I've been doing some thinking lately about why so many fantasy writers have the impulse to include "elves" (by that or any other name) in their fantasy worlds. I'd looked at the issue of immortality before, but this was a broader impulse.

I've posted the main discussion over on my Arveniem blog on my website.

Why do we have this impulse to include ( Read more... )

I thought I would update the curious about the process of learning to work with a 3D landscape rendering program. Because, I finally have results that can be looked at. I'm not saying they are great results, but they will give you an idea of the possibilities.

First off... for the program to build the wireframe that the visual rendering gets ( Read more... )

So I've been putting off for a while the matter of getting back on track on learning how to do the 3D rendering of my fantasy maps. The Bryce 3D program has a lot of very specific controls, and for some bizarre reason, the little buttons for them are super teeny tiny, even on my 21 inch monitor, which admittedly sits a yard away from my nose (which ( Read more... )

I've been preparing to learn how to work with a 3D landscape modeling program lately. To start with, I needed to make a grayscaled topographical version of the map of my fantasy land (darkest color being sea level, lightest the highest elevation). I haven't yet tried to find out how this will be rendered in the program (I still need to learn my way ( Read more... )

I take part in a writers' critique group that focuses on the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror.  It's actually a pretty good group.  They've read two chapters of my fantasy novel The Ring of Adonel so far, and given me very useful feedback.  One of the other writers in this group, Leslie Ann Moore (author of Griffin's Daughter) has also ( Read more... )

Since last year, when I finally hauled myself down to Loscon for the first time, I've been planning to return. It was a lot of fun ( Read more... )

Recently, I was reading the first chapter of a friend's current work-in-progress, in order to give her notes on it.

So, let me say that first off, I did like her story.  She is a good storyteller.

But something about the chapter nagged at me, because the descriptions felt flat.  On the one hand, it was clear to me that she has a sure vision of her ( Read more... )

One of the things about creating a totally new fantasy world is that you don't want it to sound too much like "this world".  And I certainly didn't want to sound like I was copying Tolkien bit for bit.

Today, I was going along, working on some new text in The Ring of Adonel, moving the story forward, and I had a character say "I will go tell the ( Read more... )

When I registered as an undergraduate at the University of Houston, I had a meeting with an advisor.  I suppose it was supposed to be for laying out a plan for my degree studies, but what it basically consisted of was being given the general requirements for my degree and major.  Little else.

Now, I’d taken a year off between high school and ( Read more... )