: Re: How to create a surreal/fantasy - feeling in a real world? I know the question seems pretty unclear, so let me try to explain it. So I'm writing my first book and already have big plans.

@Gloria285

Vote Up Vote Down

Oh my! This is one of the coolest things I think you can do in writing!

How can we make our stories set in the real world be like a fantasy?

Paranormal event method

Well, when it comes down to it, use real events - but slightly change them according to the powers of your characters. For example, you might write as though it was in a history book - the real past. Then, you could make the jinn just have a trick up his sleeve which wouldn't happen in reality.

Make your writing sound as real as possible, and slowly build up paranormal events until the climax, is a really good method of writing alternate realities.

Alternate history method

I have to say, that I love these books so much, they are really enjoyable to read. To create an alternate history book, just take events that actually happened in history but change them. Make them more interesting! Make them exciting! There is just so many possibilities of what you could do with this, for example, writing about the christian crusades but maybe adding magic, or machinery.

A fantastic example of alternate history is the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld. I really think you should read it if you take alternate history seriously as it is just written so well and really reflects on the events of WW1, but with it's own fantastic twist and mechanics.

Other methods

Above, I listed the two methods which my English teacher taught me when we studied this. However, I am sure there are an incredible amount of ways to write about something like this, and when it comes down to it, just practice. Write lots of different accounts of what you might want to happen in your story. This way, you might be able to experiment with different styles of writing, different mechanics you might want to include without actually completely starting the book. This will also give you a great outline of what characters you want.

Surreality?

Surreality is a massive part of this writing. Surreal means something is real, but kind of not real at the same time. Keep surprising your reader with more of these surreal events with the jinn, and keep making the world become slightly more paranormal until the climax. Make very subtle changes to make things seem real.

I hope this helped.

(0)

Login to post a comment!