Rationing in Fantasy Literature

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Imbroglio

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I'm writing a fantasy right now, and I'm trying to figure out how much of a certain aspect to inject.

What I mean is like, emphasis on magic, or emphasis on characters? Is it more important to have a lot of action and fantastical elements, or just use that as a supplement to the inner battles and struggles and whatever.

I know it's fantasy, and people read it because of the magic and stuff, but do they really need me shoving it down their throats?

I'm conflicted.
 

Subcreator

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I think people read fantasy for the feeling that ANYTHING, really anything, can happen. Not specifically for the fireballs, etc. And I think that having "inner battles" is not the same thing as good characterization. Inner struggles can actually be very cliche. What makes good characterization is interesting people doing interesting things in a way that makes them seem like a real living person.
 

Imbroglio

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Right, that's what I meant.

Sorry, I tend to not make sense a lot of the time.
 

Fenika

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A good balance is what's needed, but what that balance is will depend on the novel.

My WIP quickly turned character based, but I found (thanks to betas) that I rushed though the action too much, even though magic got a big emphasis otherwise.

So make your magic move the plot, and your characters do their work as well, and you'll have a strong novel all around.
 

lauraannwilliams

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I enjoy fantasy settings, but if the characters aren't interesting, if I don't care about them, it's not a good read. There's no right amount of fantasy. Stick it in if it helps the plot, or defines the world

For example: how do they handle long distance communication, without phones if it's that sort of world - but only if the characters need to communicate that way. If no one in the book does this, it's not important to know that detail.
 

Smiling Ted

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I'm writing a fantasy right now, and I'm trying to figure out how much of a certain aspect to inject.

What I mean is like, emphasis on magic, or emphasis on characters? Is it more important to have a lot of action and fantastical elements, or just use that as a supplement to the inner battles and struggles and whatever.

I know it's fantasy, and people read it because of the magic and stuff, but do they really need me shoving it down their throats?

I'm conflicted.

You're asking the wrong question.
There's no right amount of magic.
The Hobbit has relatively little magic (a ring, some fireworks, and a dragon); A Wizard of Earthsea has quite a lot. They're both superb books.
Choose the basic assumptions of your world, and the goals of your characters. The amount of magic in your story will come from that.
You might also want to check out this essay by Brandon Sanderson.
 

Ardent Kat

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do they really need me shoving it down their throats?

It sounds like you're asking if you need to go out of your way to make your story more fantasy. In that case, no. If you push those elements, it'll come out sounding forced and overdone. Let the fantasy elements come naturally.

You should write in the same genre you read passionately. Write in the amount of fantasy that you as a fan would want to read and you'll do fine. If you're so unfamiliar with books in the fantasy genre that you don't know what that would look like, you should consider a different genre or read more fantasy.
 

ios

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What I mean is like, emphasis on magic, or emphasis on characters? Is it more important to have a lot of action and fantastical elements, or just use that as a supplement to the inner battles and struggles and whatever.

It depends on what your story is about. Is the story more about events and action? The world? An idea? Or character? That will help you determine how much fantastical elements to include. Here's an article that might help, for it talks about Orson Scott Card's MICE Quotient: http://www.flashfictiononline.com/c20090402-flash-fiction-milieu-bruce-holland-rogers.html. Sorry I can't find a more in depth article about MICE quotient, but it's a starting point.

Hope that helps,
Jodi
 
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