Using information to better understand fantasy stories

Fantasy writers use nonfiction to help them develop ideas for their novels Jane Yolen, the author of Merlin and the Dragons and many other fantasy titles, talks about how much research she does for her fantasy books. She has mentioned that she often has flower guidebooks and geography texts and other reference books around when she writes fantasy. She say sometimes it’s because she wants to get the facts as correct as possible. For instance, would that flower be able to survive on a cliff?

Fantasy writers use nonfiction to help them develop ideas for their novels It is not unusual for fantasy writers, those writers who probably have the biggest imaginations of all, to use real facts to help their nonfiction stories come to life.

Teaching Point Just as writers of fantasy refer to nonfiction texts to develop the worlds of their stories, readers of fantasy can refer to nonfiction texts to more fully understand the world they are reading about. As readers of fantasy, you can use reference texts, online factual information, or other nonfiction texts to build a full image of the characters, setting, and events you are reading about.

Using a book I have read I will need to decide on what topic I want to read more about, so I will start by thinking about the book, itself. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe I know it takes place in the English countryside during WWII I also know real animals and objects mentioned in the book , like lion, beavers and Turkish Delight. Learning about these may give me more insights into the book.

Some research http://www.localhistories.org/secondlife.html http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/27/wild-beavers-england- devon-river

WOW! This article says beavers have not been in England for centuries. So that means…

WOW! This article says beavers have not been in England for centuries. So that means… C. S. Lewis had to know there were no beavers in England, but he chose to use them in the novel anyways.

WOW! This article says beavers have not been in England for centuries. So that means… C. S. Lewis had to know there were no beavers in England, but he chose to use them in the novel anyways. Did he do this to show that Narnia was really another country, definitely not in England??

WOW! This article says beavers have not been in England for centuries. So that means… C. S. Lewis had to know there were no beavers in England, but he chose to use them in the novel anyways. Did he do this to show that Narnia was really another country, definitely not in England?? But WAIT, in the book it mentions that beavers are hard workers, that is true in real life, too.

Let’s look at Mufaro’s Beautiful daughters Where does it take place?

Looking further, I see some ruins I could read about, and I wonder about the animals they may have. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/10chapter1.shtml

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/zimb/hd_zimb.htm

thinking OUT LOUD I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THIS IS TELLING ME, IS THAT THE REAL PEOPLE WHO LIVED THERE WERE VERY INTELLIGENT TO BE ABLE TO BUILD SOMETHING LIKE THAT. And the book has pictures of the ruins everywhere. Which makes the idea that the kingin the the story was so intelligent make so much sense.

Should I do this EVERY TIME!? I wouldn’t expect you to do this every time you read, but if you find a book you particularly like, it might be fun and interesting to dig deeper. Sometimes just a quick flip through a nonfiction book or a quick search on the internet is enough information to help you picture what you are reading about.

Now what? I know I have some medieval castle books and many books on different areas and time eras. Feel free to look over them, but don’t forget your focus. You are using this nonfiction to help support your fantasy reading.

This is a student’s thinking once he looked up some information about his time period.