The Confabulator Cafe

Tag: fantasy

  • NaNoWriMo 2013 Excerpt from The Demon Within

    NaNoWriMo has come once again and many of us at the Café, myself included, are already busily typing away trying to get to that coveted 50,000 word goal. Sadly, the frenzied pace of full-time job, word counts, and daily living leaves me little time for actual, coherent writing, so instead I’ll treat you to weekly postings from the trenches. Please note that “treat” here is a subjective term. This is pure, unedited and unfiltered writing here folks. I can’t be held liable for damages caused to your psyche or personal property due to reading this material.

    I’m writing five, 10k-word short stories this year for NaNo. This excerpt is from The Demon Within (working title), about a barbarian bred for fighting demonic hoards who gets exiled for being tainted by one.

    (more…)

  • Steampunk and Sea Monsters

    I wrote this story for the Story In A Bag contest at ConQuest last year. For the contest, you pull index cards from five different paper bags (plot, character, item, first line, and setting) and you have one hour to compose a story that uses all five elements. This story won me the contest last year. Forgive the silliness – it hasn’t undergone much editing since its inception a year ago.

    My head felt like it was going to explode. I was still suffering from the ill-effects of Sulfur’s spell. I had spent four hours in the form of a rat because, as he explained to me: “Morton, you are a dirty, wretched rat for stealing Isabel’s affections from me.”

    Now to be frank, I did, in fact, steal the evil wizard’s girlfriend, but in my defense, he only ever met her because I foolishly introduced the two of them. Unfortunately “I saw her first” doesn’t carry much weight with a nefarious wizard such as Sulfur.

    You may be wondering what kind of idiot I am, stealing a wizard’s girl, and you’d have a good point. I am a huge idiot.

    (more…)

  • I’ll Keep It Light, Thanks.

    I write in unrealistic genres — science fiction and urban fantasy being my favorites, though I’ve been playing with more traditional fantasy as well. I like a good touch of romance and bittersweet endings. What it comes down to is that there’s enough realism in real life, thank you very much.

    It sounds immature. In a way, it is. Reading is escapism, after all; for me, so is writing. I’m discovering my story just as much as the reader eventually will. It just takes me longer and not always in the right order. (Writers are a lot like The Doctor in that way. We’ll see the whole picture eventually, we just might end up starting in the middle.)

    Thing is, I’m not the wisest or most informed writer in the world. Not even on this blog. I’m not interested in tackling the big important social, political, and scientific questions of our age. I’m not going to be able to write one of those heavy, hard books. I’m going to leave that to better writers.

    I want to tell stories about people. I want to talk about technology that interests me.1 I want to write love stories that touch on my feminist interests. I want to write about the magic under the dark and gritty skin of a world that is in equal parts beautiful and cruel. Horror, suspense, thriller — shit, there’s already enough of all that in life. I don’t want it in my fiction too.

    This isn’t to say that I don’t let real world issues and concerns slip into my (optimistic) genre stories. It would be a flat world if I did. You need those little touches of realism when you reach for the fantastical — the reader needs to know where the ground is before you break it out from under them.

    And in some ways, writing from an optimistic angle is a way for me to filter my experiences, interests, and fears through a safe outlet. My fears of being economically abandoned certainly slipped into my NaNo novel, where an entire undesirable suburb(?) is physically cut off from the city that the citizens need to survive. DREAMING OF EDEN is colored by my thoughts on a false sense of bodily and social autonomy. My sky-pirate novel will (in theory) touch on parenting and religious institutions.2

    A writer can use any novel as a place to discuss (and even promote) ideas that they find important or interesting. The genre is the coating, the canvas to tell a story.

    1. Honestly, I wrote DREAMING OF EDEN at the same time I was falling in love with Linux, and it shows. Hoo, boy, my feelings on DRM and locked hardware are basically that whole novel.
    2. Not to be confused with religion itself. I don’t mind writing on matters of politics, but I’m not interested in touching matters of faith.

  • Heroes and Villains

    Superman by Alex Ross
    Superman/Clark Kent by Alex Ross in Superman: Peace on Earth. ©1998 DC Comics.

    When people ask me what I write, it’s not easy for me to give a simple answer. I’m a writer, and I write short stories, novels and even a little poetry.

    I’ve written in a number of genres, including contemporary fiction. And though most of my writing falls into the fantasy genre, most people upon hearing the word “fantasy” immediately think I write stories of wizards and dragons — which I never have done.

    I could explain that my current work-in-progress is in the fantasy superhero sub-genre, but that almost always leads people to think I write comic books. (I wish. I’ve often dreamed of getting a shot at writing a Superman story — finding the perfect blend of action and drama.)

    (more…)

  • Learning to Dream, One Book at a Time

    The books I read as a child and teenager shaped my perception of the world and molded me into who I am today. From those books I learned friendship. I learned to dream. I learned love. I learned sorrow. I learned happiness. I learned that no matter what happens, as long as there are still books in the world, I will never truly be alone.

    Hopefully the books I write will create that same sense of yearning for adventure in other children. Even if I don’t accomplish that goal, my writing brings me back to those days of discovery. (more…)

  • What Genre is This?

    To be completely honest, I never really thought much about genre before about three years ago. I had little interest in publication (at least not serious interest), so it didn’t matter how to categorize it. I wrote what I wanted to read.

    I still do that, to an extent. I write what moves me. When an idea inspires me, I write it. When dark things happen, it’s because it’s visceral and it resonates with me. If I look back and see that it’s horror, than let it be so.

    (more…)

  • What’s Your Favorite Fantasy Story?

    Since the Lord of the Rings trilogy hit theaters, everyone in the world is much more aware of the genre of fantasy storytelling. Looked at one way, every story is a fantasy of some kind including things like superheroes and vampires. With Game of Thrones returning to HBO this spring, fantasy storytelling gets an even bigger boost. We thought that this week we’d take time to find out what kinds of fantasy the Confabulators read, love or admire. 

    Jack Campbell, Jr.:

    I hate to say it is The Hobbit, because anything Tolkien seems like too obvious of an answer, even if it is the truth. I recently finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and it was great. Unfortunately, I haven’t read fantasy as a genre on a regular basis for probably 15 years. I am pretty out of touch on the genre.

    Paul Swearingen:

    Fantasy is perhaps the least favorite of my reading genres (okay, I don’t do romance nor erotica very well, either), but a well-written fantasy will certainly hold my attention. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the original fantasy, probably, is still my favorite, in spite of revelations that its author was more or less a dirty old man. Oh, well. Even dirty old men can write well.

    Sara Lundberg:

    I gave up high fantasy for urban fantasy awhile back. I succumbed to the seduction of the dark modern-day settings, the excessive use of vampires, and the graphic love scenes. High fantasy had too much description, too many stock characters, and not nearly enough hot sex. But then I read The Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett, and I was reminded why I fell in love with high fantasy all those years ago. Beautiful world building, epic battles of good vs. evil, true heroes, and a refreshing lack of vampires and modern day slang. This book encompassed everything about high fantasy that enchanted me the very first time my Dad read us The Hobbit as children.

    Jason Arnett:

    Sword of Shannara was the first fantasy story that got my attention because all my friends were reading it. The Hobbit was good, but I never went on to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy because I found Robert Heinlein’s Glory Road and that was MORE fun. Later on I realized fantasy was more than swords and sorcery (though Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories will always have a place in my heart) and that things like Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels really were fantasy, too. If I had to pick one, I’ll fudge it a little and say that Neil Gaiman is one of the finest fantasists working these days, from Sandman to Neverwhere to The Graveyard Book. One can’t go wrong with any of his work for great fantasy.

    Ted Boone:

    The Lord of the Rings cannot be beaten. However, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is a close second.

    R.L. Naquin:

    I love retellings of fairy tales. My favorite is Beauty by Robin McKinley.  So much of it recaptures the feeling of the original story of Beauty and the Beast, yet it also expands it and makes the characters real. Beauty is not some victim of her own good looks and family tragedy. She’s an insecure, intelligent, courageous young woman with a flair for gardening and a love of horses.

     Kevin Wohler:

    Sometimes the best stories are the most simple. And that’s why my favorite fantasy was also one of my first. Written by Jay Williams, the classic children’s picture book “The King With Six Friends” is a great quest story. It tells of a king who befriends strangers on his quest for fortune. In turn, his new friends help the king with their special gifts. Also, the book is beautifully illustrated by Imero Gobbato. I love this story. It’s a mix of The Wizard of Oz and a superhero story. It’s about magic, friendship, and destiny. Most importantly, it started me down the road to reading more fantasy. And for that, I’m ever grateful.

    I could give the very simple and narcissistic answer of, “The book I’m writing, of course!” Except it’s not my favorite book. Right now I kind of hate it–not because it’s a bad book, but because it requires fine tuning and tweaking… and because I haven’t immersed myself in it for about a month.

    My favorite book is something that consumes my every thought. I live and breathe that book. Which means, that every book I read is my favorite book at some point as long as it is well-written and compelling enough to draw me in to its world. There are several fantasy books and series that I keep going back to:  The Lioness Quartet, by Tamora Pierce (and just about every other book she’s written), The Belgariad by David Eddings, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, Xanth by Piers Anthony, The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, the Pern collection by Anne McCaffrey (though this is arguably science fiction), Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon, and of course Harry Potter by, regrettably, not me.
    I would be hard pressed to pick a specific favorite book or favorite series out of those I’ve listed (and many others). They all have special meanings to me, but none of them are, specifically, my favorite books. Because they’re all my favorite fantasy books. Asking me to narrow it down further would be like expecting me to be able to breathe in outer space. I would give it my best effort, but still be unable to do so all the same.
    So rather than giving a specific book as my favorite, I should tell you what makes books join the hallowed ranks of “favorites.” I want a book that gives me character growth, I want a book that is going to make me laugh just as often as it makes me cry. I want a book that when it makes me cry, it hurts. I want to be taken on an emotional roller coaster with the characters. I want the characters to make me care about them… even if that’s just me wishing them dead. I want characters that will have a moral code that they stick to, even if their morals don’t match with mine. And perhaps most of all, I want a book that I’m not going to know how it ends by the fiftieth page. Surprise me. Make me work for my happy ending. Oh, that’s the other thing. I want a happy ending–well, or for everyone to die. I’m not all that picky.

  • (s)

    Q: What’s your favorite book?

    A: I refuse to answer that question, on the grounds that it suggests there can be a singular answer

    Q (amended): What’s your favorite book(s)?

    Long A: Ahhh, now that’s more like it! See what magic can occur with the addition of two parentheses and an ‘s’?

    There are many, many books that have inspired me throughout the years. I took this assignment as an opportunity to reminisce about my experiences with the stories I’ve read throughout my lifetime that have shaped my current tastes and proclivities in fiction, as well as my own style of writing. The exercise was a fun trip down memory lane, and it was surprisingly enlightening for me, as well.

    I will skip over some of the required reading all children that love books will have read. Things like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, or C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, or Madeleine L’Engel’s A Wrinkle in Time. I read them. Of course I read them. And they inspired me and affected me like they did millions of other readers. But that also means that waxing rhapsodic about these books would be an exercise in repetition that I’m loathe to pursue.

    So, what are some stories that not everyone has read, that still profoundly affected me throughout my life?

    (more…)