Fantasy Length

It’s hard to put a finger on why, but every fantasy novel I’ve ever come across seems to be of inordinate length.  Even the sci-fi/fantasy mashup I’m currently working on appears like it will be a hefty tome.  But the question when it comes to fantasy is why…

Maybe it’s because the worlds are so unfamiliar that we need to spend a great deal of time setting the scene.  I don’t think I’ve yet encountered a fantasy novel that has been set on Earth and used nations/kingdoms we’re all familiar with, outside of tales of Arthur and Excaliber.  Therefore, we need to familiarize the reader with the world, and that’s before we start getting into things like magic.  The audience should know why Mordor matters, or how The Seven Kingdomsare separated and why they’re contiguous while the realms in Essos aren’t.  We all understand why the West stands against Russia, but most won’t know why, in my novel, the Braalmin Empire kills pirates on sight even though the Federated States of Scolara might tolerate them.

Then there are the beings and creatures of fantasy.  When Tolkien first wrote Lord of the Rings, no one knew what an orc or an elf was, so he had to use page after page to draw the reader into those societies and the racial characteristics.  Since every fantasy writer is different, each one spends at least some time delving into the lore of each race, even now-familiar ones like dwarves.

Special magical creatures are a whole different area that requires time.  Sure, most folks know a little about dragons – even if each world may have different rules – but what happens when you introduce a city of sprites, gnomes, or The Children of the Forest?  Readers may have heard of them in passing, but they won’t know the specifics or why they should care, and if these creatures are to have an impact on the story, you need to know about them.

And magic.  Magic tends to be different from story to story.  Some books use magic as interdimensional energies.  Some use it as coming from runes and crystals.  In some, only certain races can use magic.  And some use magic in a widespread way and make it part of everyday life.  However, depending on how unique the magic is to that particular story, the writer will need to spend time explaining it, and that explanation can’t just be in the form of exposition.  It needs to be used in ways that bring the reader to understanding without just flat out saying what the specifics are(show, don’t tell).  And again, that takes time.

Maybe it’s not terribly difficult to understand the reason why fantasy novels seem to go on forever.  The more unfamiliar the landscape, characters, and intricacies, the more time that will be required to draw the audience into the world, even before the story can get properly going.  And that’s a whole other ballgame…