The Quest world is the externalisation of the character’s desires. In terms of the One Page Novel, it’s the WANT/GOAL/NEED become visible, and may have no direct relation to the Resolution state. You’re probably familiar with Kurt Vonnegut’s third rule of writing, which is that, “every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.”
The character who wants a glass of water may enter a Quest world in which water is plentiful, or they may enter a world where there’s only wine and they have to search long and hard for what they want. Regardless, any results that they attain in the Quest world are illusory and fading, because their story isn’t really about the glass of water, but about Shifting into the Resolution state of satiation. Perhaps we could say that finding the glass of water is the accomplishment of the Quest, but quaffing it is the Resolution.
☞ This article contains spoilers for His Dark Materials and Pride and Prejudice.
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Writing the Quest World
- What WANT/GOAL/NEED has the character expressed in the Stasis or the Trigger?
- What are some ways the character’s WANT/GOAL/NEED can be externalised?
You might consider:- Places
- People
- Practices
- How are the shortcomings of the Stasis world echoed in the Quest world?
In the Stasis of Northern Lights, Lyra dreams of going North. She begs adult after adult until she finally gets her way:
“But where are you going?”
“Back to the North. I’m leaving in ten minutes.”
“Can I come?”
He stopped what he was doing, and looked at her as if for the first time. His dæmon turned her great green leopard-eyes on her too, and under the concentrated gaze of both of them, Lyra blushed. But she gazed back fiercely.
“Your place is here,” said her uncle finally.
“But why? Why is my place here? Why can’t I come to the North with you? I want to see the Northern Lights and bears and icebergs and everything. I want to know about Dust. And that city in the air. Is it another world?”
“You’re not coming, child. Put it out of your head; the times are too dangerous. Do as you’re told and go to bed, and if you’re a good girl, I’ll bring you back a walrus tusk with some Eskimo carving on it. Don’t argue any more or I shall be angry.”
The externalising of the character’s desire in the form of the Quest world can be a way of showing a character’s strong will-power. They may go through many try/fail cycles and mini quests, giving their success a greater sense of satisfaction when it manifests before their eyes:
And as she gazed, the image of a city seemed to form itself behind the veils and streams of translucent colour: towers and domes, honey-coloured temples and colonnades, broad boulevards and sunlit parkland.
Elizabeth Bennet’s Quest world in Pride and Prejudice is described by her stay at Hunsford and the consequent visits to Rosings Park. The latter in particular embodies her desire for an economically-sound marriage; for all that Elizabeth wishes for a love-match, she more than once concedes that these are overruled by financial concerns, and agrees with her aunt when she advises her along the same lines:
“… Do not involve yourself, or endeavour to involve him, in an affection which the want of fortune would make so very imprudent. I have nothing to say against him: he is a most interesting young man; and if he had the fortune he ought to have, I should think you could not do better. But as it is—you must not let your fancy run away with you. You have sense, and we all expect you to use it. Your father would depend on your resolution and good conduct, I am sure. You must not disappoint your father.”
The Quest world, though rich with all the trappings of new people, places, and experiences, still only embodies the Stasis desires. The true Resolution only becomes visible once the character delves into the Underworld and undergoes a Shift in perspective.
That’s why the Quest world, as part of the Ordinary World, soon shows symptoms of fracture and dissatisfaction. Patterns that were present in the Stasis and Trigger are repeated in the Quest world in different guises.
In Lyra’s world, the people of the North show the same prejudices and weaknesses as the ones in her home world, and the merely theoretical discussions of Jordan College and London are transformed into terrifyingly real experiments in Bolvangar. The first unmistakeable intrusions from the Stasis world arrive in the form of the spy flies:
“But who sent it?”
“You don’t even need to read the symbols, Lyra; you can guess as easy as I can.”
“Mrs Coulter?”
“Course. She en’t only explored up North; there’s strange things aplenty in the southern wild. It was Morocco where I saw one of these last. Deadly dangerous; while the spirit’s in it, it won’t never stop, and when you let the spirit free it’s so monstrous angry it’ll kill the first thing it gets at.”
“But what was it after?”
“Spying. I was a cursed fool to let you up above. And I should have let you think your way through the symbols without interrupting.”
A similar dismantling of the Quest world occurs in Pride and Prejudice, when Darcy’s arrival at Rosings discovers the Bennets’ lack of social graces mirrored by Darcy’s own relations:
“… I often tell young ladies, that no excellence in music is to be acquired without constant practice. I have told Miss Bennet several times, that she will never play really well, unless she practises more; and though Mrs. Collins has no instrument, she is very welcome, as I have often told her, to come to Rosings every day, and play on the pianoforte in Mrs. Jenkinson’s room. She would be in nobody’s way, you know, in that part of the house.”
Mr. Darcy looked a little ashamed of his aunt’s ill-breeding, and made no answer.
These echoes of the Stasis make it clear that the Quest world isn’t the character’s final destination. The problems are compounded by the weak Quest plan which ultimately falters in the Bolt, changing the direction of the narrative by turning the character’s attention inward.
