White's Course on [Light Fantasy Dungeons]
#1
Greetings,
My name is White, rather known through a myriad of sources as WhiteSamurai.
No, just call me white, saves typing space and time.
See? You almost clicked off of this post because it didn't catch your attention right off the bat, don't worry though, that's really just how the human mind works. I'll be making separate posts regarding my various self-discoveries and techniques. If I were to put everything in one place, or rather even try, then almost nothing would actually get to those who need to learn from it.
My guides simply aren't beautiful works of art using all of the various font and layout options available, they only serve to provide the necessary resources to that one person who would benefit from them. Nothing more, nor less.
Now, onto the purpose of this guide, Light Fantasy Dungeons.
Dungeons in general are a rather popular literary tool when pursuing the Light-Fantasy styling within literature. They are a simplistic, yet complex, way to expand one's characters or world environment without having to drastically expand the scope of the plot or world at large.
In this sense, Dungeons are an attractive way to add additional chapters and lesser plot to a story without having to put in drastic effort or copious amounts of world building.
This, however, is a potentially flawed view on the Dungeon and it's uses.
In any story that has a dungeon, there are rather common ways a fantasy author will choose to present one, just thinking for a single moment is enough to recall several if you are a fan of Light Novel Fantasy in general.
The place a party of the summoned hero goes to cheat-level, or fights a slime comedically. Perhaps you go into a more dark-eque style where the party or adventurer in question struggles to reach the end-boss.
In the current year of 2018, the last few years of manga, manhua, manhwa, as well as light and web novels has been one of many toonish dungeons. So let us first explore the most common use of the dungeon in 'popular' culture before we get into more exploratory paths when using the dungeon.
The common use of a dungeon is when pursuing a lighter fantasy or a LitRPG. Whilst many 'connoisseur' readers will specifically go out of their way to harp on this lighter style of fantasy and the LitRPG specifically, this belief and demeaning outview of the genre is greatly misplaced. That, my friends, is for another Guide at a different time.
So what is a Light Fantasy and why does it work with dungeons?
The simplistic way to describe it is that you are aiming for readers that want a specific product in your literature. Not every writer can create something obscene like Lord of the Rings or A Tale of Ice and Fire with extreme depth, nor do all readers 'want' a product like that.
Whilst one might assume that Light Novel stories that rate in around a 6.5 to 7.3 through Novel Updates or other are worthless pieces, the fact remains that they continue being produced. The simple reason to a simple way of writing is that there is a specific base that will continue to read, support, and purchase such material.
A light-hearted fantasy story with a group of kind or happy characters going through their lives, perhaps a touch of harem, perhaps not, will always have their place in the literature world. Will it become a rising star, perhaps not. But the true question should be, will people read it? The answer there is yes, there likely will always be those who want to read those types of stories. Between those that want to take a break from complex stories with interweaving plot, or dramatic action stories with gore and stressful climaxes, and those whom prefer a more mellow story, most readers have a period when they wish to relax with some Light Fantasy escapism.
So where does this connect to Dungeons? It's quite simple, a relaxing dungeon crawl is something that just about any Light Novel reader can instantly, to the point of it being instinctual, sit down and get into. So long as one avoids blinding cliches such as the cute slime, the boss bear, or the over-powered spawn-legacy start as a few examples, you can be assured that many readers will be supportive of heading into a dungeon. As for what to put into your dungeon, that will come later, for now we'll be going over some ideas of how to introduce and begin a dungeon quest for a Lighter Fantasy setting.
In the Lighter Fantasy setting, dungeons are often a source of economical gain, and are either ranked by difficulty and status as if it were an RPG, spawned at random with prizes at the end, or threats to an area that a party of heroes must go and conquer. There plenty of other scenarios to choose from in making a trope dungeon for a Lighter Fantasy, but we will be exploring these for the example.
When you create a trope dungeon, there doesn't need to be any back-breaking depth to it, nor do you need to painstakingly describe every monster encountered. Pound for pound, a well paced dungeon quest, even if it lasts In-Character years, will fare far better with readers than a slow, nit-and-grit adventure into a dungeon. When you forget what kind of story you are writing, and go overboard in a Light Fantasy story, you lose the readers who 'Want' a light and faster paced story. If you try and go simple yet complex, or light yet dark, you will very, very likely find you are out-done by a professional of the field and be drastically under-rated for your performance. Plenty of smiles, teamwork, fast-paced looting, achievement, and physical character progression will go a long way when using a dungeon for a Lighter Fantasy story.
If you make the dungeon in a town, perhaps have the characters going through various shop-keeps, or use the chance to world build subtly with some townsmen engaging in dialogue that the party overhears, or even use the town as a political staging ground for a military campaign later down the line. As long as you set up the next exciting plot-point one or two arcs in advance, the readers will 9 times out of 10 be all for this built-up next adventure.
Using a dungeon as a staging site for a more exciting story down the line is always an option, and it allows you to strengthen your characters for it, perhaps even giving the party additional clout for what you have planned later. There are few things more gratifying to readers than when they get to see the effort your characters put in pay off with other NPCs recognizing them or offering them respect. Authors should often avoid the arrogant-idiot trope character as most readers will be more annoyed that the author made one than there will be gratification in slaying them. Unless these characters are built from a non-failure character into a failure character, they become a sin on the story rather than a bonus. Since these dungeons are for Lighter Fantasy stories, avoid using this story element to boost your character's prestige at all cost. Only the most skilled writers can make these story-disasters worth anything more than the price of a piece of paper.
A fun method of using a dungeon is to make them some form of economical tool. It's the author's call on whether or not the characters will take over the dungeon for that purpose, be the first that uncovers value, is the first to think of dungeons as something to be used, and so forth. Be creative when you use a dungeon for an economical resource, since it's going to likely become a cornerstone for your story for the next few arcs, make sure you have two or three economical-links already hinted at in advance to really give your story color. An economical-link, by the by, is when you establish that certain locations need certain resources.
To set an example, the Kingdom is a production nation rather than an agricultural one, the dungeon produces resources that another Kingdom desires and they have agriculture. You can either make these nations at odds and play the go-between, or try something new. If you already have an idea or two that I haven't mentioned in this writing, that's the whole point since this guide has caused your mental gears to begin to turn. If you feel the need, grab a notepad, there is never any shame for a writer to write down good ideas when you come up with them! Most professionals do so in one form or another.
Well, now that you've picked where the dungeon is going to go, and perhaps a few plot-twists seeded in for added flavor, now it's time to flush this dungeon out. The best way is most often the most simple, and that's plotting out the dungeon in advance rather than just jumping into it.
Jumping into a dungeon arc is a sin no matter how you cut it, thus not knowing what this dungeon is going to roughly do in advance is unwise. This is the case for two core reasons, the first being that unless you are a highly experienced author, the pacing of the story can very likely be disturbed by uneven plot structure. This can happen at any point, but once you hesitate in your dungeon, make a mistake, cut something short, or undercut your characters, your dungeon arc is ruined in the eyes of at least half of your readers.
Detractors are equally as vocal as loyal defenders, and the more logical readers simply could care less about giving you their opinion. The readers you really need to care about are the ones that will simply drop your story and move onto the next. One mistake they really don't like, they go to the next Light Fantasy in line and forget you, your name, and your hard work in an instant. The moral of this story? Don't cheat yourself, or your readers who are more important than yourself. Unless you are a millionaire writer, in which case, you are more important again.
If you truly wish to use a dungeon in a Light Fantasy story, then you have to remember the core value that makes up a Light Fantasy. Fun~
If you aren't having fun whilst writing the story, the readers won't. If the readers aren't having fun with the story, you won't.
Light Fantasy is 'meant' to be an escape from the complexities of the world without having to be reminded that the world isn't such a fun place to live in. To escape from the world and live through someone else's adventure, to enjoy the friendships the characters create and expand upon is the entire point.
Fantasy readers can truly relate to the existence of a dungeon, it's a dungeon! It doesn't matter if you choose to make it a magical-spawning dungeon that draws from magic to make toonish monsters that spit acid, or a bunch of slimes that are only attracted to female pheromones. If the author doesn't force their beliefs into the reader's face, if the characters have their own unique thoughts, if the world is bright and filled with the author's own unique color, then the readers can find something they can enjoy, your work.
Dungeons are just another amazing tool to use to bring color into your world, it's up to you how to paint it into your canvas. Now then, let's all paint a happy little dungeon over there, maybe a friend too right there. But most importantly, remember to have fun doing it, and may the summoning god bless.
For help on other aspects of writing, see other Guides made by WhiteSamurai or other fellow writers who are more than willing to help you.
If you ever see someone needing advice and this helped you, feel free to link, reproduce, or share this material. If you are willing, a friendly reference is always appreciated, but as long as these words continue to help others, then that is truly all that matters.
If you have something you need help with, or want an opinion on your work, feel free to drop White a PM on RoyalRoadl and he will get back to you often within a few days.
For more, view each release of "White's Course on-":
The Guide to "White's Course-"
Join the Course For Hands-on Guidance Here
~White
My name is White, rather known through a myriad of sources as WhiteSamurai.
No, just call me white, saves typing space and time.
See? You almost clicked off of this post because it didn't catch your attention right off the bat, don't worry though, that's really just how the human mind works. I'll be making separate posts regarding my various self-discoveries and techniques. If I were to put everything in one place, or rather even try, then almost nothing would actually get to those who need to learn from it.
My guides simply aren't beautiful works of art using all of the various font and layout options available, they only serve to provide the necessary resources to that one person who would benefit from them. Nothing more, nor less.
Now, onto the purpose of this guide, Light Fantasy Dungeons.
Dungeons in general are a rather popular literary tool when pursuing the Light-Fantasy styling within literature. They are a simplistic, yet complex, way to expand one's characters or world environment without having to drastically expand the scope of the plot or world at large.
In this sense, Dungeons are an attractive way to add additional chapters and lesser plot to a story without having to put in drastic effort or copious amounts of world building.
This, however, is a potentially flawed view on the Dungeon and it's uses.
In any story that has a dungeon, there are rather common ways a fantasy author will choose to present one, just thinking for a single moment is enough to recall several if you are a fan of Light Novel Fantasy in general.
The place a party of the summoned hero goes to cheat-level, or fights a slime comedically. Perhaps you go into a more dark-eque style where the party or adventurer in question struggles to reach the end-boss.
In the current year of 2018, the last few years of manga, manhua, manhwa, as well as light and web novels has been one of many toonish dungeons. So let us first explore the most common use of the dungeon in 'popular' culture before we get into more exploratory paths when using the dungeon.
The common use of a dungeon is when pursuing a lighter fantasy or a LitRPG. Whilst many 'connoisseur' readers will specifically go out of their way to harp on this lighter style of fantasy and the LitRPG specifically, this belief and demeaning outview of the genre is greatly misplaced. That, my friends, is for another Guide at a different time.
So what is a Light Fantasy and why does it work with dungeons?
The simplistic way to describe it is that you are aiming for readers that want a specific product in your literature. Not every writer can create something obscene like Lord of the Rings or A Tale of Ice and Fire with extreme depth, nor do all readers 'want' a product like that.
Whilst one might assume that Light Novel stories that rate in around a 6.5 to 7.3 through Novel Updates or other are worthless pieces, the fact remains that they continue being produced. The simple reason to a simple way of writing is that there is a specific base that will continue to read, support, and purchase such material.
A light-hearted fantasy story with a group of kind or happy characters going through their lives, perhaps a touch of harem, perhaps not, will always have their place in the literature world. Will it become a rising star, perhaps not. But the true question should be, will people read it? The answer there is yes, there likely will always be those who want to read those types of stories. Between those that want to take a break from complex stories with interweaving plot, or dramatic action stories with gore and stressful climaxes, and those whom prefer a more mellow story, most readers have a period when they wish to relax with some Light Fantasy escapism.
So where does this connect to Dungeons? It's quite simple, a relaxing dungeon crawl is something that just about any Light Novel reader can instantly, to the point of it being instinctual, sit down and get into. So long as one avoids blinding cliches such as the cute slime, the boss bear, or the over-powered spawn-legacy start as a few examples, you can be assured that many readers will be supportive of heading into a dungeon. As for what to put into your dungeon, that will come later, for now we'll be going over some ideas of how to introduce and begin a dungeon quest for a Lighter Fantasy setting.
In the Lighter Fantasy setting, dungeons are often a source of economical gain, and are either ranked by difficulty and status as if it were an RPG, spawned at random with prizes at the end, or threats to an area that a party of heroes must go and conquer. There plenty of other scenarios to choose from in making a trope dungeon for a Lighter Fantasy, but we will be exploring these for the example.
When you create a trope dungeon, there doesn't need to be any back-breaking depth to it, nor do you need to painstakingly describe every monster encountered. Pound for pound, a well paced dungeon quest, even if it lasts In-Character years, will fare far better with readers than a slow, nit-and-grit adventure into a dungeon. When you forget what kind of story you are writing, and go overboard in a Light Fantasy story, you lose the readers who 'Want' a light and faster paced story. If you try and go simple yet complex, or light yet dark, you will very, very likely find you are out-done by a professional of the field and be drastically under-rated for your performance. Plenty of smiles, teamwork, fast-paced looting, achievement, and physical character progression will go a long way when using a dungeon for a Lighter Fantasy story.
If you make the dungeon in a town, perhaps have the characters going through various shop-keeps, or use the chance to world build subtly with some townsmen engaging in dialogue that the party overhears, or even use the town as a political staging ground for a military campaign later down the line. As long as you set up the next exciting plot-point one or two arcs in advance, the readers will 9 times out of 10 be all for this built-up next adventure.
Using a dungeon as a staging site for a more exciting story down the line is always an option, and it allows you to strengthen your characters for it, perhaps even giving the party additional clout for what you have planned later. There are few things more gratifying to readers than when they get to see the effort your characters put in pay off with other NPCs recognizing them or offering them respect. Authors should often avoid the arrogant-idiot trope character as most readers will be more annoyed that the author made one than there will be gratification in slaying them. Unless these characters are built from a non-failure character into a failure character, they become a sin on the story rather than a bonus. Since these dungeons are for Lighter Fantasy stories, avoid using this story element to boost your character's prestige at all cost. Only the most skilled writers can make these story-disasters worth anything more than the price of a piece of paper.
A fun method of using a dungeon is to make them some form of economical tool. It's the author's call on whether or not the characters will take over the dungeon for that purpose, be the first that uncovers value, is the first to think of dungeons as something to be used, and so forth. Be creative when you use a dungeon for an economical resource, since it's going to likely become a cornerstone for your story for the next few arcs, make sure you have two or three economical-links already hinted at in advance to really give your story color. An economical-link, by the by, is when you establish that certain locations need certain resources.
To set an example, the Kingdom is a production nation rather than an agricultural one, the dungeon produces resources that another Kingdom desires and they have agriculture. You can either make these nations at odds and play the go-between, or try something new. If you already have an idea or two that I haven't mentioned in this writing, that's the whole point since this guide has caused your mental gears to begin to turn. If you feel the need, grab a notepad, there is never any shame for a writer to write down good ideas when you come up with them! Most professionals do so in one form or another.
Well, now that you've picked where the dungeon is going to go, and perhaps a few plot-twists seeded in for added flavor, now it's time to flush this dungeon out. The best way is most often the most simple, and that's plotting out the dungeon in advance rather than just jumping into it.
Jumping into a dungeon arc is a sin no matter how you cut it, thus not knowing what this dungeon is going to roughly do in advance is unwise. This is the case for two core reasons, the first being that unless you are a highly experienced author, the pacing of the story can very likely be disturbed by uneven plot structure. This can happen at any point, but once you hesitate in your dungeon, make a mistake, cut something short, or undercut your characters, your dungeon arc is ruined in the eyes of at least half of your readers.
Detractors are equally as vocal as loyal defenders, and the more logical readers simply could care less about giving you their opinion. The readers you really need to care about are the ones that will simply drop your story and move onto the next. One mistake they really don't like, they go to the next Light Fantasy in line and forget you, your name, and your hard work in an instant. The moral of this story? Don't cheat yourself, or your readers who are more important than yourself. Unless you are a millionaire writer, in which case, you are more important again.
If you truly wish to use a dungeon in a Light Fantasy story, then you have to remember the core value that makes up a Light Fantasy. Fun~
If you aren't having fun whilst writing the story, the readers won't. If the readers aren't having fun with the story, you won't.
Light Fantasy is 'meant' to be an escape from the complexities of the world without having to be reminded that the world isn't such a fun place to live in. To escape from the world and live through someone else's adventure, to enjoy the friendships the characters create and expand upon is the entire point.
Fantasy readers can truly relate to the existence of a dungeon, it's a dungeon! It doesn't matter if you choose to make it a magical-spawning dungeon that draws from magic to make toonish monsters that spit acid, or a bunch of slimes that are only attracted to female pheromones. If the author doesn't force their beliefs into the reader's face, if the characters have their own unique thoughts, if the world is bright and filled with the author's own unique color, then the readers can find something they can enjoy, your work.
Dungeons are just another amazing tool to use to bring color into your world, it's up to you how to paint it into your canvas. Now then, let's all paint a happy little dungeon over there, maybe a friend too right there. But most importantly, remember to have fun doing it, and may the summoning god bless.
For help on other aspects of writing, see other Guides made by WhiteSamurai or other fellow writers who are more than willing to help you.
If you ever see someone needing advice and this helped you, feel free to link, reproduce, or share this material. If you are willing, a friendly reference is always appreciated, but as long as these words continue to help others, then that is truly all that matters.
If you have something you need help with, or want an opinion on your work, feel free to drop White a PM on RoyalRoadl and he will get back to you often within a few days.
For more, view each release of "White's Course on-":
The Guide to "White's Course-"
Join the Course For Hands-on Guidance Here
~White
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