UKA THE UNDYING, the zombie sorcerer, is experimenting with flashes of dark magics to blast the minds of bards! Illustration provided by Mustafa Bekir.
"Flashes of Wonder" is posted irregularly. It will feature a sword and sorcery flash fiction prompt. -JRC
Setting as Character Contrast
Vivid setting in sword and sorcery can bear thematic weight. A swamp can suggest sorrow and decay. A desert can evoke hopelessness and austerity. A verdant jungle can bring to mind sensuous vitality. Indeed, "setting" can almost become "character" in sword and sorcery.
Consider Robert E. Howard's famous description of Cimmeria, Conan's homeland, as rendered in poem "Cimmeria."
Vista on vista marching, hills on hills,
Slope beyond slope, each dark with sullen trees,
Our gaunt land lay. So when a man climbed up
A rugged peak and gazed, his shaded eye
Saw but the endless vista - hill on hill,
Slope beyond slope, each hooded like its brothers.
The colorless and monotonous land that Conan abandons to begin his life of adventure in the various vibrant kingdoms of the Hyborian Age adds a imporant dimension to his character. Could it be that Conan is uniquely Conan because he is a Cimmerian, a mirthful man fleeing a sorrowful and sad landscape?
Write a sword and sorcery flash fiction that uses setting to contrast a character. For example, write about a just warrior in a lawless slum, a pious monastic in a sensuous temple of profligacy, a sage scholar in a barbarous, illiterate frontier. Focus on "extreme close-up" details: flora, fauna, matter, dynamic activity. 400 words.
