This article is by Matthew R. Bishop. In a recent article featured on Mythic Scribes, Christian Madera explored the strengths and limitations of “black and white” fantasy, while defending the rise of “grey” fantasy as something that can overcome the drawbacks of black and white. Let me clarify that I am an author of grey … Read more
This article is by Anne Marie Gazzolo. It’s possible to build characters who achieve a secondary reality, and become people who live in their own right in our hearts and minds. It jars me every time someone says Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee are ‘characters.’ I want to shout, “They are not characters! They are … Read more
This article is by Grace Robinson. People sometimes ask me how I come up with names for my fantasy stories – names of characters, as well as names of creatures, places, and things. I don’t have a standard formula for inventing names, but after doing some thinking, I realized that there are three main methods I … Read more
This article is by Christian Madera. Early Fantasy literature, with its black-and-white morality, was very comfortable making statements about ethics. I’m using ‘ethics’ in a broad sense here: I don’t just mean questions about what a person should do in a difficult situation (though such questions are definitely a mainstay of Fantasy literature and merit … Read more
This article is by Anne Marie Gazzolo. Authors can use narrators in many different ways to add value to any story. Among them, they can speak directly and indirectly to their audience, inform the readers of things not even the characters inside the story know, give a look into the heart and soul of the … Read more
I recently came to a part in my Work in Progress (WIP) when I said, “Huh, this doesn’t look like it’s going to be a standalone after all.” While I believe there are a lot of important decisions to make about your book (awesome characters, coherent plot, enough giant roach mutants, traditional vs. self-publishing), one … Read more
This article is by Dan Berger. It’s strange to imagine today, but there was a time when the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was a matter very much in doubt. There were two primary reasons for this near tragedy. One was the scarcity of paper that plagued the United Kingdom in … Read more
This article is by Anne Marie Gazzolo. J. R. R Tolkien had a life-long fascination with dragons. In his essay “On Fairy-Stories,” he spoke of the stories he liked and disliked as a child. “The dragon had the trade-mark Of Faërie written plain upon him. In whatever world he had his being it was an … Read more
This article is by Terri Rochenski. My love affair with the fantasy genre started at an early age when someone bought me and my older brother The Chronicles of Narnia seven book gift set. I read them ‘til they fell apart. Literally. I can’t tell you how many times I checked the backs of every … Read more
Is it wrong for Christians to write about magic, wizards and otherworldly beings? Surprisingly, some people believe so. Over a decade ago a fundamentalist church not far from my home made headlines by having a Harry Potter bonfire. Christians from the surrounding area were invited to bring their Harry Potter books to a public burning. … Read more