Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Amphigory + Retrospective

Pemberly and I went for a walk on Sunday.  The result?  I got swarmed with mosquitos, becoming a veritable feast for the little beasties.  She, however, escaped unscathed.  I maintain that I had to act so delectable on purpose to protect my wife from harm.  The things one suffers to be chivalrous.  Anyway, here's an Amphigory.  It, uh, is kind of a stretch.  Your clue is thus: Think about where these various creatures would go to worship.

 

It's now been two years since my first book was released.  (Elantris came out May 2005.)  It's been an interesting experience.  Would I do anything different?  No, at this point, I'm of the opinion that I wouldn't.  I still consider myself quite fortunate to have been published in the first place, and the mere fact that I can now sit around all day thinking of stories and getting paid to write them...well, that's awesome.

I'm currently reading a book titled Doppelganger, loaned to me by Ms. Fish. (Author: David Stahler Jr. ) It's a great book, and has left me wondering.  Why do I write fantasy?  People often ask me if I'm tempted to do anything else. 

My answer is no.  At the two year mark, fantasy is still what I love.  A book like Doppelganger can work so well because of its fantastical elements, even if there aren't that many of them.  I find that I enjoy this book a whole lot more than I do other books, even well-written ones, in other genres.  I just love fantasy.  That's the long and short of it. 

Maybe I'll think differently at the ten year mark.  Maybe I'll get tired of the genre, or become one of those who writes it but doesn't read it.  Right now, I can't understand that philosophy.  This is the greatest genre on the planet, and I'm here to stay.  Why would I wrote something that isn't fantasy when, in my opinion, fantastical elements can make virtually any story that much better?

I'm tempted to write a full-blown essay on this.  Don't be surprised if you see one about it soon.  However, first I'll post my #1 element of bad storytelling.  That will either be tomorrow or Thursday.

Onward and upward, then! 

(p.s. Go buy a copy of Doppelganger.  This is an excellent book.)

1 Comments:

Blogger Dave Riddle said...

Kind of bouncing from blog to blog, and came across your page. Really glad that I did.

Do you feel like mentoring a young burnt out engineer that would do anything to publish good book?

Check out my blog, it would give you an idea of what you would be dealing with.

How is that for fricken random?

I don't know any authors. I ran across your page and thought it would be gold if you were feeling charitable with your brain.

You could email me:davidgriddle@yahoo.com

4:47 PM  

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