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Ever find it strange when a character seems to instinctively know how to do things?  It can really throw a reader off because it comes off as the author desperately getting out of a jam.  That coincidental knowledge can be helpful if done correctly, but it’s not often the case.  As an author, you can only get away with it so many times and so early in a series before it’s useless.  This is very important in Fantasy because skills and knowledge define characters in these societies where one assumes the average citizen is uneducated.  Many quests tend to require combat training and some level of lore knowledge too.  So, what does one do in regards to education and how can it be utilized in a character?

First, let’s get one thing out of the way.  It’s very difficult to work a main character who can’t read, write, or speak.  You can go with bizarre slang or sloppy penmanship or only a vague idea of symbols, but removing any of these three to show ‘low education’ is something you have to think about.  In college, I remember a person wrote a story where the main character was an illiterate barbarian.  Yet, he was still able to read city names on a map and road signs because the author forgot that these would be difficult if not impossible for such a hero.  Communication is essential in a story, so these three regions are crucial and should be treated like one of the 5 senses if removed.

The biggest focus of a character’s education and schooling should be making it helpful to their ‘goal’.  Why would the master swordsman be learning flower arrangement?  It could be a quirk, but then you only mention it in passing.  There shouldn’t be an entire chapter dedicated to the class.  In fantasy, you really need to focus on the useful information and skills that a character learns.  This is more for if part of the story takes place in the school setting.  If it is outside of this location then you have to establish rather quickly that this character has been trained.  For example, Luke Callindor mentions previous training within his first appearance.  So, when he shows prowess in combat and tracking, it isn’t out of nowhere.  Yet, he isn’t perfect, which gives him room for growth and that’s very important for a pre-trained character.

Buffy Cast

Now, there is an aspect of education that I’ve seen some fellow authors and readers overlook.  School is more about what you learn.  It’s about who you meet.  Best friends, rivals, bullies, confidants, boyfriends, girlfriends, exes, and the list keeps going for a while.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a great example of this.  You see several characters in the main, supporting, and single episode cast that fits into a social group.  One of my favorite episodes involves a girl who nobody ever paid attention to, so she becomes invisible.  Also, the hyena pack one that I thought really captured the concept of teenagers functioning in such a mentality.  The entire point here is that your hero should take connections out of a school setting.  If he or she doesn’t then they are either anti-social, mean, or the author missed a golden opportunity.

Overall, I think you can get a lot out of a school setting.  Skills, character development, knowledge, flushing out various cultures, rivalries, allies, and whatever else you can find there in real life.