This is the full Oxford English Dictionary from 1913, which is in the public domain. (Access to some of these might need a free archive.org account) I just want some links to it in one place because archive.org doesn't display them in order. 1 - A-B - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99992 2 - C - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271839 3 - D-E - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271840 4 - F-G - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271841 5 - H-K - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.147246 6 - L-M - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271836 7 - N-Poy - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99996 8 - Poy-Ry - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.120831 9 - S-Soldo - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271834 10 - Sole-Sz - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.120833 11 - T-U - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271837 12 - V-Z - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271838 supplement - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.147252
1. Popular ontology miscategorizes Fantasy If you're a philosopher or a physicist you might have a good ontology, but most people's 'taxonomy of existence' is massively unhelpful to fantasy novels:- Reality | Words -------------∟Fiction | Non-Fiction ------------------∟Fantasy | Other Genres This obscures truths that were realised before the start of recorded history:- 1. Reality isn't real 2. All language is Fantasy 3. The real world is a sub-genre of fantasy Fantasy ---∟The Real World | Other Genres ----------------------------------∟Fiction | Non-Fiction -----------------------------------------∟etc... The first problem fantasy authors have is that they aren't writing in a bounded, mortal, genre. They've strolled up the side of Mount Olympus - just like Prometheus - and they've opened Zeus' toolbox. They've said:- "Fire? Nah... "Lightning bolts? Boring... "Where's he keep the powerful stuff: the Fiat?" One thing leads to another. The lightning bolt invariably is sent after them. And they wonder why they spend the rest of eternity having their livers pecked by critical vultures. The first thing a fantasy author must do is to become god. In at least a limited sense. Most religions provide for divine inspiration, prophecy, being infilled with the spirit - or something along those lines. And the ones that don't are normally pretty scathing about fantasy novels. Before starting one, it's wise to make sure one's fiat is still there. Turn down the divine emanations to a level that won't melt a computer keyboard; ask the high priests to postpone any rituals; open the top of the volcano a crack; and try writing a few words. To see if they come true. "It rained" is a nice, short, general-purpose one to start with - and very popular - but so long as you're certain your writing mysteriously and detectably influences the real world, it should be safe to extend the power down into worldly fiction - i.e. 'the third tier'. There is a close relationship between divine intervention and word count. If the word-count is 'epic', or 500k+, or the length of the bible, your other writing should be able to topple mountains, resurrect the dead, or end the world. If it's a heavy 150k, that's like your pillars of salt, parting seas, endlessly-dividing lunches. But if you can't at least light a candle on the other side of the room, or reanimate small beetles, don't bother with Fantasy. Because anyone reading it is going to need an even bigger miracle. Why gods write Fantasy is a mystery known only to them. They could write eternal laws, or infallible business plans, or hypnotic political advertisements, or little notebooks of people they would like to die. One theory is that fantasy novels are a way for gods to awaken new godheads in their readers - a bit like demiurgic brain-eggs. 2. Storyworld Vertigo People don't read fantasy stories for "dragons and wizards and dungeons and princesses... and dragons and princesses and dungeons and wizards." They read them for the characters. All the made-up countries, and languages, and races, and magic systems - are stuff they wade through to get to the characters. Fantasy worlds are only interesting if they reveal things about characters that the real world can't. The storyworld is only the backdrop to the story. And whatever other themes it has, the story is a story about characters. Anything in the storyworld or its history that doesn't enhance someone's character arc is redundant. And since it's a fantasy world, it's also unrelatable: it's distancing the reader from the story. In other forms of fiction, the reader might put up with weak characterisation because they find some historical or documentary value in the description of a real-world setting. In Fantasy there is no documentary value: everything outside the characters is unreal. This is another strength of the genre: it isolates character. 3. You Forgot to Make any Characters Fantasy stories are 100% carried by the characters. Well-crafted characters take on an existence independent of both the story and the author: they have their own wants and wishes and these are revealed through conflict. If characters are genuinely realised, they will conflict not just with each other but with the intended plot. Kurt Vonnegut said to be sadistic to characters: but it's equally important to be sadistic to yourself. A convincingly-written character perhaps doesn't go to rescue her friend: she has her own long life ahead of her with its own priorities, and it was nice knowing Sam but one can't be a human pinball all the time. Sadly, authors are often creating a fantasy world as an act of escapism. In real life their own character has been revealed painfully, so they author a story in which their own character can be hidden - behind descriptions of mountain ranges and mystic coronations and other verbal gadgets and gew-gaws. It is hard in such circumstances to birth a separate character inside us and reveal it to readers. Character comes out in writing through choices and voices. On this approach, a strong character will define their own internal world to the reader early on by a choice they make in the story. They will also present that choice in distinctive language - so that before long the reader can tell they are speaking purely from their choice of words and the concerns they focus on - with no need of dialogue beats. Until the character has been shown making a choice and established their voice, they haven't been introduced and the story (or their contribution to it) isn't ready to move forward. There is a genre-requirement in YA fantasy at the moment for there to be an action scene in the first couple of pages, but these often lack tension because the characters haven't been developed first. - where is the first place the character makes a choice in the story? - and was that choice something they did because of who they are, or because it was convenient to the author? Children's stories often use the ideas of Saving-the-World, or McGuffins that cannot be passed up under any circumstances. Unfortunately this carries over into Fantasy too, but these are plot devices and don't reveal character. If Bob goes into the cave to save-the-world, then Bob's decision to go into the cave hasn't really told the reader anything about who he is. It is an author-convenient choice, not a character choice. This extends to characters' family choices. Why did they marry their partner? Did they love them, or was it so their partner could be fridged to provide an inciting incident? Who are these people? Why are they here? What are their motives? How do they support and conflict with each other? What happens as a result? And to highlight those events most beautifully, what sort of fantasy world should be painted in the background behind them?