Holly
Lisle's Vision
Your
Modern Hobbies,
Your Ancient World
By
Valerie Serdy
©2001,
Valerie Serdy
Before
our heroes and heroines became the adventurers we needed them to be to make our
stories interesting, they had some occupation. Despite what I keep seeing in
fantasy novels, not all of these characters need to be warriors looking for
work, mages looking for magic items, or youngsters running away to discover
fortune. By looking at your hobbies and interests, you may discover an unusual
occupation for your main character: an occupation made more real because you
already know many of the small details that translate to believability for your
readers.
It
may be easier to see how hobbies like sewing or pottery translate to a fantastic
world. After all, these occupations have all been around for centuries. So,
we’ll start with my hobby. I’m a scuba diver. I got certified a year ago and
since then have logged just shy of 50 dives in the Puget Sound area. I’ve seen
the most amazing things underwater: anemones waving in the current, octopus
hiding, starfish mating. I’ve been stung by a jellyfish and attacked by a
cabezon guarding its eggs. I’ve been buffeted about by strong current. I’ve
stood on the edge of the shore and watched the tide roll out, leaving crabs
stranded on the beach for the seagulls to pick over. I’ve smelled the ocean
throughout the year, noting its changes. And I’ve anxiously anticipated the
start of a dive whenever I’m trying something new. In short, diving has given
me wonderful sights, sounds, and experiences that would make great fodder for a
story.
But
how do I do it? I wear a dry suit made of latex and nylon. I carry a steel
cylinder on my back filled with a mixture of compressed gases to help avert
decompression sickness. That gas is delivered to me by a regulator that
carefully delivers the same amount of air when I breathe in regardless of the
ambient pressure. I am using equipment and materials that were not available,
would not have been dreamed of, in a world with a technology level matching that
of the ancient Greeks and Romans. What’s a girl to do?
I
had to first remember that I wanted to use my diving experiences in my story:
the creatures I’d seen, the sound and smell of the ocean, the numbingly cold
water. The equipment I use is
hardly interesting in a fantasy story, but it allows me to stay underwater for
an hour at a time. I didn’t know how long people with no equipment could
typically stay underwater or how deep they could dive or whether they were still
at risk for decompression sickness.
I
wanted believability, so I cracked open a few books. I started with the book we
used during our certification course. It began with a brief history of man’s
desire to get underwater, including the type of equipment that became the
precursors to my steel and nylon and latex. In less than a page of text, I
discovered breathing tubes, however inefficient, have been around practically
forever. Early divers created breathing bags out of goat or sheepskin. Diving
bells have been around since 330 BC, invented by Aristotle and used by Alexander
the Great to destroy the underwater defenses of his enemies. In fact, ancient
Greeks often used divers in warfare: they smuggled supplies past blockades, cut
enemy mooring lines, sank ships. Those same divers later plundered the ships
they had earlier sunk.
In
addition to warfare, divers were used for the more obvious task of collecting
sea creatures; much of it was used for food, though sponges were collected to
cushion the heavy armor soldiers wore. A little more research using a general
encyclopedia showed divers in the Caribbean and Japan making hundreds of dives a
day, some as deep as 50 feet to collect lobsters, shellfish, and seaweed.
And
there, an occupation was born. My main character, Shara, is a diver providing
for her family by gathering shellfish for food, sponges for cushions, seaweeds
for dyes and medicines. She can hold her breath a maximum of four minutes,
chooses not to use the breathing bags others use, and will help develop a
rudimentary diving bell when the need arises. Now I can use my hobby.
Then
I ran into another problem. For Shara to see the same things I’ve seen, the
water needs to be cold, say around 55 degrees in the summer time (this is why I
wear a dry suit). So, in order to stay warm, Shara uses magic to warm the water
around her, using the same principle wet suits use. Not such a problem after
all. Shara will now be able to see the wonderful creatures I have seen, smell
the ocean I have smelled, feel the anxiety I have felt when diving in strong
current. Write what you know.
Those
hobbies I mentioned at the beginning of this article (sewing and pottery) are
wonderful resources to make everyday scenes more believable. Do you make your
own clothes? You probably use a sewing machine. But if you’ve chosen to stitch
a small hole closed by hand, or sew on a button, you’ve a pretty good idea how
it feels to hold a needle for an extended period of time: how the needle leaves
indentations in your skin if you grip it too firmly, how your hands and fingers
can cramp up, how hard it is to thread that needle if you’re tired or your
eyes are bleary.
Are
you a potter? Your kiln and wheel may be more advanced than that of your world,
but you know what the clay smells like, what it feels like, the anxiousness you
felt as a beginner when you placed that first attempt into the kiln and prayed
it would come out unharmed. Research the history of the potter’s wheel and
kiln to determine what tools people in your world might use.
Perhaps
you’re reading this article and saying to yourself, this won’t help me, I
play soccer. Most ancient peoples, and this includes those of the European
Middle Ages, had more free time, more holidays than we do in America. Perhaps
your world also has free days and festivals: some variant of soccer could become
the game of choice. Perhaps over time your character is a referee or an
excellent kicker. Your character could be a spectator gambling on the outcome or
an entrepreneur looking to sell drinks or snacks to tired players. If your world
disapproves of either occupation, you’ve already provided trouble for your
character. A short scene like this allows you to show some richness in your
world and lets us know your characters a little better.
You
can place your modern hobbies into your fantastic world to allow you to write
what you know. By adding a bit of research to the visceral experiences you gain
from your hobby, you can add reality and depth to your world. And as each
individual is different, your hobbies could provide a new occupation for your
main characters that we, as readers, haven’t seen many times before.
Valerie
Serdy recently left the software industry after 6 years. She’s now staying
at home and devoting time to her writing and her husband, who’s willingly
agreed to support her during this time.
She
can be contacted at vserdy@hotmail.com
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