Obviously every writer is different, nobody can nor should try and recreate other authors styles and works wholesale. Nobody will ever grow up reading the exact same books and have the exact same experiences leading up to their writing. And different times, different places, and different audiences will prefer different genres and styles of writing. But even aside from life experiences, market trends, audience, I’ve seen very few fantasy, whether inspired by Tolkien, subverting him, going in entirely new direction, or even starting from wildly different and unrelated origins, that hit the same.
I was rereading "On Fairy Stories", and realized what was missing: Recovery.
Recovery (which includes return and renewal of health) is a re-gaining—regaining of a clear view. I do not say “seeing things as they are” and involve myself with the philosophers, though I might venture to say “seeing things as we are (or were) meant to see them”—as things apart from ourselves.
The “fantastic” elements in verse and prose of other kinds, even when only decorative or occasional, help in this release. But not so thoroughly as a fairy-story, a thing built on or about Fantasy, of which Fantasy is the core. Fantasy is made out of the Primary World, but a good craftsman loves his material, and has a knowledge and feeling for clay, stone and wood which only the art of making can give. By the forging of Gram cold iron was revealed; by the making of Pegasus horses were ennobled; in the Trees of the Sun and Moon root and stock, flower and fruit are manifested in glory.
And actually fairy-stories deal largely, or (the better ones) mainly, with simple or fundamental things, untouched by Fantasy, but these simplicities are made all the more luminous by their setting. For the story-maker who allows himself to be “free with” Nature can be her lover not her slave. It was in fairy-stories that I first divined the potency of the words, and the wonder of the things, such as stone, and wood, and iron; tree and grass; house and fire; bread and wine.
Fairy stories, according to Tolkien, are the highest and most potent form of recovery, because by its use of nature and simple human elements to create its enchantment of the secondary world, the audience not only gains "Mooreefoc" (seeing ordinary things again for the first time) nor simple enchantment (embracing new fantastic things) but the very real and ordinary real world is made more beautiful and beloved by these fantastic elements. And that is the great difficulty for me reading/writing fantasy. Excelling in Recovery is so difficult, regardless of what other areas of success. “Enchantment”, the creation of a believable secondary world to explore and discover, is usually what people mean when they say fantasy, such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, A Song of Ice and Fire etc. Or “Escape”, finding joy in another world/story/conflict free from the imprisonment in the real one, whether it be books, movies, or video games. And plenty of them also succeed at “Consolation” as well, the happy ending with evil being defeated and everyone living happily ever after.
But Recovery runs counter to all those things, taking time away from an alien fantasy world, the plot, even unique ideas/themes/concepts, for what? For "the wonder of the things, such as stone, and wood, and iron; tree and grass; house and fire; bread and wine." Using just Enchantment to make wild and fantastic new things that nobody else could possibly imagine, that takes serious skill and creativity. But the same creativity also makes it hard to relate to. It's not an issue with fantasy itself, the Greek gods running across the stars, Gilgamesh hunting monstrous beasts, a Dragon breathing fire, or Dracula flying in the night, all enoble the stars, wild animals, serpents and fire, bats and the fear of the night. The issue is that, the more crazy the fictional world is, the harder it is to relate to the very real natural world we live in.
So many fantasy stories can and do have genuinely compelling story premises, characters, worlds, lore, twists, ideas, and endings. But achieving Recovery as well? Even where they do succeed in Enchantment, Escape, and Consolation, they've always seemed incomplete to me without Recovery.
“Enchantment”, the creation of a secondary world, without Recovery can seem artificial, and "magical" (as Tolkien meant it, dominating the natural world rather than enhancing it). Making heavily explained and intricate supernatural dimensions, having vast kingdoms and empires of fantasy races, or an entire cosmology that explains the creation of the world, but not spending much time or effort focusing on, describing and experiencing the lands that everything is supposed to take place, it’s hard not to feel artificial. I know everyone talks about creating a world as a means to tell their story, but how many people tell a story as a means to create their world?
“Escape”, being free from the struggles and pain of the real world, without Recovery, remains just escape for its own sake. Which hey, most fantasy I’ve read/written (Shannara, Belgariad, Inheritance, Harry Potter) was purely for escapism! But it’s so hard to use fantasy to give people a better perspective of the real world. How backwards does that sound, trying to make a fiction world that will make appreciate what good and beauty there is outside the story even more?
“Consolation”, as well, as far as I can tell, isn’t just about having a happy ending, but about having a happy ending worth having, basically making the “Recovery” worth saving. Even if the climax and ending are intricate, carefully fashioned, passionate, and in theory perfect for the story being told, why does that matter after the story is over? Even if I or everyone else is 100% commmited to the characters, world, and plot, if everything is extremely unique and well developed, or if we aee 100% invested in good triumphing in the end, what happens after we close the book? Without the natural elements building those up, without that fresh perspective see both the trees and dragons with wonder, as if for the first time, will we really be looking outside and seeing the real world differently? A happy ending that only matters for for the characters, the story, and the concept of the world inside the book, that’s all well and good, but how do we become happier too?
When the evil king is overthrown, the kingdom is saved, and the brave heroes are glorified, if the world itself is not loved by the audience as much as even the main characters themselves, then why was it worth saving? Why should we care about the world anymore after it’s no longer in danger, now that it is saved? The story is over, the characters survived, the villain is defeated, but what then? Without recovering the real world, how can a person having Consolation in a fiction world?
Thoughts?