Recent content by At Dusk I Reign

Writing, I would suggest, is writing, regardless of genre. I've never considered the fiction I write/inflict to be a class apart from any other kind of storytelling. All fiction is fantasy when you get down to it, it's just that some forms express their truths more palatably than others. The...

You're assuming that the writer should meld his work to fit the audience, rather than the other way around. I don't agree. If the audience doesn't get it, so what? Many works of fiction have lain forgotten until more discerning minds have discovered them. Again, I'm all for internal consistency...

I remember some Zelda game on the Nintendo. Not Swords and Serpents though. I can't say I was a fan of Nintendo's effort - I prefered A Link To The Past on the Snes. By and large most fantasy games have passed me by, though there's some part which hopes for a resurgence in text-based games. For...

No. Really, no. Audience perspective should be taken into account, but it should never be a driving force in creating fiction. The act of creation should be free of such considerations: it's pandering to the masses that's a waste of paper. That's precisely what it is about, especially when it...

I can't think of anything worse, to be honest. I tried writing something with my brother many, many years ago but the result was quite terrible. Differences in style were a problem, but my complete inability to accept criticism was the final nail in the proverbial coffin. That's probably why I...

I write in my spare room whenever I have the time — I tried writing in bed once but then I read that computers fry your nuts and that was the end of that - I'm quite attached to my bits.:p I can't write in silence, though — I've spent too many years with my own thoughts and have never learned...

Death is not the end. It cannot hope to be. No mere cessation of existence can extinguish the wonders which prowl men's dreams.

(Echoing DF somewhat) Once an author reaches the point of shuffling the reader round various locales just to prove how imaginative they are, that's enough. While character is defined by setting, there's always the danger of going overboard. Many places in fantasy fiction aren't worth visiting...

As someone who's interested in how and why writers actually write it's great to see in-depth responses regarding the process. I've always found it a pleasure to delve inside the writer's mind and poke around in the clockwork.:)

The more books in a series the less likely I am to believe that the author has anything interesting to say. Once something goes past a trilogy I automatically suspect padding, and I've seldom been proved wrong. Individual books are a different prospect, and if the initial paragraph grabs me by...

I did say, in my defence, that internal consistency was important. I don't suggest that anything goes in a work of fiction, merely that those slavishly devoted to 'realistic fantasy' (an oxymoron if ever I heard one) would be better suited to writing historical fiction. I've been most places...

The only equivalence I recognise revolves around how each work is perceived as a final product. I used the Masters' work as an example of what many people consider art to be, that's all. I could've used Damien Hirst but I'm not into formaldehyde. Painting and writing are two different...

The writer's lot is, by and large, a solitary one. It's not an activity that can ever truly be shared, even in collaboration. Ultimately every scribe works alone, his thoughts his only companion. Some people find this a challenge and come up with all kinds of ways to avoid doing the obvious...

I've no first-hand knowledge - the original game still makes me shudder. A friend of mine does play the sequel, however, and she loves it. Well, she loves playing the campaign in co-op. She's not so keen on the interface, which is apparently incredibly confusing (and isn't helped by the...

Great responses so far : it's always fascinating to peer into the minds of fellow writers.:)