Unusual Characters Play a Pivotal Role in Fantasy Novels. When Cynthia and I decided to write a middle grade book, we knew there had to be a fantasy element. Why? Nearly every young person we spoke with at conferences, congregations, homeschool events, book signings said the same thing. If a young person said they were writing their own novel, 99.99% of the time when I asked if it was fantasy, the answer was yes.
Our goal was to introduce history in a new way that addressed modern-day themes. How would we incorporate fantasy?
As adults we knew history was important and filled with interesting stories and insights into today’s headlines, but on the surface might be considered, well, ho-hum.
So, we listened to our potential readers and were determined to include a fantasy element.
Types of Fantasy
As we researched the types of fantasy, we were a bit overwhelmed. Depending upon the writer and reader, fantasy has a variety of categories, but as I looked closely at their definitions, I realized that really these can be boiled down into two categories:
- The Epic Fantasy where whole realms are created with fantastical creatures, worlds, powers, and even languages.
- Real-Life with Fusions of the Fantastical, where someone is transported by one means or another into a fantastical environment.
It may seem that the Epic Fantasy is more immersive than the Real-Life Fantasy, but I think that depends upon the story and the writer. At least we were depending upon that.
Cynthia is a mystery writer—something I would LOVE to be but can’t seem to get my brain into that creative lane. I love character development and conflict with a leaning toward the hero’s journey.
Our work-in-progress (WIP) features a twelve-year-old, Mason Michael Adeleke. A bright young man who recently moved from Philadelphia to the deep South with his mother and little sister, Olivia while his military father is in Europe for a temporary assignment. Now that’s conflict. We’ll go over conflict in another blog.
The family temporarily moves in with Mason’s mother’s father, a retired professor of history. Professor Angus Wilson.
Okay, So where is the Fantastical?
My feeble attempt to sketch out what Miss Penny might look like. Yeah. I know. Pretty sad. But it did help us write.
So where does the fantastical come in?
Cynthia’s character, Penny. Penny is oddly enough a real live penny—an Indian head penny. But not just any penny, she was minted in 1860 and has been in Professor Wilson’s family since 1865 when a soldier gave her to a young, recently freed slave, Mason Elijah, the Professor’s ancestor.
Penny is a special coin. She walks and talks. Over the years she has tried to communicate with these humans but to no avail. From Mason Elijah all the way to the Professor, poor Penny has been ignored and is now relegated to the Professors desk as a treasured artifact. Which is a pity because this little penny has been a silent observer of the most profound moments in history.
