Muskets and Magic!

I have recently found a plethora of resources concerning the genre "Muskets and Magic" or, "Gunpowder Fantasy". Apparently, it exists as a sub-genre of "Historical Fantasy", a close relative to the genre "Alternate History." Wow, all of these genre-titles make my brain want to burst! How about a little breakdown, focusing on the title of this post: Muskets and Magic.
Themes involved with Muskets and Magic stories.

• What would the discovery of gunpowder do to a world with magic?
• We can look to history to see how gunpowder completely transformed the face of warfare.
• How does gunpowder stack up against magic? Would it throw off the balance of power?
• Magic is mysterious in how it works, gunpowder is a science.
• Sometimes magic can only be used by the elite, gunpowder can be used by anyone.
• And what if gunpowder was somehow connected to magic?
• Usually with a level of tech comparable to 17th-19th centuries, with fantasy tropes mixed in.

These are just a few things, I ran across this article by Brian McClellan titled "Muskets and Magic" and these two wikipedia articles titled "Historical Fantasy" and "Magic Gun" that sparked my interest, considering the fact that for my next book, I have contemplated them having semi-recently discovered gunpowder.

I didn't realize how much it changes the face of warfare! I'll be doing more research, but there you go! For everyone to see.

Also, I suppose the Pirates of the Caribbean somewhat (so-so) falls under this genre, ha! Who'da thunk?

Make-believe and Truth

Here are some little tidbits that I wrote several years ago about writing, they still hold true today:

“When you're writing, don't be so serious. Play make-believe as you write. Use your imagination. Don't think "I'm writing a novel" think "I'm playing pretend!" Really use your make-believe to make it come to life. Don't worry about what other people will say when they read it, just let your imagination breath heart and soul into your story. Watch it happen. And watch the magic unfold as you let go of your anxieties and let your natural ability to create (like a child) make a beautiful tale. Then you can put on the grown-up glasses later.”

“Truth is more important than technique. Truth about people and characters. Truth about what happens in the world. Truth about what life is really about and the human condition. What you write must be true in your own imagination.”

There you go! A simple post for this week.

Fan-Fic is NOT a waste of time!

I used to shake my head at myself and at others who wrote in that dreaded medium titled "Fan-fic" where you kidnap characters of other books or movies and write your own stories with them. Gasp! How dare you! Copyright law! Lack of Creativity!

But then, I heard something from Kevin J Anderson when he was a guest on Writing Excuses, the fantastic writing podcast that I listen to. He said that writing Fan-fic is NOT a waste of time, because it teaches you to focus on certain things. LIke what do you say?

• It forces you to focus on developing plot around your character's personality, you wouldn't make Captain Kirk act out of character just to make your fanfiction work would you?
• It allows you to focus on developing your prose
• It forces you to write dialogue according to each character's unique voice
• It teaches you the value of having very strong, unique characters.

So there you have it! Will it ever get published? Eh, probably not. They usually ask you to write in their universes, you don't usually ask them if you can share your great Star Wars novel idea. But it will teach you these things, and writing practice, of course, is one of the most important things of becoming a writer.

Last, but not least, learn how to develop characters that are as strong as these movie characters. Learn to know them so well, that you would never dream of forcing them to act out of character.

There ya have it, KEEP ON WRITING!

-Thomas

What is Science Fantasy?

Science fantasy is pretty hard to put your thumb down on, but in a nutshell it is Science Fiction with a hint of Fantasy, or Fantasy with a hint of Science Fiction.
What I write is neither completely science fiction nor is it fantasy. Fantasy evokes images of elves, wizards, swords and dragons. Science fiction evokes images of spaceships, advanced technology, social commentary and aliens. What I write is hardly ever one or the other. 
The 2 act as a sort of spectrum, with tolkienesque high fantasy on one end and hard science fiction on the other. What I write floats somewhere between the two. A person with magic in space, magical technology, guns and other tech in a fantasy-like world. I've tried writing strictly one or the other, I find that the high fantasy I write comes out cliche and cheesy and the hard science fiction I write comes out uneducated and boring.
I write Science Fantasy because it is what I love to write! Some of the best stories have been Science Fantasy (Star Wars, arguably X-men, The Sword of Shannarra), and I thoroughly enjoy them.

Peace out Writers and Readers!

-Thomas

Wow. A Re-writing maniac

I re-write too much, and when I say re-write I mean the same story over and over again.

This next one, I didn't brainstorm, I didn't plan. I just started, it's exhilarating, it's awesome! I love it!

It's working great for me!

I hope this turns out well.

The Winged Blade will get written, and that probably won't be it's title when it's done.

I have gotten into intense detail in the planning of my new novel, I split it in half and decided to make it into a two-part novel.

I've been reading out of fantasy books about story generation, and I've been planning and planning. It's gonna be big. It's gonna be good. But I better start writing it soon!

Next is some more character development, then I write a list of scenes, then a description of each scene, and then I write the book!

Good luck!

Writing, marriage, life.

So, the moral of the story is? Don't die! Say what?

Anyways, I've been brainstorming a lot of stories, trying to get some stuff. I've been doing extensive planning for the Winged Blade, hopefully my best story. Or at least it will be when I'm done with it.

I'm happily married to the greatest woman on the planet. I love her dearly like I love, well my wife!

This life is amazing. And I'm happy to be in it. :)

Thomas Larsen