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To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.
—John Burroughs
I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery.
—Luis Barragan
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
—Harlan Ellison |
Humans have been trying to make sense of the world for as long as there have been humans. Until science came along, most of those attempts were questionable at best (and I'm still not sure about certain branches of science).
One attempt to categorize and codify all the things we see and feel around us was the conceptual division of existence into four basic elements: air, fire, water, and earth. Different cultures had other systems, but that's one that endured, all the way up to the dawn of science and beyond, in the West.
Nowadays, what we call "elements" are the atoms in the Periodic Table: hydrogen, helium, lithium, etc. So does the ancient system of four mystical elements have a place anymore?
Well, yeah. Sort of. For one thing, it's common in Fantasy stories. So that's what I'm here to talk about today.
As the elemental categorization wasn't science, it was subject to much speculation and reinterpretation over the centuries since its origins. Later, a fifth element was thought up, called, amongst other names, aether (not to be confused with the equally discredited luminiferous ether, or the chemical compounds called ether, or, for that matter, the Ether Bunny); I'm not going to get into that subject here.
Often, magical systems in fantasy works are based on some variant of the classical element system. One story that comes to mind is Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which it features prominently; each element was associated with its own nation and culture.
While it wasn't exactly subtle in that series, there are many other ways to incorporate the classical elements into one's fiction. Each is associated with a cardinal direction, a season, a color, an aspect of self, and so on. What exactly these associations are have changed over time, and are different depending on culture and the source consulted.
There have also been attempts to categorize different mixtures of these elements. A combination of air and water, for example, may be fog. Earth and water? Mud, obviously. Again, though, this is subject to interpretation, which is why it's so well suited for Fantasy writing: most people have some familiarity with the concept, but there's room to play with it.
There's no way to cover all of the possible permutations and philosophy involved in one newsletter, but there's plenty of information out there if you look for it. |
Some Fantasy for you, elemental or otherwise:
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Last time, in "Research" , I talked about doing research for one's stories.
Dawn Embers  : I like your approach on the topic. It is a good idea and I even want to try taking some hand combat type classes in order to get better at writing fight scenes. I have done things like ride horses and even used a recurve bow. But there are many things I can research that would help in the fantasy and sci-fi worlds.
Many writers have incorporated some version of method acting into their stories, seeking out experiences and transcribing them to their fiction. This can be harder for Fantasy authors.
JL Richter  : 'Rabbit Hole' Research -when I look up one element for a story, then follow that element either forward, backward, sideways, or upside-down to learn more about it, so that one element makes more sense in my world. I lose hours -days- in the Rabbit Hole, and most times, only a small sliver of the information is found in my writing.
I think many people do some version of that. Nothing wrong with learning stuff, and you never know what might be useful in future writing.
That's all for me for July! See you next month. Until then,
DREAM ON!!!
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Fantasy: July 23, 2025 Issue [#13255]
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