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Tag Archives: Writing
Sunday Inspiration: Story
Dear God, tonight it is not disappointing because you have given me a story. Don’t let me ever think, dear God, that I was anything but the instrument for Your story — just like the typewriter was mine.
—Flannery O’Connor
Writing Tips from George R. R. Martin
At a recent event at the Sydney Opera House, A Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin shared ten tips for writing fantasy. Here is the list; click through to Chris Jager’s Lifehacker article for the details:
- Don’t limit your imagination
- Choose your point-of-view characters to broaden the narrative’s scope
- It’s okay to “borrow” from history
- On believable POVs
- Grief is a powerful tool — but don’t overdo it
- Violence should have consequences — so spare nothing!
- Avoid fantasy cliches
- On creating “grey” characters
- Juggling lots of characters takes skill — and luck
- Remember: Winter is coming
World Builder’s Disease
This is kinda sorta me. Carl Sinclair has put his finger on an affliction that affects a lot of writers, especially of fantasy fiction: Tolkienitis. Having spent the past week roughing out half a dozen possible species of unicorns—with absolutely no plans for including unicorns anywhere in the “Into the Wonder” series—I am definitely somewhere on this spectrum.
What is World Builder’s Disease?
World builders disease is a terrible affliction for many writers and authors, mainly in Science Fiction and Fantasy, but it can certainly affect writers in many genres. The scientific medical term is Tol-kien-itis.What causes it?
It is caused by the constant building and tweaking of your world and setting. So much that you never actually get around to writing the book.J.R.R Tolkien had the worst case on record, spending much of his life (around 30 years) building the world, languages and setting for Lord of the Rings. He finally managed to finish his series, but his case was very severe.
I would only suggest that the proper clinical term should probably be Tolkien Syndrome on the pattern of Asperger Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, etc.
Well done, Carl, and thanks for your honesty!
By Way of Formal Introduction…
Some problems are worse than others. That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? What a lot of people may not understand is that some problems are actually pretty cool. If I’m going to have a problem, I want it to be a cool one. Like, What am I going to do with all this money I’ve unexpectedly inherited? Or, my website has become so popular it keeps crashing the server! Or, I really feel self-conscious about being the only person in my class/office/whatever who hasn’t come down with the flu! See? Those are great problems to have.
Try this one on for size: I have a daughter who reads WAY above her grade level. Why is that a problem, you ask? Because even though she has the vocabulary and comprehension of a high-schooler, she is just not ready yet for some of the “grown-up” content that I know she’ll handle like a pro when she is a little bit older.
Mind you, this is a girl who doesn’t check out books from the library; she checks out WHOLE SERIES!
Now, for the last several years, my absolutely wonderful problem has been finding books that interest my sweet girl without talking down to her. My wife and I are constantly picking the brains of our friends who are teachers and librarians. (“Has she read X?” “Yeah, she read that when she was in fifth grade.” “Well, how about Y?” “I haven’t heard of that one. Let me write it down.”)
Eventually, I started supplementing whatever treasures we could find at the library with little stories of my own. And since I have several friends who appreciate good teen/young adult fiction and share my (and my daughter’s) love of the fantasy genre(s), I usually asked one or two people to read behind me to help clean up my messes.
Well, to make a long story short (if it isn’t already too late for that!), somebody thought I might be on to something with Children of Pride, my latest effort. It was suggested that I release it into the wild and see what happens. That’s what this web site is all about.
And while everything is being formalized, I’ll also keep providing “bonus material” related to faeries, mythology, and the growing universe of “Into the Wonder.”
Thanks for stopping by!
Fantasy: Urban or Contemporary?
Scott Eder has recently discovered that he is an author in the “contemporary fantasy” genre. Previously, he had been under the impression that what he wrote was “urban fantasy.”
In his guest post at Christine Amsden’s blog, he explains what he now perceives as the difference between the two.
Darrell J. Pursiful 