Are You Writing Serious Fantasy? II

[Elennar Starfire]

Ah, but how did you break the block?

I don't really know...it just went away.

[Encaitare]

Once I was complaining about my writer's block to one of my favorite fanfiction authors, and she told me that writer's block is just a state of mind. Surprisingly, thinking on her words of wisdom helped lift the block! Maybe it'll work for someone else too...

[Imladris]

Yes, I have heard that too, Encaitare, and when you view Writer's Block as an illusion, it does help wonders. Unfortunately, it's easier to say that than do it.

I have found that if you do have writer's block, it pays to write about anything. I consider it the equivalent of an artist's doodlings...only you're writing the doodlings.

[Elennar Starfire]

Maybe it was the strange journal prompt my English teacher gave us...she put a strange picture on the board, of a man about to hit a lump under the carpet with a chair (meaning he was going to use the chair to hit the lump, not that the lump had a chair) and said to make up a story for what's going on. I had a bit of fun with that...the really great thing is that she's got lots of these pictures. Tales of accidental toadification, baby rocks that come skipping back...

*is rambling again* Sorry about that...

Anyways, I suppose I would recommend thinking of something amusing and writing about it.

[Sapphire_Flame]

I just read through this entire thread, and decided it needed resurrecting.

How did you decide that you wanted to write fantasy? What kind do you write?

I'm not sure, really. One day, when I was about thirteen, my mind suddenly said, "Hey, wouldn't it be interesting to write a fantasy story?" My mind has refused to shut up about it since.

I write action fantasy! Lots of running around and battling with creepy things. 'S most fun. I actually have started out by writing fanfiction, which is brilliant practice for original work. ('M working on one story at the moment which is a very odd crossover between LotR and Alien! Should be quite good. *crosses fingers*)

Has Tolkien influenced your writing? If so, how?

Oyez. Mostly with names; a lot of the names in the novel triplet I'm working on are drawn from Tolkien's works. I do change the meanings and spellings, so it's not exact, and it's not just Elven; I have names taken from Black Speech, Westron, and Rohirric as well. Plus, Tolkien's style is just so brilliant, I try to give my work some of the same depth and meaning.

How do you make your protagonist (hero) somebody your reader can relate to, or like, or at least sympathize with?

Ditto what has been said before; I try to write them so I identify with them, and hopefully others will identify as well. We really are more alike than we are led to believe.

Even the baddies can be identified with, to a certain degree. Best example? Gollum.

What I'm actually doing with my current triplet is making my protagonist not be the most important person involved in the war. He's a knight, one of many, and is just trying to help protect his land and his people. I think having a protagonist be "perfect" and the most important piece on the board, so to speak, is a real turnoff for many readers. They don't want to read about amazing, perfect people doing amazing, superhuman things. Like with the hobbits. They are "little people", in every sense of the word, which is why readers identify with them.

What kind do you write? (Transition or Immersion)

Immersion, definitely. *nodnod* Personally, I don't like having to explain everything to the main character in order to explain it to the audience. I always feel like I'm in better hands if the protagonists actually know what they're doing (or seem to know ^_~).

Although I did get a weird idea to do "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Middle-earth", involving a modern teen/young adult falling into M-e and needing help from a friendly Arda denizen and his/her Hitchhiker's scroll. Yes, I know I need help. And no, you can't have that idea. It's mine, my own, my preciousss.... >.>

How do you overcome gender barriers?

Carefully. ^_~

I actually don't have much trouble with this; even though I'm a girl, I seem to have an easier time writing male characters... o.O; Yeah, 's odd. Just try your best; but don't fall into stereotyping; this creates Designated Misogynistic Idiots, which is, as a general rule, a bad thing, especially in a protagonist.

How do you do second drafts?

This took me forever to work out. I used to refuse to change anything I've already written. Now rewriting is one of my favourite parts of the writing process! I'll agree with what has been said previously; make a copy of your work and hand it over to someone with a Big Red Pen to mark it up and make suggestions. It is very useful. *nodnod*

Does anyone else carry something with them? Like a special notebook or pen?

My Insanity Folder. It never leaves my person. I keep all my writing ideas, maps, excerpts, quotes, everything, in this one little folder. The poor thing gets very beat up; I've had to replace it three times already. O.O For a writing utensil, I keep a mechanical pencil, extra lead, and an eraser with me at all times.

(writing rituals?)

Music. Lots of music. *nodnod*

Studies have been done that says that young children who listen to the classics are smarter as they grow older

Another study has shown that if you listen to rap, your IQ drops. *snicker*

Which of the four MICE categories is the main thread tying together the story you're writing?

I'm thinking my current triplet is more of an event story, but I'm not sure. It's a battle/magic kind of thing (with spiders! ) so it kind of just goes from event to event; but I also like to put in detail and background for my characters. Can a story be in two categories?

Something I always have trouble with as a writer is coming up with names for my characters. I have a great plot in mind but I can't start writing because I can't think of names for the characters and as a result the story either a. doesn't get written or b. has names for characters that I'm not satisfied with. Any suggestions on this?

I hate when that happens. -_-; I usually just stick in names of friends or something until I get to know the characters better. Then I can usually pick a name. If you write modern fantasy, you can pick a name by deciding on a meaning you want it to have, then checking a names book to find something that fits. Or you can write it as an in-joke (someone who loves disco with a name that sounds rather like Boromir? ^_~).

Then there are those lovely characters that pop up with a name already supplied. One of my characters waltzed into my head with a little wave and a nametag that read "Hello, my name is Maura!". It was so perfect. ^^

It is not names of characters that trouble me, rather names of places. It is really troubling me. Does anyone else have difficulty with this, as opposed to character names?

Place names... -_- Horrid, quite horrid. I will give you a tip that my friend uses, to great success; maybe you can use it. She gets an astronomy book and goes through the names of stars, constellations, and nebuli. She has discovered some brilliant names by doing that. I've used a few myself.

Anyway, my question is this: connecting pieces. Say you get a lot of ideas, but you have trouble linking them all together coherently. How would you fix that problem? I hate doing the "time skips" and "trudge trudge trudge" that turns up so much. Any suggestions?

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Elennar Starfire]

Another fun way to come up with names is to spell things backwards and change a few letters so it's not obvious to those weirdos (like me) who often read names backwards to see if it's a word.

Remember Aksarben, Saphy?

I also think of a person I know that acts somewhat like the character, spell it backwards or twist it around and come up with a name. Like Deshaune...(my 7th/8th grade French teacher).

[Encaitare]

I found a million great ideas for names in my SAT prep book. They put some very curious words in there:

maudlin -- which could easily, and probably will be, converted into Maudelyn

scintilla -- an word which sounds like some sort of evil vegetation to me

legerdemain -- since many of my characters are court jesters, and this word means "sleight of hand," I may very well make it a last name, LeGerdemain.

I also came across the name Quigley in there, which I immediately loved, so much so that I had to create a character for it. He's a little juggler who's very mischievous.