The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
I've been seeing recommendations Diana Wynne Jones' The Tough Guide to Fantasyland for years, many of them in the form of 'if you write fantasy, you must read this book.' It was reviewed in January's F&SF 'Books to Look For':
The book is kind of a tour guide for protagonists. Here's a couple of entries:Charles de Lint said...
Who's this book for? That's easy:
--Anyone who's thinking of writing a fantasy novel or story. Seriously. You need to read this to see how easy it is to fall into cliche, and so, hopefully, avoid it.
--Anyone who reads fantasy. You'll laugh, trust me. And you know, Jones isn't laughing at you, she's laughing at all the people who don't get it.
--Anyone who hates fantasy. Because it points out all the reasons you don't like fantasy, and does so with killer humor.
There's a new edition out, but I picked up a used copy of the original (1996). It's taken me about a month to read it; I'd read a few entries while cooking, while brushing my teeth, while waiting for the tub to fill, while waiting for my turn when playing Empire Builder with my wife, etc. It's a good book for filling in the gaps.Diana Wynne Jones said...
Common Cold. This is one of many viral nuisances not present. You can get as wet, cold, and tired as you like, and you will still not catch cold. But see PLAGUE.
Waterfalls are generally very tall and thin (see LANDSCAPE). If the Management draws your attention to a Waterfall, it will not be for its scenic value. It will be because there are CAVES or a hiding-place or a secret colony of friendly folk behind it. You will have to turn sideways and slither along the rock to reach it.
And de Lint is correct, I did laugh. Out loud, maybe a half-dozen times, and I was amused on many occasions. Overall, however, I was unimpressed. I read fantasy almost exclusively, and I just haven't read that much that I recognized in this book. Consequently, it didn't resonate with me. The depth and breadth of my reading is not great, and maybe I've avoided a lot of the Extruded Fantasy Product (EFP--not a term from this book, by the way). Unlike de Lint, I'm not on the receiving end of a never-ending stream of books from people hoping for a review. I do know such books exist--almost every element of Eragon, for example, is covered in this book--but I don't find myself complaining that it's a pervasive problem.
My wife read it and laughed far more often than I did. I frequently found myself annoyed. Take STEW, for example. It is probably her most common target. Aside from the entry for it, I'd guess it gets mentioned a few dozen times. Her sarcasm is not without some merit, but it leaves me assuming she has never had to deal with food bacteria in an environment without refrigeration. Likewise her comments about never getting to eat raw vegetables. Does she have any idea what farming and food-handling practices were like in some medieval settings? Boil that sucker!
If you find yourself lamenting over the lack of originality in fantasy, I recommend this book. You'll probably love it. If not, you still might enjoy it, and it does collect a whole lot of cliches in one place. Myself, I'm glad I read it--once--but I guess I fall into de Lint's 'don't get it' category. (I did get a couple of story ideas from it, so we'll see who has the last laugh! [img]/emoticons/smilewinkgrin.gif[/img])
--Jeff Stehman
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