Here's a thing about writing fantasy (or speculative fiction of any kind, really): it relies upon a contract between you and the reader that you will build a world different from the one they know, and if they follow you there, you will tell them a really interesting story ( Read more... )

A few things bleeding together in my head have congealed into this post, and if that analogy hasn't completely squicked you away from reading any further, I will now tell you what they are:

1. an old friend accurately skewered Brandon Sanderson for using his novel as an explanation of a gaming system of magic;
   
2. NK Jemisin stamped her foot on the idea ( Read more... )

Seanan McGuire has made an excellent post about the misuse of the term Mary Sue. It really is an excellent post, thoughtful and insightful and calling out some issues that people really need to pay more attention to because they're those issues that just slide by insidiously, sucking all the while. Heaps of things about unconscious use of ( Read more... )

I've been roleplaying quite a bit for the past... er, well, thirteen years. But my involvement with and the nature of Harry Potter roleplaying fandom has meant that in the past six or so years, I've done a lot of hopping into and out of games - there have been a few long-running campaigns that have been wonderful, just great adventures in group ( Read more... )