Rebekkah V.
Acolyte
I’m a 35-year-old socially awkward fantasy writer from Germany close to finishing the second draft of my debut. So I decided it’s about time to connect to other fantasy writers. I’ve been writing fantasy for quite a while now, but it wasn’t until last year that I’ve started to write the kind of fiction you could publish as a book. My first novel I wrote with 17 and it was some sort of multi-crossover between Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and an album from Iron Maiden among others, but set in a world entirely created on my own. It was quite fun for a start, though.
Fantasy is my genre of preference for as long as I can remember. I love the rich worlds, the magic, the child-like fascination arising from exploring these worlds. To me, it’s escapism and learning about your attitudes and society while it challenges your notions of them. My favourite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, George R.R. Martin, Mr. Tolkien and Scott Lynch and I think they all have influenced my writing one or the other way. And there’s a whole lot more on my TBR list, I’m afraid.
I’ve spent many years writing tons of fanfiction, all set in the same fictional world. I was content with that for a while, but as it was, I aspired for more. There’s only so much you can write if you don’t want to distort the characters and their world. After a while, it became constricting which I believe is certain death for the creative mind, but I refused to let go because I cared so much for the characters. I started to explore white spots on the map, developed cultures you barely learn of in the original series, created new conflicts and intrigues, wrote epic battles to wipe out my constantly growing population of characters repeatedly (well not entirely because of that, but it was a nice side effect) and put everything to a bigger frame. The result was an epic with the size of a larger book series, though it still was fanfic. It even brought me two awards. My readers urged my to write a book over and over and I told them I hadn’t any ideas albeit, ironically, I already had all the tools at hand.
And then, about one year ago, it struck me. And it struck me really bad.
The last summer I was writing furiously on what is supposed to be the first book of an epic fantasy series set in world with a flawed magic system and cultures inspired by the ancient Mediterranean region and the Middle East. There are also references to a long-dead culture with Mesopotamian features. I’m especially proud of my protagonist, an assassin on a personal vendetta, totally badass and morally so corrupt you might think he’s the true villain. The next few months I’m going to outline the other books to figure out where this all is heading to (there are several paths the story could take) and write the first draft of book two. If all goes well, I’ll be writing application letters to literary agents by the end of the year. Yet, there’s still much work to do anyway, and I’m not gonna rush it.
I strongly believe that you just need the right incentive to burst over with creativity. And then, you’ll write what you really love and you’ll have the power to turn it into something amazing.
I’m looking forward to meeting other fantasy writers in this forum and to exchanging experience and advice!
Fantasy is my genre of preference for as long as I can remember. I love the rich worlds, the magic, the child-like fascination arising from exploring these worlds. To me, it’s escapism and learning about your attitudes and society while it challenges your notions of them. My favourite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, George R.R. Martin, Mr. Tolkien and Scott Lynch and I think they all have influenced my writing one or the other way. And there’s a whole lot more on my TBR list, I’m afraid.
I’ve spent many years writing tons of fanfiction, all set in the same fictional world. I was content with that for a while, but as it was, I aspired for more. There’s only so much you can write if you don’t want to distort the characters and their world. After a while, it became constricting which I believe is certain death for the creative mind, but I refused to let go because I cared so much for the characters. I started to explore white spots on the map, developed cultures you barely learn of in the original series, created new conflicts and intrigues, wrote epic battles to wipe out my constantly growing population of characters repeatedly (well not entirely because of that, but it was a nice side effect) and put everything to a bigger frame. The result was an epic with the size of a larger book series, though it still was fanfic. It even brought me two awards. My readers urged my to write a book over and over and I told them I hadn’t any ideas albeit, ironically, I already had all the tools at hand.
And then, about one year ago, it struck me. And it struck me really bad.
The last summer I was writing furiously on what is supposed to be the first book of an epic fantasy series set in world with a flawed magic system and cultures inspired by the ancient Mediterranean region and the Middle East. There are also references to a long-dead culture with Mesopotamian features. I’m especially proud of my protagonist, an assassin on a personal vendetta, totally badass and morally so corrupt you might think he’s the true villain. The next few months I’m going to outline the other books to figure out where this all is heading to (there are several paths the story could take) and write the first draft of book two. If all goes well, I’ll be writing application letters to literary agents by the end of the year. Yet, there’s still much work to do anyway, and I’m not gonna rush it.
I strongly believe that you just need the right incentive to burst over with creativity. And then, you’ll write what you really love and you’ll have the power to turn it into something amazing.
I’m looking forward to meeting other fantasy writers in this forum and to exchanging experience and advice!
Myth Weaver
Maester
