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I'm creating a new TOPIC IN FOCUS and inviting all new authors to participate. Please tell us why you write fantasy and how you go about it. Perhaps you'll get some new readers. Readers, please ask them questions!

First of all, I'd like to say thanks Sandra, for creating this. I'm sure all of the authors in the group will appreciate having a place they can discuss their craft.

Why I write fantasy?

I've spent almost twenty years playing fantasy role playing games, reading fantasy books, watching fantasy movies, collecting dragons, and generally being a geek. Maybe it's in my nature. I only started writing fantasy a little over a year ago, and so am not the most experienced author out there, but I learn fast. :)

Most of my ideas and inspiration comes from a world I built for Dungeons and Dragons. I use some new characters, and some that have been around for many years.

Fantasy is nice because it provides an escape from reality. It gives me a place to live out dreams and explore my imagination, and lets me share the stories that have been brewing in my head for years.

I think it will be fascinating to see the various motivations among fantasy authors. Good topic for a focus.

As for me, I dare say I couldn't see myself *not* writing fantasy. There's something to be said for being able to tap into the recesses of the imagination and craft from its images whole worlds and situations we could never see within our own reality. Creativity may come naturally, but it is a wonder to behold its potential - to see the scope of the human mind's dreams. What's more, in the general writers' sense, what could be more wonderful - more satisfying - than to weave new lives upon the page, to give them breath, and behold all the possibilities of their actions?

I've been reading, watching, and playing fantasy since I was a child. My parents nurtured my imagination. My friends encouraged it with elaborate games and inventive roles to play that went far above and beyond the classic scampering pursuit of tag and freeze and dodge ball goodness. I basked in awe of the creative spirit.

And from that young age, I've wanted to share that awe with the world. Writing allows this. It allows us to drift far away, even within our own world. Fantasy allows us to take real world concepts and mingle them with the great "what-ifs". That's where a lot of my ideas come from - all too realistic characters and concepts put side-by-side the impossible or simply the "did-not-come-to-pass in our world." It allows us so many new angles on which to consider existence, and so many images with which to stir that sense of wonder in us all.

But the biggest thing here can also be made the simplest: why do I write fantasy, at heart? Because I love to create.

I find that fantasy allows me to take one step away from our world, and allows me to tell all the jokes I can from a different perspective...

Will wrote: "I find that fantasy allows me to take one step away from our world, and allows me to tell all the jokes I can from a different perspective..."

So you write humorous fantasy? Is that all you've got to say about it?

Is fantasy really hard to write?

Phoebe wrote: "Is fantasy really hard to write?"

It can be. Coming up with something original, that hasn't been totally done before is probably the hardest part, but I think this is the case with any kind of writing.

I think there's a certain expectation with modern fantasy writing, and it's hard to live up to that expectation. Magic must always have a system, and worlds must be built.

The hardest part about writing in general is learning all of the "rules" of writing. I've never been very good in English studies (I was a C in English while I was an A or A+ in everything else), so my earliest work required heavy editing to make it marketable.

I spend a lot of time garnering feedback on my work, and try to tailor what I write to a specific audience. The risk I take in this, is ending up with something that appeals to that audience, but not the world at large. I'm okay with that.

I was worried you might tell me off again for over promotion.

My characters as completely real to me. All I'm actually doing is letting them out onto paper - like following them around with a voice recorder...or noting down what a bunch of mates do when they are out having a laugh...

I do find a lot of fantasy (unintentionally) funny, when the writer takes themselves too seriously, and am determined never to fall into that trap!

Phoebe wrote: "Is fantasy really hard to write?"

I don't think so, in terms that it's no harder than anything else. Once your imagination starts to work, you are away.

Once I participated in an informal Flash Fiction competition for 3 months. The basis was one new story, every week, under 1000 words. That made the imagination work hard, I can tell you.

Will wrote: "I was worried you might tell me off again for over promotion.

My characters as completely real to me. All I'm actually doing is letting them out onto paper - like following them around with a v..."

Do you have a goal when you write? Or a specific audience that you write to?

Or do you write what comes to mind, and then try to find an audience for that?

Do you write urban fantasy? High Fantasy? Something else?

Will wrote: "I was worried you might tell me off again for over promotion.

My characters as completely real to me. All I'm actually doing is letting them out onto paper - like following them around with a v..."

That's what this thread is for. Not perhaps promoting a particular book, but letting us know what your philosophy is like, what kind of books you write and why, perhaps some of your frustrations and struggles writing and getting published, etc.

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "That's what this thread is for. Not perhaps promoting a particular book, but letting us know what your philosophy is like, what kind of books you write and why, perhaps some of your frustrations and struggles writing and getting published, etc."

Frustrating struggles with getting published? Bloody. Now that'll be a long tale for some. Always an...engaged discussion.

Style and target - think Terry Pratchett. My series centres on the adventures of a dwarf rhythm and blues band trying to make a living, gigging, and surviving in a mix of our world and theirs.

Strap line from the publisher - When jazz meets magic, mayhem ensues. ( Sorry for the syntax, he's american you know.)

I've always enjoyed reading fantasy novels. It lends a writer to limitless options in their creativity. My stories are built around a question and is written for teens and young adult boys that hate ready like I did growing up.

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "Will wrote: "I was worried you might tell me off again for over promotion.

My characters as completely real to me. All I'm actually doing is letting them out onto paper - like following them arou..."

Getting a publishing deal is always really hard. I think that i was just lucky, as I certainly wouldn't claim to be any better than anyone else here. Sometimes, you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

As to why I write - can't sing, can't dance, and my lead guitar work, well let's not go there. At least I've never wanted to be a drummer. So, writing is the only way I have of entertaining.

Will wrote: "Getting a publishing deal is always really hard. I think that i was just lucky, as I certainly wouldn't claim to be any better than anyone else here. Sometimes, you just have to be in the right place at the right time. "

See, I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. I chose to avoid the traditional publishing scene altogether. I went straight for self-publishing.

Reasons? Well, for one, I think the barrier to entry into traditional publishing is too high. That's not to say that I don't have confidence that my work could make it, but I'm not really interested in introducing that kind of frustration into my life.

Second, and probably more importantly, is the fact that if I go indy, I maintain complete control over every aspect of my book, which is very appealing to me.

Of course, the flip side of that coin, Thomas, is that you have no back up or anyone in support. I was going to self pub if I didn't get a deal in a set time span. Still reckon I was lucky, though, and when I walk into the large local chain in days for a signing and see my book on the shelves, I might just get a bit overcome...

What inspires you to write? Do you read other fantasy works to get ideas, or do they come from more everyday things?

Hayley wrote: "What inspires you to write? Do you read other fantasy works to get ideas, or do they come from more everyday things?"

A great question Heyley!

It took me a long time to find the inspiration to write that first book. And when all was said and done, the original beginning (not the published beginning) was inspired by a particular intersection in my home town. I even kept the street names the same. :D

For my continuing work, I do draw some inspiration from other works. J. Robert King is one of my favorite authors and is a master of the action scene. I draw inspiration from this when I write my action scenes, and it's those scenes in particular that I enjoy writing the most.

Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman are two more of my favorites who inspire much of my work with magic in my book.

And still, a large degree of it spawns from my own imagination. My fantasy world is one that I created originally for gaming, and many of my characters I have actually role-played in a live game, which allows me to get inside their head, so to speak.

I love the humour that flows from imagining the clash between a fantasy world and our own. Think of a couple of High Elves, confronted by a burger bar. A dwarf mine accidentally invaded by some goths or a witch landing in a gas station to refuel the broomstick and water the cat... or in my latest short, having her broomstick serviced at a repair shop.

I write fantasy because I have been a lifelong fantasy reader, and when I was in Grad School (for philosophy) the ideas I was picking up chose that form in which to express themselves. I enjoy fantasy, but writing it is something of an imperative in my life as well. I write myself when I write my stories, or they write me. They are part of the shape my world has taken, which is why I talk about them so often. If I can't talk about them, I can't talk.
(See? Even writing this I learn about myself.)
I don't write anything else, so I don't know if it's a more difficult genre or not. I write very slowly, but many of the authors who write quickly turn out books in which I have no interest. My faster works tend to be the sillier ones, but the fastest story I ever wrote is also in many respects my most serious. (It's the only one written to a strict deadline.)
I get inspiration from everywhere, usually something written, a story or a song. Which I then take as far from the original source as I can.
I don't think any major publisher would handle my work, but since I can't describe it well enough to get it into their hands I'll probably never know.

Marc, I think we all write ourselves when we write. Butthat's a good thing. The real professionals call it your 'voice', meaning that any reader picking up one of your books without seeing the cover should be able to recognise it as your work, if they have seen it before.

Will wrote: "Marc, I think we all write ourselves when we write. But that's a good thing."

Will, that's not exactly what I meant. I agree that our voice comes out in the way we write when we write honestly, but what I meant was that the act of writing changes me as I do it. I am revising myself by the act of following the story logic.

Thanks for the opportunity to chat about our writing :)

I write fantasy for many reasons. Mostly because I try to write the kind of book that I would like to read myself. A book I would be excited to discover in the library or in a second hand bookshop - a magical book. :)

I like introducing magical situations into an every day setting; magical creatures that hide in a modern city, or people who seem to be ordinary but have magical abilities. Maybe this is because I still have that yearning to find the door in the back of the wardrobe? But also because fantasy gives me a chance to explore things that are more difficult to do with "realistic" writing.

For example, in one of my stories I write about a mermaid in a modern harbour to explore ideas of loss and longing that I would struggle to do if there was no magic involved.

Masha wrote: "For example, in one of my stories I write about a mermaid in a modern harbour to explore ideas of loss and longing that I would struggle to do if there was no magic involved. "

Fantasy is excellent for that. Some ideas are too abstract to matter much to people, but attaching a name or a face to it, making it 'real', allows so much more to be said, more effectively, with fewer words in less space.

I'm wondering if authors, especially older authors before genres became so distinct, purposely decided to write a fantasy or if their book just happened to fit the genre as they discovered their characters and world. Does that make sense?

Kernos wrote: "I'm wondering if authors, especially older authors before genres became so distinct, purposely decided to write a fantasy or if their book just happened to fit the genre as they discovered their ch..."

It does to me. My first books were fantasy, on purpose. My third fits no existing genre. It was originally supposed to be a mystery/horror, but I can't write those.

Marc wrote: "Fantasy is excellent for that. Some ideas are too abstract to matter much to people, but attaching a name or a face to it, making it 'real', allows so much more to be said, more effectively, with fewer words in less space"

Exactly. And it also gives you a chance to say something fresh. The big issues have been dealt with so many times. Fantasy can frame things in a new way, to reach readers more powerfully.

Kernos wrote: "I'm wondering if authors, especially older authors before genres became so distinct, purposely decided to write a fantasy or if their book just happened to fit the genre as they discovered their ch..."

That is a good question. I would guess the second option, that the books just fitted the genre. A chicken and egg question! :)

I think that a lot of the older writers didn't bother about such things at all. Look at Tolkein. I'll bet he didn't think of himself as a fantasy writer, just a story teller in the long tradition from Beowulf down. Genre is just our modern obsession. I'll bet that a lot of the readers here have read The Iliad. That would have been considered a fantasy, if a certain Herr Schliemann hadn't put a spade in the ground.

I wonder how much of our genre obsession comes from the marketplace? The pulp magazines, where so many authors got their start, were strict about the genre. With so many books available, they're divided into genres at the store, so the publisher wants to tag them in one. Could that lead to editors &/or marketing people pushing for a narrower focus?

Zelazny never paid much attention to genre & it caused him some problems placing stories. For instance, his book The Dead Man's Brother wasn't published until long after his death. It's a murder mystery & he couldn't find (or his agent wouldn't or something) a market for it when he wrote it. He eventually filed & forgot about it.

If you publish a book on Amazon, can you list it in more than one genre? Is there a limit? Since we're not browsing physical shelves, I should think a book could show up on many, just as my books do here. I'm quite happy about that since I have a lot of trouble with categorizing them. There isn't even a hard line between fact & fiction.

If you publish a book on Amazon, can you list it in more than one genre? Is there a limit?"

You can choose two categories and these are not so much genres but are supposed to be "like the sections of a physical bookstore" and include things like short stories. So you can list your book in a category "Fiction - Fantasy - Short Story" and "Fiction - Fantasy - Contemporary" for example. Each of these is a single category. As far as I know there is nothing to prevent you from listing a book under both "Science Fiction " and "Fantasy" at the same time. It's just supposed to help people find the book.

Kernos wrote: "I'm wondering if authors, especially older authors before genres became so distinct, purposely decided to write a fantasy or if their book just happened to fit the genre as they discovered their ch..."

I'm not an "older" authors by any stretch, but I do know that when I set out to write a book, I set out to write a fantasy.

The focus on genre is a more recent invention, but it was put in place in large part because of the shear volume of books entering the market. There had to be a way to divide them up into logical subsections that would better match a consumers interests. Thus, we divide them into genres.

I started out writing what I loved to read. I had always loved grand adventure, dragons, sword fighting and magic in my stories. That was all I used to read when I was younger, so when I started to write a story of my own that is what flowed from my mind.

Fantasy for me is fun because I can pick the rules that the world follows. You don't have to be bound by what we know, you are only bound by what you can imagine. It's a freedom to explore without any boundaries.

I don't ever try to write to a specific genre or type of fantasy. I write the story that plays out in my mind and then try to figure out what labels to slap on it afterwards. With some stories that can be a challenge, but then writing is always a challenge in some way or another.

Phoebe wrote: "Is fantasy really hard to write?"

I think fantasy is probably the easiest to write in that you aren't really forced to follow any rules but the ones you make up. The challenge is in creating that world, bringing those characters to life, and making it something interesting to others.

Do you find it hard to be orginal? I would think it would be difficult to stay away from ideas and styles that you admire in other authors.

Bridget wrote: "Phoebe wrote: "Is fantasy really hard to write?"

I think fantasy is probably the easiest to write in that you aren't really forced to follow any rules but the ones you make up. The challenge is in..."

I believe that often makes a GOOD fantasy that much harder to write. The author has to invent the world in so many ways & keep it consistent. Plus, they also have to properly adhere to all the mundane laws of our world that they leave assumed. It's a big job & far too many goof it up.

Traci wrote: "Do you find it hard to be orginal? I would think it would be difficult to stay away from ideas and styles that you admire in other authors."

With the sheer amount of fantasy that's out there, it's tremendously difficult to come up with something that's entirely original. My originality comes from my world building.

Thing is, in almost all cases, people will compare your work to other people's work in ways that you never thought of. Fantasy writers have to be prepared for that.

No matter how original you think you are, your "great idea" has almost certainly already been done, and often without you even realising it.

I would think that would be a problem for all writers, not just fantasy writers.

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "I would think that would be a problem for all writers, not just fantasy writers."

Yup. The beauty is in the execution. Did you do it better than the other guy. Which is one of the reasons I encourage every author considering the self-publishing route to get as much feedback as they can, and to make sure they put forward the absolute best work they possibly can.

Traci wrote: "Do you find it hard to be orginal? I would think it would be difficult to stay away from ideas and styles that you admire in other authors."

There are levels of storytelling. In some it's hard to be original. The Hero of a Thousand Faces describes a structure that's almost impossible to get away from, but it's also the most general level. For smaller events and scenes, I have a great memory for such things that I see in other books, movies, song lyrics. If I find myself doing anything like what I've seen before, I make a deliberate effort to take it in another direction. I can't claim that no one has done it before me, only that I have no conscious memory of seeing it done. And yes, it's hard. Sometimes I can get hung up for days trying to find a way to do something that doesn't sound trite or cliched.

This might seem like an odd question...but what about naming characters. Did it come easy? Difficult? Especially for those with characters from other places outside of our world. How do you make something sound both familar enough to be a comfortable memorable name but foreign enough that it doesn't sound like Bob or Bill (not that there's anything wrong with either name)?

Traci wrote: "This might seem like an odd question...but what about naming characters. Did it come easy? Difficult? Especially for those with characters from other places outside of our world. How do you make so..."

Most names come easily. My first book started with the hero's name, but I have no idea where it came from. I used it as a template, and reverse-engineered a whole naming system for his people. That put me in mind of creating other naming systems for other peoples as he encountered them. The first was simpler, and more community oriented, while the second emphasized clan connections, with the family name coming first. The only other principle I have is to keep them simple. Names are like other commonly used words, the shorter and simpler the better. I did choose one name on purpose, in honor of a man I liked a lot, but as the character changed to become a minor villain I changed it. Thank God for Control-H!

Traci wrote: "This might seem like an odd question...but what about naming characters. Did it come easy? Difficult? Especially for those with characters from other places outside of our world. How do you make so..."

I've always found names fascinating. That said, while not the trickiest of processes in my mind, it is one of the most key. As you said - you have to make the names stick, but you also don't want them sounding too mundane. What's more, in some cases, I like to attach meaning to a character's name - some hidden gem that reflects a character trait, personality, or some-such thing, that might prove interesting for any reader curious enough to investigate.

For example, one of the characters in my novel is named "Alviss" - a name that means "All-wise." Another is named "Rowan," which means "Little Red One." The latter was given to him for his red hair (go figure), the former for a more intrinsic quality, and a role the character serves well.

But just as often, of course, it's just as easy to create names as to create anything else - to simply think on it, to let it come to you, and craft an original name that seems to "fit."

Traci wrote: "This might seem like an odd question...but what about naming characters. Did it come easy? Difficult? Especially for those with characters from other places outside of our world. How do you make so..."

I wrote an article on this once, in which I freely admitted that I use a name generator for some of my names. The key is, I use different modules for different regions in my world, and I carefully review every name, usually picked from a list of multiple hundreds of names.

I'm terrible at coming up with names though.

For me, names resonate. They have a feel which dfeeds through into the makeup and behaviour of the character. But as most of my characters are human, even the fantasy creatures behave as badly as we do, the resource for names is already there.

However bizarre you think a name might be, I'll bet someone somewhere has already used it.

Traci wrote: "This might seem like an odd question...but what about naming characters. Did it come easy? Difficult? Especially for those with characters from other places outside of our world. How do you make so..."

Names are the most difficult part for me. I changed my character names about four times before I was finally settled.

I go through name generators, English to Latin dictionary, baby name books and anything in between in order to come up with my names. I always just hope that the name I end up with fits who the character develops into when I'm finished.

I like to write fantasy for the same reason I like to read it: being an explorer. One of my favorite parts of reading a series is learning about the world the author has created. Be it a completely new world--as found in traditional fantasy, or an alternate version of our own--as in urban fantasy. Both are thrilling in their own way. The former because it's taking me to a new place, the latter because it's doing that or making me re-envision places with which I'm already familiar.

My first published work is an urban fantasy/paranormal thriller set on Earth, in my home city of Joplin and the surrounding Ozark region. Writing here gives me a chance to explore new parts of my own environment. To "fantasize" it, so to speak. Writing makes me feel like a tour guide, and the readers are following me along a path that I've charted, through regions I've only just recently discovered and explored myself.

I like to write fantasy for the escapism. Fantasy is unrivaled in that sense as it stems purely from the writer's imagination and most likely does not have any ties to this world around us. I enjoy world building and I want my readers to be thrown into my realm and absorb it all and then ask for more. That is what I love when I read great fantasy books; that there is always a further mystery or a little nuance that unfolds all by itself in the mind, the writer doesn't spell it out for you. That is a subtlety I strive for in my books.

When I'm in the flow of it, it is like my mind is talking. But it is my mind from years back, when I was a child with a just as or even more active imagination. I spill out all the ideas and scenes that played through my head countless times; without limit or restrictions of history or physical laws. Although I do strive for realism in my writing and there is an essence of order in the worlds I create. I love creating new power structures, politics, foods, races, cultures, languages, which I suppose I picked up from reading the likes of Erikson, Tolkien and Herbert.

There simply is no end to the ways in which the threads of a fantasy writer's thoughts can be woven. As a result, many fascinating tapestries come to fruition. I hope my books will be some of those, draped across the walls of readers' minds.

Traci wrote: "Do you find it hard to be orginal? I would think it would be difficult to stay away from ideas and styles that you admire in other authors."

Hmmm... I think there's a different standard of 'original' in fantasy then in many other genres. There's something like seven or so basic fantasy plots (mythos archetypes)and maybe fifteen or so basic characters.

So, original doesn't much mean an entirely new plot or character concept. (Don't get me wrong, it's great if you can do it, but I haven't seen anyone do it since the 80's when the Anti-Hero joined the list of common character types.) It's more about handling it well, and building a world, characters, and plots that the readers fall in love with.

And, we all borrow from each other and the classics. Sometimes it's really obvious: old, wise, wizard who dies before the end of the story... We've all seen that, and many of us will use it because that's one of the integral parts of the traditional Hero's Journey (which is one of the base plots we use a lot, too). Sometimes it's not: I very much doubt anyone reading Sylvianna will catch what I borrowed from Harry Potter (mostly because I took negative advice, paying attention to JKR's pitfalls and actively avoiding falling into them.)

Any author is always learning more about writing as we read. Even 'bad' books teach us things, if nothing more than avoid this or that trap. So the line for 'borrowed' versus learned something interesting and applied that, can be awfully fuzzy.

Will wrote: "Style and target - think Terry Pratchett. My series centres on the adventures of a dwarf rhythm and blues band trying to make a living, gigging, and surviving in a mix of our world and theirs.

..."

That sounds like the the craziest shit I have ever heard of. For that reason, it sounds like great sauce! Is it out yet?