Portal fantasies have always kind of bugged me.
Portal fantasies are stories where modern people travel to a fantasy world that is almost always medieval in nature but with better laundry and magic and dragons and what not. Narnia is a good example. The transported people are always the key to saving the Kingdom or restoring the rightful ruler or what not. Standard fantasy tropes spiced up a bit by the presence of an easy reader stand in.
Except.
Except these are modern people. Why do they always take the side of the King or Queen or Furry Stand In For Jesus Christ? Okay, that last one is not so much of a surprise, but still. No one ever tries to reject the prophecy that stole them for their homes. No one ever sides with the nascent merchant class to curtail the power of the aristocrats. Is it really too much to expect that the children of liberal democracy would build a guillotine or two?
As I joked about being obsessed with this idea in my writing group, one person told me that while there is nothing specifically like I mentioned, there is an entire sub-genre making fun of, or at least playing with, the tropes of standard portal fantasies. Apparently, Dungeon Crawler Carl stems from that background. My writing buddy suggested that there were a fair number of humorous (which, to be clear, is not really what I had in mind beyond the silliness of the premise. I don’t really have a sense of humor. I am merely an overly sarcastic annoyance, which is not the same thing.) plays on the inherent weirdness of the concept.
That surprised me, but it should not have. Shakespeare’s Second Law of Thermodramatics is at play here: if a trope or genre exists, then there also exits an equal and opposite reaction to that trope or genre. I suspect that a lot of people, my self included, find their best work is not inspired by the things they admire. Rather, I think a lot of the best work is generated out of a sense that things could be done, if not better, then different, or more honest to the moment or with a perspective the original completely missed. I know that the stuff I enjoy having had written falls along those lines. Sometimes I think creativity is as much driven by exasperation and irritation as it is by inspiration.
And, apparently, I am writing the history of the formation of the modern state as a portal fantasy now.
Weekly Word Count
About 10 pages. Slow for a script (I am writing a play about a kid who keeps dying in school shootings but get cloned back and has to live with his re-tread life as others move on), but life gets in the way. Some business travel, some deadlines, etc. Rejections for the last play have started to trickle in, so that is fun.
Anyway, have a great weekend everyone and use that annoying TV show you hate watch but secretly love as a launchpad for your spite-inspired creativity.
I need a portal to a different world. Nothing's always good or bad but we've got to have fun.... otherwise , what else is it good for? Wishing you an excellent weekend !