Evolution in fantasy stories instead of creationism

Although one of the stories mentioned was Wheel of Time. If I remember the cosmology in that right, then there was no creation. Time travels in an endless circle.

Sorry it took me a while to reply.

quote:

---

I don't see how evolution can come into a story --- it doesn't happen that fast. All it can be is backstory.

---

Um, yea, that's sorta exactly what I was saying...?

quote:

---

And I don't see how it can be backstory for anything evolving talking trees. How did they evolve?

---

Ah...good challenging potential for creative and evolutionary thinking!

quote:

---

You skimped over several potentially interesting narrative details and character-development opportunities to get to the point. Fiction is as much about characters, setting and mood as it is about the focal point, so you don't want to miss these opportunities (particularly near the beginning of the story). Give the reader more than just a passing description of a few pieces of the environment, and develop Jade's mood and personality a little more: so far, much of the setting and characters seem pretty generic and one-dimensional.

---

Yea, I was fast-writing it and got it down within 15 minutes. Believe me, a bit more editing and it would've been really cool. I just wanted to kick the ball and see where it's going.

quote:

---

the setting and characters seem pretty generic and one-dimensional.
You made Profesor Alfred go from having just discovered evolution to suddenly having amazing insights into ecosystem balance and conservation, which is quite a big leap. Some questions to think about:
What is the state of biological knowledge in the world outside of Alfred's swamp? Surely this will have major lingering impacts on the way Alfred views the world.
Do most people believe animals and plants were created by gods? Or, do they believe that animals and plants are constnatly regenerated from miraculous sources in the environment (spontaneous generation)?

​

In the real world, the significance of the concepts of extinction, conservation and ecosystem balance weren't really understood without evolutionary concepts like fitness, natural selection and procreative reproduction, so it seems like you're treating evolution as more of a monumental revelation than the process of discovery you wanted the reader to think it was.

​

How did Alfred come to his conclusion of evolution? You only hinted at his evidence, and Jade just accepted it without any discussion. Make her mull over it while she looks for mushrooms or something; make her (and his) acceptance and understanding of it more gradual, possibly developing her mental struggle as an important plot device.

---

These are great ideas, to be sure. I'd fully integrate them and would continue to polish and repolish the story if I see there's interest. No one likes writing to themselves, and I never knew if this story would get any further details pass the prelude.kbertsche,What I mean is that there are "deities" in their settings. There's no evolutionary background to species, plants, and life. You never hear the word "common ancestor".Also, there were a few stories mentioned, but I'm specifically referring to medieval fantasy. Not just any fantasy or sci-fi stories.

If you're trying to find the reason for this, it's simply that medieval fantasy is based around medieval ideas (or, a modern interpretation of them, anyway). That's what makes it fantasy. It's not that the field's been taken over by creationists pushing fantasies - it's called 'fantasy' because it's about fantasies - magic and daemons and monsters and whatnot. If you want scientific realism, find some good hard sci-fi instead.

In the first place, you could read a thousand randomly-chosen novels set in this world and never hear the word "common ancestor", not because all novelists are creationists but because it never ever has anything to do with the plot.In the second place, how could there be an evolutionary background? Science is poison to fantasy. If an author wants to put (say) a were-rat into his or her book, then there are two options. One is to think of a plausible biological mechanism for a man to take on the form of a rat, and then a plausible way for this mechanism to evolve; and, since this is impossible, the other route is to say "a wizard did it".One breath of the word "evolution", or, if it comes to that, "conservation of mass" or "cranial capacity" and the reader suffers a sudden loss of suspension of disbelief.

quote:

---

If you're trying to find the reason for this, it's simply that medieval fantasy is based around medieval ideas (or, a modern interpretation of them, anyway). That's what makes it fantasy. It's not that the field's been taken over by creationists pushing fantasies - it's called 'fantasy' because it's about fantasies - magic and daemons and monsters and whatnot. If you want scientific realism, find some good hard sci-fi instead.

---

That doesn't preclude the notion that fantasy stories can be more atheist-evolutionarily oriented and be just as entertaining and even more! We can have demons that had evolved from simpler demons. Or instead of wizards - alchemists. It would still have elements of the fantasy genre, just based on explicable phenomenons rather than "magic/god/miracle did it".

quote:

---

In the first place, you could read a thousand randomly-chosen novels set in this world and never hear the word "common ancestor", not because all novelists are creationists but because it never ever has anything to do with the plot.

---

Clearly it has to depend on the story and the contexts. It doesn't necessarily have to be mentioned, but at least act as a scientific base to the story where people are aware of that.

quote:

---

In the second place, how could there be an evolutionary background? Science is poison to fantasy. If an author wants to put (say) a were-rat into his or her book, then there are two options. One is to think of a plausible biological mechanism for a man to take on the form of a rat, and then a plausible way for this mechanism to evolve; and, since this is impossible, the other route is to say "a wizard did it".

​

One breath of the word "evolution", or, if it comes to that, "conservation of mass" or "cranial capacity" and the reader suffers a sudden loss of suspension of disbelief.

---

Really? Because I'd love to have read that in my fantasy stories! Am I alone here?