Priorities

Today, my rambling won't focus on fantasy itself, but on the creation of it, the writing of it. As the drama in the first paragraph of my first post of this blog may have hinted at, I was worried that starting this project may take away time better spent working on my novel. So far, I can positively say that it has. Yes, it has interfered with my working schedule and I've written less then I would have liked since I started this project.

You may wonder, how much interference could there have been? I've only made 2 posts so far and they're not even especially long. True, but that's not what takes up my time. I've spent several hours researching for posts to come. Research means, looking at blogs, looking at artworks, reading articles, etc. I've actually already started writing another post about the new Star Wars movie, but it's not done yet, so this will be published first.

I enjoyed my research and I don't feel bad about having spent some time away from my stories, but at some point it's time to stop procrastinating with other great projects and start buckling down and getting to work. I already have 70.000 words written and another 30.000 planned for the next 15 chapters.I still have a bit to do, but if I sit down and do it I should be able to have my first draft done within the next few months.

(by Rafael Zanchetin)

Now, on to better things, like this work of art. When I found this it spoke to the fantasy rogue lover inside of me. This all out brawl in a tavern with cards, drinks and knives flying everywhere is wonderfully done. I'm no artist, but I think the details of the knife, hand and face are beautiful.

There are quite a few more wonderful works by Rafael Zanchetin on his DeviantArt page, so if you liked this go and check it out.



On to the next promotion, Auden Johnson's blog Dark Treasury really caught my interest. Especially, this post: Why Do We Write Dark Fantasy? I could see myself in some of what she wrote and although I haven't written too much dark fantasy, I totally get how it can fascinate the reader and writer. It's a way of letting your inner demons run free and do things that you would never consider doing in real life. The tricky bit when writing such things is to make your main character likable, even if he/she is a sociopathic maniac. That's one of the things I'm working on with a short story of mine.

All in all, I think Auden Johnson's blog is very interesting and especially informative with lots of posts and links about different things ranging from writing dark fantasy to world building to writing fight scenes to book marketing and much more.

So if that sounds as interesting to you dear reader as it does to me, then go take a look.