Are You Writing Serious Fantasy? II

[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.

I've only been published in science journals/magazines but I'm writing my 2nd novel (I'm waiting a good spell before trying shop my first one) that is a Sci-Fi with plenty of humor. Sometimes it takes inspiration to get through a block, but that can take time. Time is not on our side, usually, so I've found, by experience, that 'working through' is the best remedy. By which, I mean, just making myself work forward on the story (thank goodness for computers! ) and only saving the good bits. I will usually find a new thought or thread to carry on the story, or even just come up with new ideas to incorporate into the story at some later juncture.

Plus a real kicker is a timeline....nothing inspires like a deadline, eh!

[Kitanna]

I don't know who first suggested taking the first letters of various names and places to form new words, but that has been a most helpful hint!
I finished writing a fantasy story earlier this year and I had no problems coming up with the places for it, but as I started to write the second part I needed more names for it. And so I used that first letter method and it was such a huge help when I was drawing the map and trying to name the various landmarks. So thanks to the person (or people) who brought that up!

[Assasin]

Once, in a fantasy story I was typing on the computer I couldn't come up with a name, so I looked around for ideas, I actually found it on the back of a cerial box. So, when in doubt, look around. I also think Sirith's idea was cool.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

So what type of scene comes most naturally to you guys? I must say that I particularly love writing about a diminishing mental state of a person. Whether this character has been weakened by some terrible news, or is descending into madness, that's what I really enjoy writing about.