Reading as a writer is fundamental to developing one’s craft and something I have not always appreciated – especially when I first started writing. Recently, I have learnt the value of reading like a writer through studying creative writing at Master’s level. Whereas you by no means need to seek formal education in the craft to be capable of spinning a good yarn, I can attest that by reading critically on how others approach the craft, you will see a direct and positive influence on your own writing craft. In the following critical reading reflection, I will focus on The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (2012), and Jingo by Terry Pratchett (1998) as I consider their different approaches to presenting their world through a story-driven technique and a character-driven technique, respectively.
I came to see both authors as influential on my own craft not through admiration alone, nor with an intention to emulate, but rather I recognised that in some aspects of their works we write in very similar ways. I too enjoy deep worldbuilding particularly as a form of “cultural transfer” (Schult, 2017) whereby our primary world is put through the distancing filters of a secondary world. The Hobbit is an important influence as it was my first encounter with advanced reading in my youth. The themes of journey, kinship and adventure struck a chord with me. Later, I came across Pratchett who breathed fresh air into the fantasy genre in the sense that he makes “considerable use of fantasy but (I) also makes considerable use of reality” (Writers Online, 2012).
Tolkien created a secondary world rich with history and lore through use of maps, poetry, mythos, and a secondary history. This is a tradition in the fantasy genre, and Tolkien, who is regarded as the grandfather of high fantasy said, “If you’re going to have a complicated story, you must work to a map, otherwise you can never make a map of it afterwards” (Tolkien, 1964). Before he even started writing, he had a wealth of maps and mythos from which to draw on, whereas Pratchett said, in regards to Discworld, “There are no maps. You can’t map a sense of humour.” (Pratchett, 2007, p5).
Personally, maps and mythos are central to the fantasy I write and indeed world-led stories like those set in Tolkien’s Middle Earth, so I use them, however, when it comes to character-led stories like Pratchett’s, the secondary world becomes secondary to the plot. It is the characters that make Discworld, not the other way round. As Pratchett shows, the people of Discworld believe things into existence such as the example of dragons (Pratchett, 2007, p146) in the Colour of Magic.
“The shifting perspective enables Pratchett to develop the plot through its people, bringing the reader into many minds and providing personal perspectives.”
In terms of technique, throughout The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings [LotR] (Tolkien, 2005), a predominantly “top-down approach” (Schult, 2017) to worldbuilding is employed by Tolkien. Using the example of point of view in The Hobbit, he utilises the third person omniscient. He favours exposition over dialogue and often wanders off into world lore. Tolkien’s all-knowing approach distances the reader from the characters. We are not permitted in their heads. The effect is we are aware we are being told a story, as demonstrated in the first line in The Hobbit: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” (Tolkien, 2012, p3).
In The Hobbit we are given a shallow insight into the characters as individuals rather than truly getting into their minds: generally following Bilbo when the party of dwarves is split and the wizard leaves; starting in the Shire, Bilbo’s home which preserves an impression of cinematic distance. This is further cemented through Tolkien’s narrative style when he directly addresses the audience, for example, telling readers Thorin’s feelings after capture by the wood elves but also stating it to be a topic for the next chapter (Tolkien, 2012, p160), thus the suspension of disbelief is broken. We are given history and facts. The method helps build a sense of hobbit, elf, and dwarf identity, but in the way a cultural anthropologist or historian might; Tolkien was himself a philologist after all.
Tolkien’s predisposition to wander into exposition solidifies his style as the all-knowing narrator and gives that authoritative tone to his writing; especially the details of his world, which are found in great depth. This may leave readers feeling well-informed but risks a more modern audience becoming lost in, and even bored by, the lore. Exposition has a summarising effect, sacrificing showing through dialogue. Though, seeing as Tolkien is consciously telling us a myth, the reader can accept this as metafiction.
Pratchett also uses third person but with a limited shifting perspective. He uses line breaks to indicate the POV (point of view) shift, sometimes placing the main POV character close to the beginning of the new scene and also includes their thoughts. In an example in Jingo (Pratchett, 1998, p69-70), Vimes immediately heads the new scene showing us his internal reaction to Colon’s racist slur and after a discreet scene shift and implied telling-off, we’re with Colon who discusses name-calling and its offensiveness with Nobby. This free indirect, dialogue-led approach allows secondary world creation through character interaction rather than exposition and chiefly relies on multiple points of view. The shifting perspective enables Pratchett to develop the plot through its people, bringing the reader into many minds and providing personal perspectives. Even if we are only with a character for one paragraph, we have seen the world in a different light which creates texture and realness.
“Using footnotes, as with maps, conveys extra information crucial to reinforcing the story’s themes without interrupting the flow.”
In terms of handling time, Tolkien, unlike Pratchett, uses chapters which reinforces the idea The Hobbit is very much a story and breaks up the tale into manageable sections. This is kinder on the reader since the exposition is quite slow going. His world is rich, but his characters are decidedly unnuanced in comparison to Pratchett’s: Tolkien’s fair races (elves, humans, dwarves, hobbits) are “good”, the dark races (orcs, goblins, Easterlings, Southrons) are “bad”. My criticism here, is that Tolkien’s characters are people we can never truly relate to as much as Pratchett’s and certainly aren’t as diverse – racial diversity is an illusion in The Hobbit and LotR as it is fixed from a Eurocentric perspective: all the “good” races are “distinctly white, English and masculine” (Lavezzo, 2021). It is, of course, important to note that the South African born Tolkien was born in 1892, lived through two World Wars and actually fought in the Battle of the Somme (Doughan, 2023) which is known to have had a huge influence on both his worldview and on his writing. Tolkien was writing from two perspectives: European medieval (specifically Norse) and his own. Unfortunately, the effect from a modern gaze can come across as dualistically simplistic and othering. Observing this in Tolkien’s works has encouraged caution and rigour in my own culture-creation.
To structure time, Jingo and Pratchett’s other Discworld works (UK versions) do not use chapters. Their absence allows the story room to breathe and helps the reader forget they are reading a work of fiction and suspend disbelief more completely than in The Hobbit and Tolkien’s other works. Pratchett also wanders off into humorous asides and seemingly unconnected scenes, preferring a snappier rhythm to his prose (no doubt an influence from his background in journalism) and frame-breaking (Arasu, 2019) through footnotes allowing the reader to choose whether they partake in this extra information. By using footnotes in this way, Pratchett is able to add further dimensions to characters and cultures and thus build more nuanced plot dynamics by creating detailed contexts in which the characters exist. Pratchett’s wandering side-thoughts and anecdotes, through the POV character’s experiences, bring the reader closer to the people and creates an interwoven history behind them, building the world that way. The effect is the reader feels special; they know something others don’t, like a fly on the wall.
A good example is the sense of depth achieved in the case of Sidney Lopsides in Jingo (Pratchett, 1998, p216), who is a passing character, yet through footnotes related to him we get a sense of how people react to his perceived ugliness thus creating an effective picture of Ankh-Morpork city society. Initially, I made efforts to remove footnotes from my own work, however, I backtracked after realising the need for them in particular stories. Using footnotes, as with maps, conveys extra information crucial to reinforcing the story’s themes without interrupting the flow of the free indirect prose. So in this instance, my method of character creation is now closer to Pratchett’s rather than Tolkien’s.
“With the amplified attention brought on by this increasingly connected world, how we write people and culture is becoming ever more significant”
Conversely, Tolkien often uses long paratactic and hypotactic sentences and often employs polysyndeton. This adds to the rambling historian effect which could be tiring to a less patient reader. For example, the opening of The Hobbit (Tolkien, 2012, p3-6) where the reader is given lengthy descriptions of a hobbit hole, Bilbo’s family history and brief backstory on Gandalf before any dialogue commences. Despite the richness in character and culture presented through this sentence structure, there is danger of information overload. Observing this, I now attempt to use exposition sparingly. I currently tend towards Pratchett’s more conversational prose style. Though Pratchett is not without his critics, receiving accusations of creating “middlebrow trash” (Jones, 2015), a statement with which I disagree; Pratchett’s style is simple and clear through a writer’s intention not a lack of care for eloquence, but a care for building a believable world through its characters. The right tool for the job.
I believe Tolkien opted for his storytelling, world-led approach because he was not hiding the fact that he was narrating a tale and was following the conventions associated with the high fantasy genre and the 19th century novel. The distanced omniscient narrator keeps a wide-angle lens over the action; the story is about the world, more than the characters. It allows Tolkien to insert detailed cultural or historical infodumps which would be trickier with a more limited POV requiring the characters to think or talk unauthentically about their world and facts they instinctively know. One example from The Hobbit is the encounter with Elrond (Tolkien, 2012, p50-51) where, in a sweeping statement, goblins are declared as evil, elves fair in face and therefore noble and dwarves venerable. Communicating this in dialogue is possible, but it would slow the action down and since this is a voyage and return quest covering great tracts of time and distance in one book, the exposition approach is a more appropriate choice for handling time.
I believe Pratchett chose a more character-led technique for much the same reason Tolkien chose his method: it served the purpose of the story he wanted to tell. Pratchett wanted his readers to feel the characters and live the world through them whereas Tolkien’s characters are like actors in the Great Norse Sagas he embraced (Lavezzo, 2021, p38). Pratchett’s looser structure (lack of chapters and shifting perspectives) is more fluid and life-like, whereas reading Tolkien is like reading a history book. Jingo, like Pratchett’s other works, such as Snuff (2012) are quick and effortless reads; how I wish my stories to be.
It is here I reflect on my chief concerns regarding my portrayal of race, culture, and identity, through reflecting upon Tolkienian and Pratchettian prose. Both authors are a product of their time and upbringing which comes across in how they wrote: Pratchett was born in 1948 (Penguin, 2023), fifty years after Tolkien, with no experiential memory of wartime thus arming him with a different set of experiences and principles from which to write.
“Inverting the cultural lens, as I think Pratchett understood, and creating a secondary world, are the perfect tools through which to explore diverse perspectives.“
With the amplified attention brought on by this increasingly connected world, how we write people and culture is becoming ever more significant and guides how I write. Tolkien’s world seems diverse. He uses dwarfs, elves, orcs and “men”. Most of my characters tend to be non-human, which can be seen as a metaphor for foreignness. Thus, these characters deserve to be painted in a non-stereotype reenforcing manner and can furthermore be used as a tool for exploring attitudes towards the “other”.
Tolkien and Pratchett took different approaches to dealing with names. Gueroult noted in an interview with Tolkien that, “When you name unpleasant characters […] (they) are instantly identifiable as unpleasant characters the minute one reads their names,” to which Tolkien agreed that “You wouldn’t like, think much of a chap called Ugluk” (Tolkien, 1964). The idea that unfamiliar names sound “unpleasant” can be seen as innately ethnocentric, a symptom of 19th century fiction and the Arthurian legends from which much of the fantasy back then took inspiration, thus perpetuating such tropes. Tolkien was focused on the theme of light verses darkness but unfortunately, when read in a contemporary setting, comes across as two-dimensional and monochrome when compared to the idiosyncratic Discworld and its eclectic inhabitants. Pratchett’s use of names to define his characters and world has influenced my own; he uses given names neutrally and those intended to project a persona generally have a nickname quality such as Nobby, Sidney Lopsides and Captain Carrot (Pratchett, 1998).
That is not to say that prejudice and racism don’t exist in Discworld, they do, however Pratchett uses a diverse cast and builds a relatable fantasy world very close to our own, warts and all. Furthermore, Pratchett often explicitly tackles issues of racial stereotyping, for example, the Klatchians in Jingo and the goblins in Snuff. We can relate to Discworld more than Middle Earth and its legendary status. Unlike Tolkien, my aim is not solely to build a mythos but to create drama through the world’s characters. Both Discworld and Middle Earth are rich in their own ways but I feel, my writing is a blend of the two; Tolkien’s textured exposition combined with Pratchett’s relatability and desire to show the complexity and richness of often stereotyped and marginalised groups.
Pratchett himself appreciated Tolkien despite not necessarily sharing the same enthusiasm for the themes of heroic warfare prevalent in LotR, to which Jingo is a complete contrast; the chief character Vimes is vehemently opposed to the war against the Klatchians (who could be compared to Tolkien’s Easterlings). Pratchett was quoted as saying, “Far more beguiling […] is the possibility that peace between nations can be maintained by careful diplomacy” (Tonkin, 2002), which is a theme I wish to convey and discuss in my own work. In the case of goblins in Snuff, Vimes discovers they have a rich culture and their names a deep beautiful meaning such as “Tears of the Mushroom” (Pratchett, 2012, p201). A far stretch from the simple “evil folk” status in Tolkienian lore.
Inverting the cultural lens, as I think Pratchett understood, and creating a secondary world, are the perfect tools through which to explore diverse perspectives. The author can preserve distance through suspension of disbelief thus allowing readers to discover their own thoughts on serious primary-world issues such as the inclusive and dignified representation of race and identity but within the potentially safer context of a fictional secondary world.
In conclusion, having gone through this process of analysing two of my favourite authors’ approaches to world and character building, encourages me to be more critically aware of what I write, how I research and present it and why I may choose one particular style and form over the other, particularly for technical reasons rather than simple personal preference.
References
Arasu, P. (2019) ‘All the Disc’s a Stage: Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters as Metafiction’. Monash University, 38, pp. 3-19. Available at: https://doi.org/10.26180/5df196760980a
Doughan, D. (2023) ‘J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch’. The Tolkien society. Available at: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/
Jones, J. (2015) ‘Get Real. Terry Pratchett is not a literary genius’, The Guardian, (31 Aug). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/aug/31/terry-pratchett-is-not-a-literary-genius
Lavezzo, K. (2021) ‘Whiteness, medievalism, immigration: rethinking Tolkien through Stuart Hall’, Postmedieval, 12(1-4), pp. 29-5. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2611372388?parentSessionId=Kf9Oaw6EiXCZ2Xsd1FcNfHzjl5WciMTFHSRowGXabUw%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=14697
Penguin Books Limited (2023) ‘Biography of Sir Terry Pratchett’. Available at: https://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/about-sir-terry/
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Schult, S. (2017) Subcreation: Fictional-World Construction from J. R. R. Tolkien to Terry Pratchett and Tad Williams, Logos Verlag Berlin, Berlin. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/open/reader.action?docID=5216274
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1964) ‘JRR Tolkien 1964 Interview’. Interview with J.R.R. Tolkien. Interviewed by Denys Gueroult for the BBC. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzDtmMXJ1B4
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Tonkin, B. (2002) ‘Pratchett takes swipe at Tolkien as he wins his first award’, Independent, (13 July). Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/pratchett-takes-swipe-at-tolkien-as-he-wins-his-first-award-184067.html
Writers Online (2012) ‘Terry Pratchett Interviewed’. Available at: https://www.writers-online.co.uk/how-to-write/creative-writing/terry-pratchett-interviewed/
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Doughan, D. (2023) ‘J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch’. The Tolkien society. Available at: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/
Jones, J. (2015) ‘Get Real. Terry Pratchett is not a literary genius’, The Guardian, (31 Aug). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/aug/31/terry-pratchett-is-not-a-literary-genius
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M F ALFREY 
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