How to Write a Fantasy Novel – Sarah Monette

Interview – Ideas for World Building, Advice for Writers

Jun 6, 2009

Fantasy author Sarah Monette talks about world building, creating characters, culture and settings in fantasy worlds and gives advice for new fantasy writers.

In a recent interview with Suite101.com, award-winning writer Sarah Monette discussed the fun of creating her own fantasy world, the challenges of writing fantasy and making it believable for readers, and gave advice for aspiring fantasy writers.

About Sarah Monette

Sarah Monette is the author of four fantasy novels; her “Doctrine of Labyrinths” series includes Mélusine, The Virtu, The Mirador, and Corambis. She co-authored A Companion to Wolves with Elizabeth Bear, and has written many fantasy short stories.

What's Important to Remember When Creating a Fantasy World?

You want to give the greatest impression of depth that you can - and the impression that this is a world people actually live in. So try to indicate what happens around the edges. What do people do for fun? What stories do they tell? What music do they listen to or perform? What sports do they watch?

Try to invent bits of history other than climactic battles and reigns of kings. And think about technology - there's no reason every fantasy world has to be stuck in the European Middle Ages technologically (or culturally, for that matter).

How Do You Create Your Own Fantasy Worlds?

It tends to be interwoven with the process of writing. I don't create the world, then write the story. I get a story idea that requires a certain kind of world, and the more of the story I write, the more of the world I know about. At certain points I'll stop and draw maps and work out timelines and things like that. And I take notes like crazy to keep from contradicting myself. But it's all part of story-telling.

Do Your Story Ideas Start with a Character, a Plot, or a World? Why?

I always start with character. It's how my brain works. Now, frequently, that character comes with bits of plot or world already attached to him or her. For a random and obvious example, if a character shows up and says he's a wizard, then clearly his world is one where magic works. (Either that, or he's severely delusional, but that's a very different kind of story.)

But it isn't that starting with character is better than starting with plot or world; it's just that that's what I get first. The most important piece of writing advice I know to give is that you have to do what works for you. Everyone's different, and creativity is a tremendously subjective process/experience.

The only universal I know of is that the only way to learn to write is by writing. Everything else is trial and error. If something works for someone else (a teacher, a friend, an author you admire), there's no reason not to try it. But if it doesn't work for you, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you, or you're doing it wrong. It just means that it doesn't work for you and you need to find something that does.

Describe the Challenges of Writing Fantasy Novels vs. Realistic Fiction.

I think the biggest challenge in writing fantasy is in making the world three-dimensional and believable. There are plenty of other challenges, some of them much more difficult, but they're challenges that are common to all fiction writing. The difficulties of explaining a world that isn't ours so that readers can parse it, without resorting to info-dumps or otherwise distracting readers from the story, are unique to fantasy and science fiction. Of course, it's also what makes writing fantasy fun.

Any Advice for Aspiring Fantasy Writers?

The usual advice that established writers always give. (grins) Read widely. Read in the field, so you know what the conventions and clichés are, and so you know what to avoid, but also read outside the field.

My particular hobby horse is history. You don't need to read history that has a direct relationship to the world you want to write (although it can't hurt), but you need to get a sense for how history works. Also, it's good practice. The more you read about people from cultures different from your own (and that doesn't have to be historical difference - read about modern societies different from yours, too), the more you become able to imagine and extrapolate what the effects of the culture you invent will be on its inhabitants.