Today I had the pleasure of talking with Jesper Schmidt about morality in fantasy world building, one part in an extended series of discussions on this topic that are well worth watching. He has a great YouTube channel dedicated to all things fantasy writing related – check it out here! He also helps to run …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: A Question of Morality, Part 1
Writers, it is often said, are their own worst critics. I take this to mean that writers, and artists in general, tend to be very harsh on themselves, though it could of course mean they are simply poor judges of their own work, and are incapable of accurately critiquing their own output by virtue of …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Dealing with Dissatisfaction
So two weeks ago I talked about the infinite possibilities in fantasy, then last week I discussed why it can sometimes seem repetitive, at least in terms of setting. These things would appear to be contradictory, but I think can resolve quite easily, even as I believe we will see new authors pushing or shattering …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: The Blind Faith Edition
Ursula K. Le Guin died this week. I read The Earthsea Trilogy (as was) a few times in my youth, and loved it. I really should get around to reading the complete Earthsea fictions, and of course many of her other works often referenced in this week of obituaries and commentaries mourning her passing. In …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Commodity Versus Art, the Eternal Challenge.
Last week I talked about the infinite possibilities offered by the fantasy genre, but buried in there was the nagging question: “Why then is so much of fantasy writing so similar?” I think any reader of fantasy over the last thirty years knows what I’m talking about, but let’s do a quick recap without falling …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: The Why Is So Much Of It So Similar? Edition
Sometimes, despite your best efforts and most earnest intentions, you just don’t make progress in your writing. Not because you’re blocked, or uninspired, or bored, or frustrated, or overwhelmed by whatever it is that you are working on. Sometimes you just can’t. Life, in capital letters, gets in the way. Loved ones get sick. You …
Now I’ve touched on this before in some circumstances, but I feel that it is worth restating one of the greatest draws for me in writing fantasy: the range of possibilities it grants you. In writing fantasy you are only constrained by two things: your imagination, and your ability to transform your fancies into words. …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: Infinite Possibilities
I’m supposed to be writing my first draft right now. And looking for a job. We’ll talk about jobs later. Right now we’ll talk about writing a first draft, instead of doing it, because dealing with other commitments is a real thing that must be managed, and this blog doesn't write itself. I have historically …
Fantasy is a universal touchstone. Every culture has its myths, its origin stories, its tales of creation and destruction through which stride gods, monsters, and heroes. The first stories that we crafted were all fantasies. They formed frameworks to explain our world, and ourselves, to pass on cultural traditions, to reinforce social norms. Fantasy came …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: Because it is the Mother Genre
So the New Year is in, and it’s time to get on with hitting those goals. What are mine? In writing it is to draft, edit, and publish The Killer and The Dead by the end of October. That’s a tough, but doable ask. I stand in awe of folks who boldly declare they will …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Juggling Workload, the Dizzying Kaleidoscope
Roderick T. Macdonald 