The Lasting Legacy of Gabriel García Márquez

I've been thinking about Columbian writer Gabriel García Márquez quite a bit since hearing about his passing on April 17th.

My first exposure to Márquez's work was when I read his short story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." It's a beautiful story about religion, greed, and humanity (or lack thereof). The story establishes a wonderful social commentary while also utilizing one key element: magical realism. Márquez often utilized magical realism which meant his stories contained magical elements but these components were treated as normal parts of the world we live in. He is not alone in this genre (Rudolfo Anaya is another great author who utilizes this), but his work is eye opening for those willing to take the time to experience it. As a writer of fantasy, exploring magical realism is an interesting and educational way to look at utilizing fantastical elements within a story.  

With his passing, Márquez leaves behind many famous novels such as "Love in the Time of Cholera," and "One Hundred Years of Solitude." Unfortunately, as time fills up with other things, we don't always sit down and spend the time enjoying great literature. It's sad that only when someone has passed on that we consider reading their work. Well, maybe it's more bittersweet than sad; his passing is a reminder that his legacy remains, that his books are still here to show us interesting ways to explore magic in our lives and our own stories. 

If you've got 15 minutes that you can dedicate to reading something by this wonderful author, perhaps a way to commemorate the man, check out his short story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" at the link below:

http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/MarquezManwithWings.htm

Cover Art

Cover art has always been important to me. A cover doesn't just sell a book, it also represents the author's care and attention (in my opinion). When I used to look at publishers I would look through their catalog and examine each cover they posted online. If the artwork was poor then I was very unlikely to approach them for publication. When we started writing "The Beginning of Whit" we had some thoughts on a cover. In a moment of boredom I actually worked on a rendition of "Night Hawks" that could work as the cover but when the flash drive that the image was on died, so did the image. 

(The original "Night Hawks" image by Edward Hopper.)

While I came up with a lot of images throughout the process, to get the right "feel" for the book we finally approached some actual artists. Even though we still were kicking around the idea of doing a play on "Night Hawks" we knew that if we started a series with that image then we'd have to maintain a series of covers based on famous art (if we wanted continuity between book covers). 

Ultimately, when I found an artist whose work was something I was interested in, I went with a design that fit her already established portfolio. The final image is something I think really represents the book and the care that my co-author and I took in selecting a cover. The color choices for the cover give it an urban fantasy feel and the youthful/fun feel of Whit. The scary chickenman in the shadows gives it some intrigue and the stake and donuts gives some hints about the character and the book.

Two parts of the cover are extra touches conceived by the authors. Andrew chose to have the broken egg at the bottom of the page. I chose to include the one-eyed cat beside Whit. When I told Chewie that she was featured on the cover, this is how she reacted:

How To Kickstarter Pt. 3

Content is key. Yes the video is important, and the prizes are too, but what you put on your Kickstarter in both the original page content and in your updates is potentially the most important. Not everyone is going to watch your video, but they might skim the page. Not everything you put on the page is going to be read but people might look over your project updates. The content you put up has to showcase your project and the reasons why other people should get excited and get on board!

With our Kickstarter we began with something catchy:

Whit Clayborne accidentally dates a soul eater and unwittingly falls for a vampire - and it's only his first week demon hunting...

This single sentence tells you about the project and hopefully draws you in with interest. Saying something like "I wrote a book and you might like it." won't get you very many backers. Think of something eye catching, something different, what makes your project unique and interesting? 

Since we are promoting a novel, we used our content to explore a couple of different things.

We discussed the book in a section called “book summary.” While we didn’t describe the book in its entirety, we did try to list things that would interest potential backers.

We also talked about “us” (my co-author and I) because people want to connect with the individuals who made the product. The video can be used to do this as well, but we explored our background and our interest a little further in the written content.

We discussed the prizes and shared some graphics related to this topic. 

We also shared our stretch goals (if you make more than your initial goal amount what else will you be doing with backer’s funds?) and I tried to make these related to what we are doing but also interesting so people would be excited about reaching them.

Lastly, I shared where people could keep in touch with us and our future projects. Your connection with potential backers doesn’t end with Kickstarter. Let people connect with you across the Web and maybe they’ll buy future books/CDs/artwork – whatever you’re working on.

My first update was a video, my second was a link to the first chapter of the book, and my third were the cute bitstip comics I shared in a previous post on here. These were all employed to hopefully get new people interested in the project and to keep backers interested in what’s to come. 

Don’t use updates to tell people what you had for breakfast. These shouldn’t be a nuisance and should only be used to thank backers and to get backers excited. By making updates open to the public you can potentially hook new people but if you have content you only want your backers to see then make sure the update is not public. 

Ultimately, keep your content appealing both with the text you use and the variety of media available to you to promote your project.

Want to see our content in action? Check out our Kickstarter at:
 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2121709675/the-beginning-of-whit-a-laugh-out-loud-urban-fanta

Creating Content for an Author Facebook Page

Sorry to all of you who are tired of hearing from me how to publicize yourself and your work as an author through social media. For those of you interested in this topic, I've got another tidbit for you.

While I've seen a lot of authors approach their FB pages in different ways, one thing that makes any FB page "successful" (i.e. gets more traffic/more likes) is viral content. Viral implies that it is shared across the web (or FB) reaching more people than just a single share by your page. Content can be anything that applies to your brand (i.e. you as an author, your book, your interests).

Take into consideration what types of things are often shared on FB.

Quotes are pretty common among FB content and FB shares. Here are two quotes I added to images and shared on my FB page. Notice how they apply to my brand (fantasy author).

I also created this one with my own text because it applies to my brand (fantasy books and strong female characters).

Lastly, I created this to help promote the series in particular. I have more of these cat photos/text to share on the page. I chose cats because they are popular and they are featured in our book.

So consider what your brand is and what content you can make to add to your page and get people to share. Also note that when it's time to promote your book asking family and friends to share any posts about your book is helpful. Don't ask them to share every post you make (unless you want to be annoying) but getting them to share your posts about your actual novel will get more eyes on that post and more potential sales.

Unigons & Dracorns

Over the weekend I had a moment with a pencil, some paper and my always working overactive imagination. I started trying to make a cute baby dragon. So I made really big eyes, but quickly these eyes made my baby dragon look like E.T. So Amanda suggested that I add hair around the face to make the eyes seem smaller. While most dragons don't have hair, I thought it was a good idea and drew some on. Then I realized that my baby dragon had pretty much become a dragon/unicorn hybrid. 

(It's even drooling for added cuteness.)

What exciting uncharted territory I had stumbled upon. What happens when someone finds a creature that hasn't been defined yet? I looked at the Lion/Tiger Lyger/Tigon example to determine what this new creature would be called. So if our unicorn/dragon baby is female it would be referred to as a Unigon and if it was a male it would be a Dracorn. Okay so this is just a theory because I'm not scientist, just a writer with an overactive imagination, a pencil and some paper. 

Work(s) in Progress - 5/26/2013

For all of yous who be interested, here's what I've been working on lately.

Book Two of the 'Full of Whit' Series "Whit's Complicated." 

Book One dealt with Whit, our incompetent but with good intentions demon hunter moving to the Big City.

(possible cover for book one in the series)

In Book Two, Whit starts feeling acclimated to the Big City only to find political upheaval and personal trusts shattered in the second book in the series. I'm currently working on a bit where another demon hunter shows up and hopes to become Whit's mentor and help shape him into a better hunter.

No Rest (working title)

(This is a picture I drew for the character Dorian in "No Rest" but it probably is more like Lem now that I think about it.)

I featured this post apocalyptic tale of horror and hope back in 2011 and then the story went unfinished. After a 10 year old flash drive bit the dust, I decided to track down what was lost and what I could piece back together. This story was one of the things that needed to be pieced back together and I found myself invested in the project again and I've started working to rebuild it and finish it. 

In addition to working on these two stories I'm also in the process of preparing the first book in the "Full of Whit" series for publication, so keep an eye out for that in the near future. :)

Is Ragnar the New King Arthur?

Recently the History channel started airing a new television show called Vikings. Set in the 700s-800s, Vikings is a historical drama based on mythology and storytelling. This show is at times violent and other times NSFW for other reasons; but its interesting storytelling and has characters you're automatically invested in. Since it's created by the History channel the bar for realistic portrayal is higher and at times not met, but not so missed that a viewer is disgusted and refuses to watch any further.

The main point of this post though is about the focus of the show. The main protagonist is Ragnar, and up and coming Viking leader who at times echoes a similar mythology to that of King Arthur. His wife and his brother (blood brother or brother in war - idk) have an awkward relationship which might lead to a love triangle of sorts. He is well liked by his peers and makes a good war-band leader. In addition to these things, he must overcome the spineless and do-anything-to-stay-in-power earl who controls his village. But in the process of this he must also appear to be the better man and therefore win the hearts of the show's viewers much like the stories of King Arthur have won the hearts of children for hundreds of years.



Ultimately, when I pose the question is he the new King Arthur, the similarity is primarily based in the popularity of the character. Not just in how popular he is among his peers but how popular this character might become among the general viewing public. If this show becomes popular enough then maybe tales of Ragnar will spread through current generations like tales of King Arthur spread through previous generations. Probably not, but it's interesting to think about.

Blog Action Day: Poverty - A Writer's Perspective

The “haves” and the “have-nots”. We see these groups play out in stories, time and again. Fantasy is no different. Consider Aladdin, an exploration of poverty - Disney style. Aladdin had no monies, he had to steal, people threatened to eat him and he had a monkey to share adventures with; ultimately he broke free from his poverty and became King of the world (or his whole new world (w/e)). In reality these things rarely happen (when I was poor we didn’t have a monkey and I’m still sad about it, if you can’t tell L) and only children’s stories usually end up with a happy ending. Fantasy has tried over the years to explore poverty in many different ways, by showing the poor and suffering, by showing those that prey on the impoverished, by showing those that overcome their situation and those that revel in it. Even in fantastical worlds, we see scenes of poverty which resemble those in our own world. By writing about poverty, authors inform their readers about a real problem in our world. It’s hard to know the depths of human despair when you are financially secure, but when we pick up a book and create bonds with characters, when we explore their worlds through their eyes we become sympathetic travelers, we gain new insight and learn empathy for all of life’s tragedies.

In 2007, 37.3 million people in the U.S. were in poverty. The numbers are much worse when we look across the world, especially when considering children. 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, and 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
Poverty creates more than just a lack of food or a lack of clothing. It helps spread disease because people can not buy medicine; it helps spread viruses because people cannot drink clean water. Poverty limits children's ability for education, which limits their ability to be able to ensure financial security as they join the work force. Growing up impoverished can lead to a life of crime.

Knowing about a problem is half the battle, what you do with that information can help so many lives.

What you can do:
Join online groups such as:
http://www.endpoverty2015.org/
http://www.one.org/
Contact local, State and Federal Governments on these issues
Donate time (habitat for humanity, food bank, soup kitchen)
Donate money
Play Free Rice Online to help the UN World Food Program to help end hunger



I know from personal experience what it’s like to be in poverty (it’s not all singing and dancing and having a monkey for a best friend). If it wasn’t for WIC and welfare, I wouldn’t have the life I have today. Please continue to support these systems, even if you feel like some people abuse the support, there are those that truly need it and lead successful lives because of the aid provided by the U.S. government.

The Wonderful World of Television

One thing often enjoyed by fantasy readers and writers alike, is T.V. Hell, they even have a T.V. channel geared towards our interests (sci-fi channel for those wondering what I'm talking about). Through the years, a few fantasy shows have really captured my interest and swallowed up my time.

Xena Warrior Princess - 8 years of kicking ass without taking names entangled with fun and deep story lines. An alternate history fantasy with lovable characters and believable relationships.

Charmed - 7 years of vanquishing evil while always searching for the highest power - love. Sounds cheesy, but this urban fantasy made a deep impression on viewers.

Both of these series are echoed in volumes upon volumes of fan lit. Although it can be tough to recreate visuals into text, books were a way for these characters to survive as their series ended. These shows not only inspired writers to continue their story lines, but also to create new characters which hold similar attributes.

I know, my female leads are always a little charmed and have a bit of Xena in them. Now, if only I could stop re-watching these shows and get back to writing my stories...

Fantasy Pick for July 2008

Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett are a great, fun read if you like humor and fantasy.

I came across the first one years ago:
(The Colo(u)r of Magic)

and I loved it.

The second book

(The Light Fantastic)

was equally enjoyable, but after that the series begins to follow new characters who may reappear from time to time throughout the 36 book (and still growing) series. Now, being a slow reader, I only got through the first five books, but the entire series looks promising. If you're looking for a good fantasy read, check these books out.

Amazing Writing Books

I'm certain that there are more than four amazing writing books out there (I've actually probably read more than a few of those) but when it comes to fantasy writing, and to what I want to post on my blog, I've limited my selection of Amazing Writing Books to these four (not in any particular order).

Stephen King's On Writing:
This book gives you a look at the
life of a writer, the trials and
errors, the ups and downs, the
work you have to put into the
craft before you get a paid (usually).
It's very insightful, interesting
and helpful. Other than just
King's life story, it holds pointers
and lessons in writing.


Orson Scott Card's How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy:
This is an awesome book devoted
to the craft of writing science
fiction and fantasy. It delves into
character and world creation
while giving help on the subject
of writing well and exploring the
business of writing for the novice
writer.


Orson Scott Card's Characters & Viewpoint:
This book may not be specifically
aimed towards science fiction
and fantasy authors, but it is
helpful when writing any story.
I find that Card explains things
well and thoroughly, leaving
the reader with few questions
and new tools to create better
characters in their tales.

Robert Masello's Writer Tells All:

This is an awesome book
that explores all
elements of writing
a novel, from the
birth of an idea,
through it's publication
and beyond. This is a book that will guide an author through every stage of writing and getting published. (Also check out Robert's Rules of Writing for good tips).

World Creation

Although I ususally wouldn't start with World Creation when building a story, it is probably more interesting to talk about and easier to explore in blog form than character creation and story outlines.

Now, Patricia C. Wrede (a wonderful fantasy author), has established an amazing set of questions for assisting authors in world creation. I am attaching a link to it HERE.

I, though, will go through some basic points of world creation for those of you who don't want to (maybe not now, maybe not ever) look through such a long list, and for those of you who like to see the basic points instead of/or with all of the small details.


First, you need to determine the time and place. This is a "duh" suggestion, but necessary. Is it in the past? Is it in the future? Is it on Earth? Someplace similiar to Earth? Someplace not similiar to Earth? In space? In the ocean? This is very basic, but building a fantasy world can be complex and you'll need this simple foundation to build the rest of your world on.


Next, I like to explore what kind of people live in this world. Is everyone pretty much human (or based on the human design), or are there elves, dwarves, unicorns etc.


Thirdly, I like to determine the geographic landscape. Sometimes I'll make maps (especially as I get further along in the story and I need to visually see where I'm taking my characters). I draw my maps by hand but I recently came across a program called Auto Realm which seems promising. Along with geography comes climate. Does your world have four seasons like we do or only two? Does it rain constantly or never?


As a final but complex stage to world building, I consider many things about my people.

-What is their history? This doesn't have to be too complex unless it affects the story or you like writing epics.

-What is their education? Also does not have to be too thought out, just limited to your main characters or an explanation of some sort of universal education (as in everyone learns to be a warrior, or everyone learns magic).

-What is their form of magic/what weapons do they use? This does not mean the magic has to be a weapon, it's just that in my experience a character either has magic, a weapon or both, so determining one can go hand in hand with determining the other.

-What are their customs/political organization/commerce/dress/food/manners/spirituality? These can be thought up together, because it is the layout of the society and gives a good direction for what food to serve, what clothes to wear, if there is a king or queen, if there is a proper way to greet people, if there is a class system, do they have a religion, so on and so forth.

Hopefully this helps in your attempts to create new worlds for your fantasy tales.

How I Craft a New Tale

Randomly images/ideas come to me. They may be in the form of nightime dreams, or day dreams, I may listen to music, read a book, or see a movie which inspires me. Some how, in my mind, bits of a story form. If these bits create the beginnings of a story that I think has potential/interests me, then I will persue the tale.

Usually, a story will be like a blurry image. I won't know who or why, just what and then my mind goes to work. Here's an example: a scene with two people fighting. Who are these people?What is their back story? Why are they fighting? Who will win? What is there to lose? What is there to gain? How will their own stories change depending on the outcome of the fight? Where will they go afterward?

Once I start working out a story, big plot points will jump out at me and I'll think - this must happen! - and I will work on connecting the dots, getting from point A to point B in the most logical fashion, while keeping in touch with my characters, my world, my limited magic.

As my tales grow, the characters may pull the story into a new direction, that I would not have forseen until they became complete entites with their own wants and needs. But in the end, as the story comes to a close, I just hope I did the original image justice.

Subgenres of Fantasy

As another good introduction to the world of fantasy/writing fantasy, we must explore the different subgrenres of fantasy. Here are a couple of subgenres that seem to be most popular:

Contemporary Fantasy: A fantasy set in the "real" world and in the story the existence of magic, in an otherwise normal world, is revealed. If a character travels to an alternate world and the magic is revealed/used there, it is NOT considered contemporary fantasy. Like if someone walked up to you today and handed you a magical amulet, your biography (detailing your adventures with this magical amulet) would be considered contemporary fantasy.

Example: Highlander

Urban Fantasy: A fantasy set in modern, urban setting. May be considered a subgenre of contemporary fantasy, always set in a city.

Example: Charmed

Dark Fantasy: A fantasy which can be observed as an obvious fantasy but with horror elements.

Example: Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles Series

Fairytale Fantasy: A fantasy that uses characters, plot or other elements from folklore.

Example: American Gods By Neil Gaiman

Heroic Fantasy: A fantasy that always has a hero on a quest; it is part high fantasy and part sword and sorcery.

Example: Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

High Fantasy: A fantasy that shows the epic struggle between good and evil in a fantasy world parallel to our own.

Example: Chronicles of Narnia

Historical Fantasy: A fantasy that is set in the past with fantastical elements OR a fantastical world which parallels our owon with distinct connections to historical places/events/people.

Example: Alvin the Maker Series by Orson Scott Card

Sword and Sorcery Fantasy: A fantasy where main character (usually a warrior) deals with things physically and is more interested in their own self interst than the greater good.

Example: Conan the Barbarian

More subgenres exsist, but as I said, these tend to be most popular, but if you want more please check out wikipedia.com's page on the subgenres of fantasy. (I got a lot of my information from that site.)

Once you have determined the best subgenre for your work to be labeled as (for your own sanity and that of your future publisher), you will have a basic framework to structure your story. While these subgenres may overlap, only one will be your main genre (per piece, you may work with many genres and subgenres over your entire lifetime).

Overall, as a writer of fantasy, you need to have an understanding of these subgenres because publishers will ask which type of fantasy you write and because it limits what is possible in your story/guides the plot, conflict, character creation and world creation of your stories. This knowledge will also be helpful as we explore more elements of writing in upcoming posts.

Writing Fantasy 101

To write anything you need to know the basics of a story such as characters, dialogue, plot and conflict. You may not be skilled in all of these areas, but we'll assume you can grasp them well enough to formulate a story. When taking those elements and fashioning them into a fantasy, many new elements will be included, unique touches which take your tale away from other genres and place it into the realm of fantasy. One such element that does this is magic (not actual magic, but the presence of magic in your story).

Magic is key, it is the heart which beats inside most fantasy novels. If there wasn't magic present, most plot points wouldn't exist, a lot of characters wouldn't be created, the story wouldn't be the story if you took away the element of magic. If the wardrobe wasn't enchanted, the children would never have made it to Narnia and therefore, there would have been no tale of the Lion and the Witch.

Now, as you are creating your magical world, you must be controlled. A story where anything is possible is not a very interesting story. Your characters must still be flawed and your conflicts must still be challenging - even seemingly impossible to overcome.

I remember being a child and playing make believe with kids at school. Often we ran into a situation where we would try to one up one another with our superhero/supervillain abilities until it came to a point where we had unlimited powers. Our battle was a draw and no one wanted to play anymore. This will happen to readers if your magic is limitless, they won't want to read your story anymore.

So when writing fantasy: make your magic unique, but keep it controlled.

Fantasy Pick

I decided it was time to break from the norm and post a fantasy pick of mine. This is a series I can’t stop raving about. I first came across the movie version of Night Watch, and loved it.

Click Here To See It At Amazon.com

Soon there after I watched the sequel Day Watch:

Click Here To See It At Amazon.com

And I found the book series which includes:

Night Watch

Click Here To See It At Amazon.com

Day Watch

Click Here To See It At Amazon.com

Twilight Watch

Click Here To See It At Amazon.com

and the fore-coming Last Watch (no cover art on amazon yet).

Click Here To See It At Amazon.com

This entire series is an enchanting portrayal of current Russia and a group of people with super human abilities. These "others" have to choose if they will work on the side of light or the side of darkness, and the "watches" have been established to patrol the opposing side. The writing is well done (even after the translation) and the characters, magical powers and the entire basic concept of the plot is intriguing. Then, to see where the author takes the characters, which conflicts he creates and the interesting interplay between staff and boss, light and dark, makes for a beautiful interpretation of a fantasy world that could exist without any of us knowing. If you're looking for a good fantasy read, check this series out.

Inspired, On Occasion.

When writing, I find inspiration in several places. While some authors tell you to people watch, I find that since I’m writing about fantastical worlds, looking at people in my world does not inspire characters. Now characters, in any genre, should resemble people we know (maybe not personally know) for the sake of the reader’s ability to sympathize with the character, but I find that most characters are created in the depth of my mind and I give them personal traits, not from people watching but from my own personal experiences.

One source of inspiration is artwork. Beautiful pictures create or reinforce stories in my mind. While working on a story about the four horsemen of the apocalypse and searching the web for research, I came across an awesome depiction of the four horsemen which I had to buy.

(http://www.revelationillustrated.com/shop/image08.asp)

This picture still sits on my desk to inspire me. I’m not saying you have to buy it; I’m just using it as an example.

Another source of inspiration is nature. Beautiful plants, trees and landscapes can bring up wonderful images in my mind. Also, the weather is a great inspiration. If I sit outside with a notebook while a storm is brewing, it is easier to create a dramatic or dark scene for my story.

Probably them most important inspiration is music. I enjoy all types of music and listen to different artists or genres to write different scenes or to get into different moods for writing. I love Gershwin and Tchaikovsky, Yo-Yo Ma and most things Celtic. World music and classical music hold such a variety of sounds that it inspires a plethora of images in my mind, while some rock inspires kick ass characters or fight scenes. With most stories I create a soundtrack, essentially. When I want to write a specific scene or about a specific character, I’ll listen to a specific song. At the bottom of this post I included an embedded music player (care of www.seeqpod.com an awesome site for finding songs to listen to without having to buy the entire CD), which contains a list of songs I listen to often when I write.

Whenever I feel uninspired to write, I listen to music, explore nature and view art. Hopefully this post makes you think of what inspires you and gives you more ways to inspire your own writing.

The First Part Second

Now that I’ve had my extended rant, let’s cover a basic topic to be discussed by any fantasy reader or writer: What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?

It still boggles my mind, the number of people who believe there is no difference between these two genres, but if there was no difference, why have they been given different names? It is true that they are similar, and that is why they are sub genres of “speculative fiction”, but they have differences which allow books to be categorized as one genre or the other.

Both science fiction and fantasy can be set in worlds past, present or future, which contain fantastical elements which make them different from the world we know. Both may contain people or objects with powers not found in our world. The main difference between fantasy and science fiction is how these worlds and powers are explained.

If a person’s powers are due to magic – its fantasy.

If a person’s powers are due to science – its science fiction.

In some worlds there will be a mixture of science and magic, but the dominant force will determine the genre.

If a spaceship flies because of magic – its fantasy. Just being set in space does not make it science fiction.

Luckily, most books in these genres makes it very clear to which genre they belong. Some ride the line between science fiction and fantasy, but ultimately they are defined as either sci/fi or fantasy never as both genres.

This is a pretty quick explanation and hopefully it makes sense.

A bit more about fantasy as a respectable genre...

Today we’re going to examine the idea of those who are against fantasy as a genre. As seen in this article: http://reading.kingrat.biz/archives/407 , fantasy is a much despised genre (by some). These people try to keep it out of the classroom, away from the best seller lists, and out of the group of literature which becomes a “classic”.

(Pictured: Someone who does not love the fantasy genre.)

To these “haters” and to those of you interested in this battle, I would like to point out several “fantasy” books which have become classics.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Sir Mallory

Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson

Watership Down By Richard Adams

Don Quixote By Miguel De Cervantes

Authors that have written more than one classic fantasy: Tolkien, Shakespeare.

In our sister genre: science fiction, we see many classics:

Frankenstein

Turn of the Screw

1984

Fahrenheit 451

Slaughterhouse-Five

It seems to me that many naysayers believe that fantasy is unbelievably easy to write and a fantasy writer has no credibility as an author. To me, a fantasy novel is just as difficult as writing any other novel, and as the aforementioned books show, fantasy novels can contain material that not only lets them transcend the limited beliefs placed upon their genre but also makes them thought provoking or insightful novels independent of fantastical or scientific elements.

I think it is just as likely for any fiction novel to be crap as it is for a fantasy novel to be crap. With that in mind, it is also as likely for a fantasy novel to be superior to the majority of the rest of what is published as it is for any other genre to be placed above the mainstream novels.

Ultimately, if you are a fantasy reader or writer, be proud of your genre, especially because it is proving that it should be respected with each new publication printed.

(Pictured: Someone who loves the genre of fantasy.)

Introductions...

Some may consider me a lowly fantasy writer, one who sits in shadows ready to easily write novel after novel about useless made up worlds full of uninteresting impossibilities, but I consider myself a fighter. One who stands against those nay-sayers, those that loathe the genre of fantasy. Surely, many books have graced the shelves of bookstore and libraries - ones that were of a lesser quality, the quality of crap, and many of these did fit in the fantasy genre, but that does not make fantasy innately a form of feces created by mind, pen and paper. Many fantasy books have had profound effects on human culture and thought. While few (if any) have won a Pulitzer Prize nor the Nobel Peace Prize, they have contributed to the world of literature and will continue to be that bug and or bird poo that you can't clean off your windshield. Hopefully you can scrap through all of that "crap" to find good fantasy. I'm not saying my books are of that higher, thought provoking quality; but I will fight to the death to keep fantasy as an accepted genre (not to be confused with the scum sucking genre of science fiction - don't even get me started), to allow books, like mine and others to raise other fantasy novels to higher peaks, ones that will surpass chick-lit (vomit) and the "classic" horror/romance/sci-fi/thriller-lit (puke fest) in the realms of literary acceptance.


In all honesty, I do love fantasy and feel as though it is underrated. I also love sci-fi (when it stays where it belongs ;p) and I hope to use this blog to promote the fantasy genre to readers and writers alike. Enjoy.