[Nurumaiel]

Do I write serious fantasy? It depends on how the word 'serious' is being defined. If it means that I take it seriously by working hard and trying to make it good, then yes I do, not just with my fantasy but everything I write. If it means that I intend to at least attempt to get it published, I'm afraid I don't take it that seriously. When I write books I'll do it for the sake of the characters, who are screaming to be brought into a story, and for my sake because I love to write. I don't necessarily care if I have an audience or not. The only 'publishing' I do besides letting family and friends read is on fictionpress.com, hoping against hope that I'll get some constructive criticism, but I've never really thought of real publishing.

How did I decide that I wanted to write fantasy? Everything. A walk through the woods at evening-time, a young laddie talking with his friend, a piece of news on the radio, a little tune on the tin whistle, and a rock over-hanging a stream started the book. I decided I wanted to write fantasy when I was five years old and a brother of mine and I started 'playing' Lord of the Rings and writing what adventures Sam's children had. That's how fantasy-writing started for me.

I don't want to give too much of my book away before it's finished, but it is a fantasy book without a name (actually the first in a few books... I act these things out and they just don't stop), centered around a soldier in a very hideous war and two young boys (and very young, as well, only about eleven or twelve) who just want to go home and see their family again. They live on an island called Enare, which is part of the country Trenia though it is a separate landform. I am working on a language, which is called Trenian because the Trenians speak it. I actually don't really write it out in order, because if I come up with a good scene and I let it go until I approach that point in the book I don't like it anymore, whether it was good or not, and I don't put it in. When there isn't a need to write a future scene I just go in sequence. As far as going in sequence, I'm nearly finished with the first chapter, though I've been working for quite a long time. Before I began the process of actually writing the book, however, I wanted to know what it is. I gave the characters time to develop themselves in my mind, for the geography of the land in the peoples in it to become clear, and so on. After that I pulled random scenes out of my head and acted all the characters out to further understand what they were like. When I was confident I knew them and the world they were in, I began writing.

Has Tolkien influenced my writing? Indeed he has. I don't imitate his writing style, nor do I copy him, so to say, but everything I hear and see influences my writing. Little things that were said or done, whether in real life or in another book, I take and put in, then expand upon it and let my imagination run away with it until it becomes something entirely original.... perhaps even the plot for the book itself, or one of the main subplots. Calling it a 'starting point' would be appropriate, I think. I try to have a notebook and pencil to take down what people say and do. One little smile from someone not a week ago introduced a main character in my book! A lad said 'Thanks' when I handed him a baseball that had gone right by him and a whole scene was created (yes, I know I'm inspired really easily, but I get scared in the dark really easily, too... my imagination takes hold). Now, Tolkien also influences my writing in the way that when I read his works I write better. If I'm reading something that is extremely basic (usually a dialogue-only book) I find myself tempted to write the same way and it's awful trying to keep from it, and worse than that writing doesn't seem fun anymore. If I'm reading a real book, with good description, dialogue, plot, and everything else, writing is absolutely lovely and I can write well.

littlemanpoet asked: "How do you make your protagonist (hero) somebody your reader can relate to, or like, or at least sympathize with?" I can't makes my heroes do anything. They arrive in my head and take their own views on everything. All I have to do is write down what they're saying and doing. Sometimes it is a bit annoying that I don't have a real control over them but so far they have been real enough personalities, regardless of whether people can relate to them or not. If they are real people I let it go. I don't really care if my readers can relate to them or not, because around my home in this age they probably couldn't. If they can't relate in any way to Tom Playfair or Percy Wynn they can't relate to my characters, because my characters treasure everything Tom and Percy do, and despise everything Tom and Percy do. Most of my readers can't relate to Tom and Percy, therefore they cannot relate to my characters. Most of my readers don't know what real flaws and real virtues are. I'm still learning! As long as my characters are certainly human (or name another race, though I haven't encountered any in my books yet) I let them have their own way. Yes, it is annoying I don't have a control over my character but at the same time it is a blessing, for that way I don't have to worry about making life-like personalities, etc. They have them because they came with them, whether readers agree or not. Now I'll stop talking to myself.

Am I writing transition fantasy or immersion fantasy? It would fit best in the latter, I suppose (except... mine isn't our world in ancient times or in future times, it's a completely different world... I think... that's why I add 'I suppose'). I tried the former once and couldn't make it work. That was where I found a problem with making the character a person one could relate with. Someone who came from modern times was tricky, because while I live in modern times (or I suppose I wouldn't be writing this now) I am awfully old-fashioned and can't fit in with the times. I've not met many people who are old-fashioned like I am, so it was hard to make a modern character work, because if I were to know what I was writing about they wouldn't really be that modern. The other stumbling block for me on that was that people from modern times have to come from somewhere. The only places in the world I really know are places I consider little homes of mine... mine, exactly. I don't want my characters coming from there. I like reading transition fantasy well enough but I'd have to be prepared to seriously work myself if I wanted to write it.

There was some discussion on conflict (though no conflicts in those discussions!.... sorry, couldn't resist), and I thought I'd consider aloud here what the conflict in my book is. One conflict is obvious; it's how the story begins. One nation declares war on another. That's conflict enough. But for the main character's personal conflict (by the way, I'm not quite sure who the main character is... it might be Chirfan or it might be not, but I'm using him for now because he was the original main character), it's the simple fact that he's a Catholic (and that is why I'm not sure if my world is a completely different world or not. Could the Catholic Faith exist in other worlds? I highly doubt the Incarnation would happen twice... so if there was no Incarnation would there be Catholics? I prefer not to touch upon the subject and just cast it aside, and if the reader really wants to know they just can't, because I don't)... he's constantly conflicting with Satan, because he's a rather good Catholic and that just isn't acceptable to the devil. And then oftentimes he'll have to choose God over king and country and that can be a challenge sometimes. I won't go any further... that's the basics of it.

"Which of the four MICE categories is the main thread tying together the story you're writing?" I don't quite know yet... it might change at any moment. For the time it seems Milieu. I'll go through the process of elimination. I know it isn't Idea... there haven't even been any subplots suggesting that yet. Character? Well, of course the characters will grow (please God they won't decide to shrink!! I just put horrible thoughts in my head), but the story isn't centered around that. Event? Chirfan is one of the people who has to try to set things right... he's a soldier. But he isn't do everything single-handed. He doesn't have to 'get the girl,' because she's no princess ever man in the kingdom is out to get or anything. She's just a sweet little farmer's daughter who lives in the tiny village he left behind that he loves... rather like Sam and Rosie, if I'm to give a LOTR example. And he won't become a king at the end, save the little king of his own little family when he gets to go home from the war. That being said, the story would best fit into Milieu.

And looking at another subject that came up, the problem of writing male characters successfully. Nobody's ever complained about my male characters being unrealistic, and I find them a lot easier to do than female characters, though I'm learning the latter. It comes from having grown up in a little isolated place in the middle of a forest with a pack of brothers and no sisters. Besides, the kind of plots I like to write wouldn't seem too realistic with main female characters. In the world I've invented, women don't go fight, and so having one in the war would be uncanon to my own work. I concur with what Imladris said. My brothers and their friends gave me the training. They became characters in my books. Not them, but little aspects of their personalities as the starting point and then off to a delightful characters.

Now I'll go. Sorry for going on so long. I was reading the thread and writing as I went along, and it made it drawn-out (previewing it, it actually wasn't that bad). I had fun, though. Hopefully I wasn't too much of a bore.... or, more than likely, completely confusing.