This rant is similar to others I’ve done-particularly in that it’s a means of getting around long infodumps-but I hope it’ll help to contribute to a sense of a detailed, living world and culture (or cultures!) on a level other than philosophy and metaphysics. After all, not all your characters will be given to those kinds of abstractions, and ( Read more... )

Inspired by a comment renakazur made in the last rant, about work being one of those things many fantasy authors don’t like to talk about because they think it doesn’t advance the plot. I took that as a challenge.

( Six ways noticing small things can advance the plot )

This is one of those things that fermented in the back of my head for a while, and now demands a rant.

( One culture, one language, one system of magic- one boring world )

This, of course, depends on the techniques you use-outlining as opposed to not outlining, structuring by chapters or scenes, whether the story’s episodic or not, how many viewpoints you’re using and what kind they are-but I’m hoping that the sheer variety of suggestions here can offer at least one that crosses boundaries.

( Ten things that may help in the middle of a novel )

This is a random topic I felt like doing. Because.

( How much stays in your notes, how much goes into the story )

Sorry this one was so long in coming. I went through another of those periods in which I couldn’t think of anything to rant about without sounding repetitive. So I did what I probably should have done in the first place and started rereading good fantasy, in this case Martin’s A Song of Ice and FireAnd it hit me that while Martin’s series is ( Read more... )

*stares at blank sheet of paper*

( There are times I really need this rant )

La-la-la-la-la…

( Look at the title of the rant if you’re confused )

The last rant of the poll, and one I’ve been turning around in my head for a bit now.

“Serious optimism” is one of those Really Cool Things I’d like to see more of in fantasy-not clichéd morals, nor Impending Doom turned by a loophole or deus ex machina, but a story with heavy flesh that yet steps lightly. The author who provides the purest ( Read more... )

I suppose I ought to add “and literary history” to the title, since this rant is also about that.

( Whee! )