The Problem of Leaky Worlds in Fantasy

Fantasy brings to mind worlds of pure imagination. As an author this can feel like a nearly limitless power to craft any realm you desire and these worlds are so wonderful precisely because they are not our own. But that feature is also a limitation: the characters within the fantasy world should not (in most cases) have knowledge of our world. A critical issue arises when certain elements of our present reality leak into character dialogue or scene descriptions, an issue in fantasy which I call the problem of a leaky world. 
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A critical issue arises when certain elements of our present reality leak into character dialogue or scene descriptions,
​an issue in fantasy which I call the problem of a leaky world. 
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Lauterbrunnen, Switzterland - Tolkien's real-world inspiration for Rivendell in Middle Earth. 

​​Of course, fantasy worlds can’t be completely different from our world and must bear some similarities if we are to recognize them as worlds. Most have days and nights, seasons and weather, mountains, lakes, forests, oceans, and many other familiar features. However, it is easy to let certain things slip through the narrative that are references specific to our reality; the effect of such a mistake is to yank the reader out of the fantasy world momentarily and break the spell of imaginative literature.
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...it is easy to let certain things slip through the narrative that are references specific to our reality; the effect of such a mistake is to yank the reader out of the fantasy world momentarily and break the spell of imaginative literature.

Consider the following cliche which might easily slip into a scene of dialogue between two characters. 

“Give them an inch and they'll take a mile!”

The issue with this phrase in the context of a fantasy novel is neither the idea that is being communicated nor the fact that it is a cliche in English culture (as using cliches is just lazy in general); the ‘leak’ is in the specific reference to ‘inches’ and ‘miles’. 
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To refer to ‘inches’ and ‘miles’ in a fantasy novel is to directly reference an important part of the real history and development of our culture. This suggests that either these fantasy characters have some sort of access to our sphere of knowledge or that they miraculously developed the same unit of measurement completely by chance. In either case the suspension of reality has been fractured and the reader is dragged back into the world they are trying to escape. 

​To refer to ‘inches’ and ‘miles’ in a fantasy novel [...] suggests that either these fantasy characters have some sort of access to our sphere of knowledge or that they miraculously developed the same unit of measurement...
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How can this be fixed? The first and perhaps most obvious solution might be to do the same thing that fantasy authors do with languages, towns, cities, and countries: make one up! But if you are to create a system of measurement in your fantasy world then you are stuck with the exact opposite problem. It is not your fantastic characters that are in possession of inaccessible knowledge but your reader who has a lack of inherent knowledge about the fantasy world. To inform them of the length of an imaginary unit of measure you'll need to use units the reader can understand, units like ‘inches’ and ‘miles’, and once again that drops them back into the reality that you are trying to suspend.
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To inform them of the length of an imaginary unit of measure you'll need to use units the reader can understand, units like ‘inches’ and ‘miles’, and once again that drops them back into the reality that you are trying to suspend.
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​As I see it there are two feasible solutions to this problem. The first is to write in the voice of a narrator who tells the story with a full knowledge of both our world and the fantasy world being described. In that way they form a narrow, yet natural, bridge between reality and fantasy by which information can be passed. JRR Tolkien illustrated this approach wonderfully in The Hobbit, particularly with the opening description of hobbits themselves. This narrator, while not a part of the fantasy world, is an expert in it. At the same time the narrator is familiar enough with the reader’s culture to identify and navigate unfamiliar objects, concepts, and terms. This allows the reader to remain in fantastic suspension while the narrator handles issues of informational crossover between worlds without any ‘leaks’.
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This allows the reader to remain in fantastic suspension while the narrator handles issues
of informational crossover between worlds without any ‘leaks’.
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The second solution is a bit more challenging but, I believe, lets the reader immerse themselves more fully in the world and, more importantly, in the story. Instead of relying on a narrator to bridge the worlds, the author can look for common experiences between them that could conceivably be shared without any ‘leaking’ of information. Ancient civilizations demonstrate this concept superbly as they developed things like chairs and clothing and swords independently without any need to ‘leak’ information between themselves.  

...the author can look for common experiences between [the worlds]
that could conceivably be shared without any ‘leaking’ of information. 
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​So let us return to the problematic phrase about ‘inches’ and ‘miles’. With the right kind of narrator the units of measure used in the fantastic world can be directly translated to familiar units. Alternatively, the author might try to identify experiences common to both the fantasy characters and the reader. For example, to describe the height of buildings I have taken to comparing the distance to spear lengths. Spears, common across many cultures, usually reach a bit higher than the average person. A house that is “three spear lengths high” then becomes a description that would give both the reader and the characters in the fantastic world a good sense of its size. For longer distances, such as 30 miles, the author might express the distance in terms of time. If you believe that most people can walk about 10 miles in a day then to say that a group of characters walked for three days conveys a distance similar to 30 miles without needing to use a specific unit of measure. 
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For example, to describe the height of buildings I have taken to comparing the distance to spear lengths.
Spears, common across many cultures, usually reach a bit higher than the average person.
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​Of course, this is just one brief example of a ‘leaky world’ problem, but it illustrates a pitfall quite particular to fantasy which I believe should be vigorously avoided. Common phrases such as cliches are particularly prone to ‘leaking’ information and should either be avoided altogether, used very cautiously, or adapted to better suit the culture of the fantasy world. By crafting a narrative that brings the reader into a story with as few ‘leaks’ as possible we can convince them to leave reality behind and experience the wonder, the beauty, and the terror of our imagined worlds. 
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By crafting a narrative that brings the reader into a story with as few ‘leaks’ as possible we can convince them to leave reality behind and experience the wonder, the beauty, and the terror of our imagined worlds. 
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