I write fantasy because I want to put words together in magical patterns that cause as much delight in others as putting them down did for me. I write fantasy because I want to say something new in a genre dominated by tradition. I write fantasy because I want to explore strange new worlds and …
Tag: Inspiration
The Hammer and the Fall
In creative life, many do not appreciate the time taken between the hammer and the fall. Now I’m going to be all metal and talk about hammers and striking and forging, but the metaphor could just as easily be the time taken between the seed and the flower, and be about soil and water and …
The Writing Life: Almost there…
The draft for my editor is almost ready. I'll need the weekend to finish it, but we're almost there. As a result, I really don't have anything to say here. Other than this, haha! Writing is a privilege. I am lucky in my life that I have the inclination, and the time, to write. Many …
This is my 100th posted blog!
I was going to write about my megalomania and need for control and how that factors into my writing choices this week, because recently I’ve been all too zen talking about acceptance and revised visions of what success means to me nowadays, and I wanted to remind myself that I’m still a potentially delusional patient …
The Writing Life: Feeling the Fear, but Still Having Time for Fun
I’m beginning to feel the fear. In a good way. I have deadlines looming, and many miles to go before dawn. Right now there is actual uncertainty about whether or not I’ll get everything done on time. This is okay. Not the idea of missing a deadline, but feeling the fear early enough that I …
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Why I Write Fantasy: Memories of Nature and Other Fragments
Glen Clova, orienteering like a ranger or druid or both, the summit of Arthur’s Seat at sunrise, the Trossachs and trout over fire, Loch Katrine swimming, the shock of freezing, the amazement of finding warmer currents and following their course, shivering anew every time they were lost, wet bracken and green ravines down to running …
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Why I Write Fantasy: The Games of Fantasy Part 1: Game of Dracula
First things first: I don’t write fantasy because of games. I was entranced by fantasy first, games came later. However, there can be a positive interaction between playing games, exercising imagination, and coming up with story ideas. There is one as-yet unwritten story cycle that is definitely based on something I wanted to do in …
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Why I Write Fantasy: The Influence of Horror
I grew up in the 70s and 80s. Fantasy existed in book form, but in other media it was pretty scarce, especially in a UK where only three TV channels existed. For a child looking for images to fit his imaginings of monsters and adventure, it was to the creepy and the kooky that it …
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Why I Write Fantasy: Inspirations – The Music of Fantasy Part 3: Gothic Dreams
Now the 80s weren’t just the metal years for me, though metal was undoubtedly my first true musical love. I was a mostly closeted Prince fan. (Not metal enough, despite the outrageous guitar skills – I tried to point that out, but my mates weren’t buying it back then.) I went to see the Sign …
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Why I Write Fantasy: To Connect the Dots…
Last week I talked about how sometimes ideas assail me, story concepts or character ideas that want to make the difficult transition from idle fancy to fully-fleshed reality. It is really easy to just daydream the good bits: the dramatic confrontations, the epic climaxes, awful betrayals, heartbreaking deaths, hard-earned victories. And any amount of acid-tongued …
Roderick T. Macdonald 