've been meaning for a while--like, say, a month--to make a post about prologues in fantasy novels, and now that I have a head cold as an excuse for any really wrong-headed things I may say, I'm gonna go ahead and do it.
The short version: Don't.
( The long version: It is, of course, more complicated than that. )
What the story needs should always trump what the genre wants.
---
1Unless you're J. R. R. Tolkien. In which case, all bets are off.
2Please notice the unexamined assumptions I've assigned to the hypothetical reader in this case. I personally believe that fantasy novels are real novels. They're just not realistic.
3I've had to train myself out of establishing shots, because in a novel--as opposed to movies and graphic narratives--there's no way to use the medium itself to de-emphasize certain segments. All five letter words take up roughly the same amount of space.
4One word: tobacco.
5There's a whole 'nother jeremiad about the things the fantasy genre has talked itself into believing it needs, but that's a post for another day.
The universe just LIVES for moments like this.
I've been meaning for a while--like, say, a month--to make a post about prologues in fantasy novels, and now that I have a head cold as an excuse for any really wrong-headed things I may say, I'm gonna go ahead and do it.
The short version: Don't.
( The long version: It is, of course, more complicated than that. )
What the story needs should always trump what the genre wants.
---
1Unless you're J. R. R. Tolkien. In which case, all bets are off.
2Please notice the unexamined assumptions I've assigned to the hypothetical reader in this case. I personally believe that fantasy novels are real novels. They're just not realistic.
3I've had to train myself out of establishing shots, because in a novel--as opposed to movies and graphic narratives--there's no way to use the medium itself to de-emphasize certain segments. All five letter words take up roughly the same amount of space.
4One word: tobacco.
5There's a whole 'nother jeremiad about the things the fantasy genre has talked itself into believing it needs, but that's a post for another day.
