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Writing Workshop: Steps To Creating Fantasy
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Dancing Word Writing Workshop Donita K. PaulMay 30, 2008
Hosted by Jason McDonald Dancing Word Assistant Editor *This chat has been edited for clarity Jason McDonald: Let's open with prayer, I'll go over protocol, and then introduce our guest. Dear Lord, thank you for this time together. Thank you for the people that were able to make it, and bless those that cannot be with us tonight. Bless our chat guest and all those here tonight. Let us learn more about writing and about You. Thank you Lord. Amen Protocol: Type "?" for questions, "!" for comments, and "ga" when you're finished and wait to be called upon in turn. Tonight, I am very excited and pleased to introduce Donita K. Paul, author of several romances, and the acclaimed DragonKeeper Chronicles fantasy series. Ms. Paul, welcome. * Annie leads the applause Donita K. Paul: Thank you, Jason. I am pleased to be here. Donita K. Paul: instead of making our way through an outline of what the standard fantasy blends together, we will make up our own, rather silly, fantasy. First we need an ordinary person. Remember Opie from the Andy Griffith show? Our ordinary person will go by the name of Opie. OP=ordinary person. Now we need an everyday life for Opie, so I am going to call on you to decide his fate. What is his occupation in his mundane world? Donita K. Paul: what is Opie's occupation? one line answers, KC: postman Noelle: policeman? Jason McDonald: swordsmith? Donita K. Paul: more? Bek: farmer RebeccaLuElla: computer tech Jason McDonald: ummmm, cartwright? Noelle: teacher RebeccaLuElla: horse trainer KC: nurse Donita K. Paul: okay, I being the arbitratary, impartial editor will choose…farmer Bek: yay Donita K. Paul: Now we have to decide what his ordinary world is like, industrial? modern? caveman times? etc.? One line answers, please. KC: alien Noelle: horse and carriage Donita K. Paul: um? what time period do you want, guys? Jason McDonald: medieval KC: (oops, not sci-fi, huh?) Bek: definitely medieval KC: future! RebeccaLuElla: prehistoric Donita K. Paul: okay so we had two medieval. So now we need to know how old he is KC: 22 Bek: 16 Anne McDonald: 12 RebeccaLuElla: 35 Jason McDonald: 18 Bek: 15! Donita K. Paul: throwing out the oldest and youngest, we pick 18 Bek: lol Donita K. Paul: now we have Opie living his normal existence in a pre-industrial age as a farmer. So the first thing we would do as the author is to establish his typical day. A short scene that is a backdrop for one niggling detail that has him puttering over. Let's say he has been left this farm by his uncle, but he was also left with shoddy tools and old animals…his normal problem is that his old horse is lame. So we are going to decide what he wants to do about it. He could walk the horse to a neighboring farm where there is a healer. He could send for the healer, he could shoot the horse. Donita K. Paul: what do you want to happen Bek: send for the healer Jason McDonald: send for the healer KC: steal someone else's horse Jason McDonald: LOL, I don't think that was an option Anne McDonald: how valuable is the horse to him? Donita K. Paul: not very KC: (oh, I thought we were to make it up--sorry) Donita K. Paul: yes, you can make up your own or vote for those mentioned Anne McDonald: how badly hurt is the horse? Bek: just love the horse and make sure it lives its last days at peace Donita K. Paul: ANNIE! he can't work, don't get complicated on me, we want to finish by midnight Anne McDonald: send for the healer lol Donita K. Paul: LOL Donita K. Paul: okay, we send for the healer Anne McDonald: (the horse is relieved) Bek: yes. Wouldn’t let him shoot it Donita K. Paul: now the healer comes, and this is where we are going to boot our Opie out of his everyday life into the fantasy realm To recap: in our fantasy, we must have an ordinary fellow living an ordinary life. We establish his every day concern,s and by the way, because of our skill, we also establish this as a likeable fellow. And this likeable fellow is usually not in the best of circumstances, because we want the reader to be pulling for him . Now, the healer comes and does something out of the ordinary. any ideas? Jason McDonald: the healer isn't a human? KC: He makes it so the horse's age reverses, and it's young again Donita K. Paul: both good. more? Anne McDonald: he uses some strange powder Bek: He gives Opie a cream to use, and when he puts it on the horse it disappears KC: he demands a favor in return Donita K. Paul: aha, We are going to use all of these. Our non-human healer is a woodland elf Bek: oo I love elves. Donita K. Paul: He brews a concoction and feeds it to the horse. The horse's brown coat turns white, wings appear on his back. CCuser5701: oh cool Spitfire: (wow) Bek: a Pegasus Donita K. Paul: the horse is now obviously a young stallion and wants to run. or maybe even fly Donita K. Paul: But when Opie puts his hand on the horse's side, the horse immediately settles down. The healer-elf gives Opie the ointment and says if he spreads the cream over the horse's wings they will disappear. They will not be visible, but will still be there Now for the favor. Opie must take the horse and go somewhere. There are only four things that all stories are about: unfortunately , I can only remember three Jason McDonald: (lol) Donita K. Paul: First one is win. So Opie might be told to go win the princess' love, or win a battle, or win a fight against an evil being. Donita K. Paul: The next is retrieve. So Opie might be told to go get an amulet, a magical animal, a sword, etc. Donita K. Paul: And the other is escape. Opie may be told to ride the horse to freedom because the horse is actually the savior of the society and must be taken to a special place Jason McDonald: Could the fourth be "destroy"? destroy something evil, like in LOTR? Donita K. Paul: You got it, I think Donita K. Paul: eliminate something like a bomb, or the evil witch KC: What about "rescue"? Donita K. Paul: rescue might be it, but that it is an awful lot like retrieve. Nope, I think destroy is the fourth KC: ah yes. Donita K. Paul: so for the sake of brevity, we are going to say that the healer/elf charges Opie to take the horse and retrieve a magic pigtail. Now this is crucial to a fantasy. we have the ordinary person ripped out of his ordinary life by an unusual circumstance. there is almost always a "someone" who gives him the charge. And in this case, has provided a few things to help, the horse and the cream. Now, if our hero stays true to form he says ? Anne McDonald: Why me? Donita K. Paul: good one Jason McDonald: "I'm just a farmer. I can't do this!" Donita K. Paul: also good RebeccaLuElla: but I have a farm to run Donita K. Paul: exactly and ? Jason McDonald: How much does this job pay? KC: It's too hard. Donita K. Paul: NO! I won't do it Anne McDonald: I've never done anything like this before. Donita K. Paul: okay, now Donita K. Paul: The healer elf warns Opie that he cannot escape the evil that is upon the land. He leaves and the horse turns brown again and lays down to die. Opie stays in the barn, feeling sorry for himself. Bek: oh no Donita K. Paul: He tries his best to cure the horse, he's mad at the elf, and he looks around at what he has and thinks it is not enough to fight for. Why try to do the noble deed to save the world; his world is not worth saving. And then out of the night swoops the evil that was predicted. The force sweeps through destroys his humble house and blows everything to smithereens by the power of his breath. Opie and the horse survive. In the morning, Opie has nothing but the horse. Opie says that the evil force should not have the power to take away even the little that people have. The horse stands. Opie's anger has turned on the bad guy. The horse begins to lose his color. Each thought that brings Opie to take up the sword and chase the bad guy brings the horse back to that magnificent steed that was in his barn the night before. What has happened? Our ordinary person has taken up the cause. He has been pushed over the edge—by circumstance, YES—but also by his inner sense of justice. And now he enters the fantasy realm of the story where he strives to achieve the goal. We only have a few minutes left, so we will have a moment of brainstorming to put up the obstacles. Think of things that would frustrate his journey. Anne McDonald: A seventeen-headed monster Jason McDonald: someone tries to steal the horse KC: he gets wounded Diana: His doubts Becky: He arrives at the place where he's to find it, and it's not there. Spitfire: they're pursued by a dragon Donita K. Paul: Our hero encounters all of these and more! And still he prevails until right before the end of the book, when the number of pages left are miniscule. Then he is beaten, his horse taken, he's blind, he's weak, he's in the dungeon. He's chained to a monstrous man who wants to eat him…things are looking bad, folks…and this is the DARKEST HOUR. Then something happens and it all turns out okay. Sigh. Now, the hero summarizes what he has learned. He returns to his ordinary world, and he brings some of the wonder, some of the glory of the extraordinary, and the wisdom, too——back with him to make the place he left behind a better place. * Annie applauds Donita K. Paul: tah dah. And that is in a nutshell, the hero's journey which you can find in several good books including the hero's journey, the key, hero of a thousand faces, etc, etc, etc. Anne McDonald: A quick question, Donita. When making a fantasy, does one have to create an entirely new world, or can it be a world similar to our own with different types of creatures? Donita K. Paul: Your fantasy can be anywhere. You can contain it in your bathroom, or a closet…or it can be an entire universe. Think of that movie at Christmas: Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium KC: loved it Donita K. Paul: That was in NY, wasn't it? Then look at Jim Carey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That was completely made up . And wasn't it supposed to be on a snowflake? Ragnarok: Bryan Davis' Dragons in our Midst is a contemporary fantasy (fantasy in our world). And Ted Dekker's Skin and House are set in our world (the Circle Trilogy to a point). Diana: Thanks. This really helps me with my fantasy story. Donita K. Paul: I'm glad. I will also let you know that we have a chat on my website every Monday night from 7-8 Mountain time. We discuss different aspects of writing fiction Bek: I read an interview once. You said that Paladin doesn’t represent Jesus. Donita K. Paul: that's right Bek: Who does he represent? Donita K. Paul: He represents the body of Christ, or the church. Bek: oh wow Donita K. Paul: if you read again you will recognize the hints. For one thing, his pronouns are lower case and Wulder's are upper case. Remade Gold: I wondered. I knew he wasn't a Christ figure. You treat Wulder and Paladin too different. Donita K. Paul: Don't we have some prizes to give away? Anne McDonald: Yes we do KC rubs her hands togetherAnne McDonald: Donita has graciously donated an autographed copy of her newest release and a wonderful t-shirt...so, we'll do the first drawing now* Annie rolls the barrel with names across the stage Anne McDonald: The winner of the autographed book is....faithgirl Noelle: congrats KC: Congrats! Jason McDonald: congrats, FAITH!!!!! Diana: congratulations Anne McDonald: and now for the second drawing.... Bek: lol * Annie reaches her hand into the barrel. Anne McDonald: the t-shirt winner is....Becky!!! Noelle: congrats Jason McDonald: congrats! Becky: Yea! KC: Congrats! I am jealous. Jason McDonald: then buy one of the shirts, silly KC: fine then, DRM :P Donita K. Paul: you can buy similar shirts on Zazzle.com Just type in Donita and you will see them Bek: congrats Diana: Congratulations. Anne McDonald: Becky, we'll need both your mailing address and t-shirt size Becky: Whoo-hoo! Donita K. Paul: okay, be sure to give her your size and whether you want black, gray, or white Becky: Got it, thanks * Annie does her infamous Snoopy dance in honor of the winners Jason McDonald: Thanks for coming Ms. Paul! I can't wait for your book!!! Faith, you might wanna track down the other four books before reading this one. Donita K. Paul: You can usually get them in the library and if they don't have them, ask Would you like me to send you the first one instead? Just tell Annie and Jason, and I will Anne McDonald: Donita, thank you so much for your generosity Donita K. Paul: You are welcome KC: Thank you Donita K. Paul: Thank you all for being great fantasy spinners Anne McDonald: this was loads of fun Donita K. Paul: goodnight Becky: Thanks so much for doing this
Dancing Word Writing Workshops Is A Production Of Dancing Word Writers Network |
Donita K. Paul
Congratulations to faithgirl for winning an autographed copy of DragonSpell and Becky for winning an original Donita K. Paul t-shirt
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