[00:00:00] Jennifer Flodin: Hey there and welcome back to another episode of the Fiction Refinery podcast. I am so excited to dive into today’s episode.

[00:00:08] If you are feeling as though the fantasy elements of your story are just kind of tacked on, it might not be the fantasy elements themselves. Instead, it could be that there is a lack of a fantasy plot line, and that’s what we’re going to be talking about in today’s episode.

[00:00:28] Today I’m sharing how I’m using a fantasy plot line to make the fantasy elements of my story integral to the story.

[00:00:37] Welcome to the Fiction Refinery podcast. I’m Jennifer, a writer and developmental editor, and I’m here to share my writing process As I work on the first book that I intend to publish, I’m going to be sharing the lessons that I’m learning along the way and the insights that we can borrow from bestselling books and fellow writers.

[00:00:58] Grab your favorite hot beverage and let’s dive in to today’s episode.

[00:01:02] Just as a quick refresher, in the last episode, we talked about antagonists. If you missed that episode, definitely go back and check it out.

[00:01:13] So what the heck is a fantasy plot line? Now, this is a concept that’s relatively new to me. I got this from secrets to Writing a Fantasy. And that’s from the write novels that sell series done by Stanley and Cook.

[00:01:32] So that’s where I got this from. This is an interesting. Premise and I like it. I think that it makes a lot of sense ’cause I think that sometimes fantasy elements can feel a little bit tacked on if we’re not being intentional about making sure that it is woven into the story and what the protagonist is trying to do.

[00:01:54] So because of that, I have decided to go ahead and try this out in this current work in progress that I’m working on.

[00:02:01] Now Stanley and Cook really make an argument for why this is necessary, and I’m not in a position where. I want to argue for its necessity ’cause I’m really just testing it out at this point. But my understanding of this plot line is to make the fantasy elements matter. And that’s really how I’m looking at this.

[00:02:29] ’cause before, if I was just to share the main plot, yes. The fantasy elements of the story were present. There’s magic. That’s really the fantasy element of my story. There’s magic. So yes, that was present and it was impactful to the plot. Like magic is why Marin’s sister gets arrested, but it doesn’t really matter past that, it’s almost like it’s conveniently there so that she can get arrested and that there can be a story. And adding this plot line, which honestly I’m gonna talk about it, it feels pretty natural for my story. But adding this plot line really helped ground the fantasy elements in the story, it’s really making it matter to the story and matter more than just kicking things off. So that’s why I am choosing to include this. You can do whatever it is that you would like, of course.

[00:03:34] Now the next question that you might be asking is. How is this different from a main story goal? And the truth is, is that it’s not much different. It’s set up in the exact same way. It’s the same formula, it’s just about something different. So I’m gonna give my example and my work in progress and I’m also going to share an example that Stanley and Cook use in their.

[00:04:00] Book to help exemplify this. They have a lot of examples. I’m just going to be sharing one of the ones that they use.

[00:04:08] So really the main difference is that the fantasy plot. Is usually a little bit larger. It’s not quite so personal for the protagonist. It’s like this, they have to do this thing with whatever fantasy element, like magic so that they can save something large. So I’m gonna give an example of this.

[00:04:35] You know what? Let’s just dive into the example. Instead of me trying to explain it in vague language, let’s just look at the example. So for, and I’m gonna read this off my notes over here. So in Secrets to Writing a Fantasy, Stanley and Cook provide an example from Fourth Wing. I think that this is a pretty good example, so I wanted to share it with you.

[00:04:55] Let’s see. Okay, so the external plot, this is like the main story goal that I talk about. So the external plot. Violet must use her intelligence to fight other students in the rider’s quadrant, otherwise she won’t survive her first year as a cadet. Now, the supernatural plot, they call it a supernatural plot.

[00:05:13] I’m calling it a fantasy plot. It doesn’t really matter. Potato potato, right? Okay. So the supernatural plot, violet must learn to control her signet. Otherwise, she can’t protect Navarre’s. I can’t remember if it’s Navarre or Navarre it, it doesn’t matter. But she can’t protect the borders from evil, mythical creatures, and all inside the borders will die.

[00:05:36] So this has two fantasy elements. So she must learn to control her signet. That’s fantasy. And then she’s gonna protect the borders from evil, mythical creatures. That is also a fantasy element. Mine just has one, which I will share mine, but so that’s the difference. So the first one doesn’t really have anything to do with magic.

[00:05:59] It probably could, but it doesn’t. It’s, and it’s. I think that the biggest distinction is that it’s like this really like personal goal, like it’s her survival, right? And I think that that’s why one of the reasons that fantasy can be such a really great genre, and that’s because there’s a little bit of conflict that arises between the personal goal and then this big.

[00:06:26] Oh, this even larger goal that the protagonist has. So oftentimes it’s for their survival, for the survival of somebody that they’re close to, a sister, a mother, or whatever, and. Then there’s also this other goal, that kind of conflict, that can conflict with it naturally. And that’s to not just save that one person but to save an entire country and that can put their own life at risk and it can cause them to make a very interesting choice.

[00:06:57] And so I love that and. I think it just really helps bring it into focus, bring what you’re doing in the story into focus. And I think that’s really great and that’s really helpful. So let’s see. So for my work in progress, again, I’m gonna read my notes, but it’s going to look like this.

[00:07:15] So the external plot is that Marin must find a way to get to the capitol and help her sister escape, otherwise her sister will be executed. So that is the. External plot that I’m working with the fantasy plot. This of course might change just like my external plot, but the fantasy plot is that Marin must sacrifice her magic.

[00:07:40] Otherwise, all of those who have magic will die and the entire kingdom will suffer. Those are some really big stakes and. I think for me, the fantasy plot was lingering under the surface. It just kinda had to pull it up. And that’s because when Marin sets off to find her sister she’s really going up against a really large, powerful antagonist.

[00:08:04] And this antagonist is threatening their entire country so she can go and she can save her sister. But how long are she and her sister actually safe for if she doesn’t take out the actual threat?

[00:08:21] So for me that kind of made the stakes for the fantasy plot feel really natural. In fact, that was what I had the best grasp on first. So I want to recommend that if you are just starting to look at your fantasy plot and you already have your external plot, consider what natural stakes are already occurring in your story.

[00:08:47] That you might be able to use for the fantasy plot? ‘ Because that might be the easiest place to start. I know for me it was.

[00:08:55] And then once you have that, you can consider what kind of fantasy element your protagonist needs to use in order to achieve their goal and prevent what’s at stake from coming to fruition.

[00:09:07] In the example that I’ve shared, it’s very interesting ’cause I’m choosing a sacrifice and that might be very different from what you choose. You might choose that your protagonist needs to learn something just like Violet in fourth wing and I’ll just share a little bit about why I chose the sacrifice for my protagonist, and it’s really just because of the theme and her character arc. I think that. Learning how to use her magic. I don’t really think that fits with the theme or that fits with her character arc.

[00:09:41] I think that the challenge of sacrifice is something that is more fitting for her. I think it’s more challenging for her, and I think that the sacrifice will ultimately show the lesson that she has learned so much better than just learning how to control. Her magic or something of that nature.

[00:10:05] And that really brings us to the end of today’s episode. Pretty short, pretty sweet. So the key takeaway, fantasy elements are not something that you can just tack on to your story. They need to be integral. I don’t know why I have such a hard time saying integral. Is that, am I even saying it right? I don’t know.

[00:10:24] But they need to be woven into your story. They need to be meaningful.

[00:10:30] And honestly, it’s totally okay if you don’t have a fantasy plot line yet. Even if you’ve already started writing your story, look, there is still time to either add one or you can do it in revisions. That’s totally fine too.

[00:10:45] In fact, you may discover this plot line while you’re doing your revisions.

[00:10:49] It’s really never too late to add it if you’re feeling led to.

[00:10:52] Now. In next week’s episode, I’m going to be trying my hand at writing a story blurb. Yes. Before I write the story.

[00:11:01] My goal with writing a blurb before I start writing this story, honestly, before I’ve even outlined

[00:11:07] the goal of this is really just to make sure that the story is in focus

[00:11:11] and that it has the emotional resonance to work.

[00:11:15] This should hopefully make it very clear if an element of the story isn’t working and if there is an opportunity for improvement.

[00:11:22] Thanks for joining me today, and I will see you in the next episode.

[00:11:27] Thanks for listening to the Fiction Refinery podcast. Writing does not have to be a solitary journey. We are in this together, and if today’s episode resonated with you, I’d love it if you subscribed and shared it with another writer who might need it. And as always, if you want more content like this, then be sure to subscribe to my newsletter.

[00:11:49] The link is in the show notes. Until next time, happy writing.