In earlier episodes of this series I described what aiming high means for me, why missing isn’t failure, and why I think as any kind of artist it is beneficial to strive for more and push your own personal envelope, no matter what medium you work in. Go creatives! These things are all well and …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Aiming High Part 4 – What if Nobody Notices?
This is no time for analysis. I ate too much stuffing to be capable of it. I write Fantasy because I love it. Why else? If any of you out there have particular questions about Fantasy, or my approach to the subject, or want to see future columns dedicated to particular aspects of fantasy writing, …
So, for any of you missed it, here is the podcast of my interview with Jerry Fabyanic talking about my book, The Thief and The Demon. I had a great time, and would once again like to thank Jerry, and KYGT-FM, the Goat radio station. I had a great time, and hope to return to …
Last week I discussed the allure of creating worlds, the joy of it often being in the freedom it grants you as a writer to shape the drama of your story from the ground up, and have the universe in which your narrative takes place become, in a sense, an active character in that story. …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: Ideas, Imagination and the Power of “What if?”
But not with disco Donna Summer. Or prog Rush. Or ska The Selecter. Or 80s dance Taffy. Or hairmetal-tacular Autograph (sponsored by Papermate, it seemed!). Though all of that music is fantastic, you will have to make do with the sound of my voice. Listen... and remember... buy my book. And post a review after …
Writing fantasy fiction is a lot of fun. I’ve always enjoyed it because you get to imagine anything you want, and then find ways to make it work. I mean, a lot of the time it would be much easier to not bother with the making it work part and just throw stuff on the …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: The Joy of Creating Worlds
Radio Ga Ga! I am excited to share the news that I will be doing my first ever radio interview! My thanks to KYGT- The Goat for this opportunity! I'll be sitting down with Jerry Fabyanic, author of Sisyphus Wins and host of The Rabbit Hole, an hour long chat on all things word related, …
When first I wrote fantasy, I yearned for escape, to be lost in worlds of fantasy myself, away from what I perceived as the misery of my own existence at that time. Then I wrote because I yearned to write as well as my heroes, to be my heroes, use their ideas, their motifs, and …
So in this series I’ve described what aiming high means for me, and why I believe that missing the target I set myself (or yourself) isn’t failure. In aiming high, I’m also setting myself challenges in order to improve as a writer. This seems insane, because writing is tough enough on its own, and it …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Aiming High Part 3 – Striving for More
So last week I wrote about my first intentions when writing fantasy stories. Some, like the youthful need to ‘borrow’ bits of my favourite books and add them to my own in a wholly unsubtle way, have been abandoned as bad practice. Others, like the fundamental need to write, and to share my imaginings, have …
Roderick T. Macdonald 