Cultural Considerations

This week I've started thinking about the society and culture of Aenoria. As part of my History degree I've been studying social history quite a lot recently, and I've been looking at things as intricate as undergarments and the moral and religious reasons for it, and its made me realise that the key to a good book is a detailed, rich culture, and so over the next few weeks I'm going to be starting to fill out the culture and society of my world.

I also think that it's better to have some idea of the details of my world before I start writing, just because the story can be a lot more naturally shaped and influenced by the culture, rather than the culture fitting to the story. I feel like it'll be a lot more natural, readable and realistic (in terms of how natural the society seems, rather than how realistic it's going to be. I have a feeling a fantasy book probably won't be TOO realistic...).

So, for example, I've decided on two forms of transport in Aenoria, both animal based. One is a bear-type creature that can be ridden in two different ways (with a rather ingenious saddle idea that I'm hoping to upload some kind of diagram of soon... all depending on my artistic skills of course, so that could take a while...) and one is a wildcat creature similar to a Cheetah, but with an extra pair of legs. 

I'm also aware that I want to pay homage to some of the fantasy genre stalwarts. I feel like a fantasy book without some mention of Dragons would be a bit of a crime, but I'm also aware that a lot of fantasy books rely quite heavily on Dragons (the Inheritance Trilogy, for example) and I don't want mine to be like that. I'm going to have them ingrained in culture somehow. 

I think it would be interesting to have dragons occupy a similar mythological role to that which they occupy in real life. So to have them mentioned in art and literature, but not actually existent as beings in the world. 

I'm going to think about this more over the next few weeks, and start to consider things like the religion and political structure of Aenoria, as well as what it would be like to live in Aenoria as a normal person. What would the recreational activities be? How would people interact? Is there to be a class system? 

I know there's a lot of big questions that relate to society and culture, and so I'm not expecting to have a fully shaped society after just a few weeks, but I know that starting to consider it can only help me in my writing.

P.s. if anyone is interested, undergarments were worn because any contact between outer layers of clothing and the skin (which was understood to expel unwanted, and often unpleasant, things from the body, such as sweat) was not socially acceptable. This links to the idea that outward appearance was very important, and cleanliness and appearance were expected to reflect your position in society. So if a member of the upper classes had any evidence of secretion, sweat, dirt etc. from the skin on his outgarments, then it was seen as very shameful.

Letting The Hierarch Out Of The Bag

For a few posts now I've been teasing the reveal of the general outline of the story of my book. And after insistent nagging from one of my housemates, I've decided it's finally time to let everyone know roughly what the idea of my story is. 

The current plan is for my book to be the first in a trilogy, and I’ve roughly mapped out the story across the whole trilogy, but I’ll just mention the general story of the first book here. I don’t really want to set anything too concretely in stone, because I think it’s good to let the story write itself at some points, rather than to force it where I have planned it to go. (Yes I realise how pretentious that sounds, but I didn’t really know how else to write it!)

So… here it is: outline of the first book.

“The relationship between the kingdom of Aenoria and the Mages of the Realm had always been conflicted, but in the years since the last Mages War, a fragile peace has emerged. The mages seem content with being confined to the isle of Venud, but the segregation is taking its toll, and tensions are rising. Families are struggling to cope with being torn apart at the first sign of magical ability and many are fearing that frustrated mages could turn their powers against the kingdom.

When Thayrin, a young hunter, stumbles upon the murder of one of the kingdom’s chief ministers, he unveils a plot to assassinate the Hierarch, the kingdom’s leader. But in the face of this new threat, the demons of Thayrin’s past rise up to haunt him. Can he overcome his past, and protect his kingdom, or will he fall victim to himself, and let his kingdom be changed forever?”

Wow. In writing that I realised that it’s a lot more difficult to fit the story into a short little blurb like that! I’m not perfectly happy with that description but I can’t figure out how to change it for now…  I’ll probably revise it slightly over the next few posts, but the basic ideas are all there, and I feel that most of the important points are mentioned (though obviously I’d like to keep some secrets!)

I’ve re-read the prologue this week, and it’s far too clunky as I thought, so this week (after getting some pressing uni work out of the way over the next few days) is to re-write my prologue, which should be interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing how much my style has changed since I’ve been at uni and writing a lot more generally. I can imagine the difference will be quite significant, and I just hope it’s for the better.

On a side note, I could probably do with someone to proof-read/give me some feedback on my work as I’m writing it, so if anyone fancies doing me a favour (and getting some sneak previews… exciting prospect, I know), then feel free to either comment, or drop me an e-mail on joe_thomas25@hotmail.co.uk. It’d be very appreciated!