Yet, another poll or question ... thingymajig

[kippurbird]

Would anyone take this class if it were offered at your school?

Novels through Fantasy

 

 

Introduction

 

            Genre fiction has long been maligned as not real literature. Fantasy comes at the very bottom of this genre heap as people tend to say things like, “all fantasy is cliché’.  But while this may be true in some aspects, it’s more that people mistake the tools or tropes of fantasy for clichés. Just like any other sort of writing genre, fantasy has its clichés and tropes, but it’s just easier to confuse the two.  After all, mystery stories would hardly be a mystery without the “detective” character and the western without the “lone cowboy”.  However, because some of the tropes of fantasy are rather blatant, it allows for the examination of what makes a novel and how to identify a cliché.

 

 

Course Objectives

 

            This course will explore what makes a fantasy story, and through that identify what different things go into making a story and clichés that can be found in all sorts of novels. They will also examine fantasy and regular fiction novels to discover the similarities and differences between the two using literary criticism methods.

 

 

Text books

 

Literary and Cultural Theory, by Donald Hall

A Reader’s Manifesto by B.R. Myers

The tough guide to fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones

Other primary texts yet to be decided.

 

 

Topics to be covered:

 

            Assumptions: What the reader will assume until you let them know differently and why you need to let them know!

 

            Plot vs Story: What is a plot and what’s a story? How is a story created from a plot?

 

            Clichés: Why do you use them and when you do how to make them different?

 

            Heroes: How not turn your Hero into an all powerful knowitall

 

            Bad Guys: How to avoid ending up on the Evil Overlord list and why this is good to do. (Or how to prevent your bad guys from being stupid)

 

            Setting, Flora and Fauna: Zombie Horses and how to avoid them. (Or how to create believable settings)

 

            Magic: Building a rule system and why “It’s magic” just doesn’t work.

 

            Character growth and story changes: Looking at what happens when the story doesn’t go the way you planned it, and how not to force the writing.

 

            Character Death: When do you kill someone and why?

Comments

[authoressarktos.livejournal.com]

I sure would!

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Woo!