Tolkien Tuesday: Writing A Story Your Reader Escapes To
Imagine your home gets infested with bedbugs.
On top of that, there’s spiders everywhere.
I mean big hairy brown ones that Bilbo probably fought. The kind that pushes back against your shoe when you step on them
What if I told you that you were also living in an apartment under a heavy smoker? And, the smoke was infusing into the very fibers of your carpet.
Let me sweeten the pot a little.
Your car completely dies, and the only way to fix it is to totally replace the transmission.
Also, you just moved to Tennessee, and all your friends and family are back in California.
Fun right?
That was my 2017.
OK, I lied about one thing. I had hardwood floors, so that whole carpet detail was totally made up. The smoke fused with the wood instead.
Needless to say, I didn’t feel a sense of belonging at my place. It took a long time to feel at home in Tennessee after I moved. Besides the wonderful efforts of my now wife, there was one thing that gave me a sense of home:
The Green Dragon.
Oh, I totally mean the one you’re thinking of.
Turns out...it’s real.
In a little place called Murfreesboro, Tennessee, I found comfort.
When I walked into the Green Dragon for the first time, I was transported somewhere else. Fiddlers were playing, and ceramic tankards were passed around with a surprisingly good selection of beer and mead.
They said they were professors. If those two aren’t Western Civ professors, then I don’t know who is.
It was bliss.
For a couple of hours, I could escape the bullshit that was 2017.
It was the place I went with my brand new fiance immediately after asking her to marry me. It was the place I spent about 8 hours in last St. Patricks day.
It was a home of sorts.
And it closed without warning.
I’m still crushed! Over a building!
That’s all it was, right?
How could I have such an emotional connection to a location like this? It was just a geeky restaurant.
No. It was a symbol. An escape.
That got me thinking. Tolkien based all those pubs in The Lord of the Rings off of real places he knew.
Places like The Eagle and Child inspired him to create The Green Dragon and The Prancing Pony. A place where the characters find rest and a place to call home away from home.
And dare I say, a place for the reader to find peace too?
There was a part of my identity wrapped up in the Tennessee Green Dragon. All that wonderful geekiness in one place. Props hanging from the ceiling and maps adorning the walls.
A home away from home.
Tolkien had those same feelings meeting with the Inklings. It was over ale that they shared each other’s poetry and discussed the finer details of storytelling. (Especially when it came to bitching about C.S. Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe).
He gifted that to his readers, placing it into his books.
There’s a certain charm to the Green Dragon and Prancing Pony in the books. We felt like we were there, and when the story gets dark, we want to protect those places as much as the characters do.
It most definitely came in pints
So what does that mean for your story?
Think about the places you have that restful belonging. The place you go to unwind and escape the stress of the world for a little while.
We all have those places. We all need those places.
And it doesn’t have to be a pub. Look at Rivendell and Lothlorien in the books.
Tolkien found real-world inspiration for those too. And the characters find rest and escape. They are something special, even for us, because we know that they can’t stay there forever.
Where do you feel belonging?
Is there a place that raises your spirits?
Something that can take the hypothetical 2017 out of your mind for a moment? And the very real 2020. Even if we have to just imagine being there for now.
Find something like that in your life that you can translate into your story. That real factor will make it so much more tangible for your characters and readers alike.
I don’t think every story will warrant a place like this in your narrative. It’s something that finds a natural home in the fantasy genre, though.
It’s easy to get caught up in world-building all the immediately cool things.
Ooo those cool orcs that are actually acidic when the heroes slice into them.
Your evil king who’s manipulating things behind the scenes.
The magic system that only works by tapping into the shadow world, which actually is our own world.
Or whatever other kick-ass stuff you came up with.
A good story paces the ebb and flow of a plot. If it’s all action, then none of it feels exciting. The reader needs to juxtapose action against moments where they get a breather.
In all that excitement, what is relaxing for your characters? Where can they go to get away from it all?
They aren’t going to be going full speed all the time. They probably have regular every-day lives outside this adventure. So what are those routines?
The more you pull from the real world, the more realistic your story becomes. Yes, even the ones with dragons, wizards, and leaders that actually know what they are doing.
Those things you pull into your book could be the key to showing your reader a place they belong to.
Then, let them take a little bit of magic from your book and bring it into their reality. Hey, they may end up needing a drink at the pub themed after your fantasy series.
Your reader may realize that it’s in your story they find their escape.
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