まろ's writing classroom: Lesson 5 [Preparation Assignment] Elements and World View (Part 1)

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The author of this article まろ is the author of the light novel “Southern Cross”. He hopes to use his own experience to help more friends write good stories. Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.

Working on a play is like driving a car. The accelerator, brake, and steering wheel cooperate and restrain each other. They must be taught separately, but the degree of integration is the value.

Recently, netizens have been asking me about “how to write good novels”. Therefore, I organized my experience in writing light novels into 34 themes, divided into three stages: [Preparation Assignment], [Plot Process] and [Writing Management].

Whether you want to write a novel, a biography, or a business history, these articles can help. No matter what your writing level is, I will guide you through the two stages of [preparation] and [plot flow] to complete a piece of work, so start right away!

Ideally, the premise, characters, conflict, and worldview all blend into one.

Hello! Welcome back to our writing classroom. Theoretically, worldview is a relatively independent drama element, but it is still recommended that you start from “まろ’s writing classroom” tag” Check to see if you have read the first to fourth lessons.

In this article, let’s talk about the world view of “fantasy”. This may overlap with the “fantasy” and “science fiction” you know, but it is also a little different. Let me first clearly define “fantasy” and then tell you why I need to define it this way.

2. Certain abilities of the protagonist or villain transcend contemporary stabilizing forces and become the main conflict in the development of the story.

3. Redefine the basic laws of physics or chemistry with non-modern scientific theories.

The first definition is easy to explain. Let me give you two examples and ask you to think about it for a moment:

2. Vampires have great power, and humans whose blood is sucked by them will also become vampires (Dead Apostles). If the above two points are true, even if a vampire only sucks two people, with such a geometric progression, most people in the world will become vampires overnight. So, how do people survive in a world where vampires live?

3. A giant monster up to 50 meters tall suddenly appeared in the city you live in, and fighter planes and tanks were blown up like bugs. How to save your beloved city before it destroys the world with its brute force?

Well, if you are interested in fantasy themes but have never thought about these questions, you may be caught off guard by my questions. Well, let me give you a reference answer first.

2. Vampires may not want to directly suck human blood for cultural or hygienic reasons. For example [“Blood of the Holy Demon” (トリニティ・ブラッド)](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%81%96%E9%AD %94%E4%B9%8B%E8%A1%80) In the true human empire, the blood tablets needed by vampires (immortal species) are provided by humans in exchange for blood and processed.

3. Monsters may come to cities due to certain biological instincts, perhaps just as birds rely on magnetic fields or ultraviolet signals in the atmosphere for migration. If you find a signal that attracts it, you can find a way to confuse the monster and lure it back to the sea.

Did you find out? What the first definition tells you is “balance.” In the world you and I live in, if we encounter a situation that would endanger our own safety, we can go to the police. The force possessed by the police can solve problems that ordinary people encounter. But if the world you envision has some power beyond the police or even the army, you need to create your own heroes to maintain balance and prevent the world from being destroyed.

Some friends have conceived a story setting like “One day, an invincible monster appears in the city, and then a group of people with super powers…”. Just when I’m struggling with some philosophical issues, I usually say, “If it’s an invincible monster, what can a person with superpowers do?”

As a playwright, if you seriously choose “invincibility” as your character’s charm point, this setting with an infinitely high skill ceiling will make it impossible for your plot to proceed. You can say monsters that are “genetically mutated due to nuclear explosions” or “came from other planets through wormholes.” Their initial invasion may cause significant damage, but humanity at least has a way to resist, whether that’s capturing another monster to brainwash, genetically engineering giant artificial humans, or building oversized robots to fight hand-to-hand with.

Or it may be a coincidence that the monsters are like the aliens in the movie “War of the Worlds” (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E5%A4%A7%E6%88%98_\(2005%E5%B9%B4%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1\)), which cannot resist the bacteria on the surface and have to retreat.

The second definition mainly comes from elemental theory, such as the concept of the five elements. As far as the works I have seen, those with the theory of elements being born and restrained are mainly works from Eastern culture, perhaps influenced by the Chinese five elements being born and restraint.

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Building this kind of worldview is really interesting, but most people underestimate how difficult it is. Such a setting transcends the laws of physics or chemistry that you usually understand, and is equivalent to creating a new sport or chess game.

However, some creators, in order to cover up the deficiencies in the setting, will use factors such as “outsider rules”, “courage and enthusiasm” to escape this structure. I can only say that it is okay to do it occasionally, but the relationship between readers and authors is always two parties in a game. To impress the reader with your exquisite layout, you can only create results that are “understandable but unexpected”.

Please imagine a situation where you are playing a game of chess with your friend. The gameplay was invented by your friend. You have all the rules listed by your friend, but if your friend keeps changing the rules in order to win. Eventually, you will give up the game.

This situation I call the author’s quibble.

There was obviously no foreshadowing beforehand, but at a critical moment, someone else suddenly took action or the enemy himself fell. When a work starts to get muddled, it either doesn’t last long, or it just relies on the readers it has accumulated in the past to last as long as it can.

Therefore, when you plan, you have to take some considerations into account. For example, assuming it is a magical adventure world where the five elements are in conflict, unless there are exactly five protagonists in the group, restricting each person to only use one element of magic is simply asking for trouble. And this means that none of these five people can be sacrificed. Just based on this setting structure, we can guess the final ending.

Maybe your protagonist is best at water magic. When he encounters an earth-type opponent who can defeat him, he can double his water-type magic power in exchange for the ability to produce wood-type magic to fight against earth-type opponents. And you can use foreshadowing to show that the protagonist is honing a certain killing skill before the battle, so that your readers can expect it but are not sure how it will behave. When you use the ultimate trick of “magic conversion”, readers will be both impressed and surprised.

You can set that magic power conversion requires specific treasures (such as Philosopher’s Stone), or specific weapons and armor. The side story to defeat the enemy can make your plot richer and more reasonable.

In many high-level fantasy works, you can see rigorous settings, such as [Equivalent Exchange] in “Fullmetal Alchemist”. This is derived from the law of conservation of mass in physics, but has a deeper meaning. Whether it is the rules that exist in the real world or the rules you construct in a fantasy world, they must cause conflicts and dilemmas for the characters. Although it seems like it is trying to trouble the author and the characters, the play itself is a very sad thing.

In short, please note that the plot of “I cover a monster card to end this turn” and then be able to reverse the situation with that hidden card in a critical moment is really not easy!

The above is my second definition, the explanation of “rules”. Balance and discipline are the two most important factors for your fantasy creation to run smoothly. Because the operation of the fantasy worldview will be different from your experience, your daily accumulated life experience may not be applicable, and the constructed rules are easily flawed.

The advancement of the story is a process in which both sides are constantly evenly matched. You have to establish your own rules in a fantasy world. If the balance shifts too seriously, it may be difficult to recover. In a fantasy world, the author is both a player and a referee. When you can’t figure out the plot’s progress, it’s hard to resist the temptation of “I’ll just take chances once, and the readers won’t be able to tell the difference anyway.” Really, creation is hard, and any speculative ideas will eventually make the creator unable to extricate himself, so please stay away from it.

There are also many people who find fantasy stories more attractive, so they especially want to create such stories. I think this is a fact on the surface. Fantasy stories can indeed trigger unique conflicts and accommodate a variety of colorful elements, but they can also easily be as scary as a dark hot pot with random ingredients. Let’s take “The Romance of the Gods” as an example. It meets my definition of fantasy. Because the power of the immortals was much higher than that of the army, both the Shang and Zhou sides invited immortals who supported their side to join the war.

As I mentioned before, “long stories usually focus on character growth.” The protagonist Jiang Ziya is not the best in terms of military force or magic power, but he uses strategies to resolve various crises throughout the story. The fantasy setting allows Jiang Ziya to use his strategy more cleverly.

Without a character like Jiang Ziya throughout the story, “The Romance of the Gods” would just be a military display by the immortals. You can simply use combat power to get the final result. But it is precisely because of Jiang Ziya’s existence that the story has ups and downs.

It’s absolutely paramount that the characters themselves create conflict, and a proper worldview is a plus. The one with the highest degree of bonus points and the most difficult to control is the fantasy worldview. Please remember my two definitions, even if there are sub-creatures and monsters in your story, even if the story takes place in the past or future. If their abilities are not enough to advance the plot, they are just embellishments at best, not a fantasy story as I define it.

At the end of this article, let’s talk about the “spectrum of fantasy”. In fact, most works have fantasy elements. Even in the more realistic love story [“Southern Cross”] (https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010776359), the heroine Yizhi also has unreal abilities such as dodging baseballs flying from behind, teleportation, and hanging upside down on a golden hook. But because these abilities do not seriously affect the main axis of the story (at most they affect the victims), they can be regarded as embellishment elements.

Let’s take two well-known heroes - Batman and Superman as an example. Although Batman can fool the Gotham City police, it is probably impossible to conquer the world (at least in the movie version). But Superman is completely different. Superman’s ability can easily wipe out humans. This conflict point has also become [the movie “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%9D%99%E8 %9D%A0%E4%BF%A0%E5%B0%8D%E8%B6%85%E4%BA%BA%EF%BC%9A%E6%AD%A3%E7%BE%A9%E6%9B%99%E5%85%89) spindle.

Therefore, in terms of the fantasy spectrum, Batman is right at the low end, and Superman is obviously at the top. This level gap also makes [“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%9D%99%E8%9D%A0%E4%BF%A0%E5%B0%8D%E8% The script of B6%85%E4%BA%BA%EF%BC%9A%E6%AD%A3%E7%BE%A9%E6%9B%99%E5%85%89) is extremely difficult. In theory, no matter how Batman upgrades his equipment, it will be meaningless to Superman. Fortunately, the screenwriter gave Superman a kind and compassionate personality, so Batman was not killed instantly. If your fantasy worldview can trigger this level of conflict and balance it, then I think it will be great.

On the other hand, how to prevent Batman (and the other heroes of the Justice League) from becoming Superman’s pig teammates is also a difficult problem. Maybe you can refer to the explanation given to you by the movie “Justice League”. Maybe after careful consideration, you will have a more subtle and unique insight.

Please remember that my definition of fantasy has nothing to do with the era in which the story takes place. Take “The Legend of King Arthur” as an example. If only King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table fought against the Romans, I would define it as a [Historical] or [Epic] series. But if the great magician Merlin joins the war, it will become a fantasy system. If the story takes place in the future, but its technology can be explained by current science, I will define it as a [future] system. Unless there are elements that cannot be explained by current science, such as steam robots and giant robots that are five stories tall but can move freely, I will fall into the fantasy genre.

I won’t go into details in this article about ancient occupations, mythology or science fiction theme styles, etc. But I will provide a bibliography for further reading. May the fantasy world you create be full of charm and whimsy, and may readers fall under the spell of your ingenuity. See you next time at [Lesson 5: Elements and World View (Part 2) - Common Elements and Contexts] (Click to read)!

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Further reading

• まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 5 [Preparation Assignment] Elements and World View (Part 2)
• まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 5 [Preparation Assignment] Elements and World View (Part 2)
• まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 4 [Preparation Assignment] Creating Conflict (Supplement)

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