Inviting Our Readers Into Our Enchanted Woods

“He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods; the reading 

makes all real woods a little enchanted.”

― C.S. Lewis, On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature

Imagine yourself as a builder. 

Where would you begin? An idea.

It is the same with writing fantasy and building the world where your characters live, evolve, and die. 

The Idea

A builder begins with the idea he has or the idea his client has for him. Writers of fantasy fiction can follow the same methodology. 

We begin with an idea and brainstorm what that world would look like. Ever imagine God doing the same thing before He created our universe? What was His main goal? To reveal more of Himself to creation because He knew that knowing Him is the greatest good that could ever happen for us.

As writers, it is the same idea with our writing: We reveal more about ourselves in our stories whether intentionally or not. These revelations of our attributes are what connects our readers to our stories. 

Enchanted Woods

Reality can be brutal. Our fantasy worlds can make reality enchanted, as C.S. Lewis suggested in his quote. So, like a builder, we must keep our clients (our readers) in mind when we are constructing our fantasy worlds. 

As with character development, world-building requires the writer to dig deeper by asking some questions the reader might ask:

Why is the story set where it is?

How does the setting connect to the character?

What are the politics of the world?

What is the religion, if any, and why?

What is the currency?

And how does all of the above connect to the reader?

The setting of our stories must mean something to the character and plot otherwise we risk leaving our readers disconnected. And when they are disconnected, they put down the book. 

In her Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling did a brilliant job of connecting with her readers by making Hogwarts like the most fascinating boarding school in history. We Americans couldn’t connect as well since boarding schools aren’t the fashionable status symbol in America anymore. But in England, readers could connect to that feeling of saying goodbye to mom and dad, boarding a train to school, and arriving at a mysterious location that will become “home” for several months. Brilliant idea to take a scary reality
and make it completely fascinating, enchanted, and desirable. Rowling made the real woods a little enchanted for her readers. 

In our fantasy world-building, we need to go deeper as well. It helps to imagine our readers asking why we started our story in a haunted forest, a massive castle, in outer space, or under the sea. If we cannot answer their questions satisfactorily, then we’ve lost our readers. 

 I once knew a writer who struggled with depression. He wrote a horror story when he was in his early twenties about a recently divorced man who moved from the city into the woods where he could decompress in a tiny cabin. His sole companion was his faithful dog. When his dog is tragically killed by a wild animal, the man’s goal is to hunt the animal and avenge his beloved dog. But the animal that killed the dog is a werewolf. 

Intrigued by the story, I asked the writer why he set the story in the woods. He couldn’t answer, so I pressed further. Finally, it dawned on him that the cabin in the secluded woods represented the way depression made him feel: All alone. He went on to detail how he sometimes preferred that seclusion. I then asked him if the contrast from the fast-paced city scape to the quiet woods connected to his character. He explained how the divorce had made his character feel attacked to the point where he wanted nothing to do with people. Only nature and his dog would suffice as companions. 

I asked him why a werewolf as the villain?

After thinking about it for a moment, he suggested that the werewolf represented depression and how it appears occasionally (on a full moon night) to attack and destroy what he loves most: Peace, quiet, and relationships. 

Amazing how this writer wrote his story and setting without knowing the connection to himself and his readers until he dug deeper. The enchanted woods do help us conquer what the real woods press upon us. 

Escaping the Real Woods

“…I never fully understood it till my friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, ‘What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and hostile to, the idea of escape?’ and gave the obvious answer: jailers.”
― C.S. Lewis, On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature

Escaping the real woods can be the main reason fantasy authors write their stories. Christian fantasy authors will be tempted by the “jailer” to omit biblical principles from their stories. Biblical principles are the only means of eternal escape from the pain and sorrow of the real woods.

But the temptation to omit biblical principles must be overcome. 

Christian writers of fantasy can still add the principles of Christianity into their fantasy world-building even if the story takes place in another universe. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien accomplished this by ensuring their worlds had absolute good defeating absolute evil. 

Themes of good overcoming evil, putting others above oneself, and remaining true to an oath are apparent in my Dragon Forest and Elves of Vulgaard books. I ensured that readers could see how the world in which the story takes place has the biblical principles of:

• 
  Self-sacrifice

• Covenant oath

• Deliverance

• Salvation

• Redemption
  

• Truth

• Absolute good

• Absolute evil

Because magic is used in my books, readers will see the limitations of magic and its economy. There are risks in using wizardry and spells to change reality. Readers will notice how the characters must deal with these risks and how the consequences do not simply affect themselves, but others as well. 

Why do this in a fantasy series? Because readers need to know that God doesn’t work through magic, but through His inherent power and goodness. Christian fantasy authors can reveal God’s attributes this way even if He is not part of that fantasy world.  The real woods can be frightening. Christian fantasy authors can provide escape for the reader by adding fairies flittering about the woods, jovial gnomes guarding buried treasure, or ethereal elves protecting their realm.

The Hope

Lewis and Tolkien took the brutal reality of war between good and evil and made it enchanted in their own way because they both knew the horrors war. They understood the need for hope. 

Fantasy authors would be wise to do the same when building their fantasy worlds: Keeping the need for escaping reality in mind as well as the need for biblical principles that lead to the eternal hope all readers are searching for.

In doing so, readers will no longer despise the real woods because they’ve been inside our enchanted woods. 

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Former writing teacher, R. A. Douthitt is an award-winning author of many books for middle grade readers and adults in fiction.  She is the winner of the 2017 Moonbeam Children’s Books Award-Bronze Medal for Best Book Series and the 2022 Christian Indie Award-First Place in YA. Book three in her Elves of Vulgaard series, "Dragon Riders," releases October 25th.  She currently works for Grand Canyon University and lives in Phoenix with her husband Scott and their little dog. When she isn't writing, Ruth loves to run, draw, paint, and garden.

Follow her at her Website and on Facebook