So You Want to Write a Fantasy Novel, Eh?

Image courtesy of yours truly.

Imagine a 2D rectangle. That’s the world our story will live in. Okay. But what do we do with it? Currently, no one cares about a passive rectangle. We need to motivate it! We need to interact with it! We need to fill it! Let’s put a smaller 2D rectangle inside our 2D ‘world’. This smaller rectangle is a ‘box’, if you will.

Then, not where the ‘box’ is, imagine a point simply labeled ‘A’. This is our protagonist, and he is charged with the daunting task of finding out what’s in the box!

The simplest story? As far as I can think of, Mr. Dot A moves to the box and looks into its contents. Case closed.

Boring.

So what other variations do we have?

Well, Mr. Dot A could get to the box and find it impossible to open. Perhaps it has a keyhole in it, for which, of course, Mr. Dot A needs to find a key — not just any key, of course, but the one and only key that reveals what is inside! We’d need to draw a key somewhere in our world that Mr. Dot A could fetch.

And the simplest version of that story: Mr. Dot A acquires said key and returns to said box to open it!

Hmm, but what if the box does not have a keyhole in it, but is still locked shut all the same? Well, Mr. Dot A could smash it, of course, risking whatever is inside and ending the story either way. Or perhaps there is some symbol, some inscription on the box that can lead him… elsewhere.

In that case, he needs to acquire the secret language, the special password, or the esoteric knowledge to open that box!

Or, even further, let’s introduce Mr. Dot B — but for starters, he’s not near Mr. Dot A.

Mr. Dot B offers a wide range of opportunities for a story. Perhaps he is a ‘bad’ guy—an antagonist who has stolen the key or is the very reason the box is shut in the first place, and has made life difficult for Mr. Dot A. Or perhaps Mr. Dot B is benevolent, and can teach Mr. Dot A some specific skill, the magic words needed, or some pattern of thought otherwise required to unlock the box.

Or, perhaps, there is an entirely different large rectangular world adjacent to our 2D world. Or above it. Or below it. Or many of them existing simultaneously.

Whoa. Mind blown.

All of these are potential options, and there are dozens more I can think of which I’ve purposely excluded (what if the box worked with multiple keys for some reason, or the key itself had to be constructed, or the box opened only with both Mr. Dot A and Mr. Dot B present?). And those are just a few ideas of many possible constructions that arise from just a single box, two dots, and a key, if you choose to include it.

Now imagine a much richer rectangle, a myriad of boxes and dots, each with their own set of rules, timelines, opinions, decisions, and limitations. Also keep in mind that once any of them interact, they must do so in a way that is consistent across time, space, and emotional ranges between the dots, all while ‘following the rules’ the 2D rectangle has established for itself.

I’m pretty sure there are literally billions of ways to tell a story with those elements after adding a second box and a second dot.

That’s all. Have fun!