What are good mechanisms to get the main character into the fantasy world?

Yes it still works for MG to YA...

Consider the other Narnia books...

The lampost is one way to pass into Narnia there was also a magical ring (if I remember rightly), a train tunnel and a few other methods. In the final book, they all die in a train crash and pass into Narnia that way but you may not want to get that dark.

The warderobe, BTW, has that effect because it was made from wood taken from a tree from Narnia...

You could be blatant about it and have people capable of ripping holes in the fabric of the universe. Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials books have a knife which can cut between worlds.

There is also a book called Interface by Neil Gaiman you may want to read. It is a story about parallel worlds and there are various methods used there to travel between them including the MC who has an innate ability to walk between worlds.

There have been so many ways to get to a magical world - down a rabbit hole, over the rainbow (dream), sprinkled with pixie dust, through a closet, using a subtle knife, a magic treehouse, a faraway tree, through the reading of a book (lots have used this), through a train platform (Number 13 or 9 3/4), by being shrunk, going river rafting, etc. etc. They are so popular, of course you could do it. Just think of something new.

I don't know about ages, because I'm old and still love these types of stories. Maybe you could approach it by asking what makes your fantasy world unique, and how does it relate to our world? Then maybe you can find an interesting connection.

I think your options are pretty much limitless. Use something unique to your new world, or something as common as a coin.

Maybe there is more to your question, and I'm just not seeing it yet. If so, please fill us in.

As others have said, it can be anything, but you should make it original. Also, portal stories tend to work best when the MC has a reason to go through the portal. Is he trying to escape something? Find something?

Hmmm, this seems to be a totally different situation. I thought you were simply trying to get your MC into a different world. This sounds like he is going to morph - which could change things. As long as you write it in such a way that it's believable, however, you can do it whichever way you please. Drink a potion. Say magic words. Have him find out he's a shape shifter.

But this doesn't sound like what you were asking for originally. Sorry I misunderstood you.

Shape shifting is well used and accepted. It can be magical or spiritual.

Possession is also well used and accepted. This is done more through mental powers with perhaps a bit of spiritual belief.

Of course, it could be through a magical jewel or amulet, a book of spells, a curse, a family trait, or because a fairy sprinkled pixie dust on them.

Use your imagination but just make sure that what ever you use, use it convincingly and consistently...

I have kind of a cool portal. Can't share it at this point. But, it is something I used to daydream about as a kid. I used the think that I could get to another world in a variety of ways. I'm happy I got to use one in my story.

So, think about a way that sounds fun to a kid. Knot in a tree? Oh, a hollow tree, you fall down and into the roots. I used to think that I could get someplace by being sucked down the drain in the bathtub. I thought it would take me to the ocean so I could swim with the mermaids. Spells are good. Attics have loads of possibilities. Oh, something cool in an attic, like an old chair, or a trunk or anything, a hat.

I used to think that the pipe that we used to dare each other to crawl into, I thought that was a portal. The legend was that a kid crawled in there and died and it was haunted. Totally creepy. I crawled about 6 feet in and was totally freaked out. The boy I had a crush on dared me and went with me, otherwise I wouldn't have gone. But, I thought it would be a cool way to get someplace else. I used to make up the stories for the other kids.

Did you have any cool things like that when you were a kid. I think most kids do. Think back.

It could be a cuckoo situation... your MC is actually an alien/faerie who has been left on this world by his parents (or one of his parents is also an alien/faerie). He starts out pretty much human but as he gets older begins to change... and there you have an ideal puberty analogy straight away (though puberty analogies in fiction may be getting cliched ). It is entirely possible that the alien race has some adaptation - some brain chemsitry or element of physiology - which allows them to open holes in the universe and navigate through them.

As for whether you can 'just do handwaving' I would say no, not really... there needs to be a structure, a level of metaphysics which you understand as the writer but which may not necessarily need to be stated in the story. You need to know what is being done, how it works, why it works and so on. Magic with no boundaries or limitations is boring - you can solve the plot simply by waving a hand and it tends to come across as deus ex machinaish. You need to give it some form of structure and this needs to underly every appearance of your 'magic'.

areteus said:

It could be a cuckoo situation... your MC is actually an alien/faerie who has been left on this world by his parents (or one of his parents is also an alien/faerie). He starts out pretty much human but as he gets older begins to change... and there you have an ideal puberty analogy straight away (though puberty analogies in fiction may be getting cliched ). It is entirely possible that the alien race has some adaptation - some brain chemsitry or element of physiology - which allows them to open holes in the universe and navigate through them.

As for whether you can 'just do handwaving' I would say no, not really... there needs to be a structure, a level of metaphysics which you understand as the writer but which may not necessarily need to be stated in the story. You need to know what is being done, how it works, why it works and so on. Magic with no boundaries or limitations is boring - you can solve the plot simply by waving a hand and it tends to come across as deus ex machinaish. You need to give it some form of structure and this needs to underly every appearance of your 'magic'.

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exactly that, really. as for the first point, try Tad Williams's "War of the Flowers" for an example. for another decent (standalone) other-world tale, try JV Jones's "The Barbed Coil". both have convincing rationales behind the MC's movement between worlds, but they don't neccessarily have to explain them - either straight away or at all.

areteus said:

As for whether you can 'just do handwaving' I would say no, not really... there needs to be a structure, a level of metaphysics which you understand as the writer but which may not necessarily need to be stated in the story. You need to know what is being done, how it works, why it works and so on. Magic with no boundaries or limitations is boring - you can solve the plot simply by waving a hand and it tends to come across as deus ex machinaish. You need to give it some form of structure and this needs to underly every appearance of your 'magic'.

Click to expand...

I think this is really important. I tried hard to set my rules for the magic right away, before I began writing. My dh reads fantasy and sci-fi and he talked about how important that is, must have rules. I also have some more complicated magic theory, but am deciding how much to have come out for the reader, and how much I need to know. I've tried to drop hints about how it works, within conversations or actions. When I collaborate with my dh, we keep the list of rules out, so we don't break them. Also keeps me from saying 'it doesn't work that way' all of the time. My rules for magic have changed as I've written them.

The entry way is a right of passage: a portal, a barrier, a gate. Sometimes it is being swallowed up by a monster. It's baptism, a confirmation.

How would you transfer from the real world to the unreal one?

If you're wanting a "portal" story, then consider the world in which your MC lives. What's his/her daily life like? What's on hand that they can access easily? Most portal stories involve seemingly benign objects, like a wardrobe or lamp post, or train. There's simply a twist.

Maybe you've got a kid who's trying to earn some cash, so he volunteers to clean out an old lady's attic, opens a trunk and starts playing with the stuff inside. He picks up an antique mirror, and BOOM! he's in another world.

Maybe the kid's in the park and notices what looks like a set of hinges on a rock or tree. She opens it, and BOOM! she's in another world.

The most effective transfer scenes are the ordinary turned on its head - secret train platforms that people walk through walls to reach or snow inside a wardrobe no one's touched in decades. It's familiar, yet off-kilter.

Get creative - have a kid walk into a pet store and discover that there's a tank in the back where fish only swim on one side, as though there's an invisible partition. Or maybe, it's got a single fish, suspended dead center and not swimming, even though it's alive. He can stick his hand in the water to investigate.

The only "rule" is that it has to make sense for the world you've set the story in.

The problem with portal stories is that so many of them are cliche or weakly done. I think you can do any kind of portal you want, BUT...

The portal should be organic to the setting. Something unique and different, something unexpected...

The MC should have a strong reason for going through the portal. "Oops, I fell in" doesn't make a very compelling plot.

The worlds on either side of the portal should have some parallels. And the adventure in the portal world must help the MC solve some problem that exists in the real world. Otherwise, what's the point of having any of your story take place in the real world?

MsJudy said:

The problem with portal stories is that so many of them are cliche or weakly done. I think you can do any kind of portal you want, BUT...

The portal should be organic to the setting. Something unique and different, something unexpected...

The MC should have a strong reason for going through the portal. "Oops, I fell in" doesn't make a very compelling plot.

The worlds on either side of the portal should have some parallels. And the adventure in the portal world must help the MC solve some problem that exists in the real world. Otherwise, what's the point of having any of your story take place in the real world?

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Thank you very much. These are very good points. I will keep these in mind. I think my portal world fits these characteristics. At least I hope it does.

What are some other things needed for a good portal story? Anyone?

I used a dream catcher, that imploded from overuse, sucking a gaggle of teenagers into it.

This is a tough question, though. My agent told me that your prop or gimmick to pass you into another dimension has a lot riding on it. Suspension of disbelief starts right at that moment--so try to make it as original and unique as possible.

Tri