A To Z Reflections...

Wow. What a month! The sad thing is, it made the month go by that much faster and now my daughter is literally days away from having her baby.

But this is for the A to Z reflections post so here goes, folks:

What I liked:

~ I loved meeting new people.
~ Getting new followers.
~ Finding new blogs to read.
~ The support of everyone.

What I didn't like:

~ Finding new blogs to read.

Ha! Yeah, that's about it. It's a love/hate with finding new blogs to read because my time is limited to begin with.

My work schedule is from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. I usually don't get up until 10 a.m. or 11 a.m., depending on how well I slept. I have sleep issues. I get bouts of insomnia, I have anxiety, things like that. So sometimes I just don't sleep well and wake up exhausted.

By the time I get home, it is nearly 7:30, unless I have to go shopping, then maybe 8 or 9 if I am lucky. So I hop on the computer after dinner, spend an hour there until about 10 or 10:30 and then shut down. Now, I'm a night owl and it's hard for me to unwind, so this is my reasoning for getting off the computer early. After that, I watch T.V. I don't fall asleep, usually, until 1 a.m. or sometimes later. So my computer time is not only very limited during the week, so is my writing time. And my blogging time.

This month showed me that, more than anything. Precious little time. I made sure to not take on any extra obligations during April. I focused only on the challenge and tried to get around to some other blogs. I did succeed, but I still don't feel like it was adequate enough. I try to read blogs and comment. Sometimes I just don't comment because I'm trying to read as many as I can.

But I love the A to Z challenge, even if I don't participate. I'll cheer everyone on. But this year, having a theme worked the best for me. And I did have to schedule some of my posts well in advance. There was no way I could have done it without planning ahead. I liked seeing some of the other themes. Donna's Harry Potter theme, loved it!

So who else had a theme that I missed? What did you think of my theme? Should I take that compilation and expand on it for a book on fantasy world building?

World Building Wednesday...

There is no end in sight, when you are a fantasy author and building your own world. There are many things to consider and sometimes, you are constantly changing things. You will find, while you are writing, that some things just don't work.

I lost count on how many times I have had to change something. It happens. And maps are no exception.

I've talked about maps before, yes, but now it is time to talk about map makers. I have my world map drawn out by hand on numerous squares of graph paper all taped together. I roll it up when I have to transport it or move. I hate doing that, though, because it tears and crinkles. I get all OCD over it. But I like to have that huge map up on my wall near my desk for quick, easy reference when writing. I don't want to have to keep swapping windows on my computer. Just a quick glance up and sometimes I spend several moments tracking the movement of my characters.

Not only that, each square on my graph represents a certain distance and so configuring how long it takes them to move about is fairly simple. Because math and I are not on speaking terms, I need simple!

But what do you do when you need that map shrunk down and print ready, for say, the inside cover of your book or for your website? Crap! I can't take that huge thing and scan it. I'd be here for days...

I have my own methods and means of getting my map onto my computer, but it's long and drawn out. Not simple at all. But I did take a pic with my cell phone and now my friend Jennifer is working on it by taking those images and going to this site to take it to that next stage.

Here are some results:

This shows the dashed lines of my kingdom borders. Originally, she made them solid lines, but this looked better.

Next came rivers and lakes placement. Right now, this is only on one continent as we work out details for the others.

 

 

 

 

This shows some of the icons that can be used as well as mountain range placement.

I think it is coming along nicely. I can't wait until it is done with city names and the rest of the terrain. This has been a huge worry of mine, how I was going to get this map book worthy or even ready for the internet. I'm thankful Jennifer is willing to play around with this. I don't mind being a guinea pig, because when she is done with my map, she will know what to do for hers. It's a win win! There are other map making programs out there and a lot of them are time consuming. However, if you want a map for your books or website, you're going to have to take the time. There is no fast map making program unless you choose to use a pre-made map. And even then, you'll have to worry about copyrights. So choose wisely and make it your own. It will be so worth it in the end, trust me.

World Building Wednesday...

As you can tell from the title of this blog, I've exhausted the list of topics I originally had. Now it is down to basic generalizations and things I have seen in other books.

If it is one thing I can talk about pretty much non-stop, it's my world. Building everything from the ground up has been pretty fun as well as tedious and sometimes downright frustrating.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I have changed something. Like my map. The first one had one huge continent with dozens of kingdoms. Lines for borders were drawn and it seemed to work. Later, though, I spent some time looking it over and thought, "There is just no way this looks feasible." So I changed it. I even eliminated a couple of kingdoms.

Each one has their own story to tell with its own cast of characters. The list of stories I have to write seems endless sometimes. Which is why I want this first trilogy done so I can move on.

I have lots of different races, all with different histories that I hope come out in the stories I tell. I like to mention my characters traveling through certain kingdoms and crossing specific areas and towns, so that later, when you read a different story and see those places mentioned, you'll go, "Hey! I remember that from such and such book!" Of course, my hope is that the image I once projected to the reader will pop back into their mind. Which is what you want. You'll have to describe the areas repeatedly, because new readers won't have that image, but those coming back, will.

One of my favorite races (I do have a hard time choosing...) are the Sinisians. They live on the southern island of Sinis. What's so special about these people? They tell their life story on their bodies. From the moment they are born to the time they die, their bodies are tattooed in a blue ink. The story it tells other natives reflects personal achievements, tragedies, first loves, first kisses, marriage, deaths, relatives, etc. To an outsider, they just look like blue tattooed freaks. To their family and friends, they're an open book.

How would you feel if everyone, aside from strangers, knew every single detail about you? Would it make life easier or more difficult?

World Building Wednesdays: Laws...

When you are building a world from scratch, there is so much to think about. So many tiny details you need to add, that some get over-looked. This is why it is a good idea to keep notes and note cards.

One thing that always seems to be taken for granted is laws. It is only hinted at in most fantasy worlds. What is right from wrong, what are the punishments? What is acceptable in society?

While there are some givens, like no stealing, no killing, don't cheat on your spouse kind of things, there are times when details will need to be called upon. Again, the depth you want to go with these details is entirely up to you and the story you are writing. You don't want to get into a lot of these details about laws if you are not writing about a thief.

But there are all sorts of laws that this topic covers when writing fantasy. Laws of earth and men, laws of magic. Laws for gods and goddesses. Well, those are mostly rules, but lots of them have consequences when broken.

Fizanu is my goddess of Law and Justice. Her disciples are scriveners of law. She dictates the laws to her priests and priestesses and they write them down. These are then passed on to the Law Makers of Fizanu. There is at least one Law Maker in every major city and town as well as an Overseer. The Overseer is the equivalent to a sheriff.

So if we were to follow the order of my laws, they start with Fizanu, then are given to the Law Makers, who pass it on to the Overseer who in turn passes it on to the King or Queen.

Punishments for crimes are pretty straightforward. There are dungeons, jail cells and (for those really nasty criminals) an island. On this island are colonies formed from the nature of the offense. Murderers inhabit one colony, repeat offenders of theft inhabit another and so on.

So think about your laws. What would you consider a crime? What would punishment consist of? Would you chop off the hand of a thief? Behead a killer?

World Building Wednesdays: Characters...

Where would your books be without characters? Boring, actually. Too much information tends to put people to sleep. I have issues with my own writing where I want to put in so much information because there is so much I want to share, that I bore the reader.

I actually bored myself once.

Just once.

Anyway, back story is best utilized through characters and dialogue. Lots of people have said it and I had to learn how to do this.

But everything still falls flat if you don't have interesting characters. Your characters have a story to tell. That is why you are writing!

But how do you get such diverse characters? How can you create well developed characters? How do you get the reader to love those characters?

Give them a voice. Give them a soul.

How many writers out there feel like their characters are a part of their family? Feel like they are literally your children. You did give birth to them and their idea, after all.

No, no. No need to call the men in the white coats. If you deny you have conversations with your character you are a liar. LIAR! Oh and your pants are on fire...

I talk to my characters all the time. Explains a lot, doesn't it? But this is how they tell me their story, this is how I learn what direction to take. When I get stuck, I can't keep writing something else because I'm distracted and can't focus on it because I am listening. I am waiting for the moment when said character whispers in my mind.

"Are you ready to listen?" they say. They remain quiet for so long because I get focused on their story and I just write it all out, listening in on their conversations, putting it all down on paper so I can share it with you, my reader. But they get real quiet once in awhile and suddenly, I've hit a brick wall. I stopped listening to the character tell their story and have gone off on my own tangent. I hit a road block and then they swagger up to me, all cocky and smirky.

"This is how it is supposed to go, got it?" they tell me. "I don't want it to go this way, because that isn't how it is supposed to go. This is my story after all, you're the intruder here. Just write down what I tell you."

That's a good way to get good characters. But diverse is something else altogether. I've said it dozens of times before. Go. Watch. People. But don't get arrested, for pity's sake! Stay in a public place, listen in without being a stalker. Watch people when they think no one is watching them. Oh, the things people do. Like pick their nose and wipe it off under a table in a restaurant.

I kid you not.

These are real people, your characters. You have to develop them, give them their personality. You have to give them their strengths and weaknesses, their skills, their flaws. Give them that eye twitch when they are stressed. Make them chew their nails. Make them grab a toothbrush to bite down on before their mom pulls out the peroxide to clean yet another one of their scrapes from falling off a bike. (Yes, I did that ALL the time.) Give them a sense of honor, purpose and above all, the sense of humor to deal with life. Give them passion, give them love and the hatred and jealousy that sometimes goes along with it. Make them petty, selfish people or make them compassionate givers. Make them hate life or love it, make them your best friends.

Seriously. Who better to pattern your characters off of then your friends and family? Aren't most characters an extension of ourselves? Of who we are right here and now in the physical realm and also who we most desire to be? What kind of person would you be if you were stuck in the Middle Ages or Ancient Greece? What kind of person would you be if you were rich beyond your dreams and didn't ever have to worry about money? What kind of people would your children be? Spoiled? Good-natured? Greedy? Killers or healers? What if you had nothing?

Think about all these aspects because the events in your life make you who you are. So once you know the ins and outs of the human psyche, you can begin to create stronger characters. What makes people do the things they do? What gives them their drive and motivation or their laziness? What events will affect your characters and how will they react? How would you react?

If your characters don't seem believable to you, don't feel like a part of you, then you need to go back and work on them again. Make them shine! They're going to tell you a great story if you give them half the chance.

Guest Post: Stuart Jaffe...

Welcome back to Stuart Jaffe! This is his take on World Building: Languages...

Invariably when talking about world-building the subject of languages comes up. Really the question has more to do with what level of detail should a writer strive for. After all, the godfather of the genre, J. R. R. Tolkien, created entire languages both written and verbal for more than one race of fantastical beings. If Tolkien is the gold standard, then shouldn't we all be doing this? The answer seems to be Yes even though many writers want it to be No. After all, that's a lot of extra work.

But if you think about language usage in terms of level of detail instead, the answer gets a bit more murky. How many times have you read the advice not to include every detail you've researched and imagined? Hundreds, probably. So, wouldn't language come into play with that level of detail -- as in, it's great research but too much detail for the book itself?

All right, enough with the rhetoricals. Here's the answer in plain English. Tolkien loved language, studied language, and understood language, so he used that knowledge in his literary creations. If you share that passion, then go for it. For the rest of us, don't worry about it. You don't need to do it like that.

All you really need to do it HINT at another language. That's really all we do with world-building anyway. We drop hints as to what the world looks, smells, feels, tastes, and sounds like. We can't possibly include everything. Besides, over centuries upon centuries, storytellers have learned that an audience's imagination will always be stronger than the author's of the story. Hint at things and the reader will fill in the rest.

When it comes to languages, all you really need to do is hint at the flow of the words. In most cases, that means you'll be dealing mostly with two senses and partly a third. The primary sense is sound. How do the words of your made-up language sound? Listen to the Klingon language. It's rough and harsh, filled with hard consonants and guttural noises. This fits their race perfectly. It wouldn't sound right if the brutal Klingons had a language that flowed like French.

The next sense is sight. A writer communicates with words, and most of the time, those words are read. So, a little care should be given to the way your new language looks on the page. For awhile, it was in writer vogue to use lots of apostrophes in names and languages. As in: K'larta said, "You are the chosen k'gla'tyu. We must all join the ch'hu in ten re't'oo for you to receive the magic w'w'a's'g's'a'wq." Like my last word in that quote, the usage got a bit out of hand and has mostly died away. It was popular though precisely because, visually, it hinted at a more complex and fantastical language.

The last sense to consider is the feel. Here I mean the literal feeling of the words on your tongue, teeth, throat, lips, and all other parts of your mouth. This one isn't as important unless the language is vital to the story beyond the world-building, but it can be fun and it can add another layer of texture to your world.

Just remember -- in all these cases, the key is to use the techniques sparingly. Hinting at things, giving just enough of a taste that the reader can make up the rest, will serve you infinitely more than all the cool descriptions you can think of.

Mel: I love Tolkien's languages and so glad he took the time to come up with them! Thanks, Stuart, for your time. Here is a look at Stuart's upcoming book, Available September 20, 2012:

Writing Wednesday: Building Worlds...

World building. Sometimes it sounds like fun, but when you figure in everything you need just to begin, it becomes a bit overwhelming.

Think about it, you are about to create a whole world. At first it gives you a giddy, God-like feeling. But then you realize, you have to get the details just right or people will rip it apart.

Begin with the basics. Doesn't matter if you are writing fantasy, romance, horror, etc. You have to make sure the world around you is realistic. If your setting is in this world, you've got lots to draw on from memory and make sure you write about areas you are familiar with. If you haven't been where your story is set, you are going to fail. Why? Because people will read what you've written, see you've gotten something wrong with the area they actually live in and it very well may turn them off from reading your book. You don't want to name a historical landmark and then plop it in the wrong location of your book.

When I read the first Joanna Brady mystery book J. A. Jance had written, I was smitten! Yes, I realize I rhymed. But what ignited that spark? Sadly, the character's husband had been shot and killed. She was at the hospital in Tucson, Arizona. University Medical Center! I gave birth to my two children there! Her character then went outside, walked across the street and down to a local hotel I used to pass by on a regular basis. I could see Jance's character, Joanna, walking along that sidewalk! I could practically hear the traffic on Campbell as she walked away from the hospital.

THAT is what initially made me fall in love with her books and that particular character. The rest of the books were written in Cochise County area and I knew it from visiting there on several locations.

Get where I'm going with this? Good!

So get your geography of any area straight before you begin writing.

Now if you are building a world from scratch, you've got lots more to think about. Why is it cold in the north and warm in the south? Flip that around if you like. Or, make it colder to the east and warmer in the west. Be creative, don't stick to the norm, if you write fantasy. This is your chance to think outside the box. But make it believable! Explain why your world is different. Maybe the tilt of your planet in comparison to that world's sun is wonky. Yes, technical term there, wonky.

When I first drew a map of my world, I started with a city. That soon turned into a small blob of a kingdom which grew into a continent. I added several more blobs that transformed into other kingdoms. Next, I had to work on each area and decide what the society would be like. What customs did I want to incorporate? What types of food, speech or clothing? Were they simplistic in nature or were they extravagant? Farmers? Merchants?

While there is a lot to think of and work out when building a world, if you are organized you can accomplish a lot. If you have to name characters, rivers, lakes, kingdoms, cities and the like I strongly suggest you have some lists you can pull from first. Figure out what would be good names for these things and categorize them. I have a whole three ring binder with pages of names ranging from Gaelic based to Asian based, to mythological and common. I first label the page with 'Lakes' or 'Cities' then I list the names. Don't cross off the name after you've used it! Label it with what you used that name for.

When I am naming characters, I do cross off the name on the list simply because I know I've used it. But names for things like inns or taverns, I list the location of each one. City names are labeled with the kingdom, etc.

I have several good name generator links in my links page of this blog. I have dozens of print-outs of names and labels. Figure out your surroundings before you plop your characters down into unknown territory. Figure out vegetation, water sources and forests. Where will you place a swamp? If you don't know, research the sort of climate/area that would create a swamp to begin with. But make a map, make lists and keep notes! You will have to use them more than once while writing, I guarantee!

What's your organizing like when writing or building a world?

The Edits Are Here!...

Hey everyone! Just want to let you all know I received my edits and so if I am missing for any length of time, you know where I am.

I have a few scheduled posts for the upcoming weeks on my World Building series. I also have a couple of guest posts to fill in some openings. Of course, I also have my Friday Favorites to work on. If you see a post from me during all of this, it will either be an update or a rant.

Ha! No, not really. I like all the suggestions given to me. It is helping me a lot and I certainly appreciate the hard work of editors.

I hope you all had a good week. Hope the rest of your week is good and enjoy the weekend! Have fun kids, don't start any fires you can't put out.

Writing Wednesdays: Building Languages...

This is an important post regarding fantasy world building. When you think of fantasy worlds, you always think of the creatures, the magic and all that. However, one thing that gets overlooked is the languages.

Sure, you automatically assume there are going to be unique languages associated with different races. Tolkien built on languages for Elves in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The Elven language is copyrighted, despite the fact that Tolkien wanted to share aspects of Middle Earth so others could write from it.

I tried, they said 'No.' Quite firmly I might add...

So what's a girl (or guy) who writes fantasy to do about languages? Make it up as you go along.

Unless you have the time, skills and education Mr. Tolkien had, you have to use what is available to you. Most of it will be your imagination. There are ways to go about it and create something. I have a link here to my translator page. I use Latin for a lot of things. No surprise, look at the titles of my books. But I sort of cheat and mix Latin with Drow or Tolkien's Elvish. I'm not using his work, just using it as a guideline of sorts.

What I do is take a word. Let's use the word 'Sword'. We want another 'name' for Sword in our story, so we think about it a bit and hit the internet. Now in Latin, you can use the word Gladius. In Drow it is Killian. But I can't use Drow and I don't want it to be in Latin, that's sort of boring. I want to be unique. So I would combine the two somehow. Kildius, Kilius, Gladian... you get the idea. But a couple of those look kind of lame. So I just shuffle things about a bit and go for something along the lines of Kildan, Adius or completely away from either of my language choices and try Samas. Does this make sense? I may not get an exact derivative from my two language choices, but it sparked my imagination enough to come up with something else entirely.

There are name generators out there as well to help with the language and naming processes. I know there are sites out there that tell you when naming things in fantasy, don't use an apostrophe. Well. Screw that. Use what you want! I have lots of names, including the name of my world that have an apostrophe. Eir du'Brusai.

People always ask me how I come up with names. I honestly cannot give you a formulaic answer. I don't know. Names and the like just pop up in my head and I use what fits. Languages are the same for me unless I get stuck and then use my tricks up above with the two different languages. I try to be unique but not so unique in everything that people get frustrated reading my work. I try to give the unique name and try to find a way to describe exactly what it is to the reader. Most everyone will get the idea right away that my D'raetus Pastiniir are lethal, elite assassins.

But there is that pesky apostrophe!

Too bad. Fantasy Police don't like it, they can arrest me.

I am always happy to help other writers find unique names for people or items. So if you get stuck, by all means, drop me a line! I'd be happy to help. Most of my name generator links are on my links page of the blog. Check them out.

Writing Wednesdays: Building Kingdoms...

So if you have been keeping up with me these days, you'll know I've been working on a series of posts. This is how I built my fantasy world, something I've worked on for well over ten years.

The first post I did was regarding magic. Rules or no rules? Limitations to magic? You can check it out over here and continue the discussion if you like over there as well.

This post is going to focus on kingdoms.

In sword and sorcery fantasy, there is always a King and Queen and the first born son is usually the most likely successor. There is also usually one or two kingdoms. Sometimes you've got the two warring with each other or they live in harmony and decide to work together to vanquish a common enemy.

But let's think outside of the box.

In my world, I have patriarchal societies as well as matriarchal. If you don't know your hierarchies, this can be confusing. Patriarchal is ruled by men, matriarchal is ruled by women. I have kingdoms where it doesn't matter if the successor is male or female. Some kingdoms dictate that only the eldest daughter can  inherit the throne. In my Elven kingdom, there is a king and queen, but the majority of the rule is given to a council of nine women.

I've read some books where the next ruler of the kingdom is voted in by the citizens of the kingdom. Even a peasant could rule. But what if there was a lottery? Would you put your name in to be the next king or queen of a kingdom if your predecessors were murdered? In Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, that kingdom had been ruled by a steward and his sons took over when he got too old or died.

So think about your ruling families and structures when you are plotting out your world. Don't stick to what I feel is an old cliche. Try something different. Maybe the kingdom is ruled by a governing body of 13, an odd number to help break tie votes. Or perhaps the youngest child inherits, despite the gender. Maybe only women rule, but they secretly confide in one man?

We all know what works in fantasy writing, but sometimes those get boring. Dare to be bold, be different! Think outside the box, but don't get too weird or people won't be comfortable with it. It should be different, but also plausible!

Guest Post: Stuart Jaffe...

Thanks, Mel, for inviting me onto your blog. It's a pleasure.

Now, one of the old warhorses of advice given to new writers is Write What You Know. Even if you're not a writer, you've probably heard this one. For me, a lover of science fiction from an early age, I had one question: How? How do I write about aliens and time travel and dragons and magic when I don't know -- when I can't truly know -- about those things?

Nobody had a good answer for me.

Thankfully, I figured it out for myself, and today, I offer my solution to you. It's this: you already do know about these things.

Take my series The Malja Chronicles which begins with The Way of the Black Beast. In this post-apocalyptic, parallel world magic is derived from manipulating energy around the user much like an electric eel manipulates the tiny bits of voltage surrounding it in the water. Magicians are born with this ability, and as they learn to utilize it for a specific spell, a tattoo grows on their body. They use these tattoos to focus their minds in order to conjure. However, another group of people, The Bluesmen, have learned to use the sympathetic vibrations caused by their blues music to manipulate the energy in the air nearby and achieve a similar goal -- although they require more manpower and have less powerful results. The final aspect of this magic system is that using it takes a toll on the magicians mind. The more magic (especially the more powerful magic) one uses, the higher the risk of going insane.

.

So, what did I actually know in order to create this magic system? Well, I had learned (really re-learned) about electric eels at the Baltimore Aquarium several years back and thought that would be a cool bit of knowledge to hold onto for some day. Regarding tattoos -- I have a few, so I know about them firsthand. When it came to the Bluesmen, I had learned about sympathetic vibrations long ago in a high school music theory class, and as you might imagine, I love blues music. In fact, I've been playing blues guitar for about twenty-five years. I really love the stuff.

In other words, I took all these little bits of things I had knowledge of or a love for and smashed them together. It's part of the fun when creating things like magic. After all, no matter what the writing teachers say, the truth is that there are no real rules to any of this. In fact, it took me a long time to learn this, but as far as I can tell, the only true rule in writing is quite simple: If it works, it works.

Too often, writers get scared by the complexity of a magic system. Relax. It doesn't have to be that complicated. It can, if you like, be rather simplistic. Look at the magic in Greek mythology or Arthurian legends. There's barely any consistency to be had. Magic does what the author needs it for and that's all. Things like logic and reason show no part in the execution of magic in these tales. The key: they made it work.

We've all read stories where the magic doesn't work, where the use of it seems like cheating or makes us start to question things. But good writing can make magic work in the most unlikely situations. J. K. Rowling made a pretty good career out of making it all up as she went along. It's evident in the Harry Potter books that her magic system was fleshed out with greater abilities and depth as the series progressed. But we eat it up anyway.

Conversely, Brandon Sanderson appears to have had the complex and intriguing magic system found in the Mistborn novels completely worked out from book one. It's a fascinating system and he delves into all sorts of unique ways to use magic within the constraints he gave. And it works, too.

Those are the big secrets. Utilize what you know and what you're passionate about to make your magic come alive. Then, use your skills as a writer to make the reader believe it. If you want to create a magic system that requires the caster to dance ballet and sing show tunes which then bestows unlimited power, I say to go for it. If you can make it work, the readers will love it. The proof is right there in my own book. The only complaint I've ever received regarding the magic in Malja's story is that readers want even more of it.

That's when you know it's really working.

----

Stuart Jaffe is the author of Southern Bound, The Malja Chronicles, After The Crash, as well as the short story collection, 10 Bits of My Brain. Numerous other short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. He is the co-host of The Eclectic Review -- a podcast about science, art, and well, everything. For those who keep count, the latest animal listing is as follows: five cats, one albino corn snake, one Brazilian black tarantula, three aquatic turtles, assorted fish, two lop-eared rabbits, five chickens, and a horse. Thankfully, the chickens and the horse do not live inside the house.

The Way of the Black Beast can be found here: http://amzn.to/blackbeast

Stuart's website: http://www.stuartjaffe.com

Writing Wednesdays: Building Magic...

So here is the first in my world building posts. I'm going to start with magic. Not for any reason in particular, it's just a place to start.

Magic in my world is not unique by any means of the imagination. But it is different, simply because how I view magic. My opinions on magic in fantasy differ, I'm sure, from other fantasy writers out there.

There is a lot of debate in the fantasy world that I'm sure most of you are unaware of, if fantasy is not your genre. The debate? Should magic have rules? Lots of fantasy buffs think it should. Where is the fun in fantasy if you've got a magic user that can just conjure up whatever he or she wants with the snap of their fingers?

And what of the magical 'cost'? By cost, I mean what does it cost the magic user to conjure? Does it take away from his energy? His life in either seconds, hours or years? Maybe it takes from his soul.

I'm currently reading a book where magic affects the users mind. Every time they use magic, they go a little more insane. ("The Way of the Black Beast" by Stuart Jaffe) (Note: Guest post on Thursday August 9th by Stuart, drop by!)

But what about those pesky rules? I'm of the mind that magic should not have rules, per se, but limitations are an absolute must! Again with the whole snapping of fingers and poof! you have stuff. Magic should cost the user something, right?

In Melanie Rawn's series of books, The Dragon Prince trilogy and The Dragon Star trilogy, she has magic users called Sunrunners. The basis of these Sunrunners is this: They can use sunlight to communicate with other Sunrunners over long distances. Can they conjure up items or anything? Nope. They just speak to each other. So what are the consequences of something like this? They can't use starlight. It is forbidden, but if the Sunrunner is powerful enough, they can accomplish it. They also don't travel well on water. You put a Sunrunner on a raft over a river and they're incapacitated for hours. Imagine what sailing would do to them? The other drawback to being a Sunrunner? There is a drug that they can use to increase their power to reach longer distances. It is super addictive and they're easily controlled when addicted. Sometimes, though, a Sunrunner will get lost in the light and can't find their way back to their body. If this happens, they basically end up an empty shell and die.

In David Eddings' series of The Belgariad and The Mallorean, Belgarath the sorcerer and his daughter, Polgara the sorceress, are a couple of pretty powerful magic users. They use the 'Will and the Word' method. You picture what you want in your mind then you will it into being with a spoken word. One of the drawbacks is that when you use magic, it makes a sound other magic users can hear. Sends out a beacon, and if you are hiding, that's not good! There are very few magic users in Eddings' world. A handful, in fact and they are not easily swayed. They try to stay out of things unless Prophecy dictates otherwise. So they can use magic all they want and their lifespan is limitless. They can be killed, but you better be able to get close, first.

My magic users have limits as well. I call them Mahjii. They're born into magic. They know by the age of fourteen if they have magical energies within. They have one year to seek out training and if they ignore it, they pay the price. My Mahjii must seek out training or their magical energies will consume them. They literally burn with fever and end up in ashes. Sometimes, they're only powerful enough to maintain that energy within. It prolongs their death and they're pretty sick their entire life, but they're alive. That's their only restriction, really. And rules? Well, they're meant to be broken, aren't they? They try to stay out of political issues. They have chosen to withdraw from the world after their city is destroyed, so people in my world think they're dead and gone. Myths and legends. But they still exist!

Mahjii in my world use the energy that surrounds them. They draw off the energy of the earth at their feet, the air, water, anything. They don't exactly conjure up just anything. They have specific things they create and lots of tools to enhance their abilities. My Elves that use magic are the same way, but their magical energies won't kill them if they can't control it. My water Elves live near running water to power their magic. Lakes don't do it, rivers are workable but oceans are optimal. They can use the energies to shape-shift and conjure to a point. The way my magic users see it is if they need it and can't find it anywhere or make it, they create it using their power.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Tune in next time when I discuss kingdoms. Tomorrow I will have a guest post by Stuart Jaffe, author of 'The Way of the Black Beast' regarding magic in his world. So drop on by and say hello to Stuart!

How I Write Fantasy...

I'm going to be writing up some posts in the next several weeks in regards to my views of writing fantasy and more importantly how I write fantasy. Things I have worked on, things that took me a long freakin' time to create. Now, this may or may not help you if you are a fantasy writer, time will only tell. Most fantasy writers take so long in writing their work because of all the world building they have to do. Others just wing it.

So what, first of all, does world building include? Well, that depends on how far you want to get into it. Here is what my world building included:

* Magic

*Kingdoms

*Laws

*Creatures

*Characters

*Money

*Gods and Goddesses

These are just the main things. In each of those categories, there are numerous sub-categories. I had to make lots of decisions regarding the list above.

In making decisions on my world, in general, I had to start out with some pretty mundane stuff regarding the sun, moon, stars and so on.

Might sound silly to you, but in writing fantasy, you're here to think outside of the box. I literally came up with several choices on those basic things and rolled the dice. Not kidding! I used to play Dungeons and Dragons, so I pulled out all my dice. Six sided, four sided, twenty sided and I rolled, baby!

My world has two suns. If you think this might be a hot climate, it isn't really. The second sun is really, really tiny when you look at it up in the sky of my world.

I have one moon in my night sky and of course, my stars make up their own constellations which had to be written down in folklore and the like. I even have a story about the moon. I'm still working on the constellations and the stories associated with them.

So, over the next several weeks, I'll be posting things about my world and choosing from those categories above. Bear with me, as I worked on this world for well over ten years and it still isn't done or is it perfect. I'm constantly adding to it and changing things, but most of what I have is set in stone and is here to stay. So I hope you enjoy what I have to share!