So, I've run into something of a snag in the book I'm writing. I think the book qualifies as urban fantasy, and certainly this sub-forum's dealing with trappings of both modern and fantastic elements at the same time makes you most qualified to help.
I've got one of those things where there's two worlds, the real world and the magical one, and the main characters bounce back and forth between them during the plot. To clarify: It's not one of those things where they go into the magical world at the beginning and don't come out until the end. Every mirror is a portal to this world, and they go in and out of them about once every 5,000 words. The problem I'm having right now is, the entire plot takes place in Otherworld. The main characters technically have good and obvious reasons to want to continue having a life in a world that doesn't regularly try to murder them, but the story doesn't.
Now, the difference between the magical Otherworld and the regular mortal world is kind of key to the feel of the book. It offers a constant contrast of stable mundanity and chaotic, lethal fantasticism. So the solution can't just be "find some way to keep them in Otherworld the entire time, like possibly making the real world not even a thing." I've toyed with the idea of cutting out the real world altogether and decided against it for a number of reasons, and I can rant about those reasons if you want but the main thing for this thread is I'm pretty committed to having a mundane world.
So, how do I make that mundane world worth spending even a small percentage (I'd say about ~15%) of my word count on? This seems like it should be easy, but I'm drawing a blank as to what normal things could seem important when every two or three days you're risking your life. You don't worry about paying the electrical bill when your house is on fire, right?
I've got one of those things where there's two worlds, the real world and the magical one, and the main characters bounce back and forth between them during the plot. To clarify: It's not one of those things where they go into the magical world at the beginning and don't come out until the end. Every mirror is a portal to this world, and they go in and out of them about once every 5,000 words. The problem I'm having right now is, the entire plot takes place in Otherworld. The main characters technically have good and obvious reasons to want to continue having a life in a world that doesn't regularly try to murder them, but the story doesn't.
Now, the difference between the magical Otherworld and the regular mortal world is kind of key to the feel of the book. It offers a constant contrast of stable mundanity and chaotic, lethal fantasticism. So the solution can't just be "find some way to keep them in Otherworld the entire time, like possibly making the real world not even a thing." I've toyed with the idea of cutting out the real world altogether and decided against it for a number of reasons, and I can rant about those reasons if you want but the main thing for this thread is I'm pretty committed to having a mundane world.
So, how do I make that mundane world worth spending even a small percentage (I'd say about ~15%) of my word count on? This seems like it should be easy, but I'm drawing a blank as to what normal things could seem important when every two or three days you're risking your life. You don't worry about paying the electrical bill when your house is on fire, right?
