Wordbuilding - Founding Myths and Inciting Incidents

[Gumboot]

I am pretty big on world-building. In fact some might argue, from how I use my time, that I'm a world-builder first and a writer second. I'd like to be a successful author, but frankly even if my debut is universally rubbished as 3rd rate hack writing, and I abandon novel-writing for good, I'll keep away at the world-building as a hobby.

I've mentioned in other posts a fundamental principal of world-building which guides me; the concept of "Far Off Vistas" introduced by Tom Shippey in his remarkable book "The Road to Middle-earth" which details the process of Tolkien's world-building.

In brief, it's the idea that by hinting at elements of the world beyond the immediate story, the writer creates the illusion of a wider world beyond the confines of the narrative, enhancing the feeling of realism.

Anyway, for me, one of the most powerful "far off vistas" I've encountered in my reading is the use of what I'm going to call, for lack of a better term "founding myth". What I mean here is significant historical events which form the cornerstone of the narrative's backstory, yet are never fully explored in detail, thus raising them to an almost legendary status.

Two examples that immediately leap to mind, from two great works of fantasy fiction, are Isildur's defeat of Sauron in Tolkien's Middle-earth, and the series of incidents surrounding the fall of house Targaryen in George RR Martin's Westeros (beginning with the Tourney at Harrenhal and ending with the Tower of Joy).

For me, what makes these such powerful and compelling events is the combination of the specific and the vague; these events are never detailed in full, and there's a sense of mystery around them, yet at the same time we are shown very specific details.

I was wondering if anyone else can think of similar "founding myths" that play a similar role in other fantasy worlds?

 

[HareBrain]

I thought Donaldson handled this well with the stories of Berek, the arrival of the Bloodguard and so on. The legends had an effective sense of distance to them, and they made me want to know more about them.

 

[Grimbear]

In Karen Miller's Innocent Mage/Awakened Mage there are the stories of the founder Barl and the legend of the creation of the Wall and their weather magics. Barl's status through the centuries has become that of a God and a religion is founded around her.

In Robin Hobb's world there are the mentions of the elderlings and dragons, and their leavings (the elderling ruins) are plundered both literally and figuratively, with the trade in elderling goods and stories and legends about this vanished people.

Scott Lynch built a brilliant world imo in The Lies of Locke Lamorra. The hints of the larger world and history are tantalising and also infuriating because you always want to know more than is written.

It all adds up to a sense of space and time around the characters, the sense that they exist in a real and vivid place that is changeable and changing.

I think you have to find a balance between giving enough detail and information to flesh out a world while avoiding going into exhaustive info drops. Songs, books, poems, maps, names of towns and cities, names of landmarks can all assist with dropping hints of a detailed history and rich culture.

Has anyone here tried paratext stuff? Written a song which a character sings for example? Included excerpts from a book? Made up phrases of speech or sayings?

 

[HareBrain]

Has anyone here tried paratext stuff? Written a song which a character sings for example? Included excerpts from a book? Made up phrases of speech or sayings?

In one novel I wrote, a character called the History Man gives a puppet show intended to put across a particular foundation myth, which is narrated in rhyme. There's something quite similar in Riddley Walker, as I later found out, though that's based more on Punch and Judy.

 

[prizzley]

Has anyone here tried paratext stuff? Written a song which a character sings for example? Included excerpts from a book? Made up phrases of speech or sayings?

I'm working on a song for a character who's a travelling singer. Realistically he must sing something. I'm finding the lyrics hard work. It doesn't help that I'm not at all musical, but I think I'll get there eventually.

 

[Grimbear]

I'm working on a song for a character who's a travelling singer. Realistically he must sing something. I'm finding the lyrics hard work. It doesn't help that I'm not at all musical, but I think I'll get there eventually.

I wrote a song too. Agree it's difficult and I don't know if it's any good whatsoever. It's done as a stockholm syndrome indicator. I have a character who is a hostage/prisoner of a troop of soldiers. He's a fellow country-man of theirs, but is guilty of giving assistance to a man they are chasing who seems to be some kind of revolutionary. After several days of being a trouble-free and obedient prisoner he is sent off to help in gathering wood for a fire. One of the soldiers starts singing a song. The other soldier and the hostage join in.

I use it to illustrate the gradual relaxing of restraint (although as they are in the middle of nowhere in a mountainous wilderness, there is nowhere for the hostage to run to should he run). The song also serves the world-building - an extra detail.

At least, that's what I hope.

 

[kshRox]

I think an interesting twist in this concept is done by Roger Zelazny in Lord of Light.

Although it is never stated outright the story fills in the backstory of a colony ship from Earth seeding a planet where the original crew have set themselves up as immortal 'gods' using technology over generations of their descendants who have no clue that they are no indigenous to the planet they live on.

I think it is utter genius that all the detail of this concept comes through with no expostion to specifically explain it.

 

[booksforlunch]

Has anyone here tried paratext stuff? Written a song which a character sings for example? Included excerpts from a book? Made up phrases of speech or sayings?

I'm not sure if that counts as a paratext, or if I'm just thinking of it because of HareBrain's icon, but Richard Adams uses the stories about El'ahrairah in Watership Down.

Not only does it give us a glimpse into the social workings of the rabbits (like, when are stories told etc) but one of the stories is the account of how the world came to be as is and the role of their trickster god in it.
And in the end we even get a glimps at the genesis of new stories, when Hazel (when he's already very, very old) isn't quite sure if the story he's just heard is one he'd known before or one of his own adventures, now attributed to El'ahrairah.

 

[chrispenycate]

Has anyone here tried paratext stuff? Written a song which a character sings for example? Included excerpts from a book? Made up phrases of speech or sayings?

I generated a character (http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/38661-dragonbard.html) specifically to sing events that my POV characters were not present for, or had a very limited viewpoint on, and to avoid flashbacks. I'm quite good at writing songs, so considered I had found a way to eliminate that great first person limitation, without dialogue explanations. Then I was informed (by several readers, not just here) that anything where the line length dropped was automatically skipped, so any important information only available in song or poem was going to be missed, leaving a confused and unhappy audience.

Melodia was dropped into a secondary rôle, appearing from time to time in several of the story lines, but never with an important part to play, and finally in http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/50961-recordadragon.html I got her a recording contract and let her fly off to become a superstar…

 

[Grimbear]

Chrispy - so did you have a tune as well? I can just about come up with lyrics (very bad ones).

I used to skip, like you said, anything of that sort. I remember reading LOTR for the first time when I was about 12 and I skipped all the songs/poems, and also vast chunks of the trudging through Mordor.

At some point I started reading these parts though, rather than skipping them. I think most authors keep them relatively short anyway - not more than a few lines. Now, I'd always read them. And I'd never even consider not looking at a map, if there was one.

I'd never considered writing extras personally, until me and a friend started writing a novel together (we never finished it, but we got a fair way). We wrote it chapter by chapter turn and turn-about. He started, and prefaced his first chapter with an excerpt from a book. I kind of had to follow what he'd done and found it was actually quite fun coming up with stuff.

 

[chrispenycate]

I did do melodies for them, yes (it actually makes writing the words easier). I had some idea of attaching a CD to the book, or including an mp3 in the download, but you have no idea how difficult it is finding a dragon that can sing in tune. Most of them just bellow.

And I don't really like a harp as vocal backing, while it's all she can play (well, a keyboard maybe – but it would have to be specially constructed. And it's not portable, as well I know from touring a Steinway and Hammond). Plus, conventional distribution networks are not tooled up for the distribution, and if you want a special product better be famous already, or self distributed (now, if I could only find a dragon who would do concerts, too, without eating the warmup band if they were too popular), and my commercial attributes are legendary, in a sort of fascinatingly negative, horror story way.

Which, I'm afraid, drags us rather a long way from the myths and creation legends this thread was intended to be about, which is something I've not yet attempted.