That's another form of creativity, though: not in the concept, but in the ways in which the concept unfolds. The setting can be the most lacking in originality, but if the plotting is tight and the characterization spot-on - if you know exactly which high points to make into mountains fraught with the most fantastic terrors and which low points to turn into the deepest valleys of despair, and which points of both to simply turn into waves of emotional power that the reader can coast on till the next climactic moment - then I couldn't possibly say no.
But - I'm of the belief that you can't separate setting, character, or plot. They all inform each other and they all require each other. A good setting sets up interesting characters who form intriguing plots. It's not a black and white world outside my window. I don't expect the one inside my head to be any different. Fantasy is wish fulfillment - and if it's purporting to be realistic (it's all a matter of tone), I expect it to consider the implications of its setting and use that; if it goes the pure fantasy route, in the direction of myth and archetype and the inhuman, I expect it to treat itself like the dangerous, terrible beast it really is. The middle ground between the two is rocky and filled with obstacles, and you can see the carcasses littering the Fantasy shelves at your nearest Borders.
I had a swimming coach once, and he said something to me that has stuck with me to this very day: "I admit it. I'm guilty of favoritism. I reward the people I like. But I like them because they get out there and do their best every single day. I don't congratulate someone who settles for less." I don't personally settle for less. Why should I give someone else slack I'm not prepared to give myself? I want good stuff. I don't want to feel, when reading a story, that it's well-written enough it could be good if only I hadn't seen the same idea before. I want to be amazed, not staring at Drizzt Do'Urden Clone #34657.
Dammit, if that's elitist, I don't see how I could possibly not be elitist.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cont'd.
Date: 2005-10-23 08:47 pm (UTC)But - I'm of the belief that you can't separate setting, character, or plot. They all inform each other and they all require each other. A good setting sets up interesting characters who form intriguing plots. It's not a black and white world outside my window. I don't expect the one inside my head to be any different. Fantasy is wish fulfillment - and if it's purporting to be realistic (it's all a matter of tone), I expect it to consider the implications of its setting and use that; if it goes the pure fantasy route, in the direction of myth and archetype and the inhuman, I expect it to treat itself like the dangerous, terrible beast it really is. The middle ground between the two is rocky and filled with obstacles, and you can see the carcasses littering the Fantasy shelves at your nearest Borders.
I had a swimming coach once, and he said something to me that has stuck with me to this very day: "I admit it. I'm guilty of favoritism. I reward the people I like. But I like them because they get out there and do their best every single day. I don't congratulate someone who settles for less." I don't personally settle for less. Why should I give someone else slack I'm not prepared to give myself? I want good stuff. I don't want to feel, when reading a story, that it's well-written enough it could be good if only I hadn't seen the same idea before. I want to be amazed, not staring at Drizzt Do'Urden Clone #34657.
Dammit, if that's elitist, I don't see how I could possibly not be elitist.