I recently came across the following list on Amazon:  “100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime.”

As a fantasy writer myself, I decided to spend the next few years reading every book on this list and record the lessons I learned from each volume on how to be a great writer.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke is at the polar opposite end of the sci-fi/fantasy spectrum from the previous book in this series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. One is a high energy sci-fi romp, the other is a brooding work of historical fantasy (I’ll let you guess which one is which).

However, the two works have more in common than one might initially assume.

PLOT (taken from goodreads, abbreviated): English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic….

But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England’s magical past and regained some of the powers of England’s magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French.

All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington’s army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different…. Eventually Strange’s heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear.

SIMILARITIES: As one might imagine, common threads between Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are few and far between. One broad similarity is that both use humor and satire. JS&MN does this to a significantly lesser extent, but there several light moments throughout the text that relieve us from an otherwise heavy read.

The more significant similarity is that both works are filled with side stories. HGTTG has a relatively thin plot that is filled out with “mini-stories,” anecdotes that expand the universe.  Likewise JS&MN is bursting with dozens of tales that give this single book a richer backstory/mythology than all seven Harry Potter volumes.

So the takeaway is: consider how you might weave short stories/tales throughout your novel that flesh out your world. However, don’t overdo it. While I personally love JS&MN’s side stories, I have met several people who believe there are so many they just add to an already unwieldy story. Basically, this is a great device to use, but as with everything else, don’t overuse it.

WHAT I LEARNED: The most staggering thing about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell isn’t the page count (846 in the 2005 Paperback edition) or the overwhelming amount of research that must have gone into the work.  No, what is truly impressive is the sheer scope of Susanna Clarke’s imagination.

This is far from being the first book written about magicians and fairies, but Clarke strips them of most of their usual tropes (at least the tropes expected in twenty-first century Western Culture) and provides us with something truly fresh. Instead of giving the magicians wands and having them shoot fireballs at one another, the magic and spells are far more imaginative, mysterious, whimsical and surreal.

When a fairy doesn’t want two of the characters sharing his secrets he doesn’t simply strike them mute, he casts a spell on them so that they spin strange stories whenever they try to explain that the fairy has been misusing them.

When Jonathan Strange joins the military one might expect him to summon lightning or thunderstorms. However Clarke thinks of other ways magic might be useful in the military. Instead of becoming a lightning cannon, Strange is used to build roads so troops can get to where they are going quicker. He alters the landscape so the French find themselves on the wrong side of rivers and mountains. When he actually joins a battle, he creates illusions of dragons and angels with flaming swords to terrify the enemy soldiers. From a militaristic standpoint it might be more useful to simply blow up the enemy but from a literary standpoint, thinking outside the box provides a much more memorable text.

And that is the central lesson to take away from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. When writing sci-fi or fantasy it’s tempting to have spaceships that look just like the ones from Star Wars or to have wizards just like the ones who attended Hogwarts. However, aspiring writers need to stop, and think of the alternatives. Think of things you can do with spaceships, aliens, dragons and wizards that have never been done before.

So how might you go about doing that?

Well, one of the best ways is to use sources of inspiration others writing in your genre are ignoring.

If you’re writing a space opera read the usual suspects (Dune, Hyperion etc.) but also try to gain inspiration from works such as Pride and Prejudice or Leaves of Grass. If you’re writing an epic fantasy, see what you can get from A Brief History of Time or The Origin of Species. Or do what Clarke did and read things written two, three, or four hundred years ago.

While going through your second or third drafts, stop yourself before the wizard casts a spell or the ship lands on an alien planet and ask yourself, “How can I make this different? How can I turn this from a typical trope into something readers won’t forget?”

DISTINCT PASSAGES: What follows is a scene found on page 249-250 of the 2005 paperback edition.

Strange is performing a piece of magic in hopes of impressing Norrell. One might expect him to bring wilted flowers back to life or to repair a damaged plate, but what he does is something much more surreal and memorable.

“Strange glanced two or three times around the room in search of some magic to do. His glance fell upon a mirror that hung in the depths of a corner of the room where the light never penetrated. He placed English Magic by Jeremy Tott upon the library-table so that its reflection was clearly visible in the mirror. For some moments he stared at it and nothing happened. And then he made a curious gesture; he ran both hands through his hair, clasped the back of his neck and stretched his shoulders, as a man will do who eases himself of the cramps. Then he smiled and altogether looked exceedingly pleased with himself.

“Which was odd because the book looked exactly as it had done before.

“Lascelles and Drawlight, who were both accustomed to seeing – or hearing about – Mr. Norrell’s wonderful magic, were scarcely impressed by this; indeed it was a great deal less than a common conjuror might manage at a fairground. Lascelles opened his mouth – doubtless to say some scathing thing – but was forestalled by Mr. Norrell suddenly crying out in a tone of wonder, ‘But that is remarkable! That is truly… My dear Mr. Strange! I never even heard of such magic before! It is not in Sutton-Grove. I assure you, my dear sir, it is not in Sutton-Grove!’

“Lascelles and Drawlight looked from one magician to the other in some confusion.

“Lascelles approached the table and stared hard at the book. ‘It is a little longer than it was perhaps,’ he said.

“‘I do not think so,’ said Drawlight.

“‘It is tan leather now,’ said Lascelles. ‘Was it blue before?’

“‘No,’ said Drawlight, ‘it was always tan.’

“Mr. Norrell laughed out loud; Mr Norrell who rarely even smiled, laughed at them. ‘No, no, gentlemen! You have not guessed it! Indeed you have not! Oh! Mr. Strange, I cannot tell you how much… but they do not understand what you have done! Pick it up!’ He cried. ‘Pick it up, Mr. Lascelles!’

“More puzzled than ever Lascelles put out his hand to grasp the book, but all he grasped was empty air. The book lay there in appearance only.

“‘He has made the book and the reflection change places,’ said Mr. Norrell. ‘The real book is over there, in the mirror.’ And he went to peer into the mirror with an appearance of great professional interest. ‘But how did you do it?’”