Editing my genre series
got a lot harder thanks to the collision of plot, character and Second Sight. That’s right, my key big fantasy idea is clairvoyance, the ability to perceive future or distant events. It enables the author to see just how big a hole they’re about to bury themselves in.
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What I call Tolkein’s Legacy of the Rings doesn’t kick-start the fantasy genre. It originates in the roots of story telling. …
This BBC Arts thread continues on the iPlayer with Inside Cinema’s Strong Female Characters. It’s a barely-there critique that fails to nail marketing over actual writing. …
According to Christine Frazier’s Better Novel Project you need twenty characters to start a book. Her post advocates this as an essential kick-starter for pop-fiction. It cites first chapters for Harry Potter and The Hunger Games (19 each) and Twilight (24). Even generalising for genre-fiction, twenty characters in Chapter One seems a bit much.
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Like few other genres, archetypes in fantasy make or break a story.
An archetype is a character that fulfils a role or symbolises some aspect of story telling. Most of our oldest surviving stories are myths and legends, which qualify as epic fantasy in my view. Greek epic poems and dramas include heroes, heroines, villains, guides and mentors, helpers, fantastical creatures and quests. …