Nowadays, lamenting that everybody else seems to live in a separate reality is a not unknown pastime of the sane (assuming I do not presume too much by lumping myself into that sum). Whoever you are, you’ve probably run across
The Lord of the Rings is hands-down the greatest work of fiction ever penned by mortal man. I could talk for ages. Ask my family if you doubt me. The Lord of the Rings is the story that made me
Modernity is myopic. We tend to assume that everybody in the past, deep down, thought in the same way we do, with the same essential premises. Further, we’re terrible at logical (or strategic) empathy, at seeing people through their own
If you’ve read much G.K. Chesterton, you’ve probably realized that some of his stories are better starting places than others. Father Brown, generally speaking, is a much gentler introduction to his style and philosophy than Manalive or The Man Who
We’ve all heard the adage, “Show, don’t tell.” It’s practically the first thing any creative writing course teaches, after the formatting requirements, and I’ve made a pun off it myself. It’s sound advice, but like all short-form bits, it’s not
Magic (with its hundred other pseudonyms) is the staple concept of fantasy. It’s the excuse for a thousand plots and the solution for a million problems. In some people’s minds, magic can do anything, solve any plot hole, fill any
I have an affection for fantasy, born from The Lord of the Rings and fostered through the years, and an affection for historical fiction, born from many thousands of pages (hundreds of books, likely) in my youth. I’m not much
You can find Part One of this article, and a lot of necessary context here. Another example (of magic that isn’t Biblically condemned) is magic which is not innate but which does not originate from an exterior supernatural creature. In
Part One Fantasy, some have said, is the gateway to devil worship, sorcery, and the occult. The assertion is not entirely unreasonable: the Bible does condemn sorcery, and fantasy literature does contain an awful lot of (positively portrayed) sorcery. The
I like strange words; I like them so much I create at least one or two new ones for every story, not even counting the names. I cannot, however, take full credit for the terminology I’ll be discussing today: ‘secondary