Concerning the genre of story referred to as fantasy.
Magic. A word associated with a sense of wonder, mystery, the impossible, strangeness, and power. Materialism. A worldview that sees reality as only being about the stuff that we can see, touch, and measure. It is the belief that everything can be reduced to physical processes. It would seem that never should the twain meet – but they often do in fantasy literature.
What makes a literary form worthy of vocational pursuit? What is it about fantasy and fantasy epics in particular that fires the imagination and the desire to create? Yes, there is the aesthetic and the enchantment, but those are all bound up in the grand form itself. It is an art capable of symphonic width and breadth as well as a profound height and depth of register.
Worldbuilding in fantasy (and science fiction) is often carried out through the creation of an apparatus of notes and documents organized into topics: cultures, geography, magic, and so forth. Much of this material is never used in an actual story because it belongs to our world. It remains in the background. But what if more worldbuilding could be done with storytelling?
Cooperative story-telling games are the apex of group entertainments. That is a conviction of mine that no amount of persuasion has ever been able to shake. And Dungeons and Dragons is the father of them all. It’s been a major influence on my storytelling all the way back to childhood...
Perhaps it all goes back to Corwin of Amber. It certainly resonates with him. A man who has forgotten who he is – but the world hasn’t forgotten. And if he doesn’t remember, very quickly, he may never have a chance to remember. Thankfully, Corwin knows enough at the moment of his waking out of the fog to know that he has forgotten something...