Are You Writing Serious Fantasy?

[Starbreeze]

I think the idea "it's my story/fantasy, I don't have to" is rank idiocy. You have to stay consistant in your own world; there has to be a reason for every rhyme and a cause for every effect. Me being the perfectionist I am, I'd rather have those be realistic causes for the effects.

Well said! I agree totally!

[Thinhyandoiel]

I understand about the "20 question time!" thing. My parents are annoyed, too, though they're not a doctor or a lawyer. My aunt, however, is a physical therapist, so there's ups in that area. But yeah, in one my story, a character falls off a roof and breaks a few ribs. I have NO idea what kind of problems that would give someone, so I turned to my parents. Of course, they're so suspicious it always ends up with "Why? Are you planning on breaking someone's ribs?" [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] Ai-yai-yai.

Saxony Tarn, you found them? Uh...*shifty eyes* Please, uhm, ignore the two BSB fics, as I was in a very Mary-Sue-ish stage at that time...heh...*hides* [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Oh, and hey! We did reach six pages! Go us! *proceeds to run around the thread, giving everyone a high-five* "Ahem" I am sane, really!"

But back to the research thing. I agree with what you said Naaramare, about staying consistent in your own world. I know Tolkien did. I mean the athelas plant, it always had the same characteristics. Always. It had a sweet odor, that filled the room, and healing powers. King's Foil, to Sam, a common weed. No where did we see Tolkien magically insert that the flower had love-potion powers as well. He was consistent. The same goes with the history of Middle-Earth. He has a TIMELINE in the Appendixes for crying out loud! And family trees! An index of all the names mentioned in the books. How TIME-CONSUMING that must have been! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Kinda...intimidates you, eh? [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Naaramare]

"Why? Are you planning on breaking someone's ribs?"

Hehe. Mine can be really obscure. My heroine has some abilities with fire, so there's questions like "how badly would I have to burn--I mean really, fire, burn--the inside of someone's lungs to kill them?" at which point I get the oddest looks.

Sane? Why on Middle Earth would one want to be sane? :: shudders:: Perish the thought!

Tolkien's obsessive exhaustive detail intimidates me . . .mostly cuz I can see myself doing the same. >< Ye Gods above and below. . .

[Saxony Tarn]

Yeah, go us! (tapping pints for everyone, of your favorite beverage, be it hard or soft)

re: Exhaustive Research -- can't tell you how helpful Tolkein's exhaustive research & detail is when you're trying to chronicle your own characters (or his) lightly skipping carefree & barefoot through his world. Just last night i was checking to see what day the severed heads came flying over the walls. Oops -- day before the party arrived -- meaning that i have to make a reference to a few in the street as they pass, and can't have them come flying over now that they're there. (MUST leave major plot pivot points intact...!!)

six pages -- who's for going for seven?

s.t.

|_|) <-- pints all around!
(drink up, Merry!)

[Starbreeze]

Cool, 6 pages, thought at no point did I realise that it was a competition...

Last night I spent 6 hours, staying up till 4 in the morning, researching herbs and their healing properties - but did not find anything. Could I be so rash as to ask if anyone knows any herbs that slow blood loss or aid blood clotting? Thanx.

[Saxony Tarn]

Starbreeze -- i can help you there, but would need the weekend to consult some books. i have several herbal references & a few more in friends' libraries.

i can probably also recommend you a few websites from some magazines that form part of my library -- depends on whether you need this for a civilized alchemist healer or a backwoods indigenous-tribe healer.

e-mail me & i'll see what i can dig up for you over the holiday -- saxonytarn@aol.com

|_|) <-- pint of your favorite soda for you

s.t.

[Naaramare]

(MUST leave major plot pivot points intact...!!)

Ugh. I feel your pain. I ended up having to go back and erase twenty five pages (twenty five!!!) because I discovered I'd made a horrific inconsistancy.

I think I cried.

[Starbreeze]

Oh no Naaramare, thats bad! Poor thing! Thankful to say that has never happened to me yet!

Thanks Saxony!

[littlemanpoet]

Speaking of plot inconsistency (and this is NOT a competition, just hard luck), I have a particularly bad one.

I'm totally rethinking my entire story. I've had a warm place in my heart for the Nordic mythos and Anglo-Saxon, and so I've written all that into my story. But I've started admitting to myself that the very first image I had in mind for this thing, way back
in '86, took place in the hidden recesses of Wales. I don't know why it was there, but there it was. And I've been ignoring that key fact to the peril of the story in terms of inner INconsistency of reality for fifteen <bleeping> years. Moral: DO NOT IGNORE YOUR DREAMS. Little Celtic facts have been burgeoning up from the deep recesses in
spite of my best efforts to tame them, such as the name of the primary castle/abode of the faerie protagonists, which is Glimhoth
Caer. Now, how Celtic can you get? I've tried Germanic alternatives, but they just will not do. And my primary faerie being is more like the Celtic goddess Medb than anything in the Nordic mythos. So I've got this basically Celtic mythic thing going that I've been trying to force into a Germanic framework and it's no wonder I've been having such trouble!

I have a professor of Anglo-Saxon as a primary background character and I have all these characters taking the course, but now I wonder why? And if not that, what then -inner consistency realistically? Augh! Make them graduate students instead of undergrad? Why? I don't know. And so it goes... Maybe another 15 years and I'll have something figured out.
[img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

[Laiedheliel]

Hmm, I haven't been here for a while. Six pages, kudos to us!

Plot inconsistancies...hum, hoom, what a sad, evil topic to bring up in a nice thread like this one. Being as we're not competing, I have completely re-written the entire history of my world and had to change a thousand little details to keep the plot consistant, and my main character's personality had to change to fit the only plausable reasons she could be where she was and why she was there, and this has all happened during finals week. *Sigh*, pass the caffine.

I think the idea "it's my story/fantasy, I don't have to" is rank idiocy. You have to stay consistant in your own world; there has to be a reason for every rhyme and a cause for every effect. Me being the perfectionist I am, I'd rather have those be realistic causes for the effects.

Right on! Note what is said above. Completely rewritten, and this time I had to reasearch six or seven different mythos and languages on which to base my six or seven race of the world I've made. Perfectionist lives here, no arguments. Fantasy is so widely accepted because it is so realistic. The fantasy books worth reading all have that little attention to every concievable detail, the tangiblity that every story requires to be, as Starbreeze said, not just another book. I think that's why during finals week I have research Nordic, Egyption (sp?), Celtic, and various other cultures until the wee hours of the morn just so I didn't drive my self to something desprate. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] I'm my own worst enemy.

Gender boundries, ST: consider them smashed. My story's main character is a no bull-crap sword fighter/archer with a wit and mind to match. Thus, she encounters big problems with the military commanders and the members of her battilion. Hehe, she's both my favorite and most difficult character to write, for I feel it neccessary to keep her away from being just another sheild-maiden, or seeming somewhat 'common' to what we have become used to in fantasy stories. She has a varied conscience, usually does things only for the reward (but will do certain things 'free of charge' and has an odd definition of reward, like food and lodging or new clothes [long story]), and can sometimes prover herself to be a little scared by the events unfolding around her. Satisfied, ST?

*This novel written by Laie, who has slunk over into the corner after her hour long ramble/outburst in search of a diet Pepsi or some other source of caffine*

[ June 01, 2002: Message edited by: Laiedheliel ]

[Saxony Tarn]

Absolutely, Laei -- i think you're the only one who took up that challenge, although LMP might have commented on it a bit... Glad to see you're back!

Now i'm going to throw the other glove out -- anyone got any MALE characters who take delight in stretching other characters' -- and readers' -- perceptions of what men should be?

s.t.

[littlemanpoet]

Well ya know, as far as I can tell there are only two choices: masculine or feminine (sp?). Every one of my women have masculine traits and every one of my men have feminine traits, to varying degrees. None of them acts neuter, whatever that might be. Or is there something else you're getting at, ST?

[Naaramare]

anyone got any MALE characters who take delight in stretching other characters' -- and readers' -- perceptions of what men should be?

Well, this depends, really. Mostly on whether you think it's okay for men to wear dresses, makeup and sleep with other men on random days of the week and then act like perfectly ordinary masculine fellows (other than the fact that they still prefer men over women) on other days.

For some reason, my English teachers choked on that one . . .

[Laiedheliel]

*Laie takes a deep breath and again steps up to the plate* You know, S.T., you have a knack for this!

Male characters, my favorite ones to write. There is another character in the same story, actually opposite (sp?) the shield-maiden mentioned above, who is very set in his ways and not afraid to speak up about others'. While the shield-maiden combats them with wit and intelligence, he just says what's on his mind, though he's smart, without thinking of the consequnces. His view of masculinity (sp?) is very similar to the Norse men of old (my inspiration for his race, actually), and often runs into 'pointless' disputes with other soldiers about honor and chivalry. This character is also where most of my humor comes from, because he is very blunt and uninhibited. At the same time, he manages to be compassionate (or as compassionate as 'hillbred barbarians' get) and retain some traces of feminine traits. I think most of my characters end up like littleman's - both feminine and masculine in nature, though most lean to one side or the other (obviously). [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Now I had better stop before my mom catches me on the computer, again...O yeah, I almost forgot - satisfied with this one, S.T.? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Thinhyandoiel]

anyone got any MALE characters who take delight in stretching other characters' -- and readers' -- perceptions of what men should be?

Uhm, yes. I've mentioned this character before, the one who likes to pick on the my scholarly Elf. This character, who is also an Elf, is a warrior of his realm. He's been brought up with a bow in one hand, a sword in the other, so to speak. So, when my scholar joins the party, he takes delight in trying to show my scholar-Elf how to "truly" fight, how to pack (parchment is a no-no and a worthless "weapon") and so on. They're both male, but my scholar has his own strengths, healing being one of them.

[Saxony Tarn]

Why thank you Laie -- i thought so! (more, more, i'm still not satisfied... -- T. Lehrer)

Well, on the surface, that was meant to be a muster call for any male characters who didn't toe the manly-man party line to shout out and be proud. While i have in the course of writing at least one tale had a character come out of the closet to me, that precise degree wasn't quite where i was aiming... (okay. yet!! B) )

But hey, we're trying to go for seven pages here, so any humble thing i can do to stimulate discussion! Hmm... let's see... what else haven't we covered yet? Anybody else got a hot topic?

:: dead silence as Wights sip their drinks ::

Okay, here's one that my Elvish consultant and brave, valiant alpha proof reader and i have been wrangling with, since she is a self-confessed skeptic of powerful magic effects -- how do you handle Magic? Phenomenal Extrasensory mental Powers? Divine Intervention? Or some of the stuff in the last book of LOTR that struck me as a wee bit too Deus Ex Machina -- like Aragorn healing people by blowing Kingsfoil tea steam in their faces? i don't know... i still need a little more nuts-and-bolts to be underpinning that. ("Because he's the King" is not sufficient reason)

Bait's cast -- who'll bite?

s.t.

|_|) <-- drink up!

[Aragorn_the_Ranger]

Okay, one thing to say...is good luck and keep going, especially to those ppl creating languages.
Literature is one of my favourites as well, and i've had ideas for stories not neccesarily fantasy, but i did have one idea which i scrapped. At the moment i'm working on a Tolkien related story which I've been working on for a while with nothing yet written down. Though I only do it for myself, no money or even to be noticed...it's something you do for your own selfbeing. My story is/will be set in the time when Aragorn served as Thorongil with GOndor and Rohan. Good luck to everyone though and keep trying

[littlemanpoet]

Okay, I'll bite

twice. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

My protagonist's step-brother is the pawn of the villains. He is weak, whiny, vindictive, prideful, and self-absorbed. He is the one who gets totally overmatched by my strong female charater; it's a mentor/mentee relationship based on an astrological 'society' that purports to use the ancient sciences. So he is the feminine one (in a bad sense I guess) who passively accepts the leadership of the masculine power-woman.

The Society for the sciences of antiquity is, of course, an obfuscating renaissance-style magicians' coven which purports to be using real science that has lost acceptance. They say that not the stars, but the planets and moon and sun, are what influence us, and each magician has an affinity with one particular planet's influence. I'd go into specifics but I'm a little afraid of idea-theft. The thing is, in my story the stuff actually does work, but the powersource behind the efficacious spells and what-not are actually malevolent (and in some cases neutral or benevolent) entities that allow the magicians to wield their power for their own purposes, reeling them in to slavery in some cases. The moon should be obvious, the influence of which is lunacy. I have a couple insane magicians whose powers are strong, and therefore they are dangerous.
That's the "our world" magic.

Faerie magic is different, though related. The immortals tend to have areas of extra-human capability according to elemental categories: fire, earth, air, etc. - plus all the typical deity-oriented powers of mythology. This is far more organic and follows after the like of Aragorn, whose healing ability did not come from his kingship but from his elvish/numenorean background - remember, his line ran pure and he was taught by Elrond. Okay, I've rambled long enough.

[Naaramare]

how do you handle Magic?

Personally, my magic follows definite laws, many of which are the same as any other kind of energy--cannot be created or destroyed, etc--and constant. I have two specific kinds of magic: one is the kind my elves, mages and "psychics" use, which is quite easily defined, explained, enacted on (if one has the talent) and is somewhat akin to solar or hydro-energy.

The second is probably not quite magic. It's the kind that's acted on through prayer, meditation, etc. It is difficult to predict, often overlooked, impossible to study and quantify and thus, rather subjective. ^^ Same as prayer in real life: did you pass your exam because you prayed or because you studied/got lucky? Within my story, a Wiccan's magick falls under this category.

The only thing that's definite about the second kind of magic is that it fogs and obscures the power flows of "normal" magic in it's direct area.

[Saxony Tarn]

Welcome to the thread, Aragorn, and let us know if you're going to post that tale here so the rest of us fiction-hungry Wights can read it! B) (paranoid-Denethor conspiracy theorists, unite? okay, so i've got a murder plot to solve in the D&D game i'm playing in tonight, and i'm just getting warmed up! B) )

looks like i may have sparked another good one with my question about magic, so, w/ hand on stack of holy texts guaranteeing LMP and others that there will be no idea theft here... (in fact it will be prosecuted, by not serving the offenders any more drinks!)

most of the paranormal effects in my project, so far, have been what in FRPG terms would be called "psionic" or mental powers. In the game that i run (with its 2" thick house rules hacked up from every game i've played in the past 25 years) the special effects fall into three main groups:

1) Hermetic Magic, where the energy is nearly all external to the manipulator (most Classical magical texts making use of the alchemical principles, astrology, demon summoning, punishing, and banishing, and general smoke and flashes of light fit here),
2) Shamanic Magic, sort of the crossover point, where the manipulator is often in a trance state (indigenous tribal magic from Siberia to Africa and points westward, often very close to religion, and spirits dealt with are more often friendly and helpful, or at least not overtly hostile)
3) Psionic paranormal ability, AKA Talent, where the energy is nearly all internal to the manipulator and manifest outward (Uri Geller bending keys, but for real, Edgar Cayce's paranormal healing talents, others) In the game as well as in the story, certain Talents tend to show up more frequently in certain races, for example, all Elves who can trace their lineage to Valimar have the potential to be able to walk on snow...

Anything outside of those three is considered to be the province of Deity-class entities.

Now, if i wanted to be singlehandedly responsible for pushing us to seven pages, i'd expound more on the nature of energy storing devices, spell focuses (such as a priest's holy symbol or shaman's animal-totem fetish) and other such things, however, i'm just going to thank LMP for reminding me about Aragorn's healing Talent being pretty much that -- a function of heritage. In which case i would now submit, wouldn't anyone else up in Arnor be able to duplicate the effects?
What about any remaining Numenorian blood down South? Or is all they can do with it make potpourri and cure headaches? It would seem to me that if it's a function of the plant, then anyone could use it, but if it's a function of Aragorn, then he should need the plant for a specific non-property-related reason -- thus the alternate explanation i was working on, which gave him the specific inherent power, but in order to use it, he needed to smell fresh kingsfoil tea (sort of like the Mage game from White Wolf -- one i, alas, have not played yet) thus the plant would be a "focus" -- like a Druid of yore w/ sacred mistletoe. Otherwise, i have a hard time getting it past my "does not compute" sensors.

s.t.

|_|) <-- Keep those discussions coming -- i'll keep filling the mugs!

[ June 05, 2002: Message edited by: Saxony Tarn ]

[littlemanpoet]

Biting that bait again! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I guess I see four merging threads in Aragorn's healing.
1) the virtue of the athelas, aka king's foil; Faramir, another pure Numenorean, gives Frodo and Sam walking sticks that come from a wood that has a virtue associated with it. So there's something in the plant itself. No doubt it comes from Yavanna.
2) Numenorean descent of Aragorn - purity of the blood line - remember, he comes from Elendil, the purest of the king's line if you take it through all the eldest children of the kings from Elros onward.
3) He learned from Elrond, as a foster-son, really. So being half-elven from way back anyway (Elros), of pure lineage, learning from the Elves, gives him additional capability.
4) There is a prophecy involved; the nature of prophecy is fulfillment. In a sense, destiny gets involved in this. So maybe that's additional efficaciousness.

That's how it looks from my vantage point. So it's not just his numenoreanness, nor just Elrond's influence, nor just the athelas.

[ June 07, 2002: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]

[Aragorn_the_Ranger]

Hey thanx Saxony Tarn....
as soon as i get most of the story done i'll add it to the fan-fic.
Denethor conspiracy...paranoid?

[Niphredil Baggins]

Plot inconstancies? I had a serious problem of style inconstancies with my novel (Dremette), and still do: one timeline is mythical-allegorical, another is adventure-character growth-philosophical. I've solved the prob in theory by turning the myth-allegory part into a story inside the story, one that a protagonist hears from her tutor. Also, I had a similar prob with another story, the Crystal Heart, where one chapter is like from a children's fairy tale and the rest has a mythic air- like a chapter of Narnia in the middle of the Silmarillion. Not as good, mind you. Without littlemanpoet and our group I wouldn't have noticed. Of course, sometimes such differences can be turned to an advantage, for instance displaying different character's points of view. Not so in my story, so I'll have to make changes.

[Thinhyandoiel]

Magic? [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] How do I handle it? Well, in my story, only Elves can use it. Using one or two Elvish 'command' words. At first, I debated with myself about giving them some of these powers, but then I came to the conclusion that they NEEDED these powers. I'm quite sure how to explain it. At first, the only 'magic' they had was the ability to change the colour of their eyes. At will or no, their eyes act like a sort of mood ring, with colours for certain emotions or thoughts (blue for curiousity, green for happiness or joy, red for anger), and can also determine how sharp their vision is. (White for misty conditions, black for night, blue for daytime etc.) Also, my Elves have the ability to communicate with eachother telepathically. The reason for this is, in the very beginning of my world, Elves had no oral abilities, that was how they communicated daily. But then one of the "gods" came down and gifted them with song, thus giving them their own language. But they still held onto their old way of communication for private use.

Now...
Aragorn's athelas? Well, let's see. Kingsfoil was brought to Middle-Earth by Numenor, and I somehow got the conclusion that maybe it was a gift from the Valar or the Elves. Because of that, I somehow got the conclusion that only one with Numenorean blood could awaken those hidden powers in the supposed 'weed'. Also, as LMP said, he's got the elvish blood in him, and was taught by Elrond, renowned for his healing abilities. But, now that you mention it, I guess it could be seen as Deus Ex Machina. If, in their reasoning, they left out the "because he's King" and just left the plant with it's own healing abilities, it would sound just fine. But, then again, the "because he's King" sort of brings back the old mystique behind Aragorn's bloodline, for me at least. So I actually like the "because he's King" but-one-could-expand-on-that-just-a-bit. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Saxony Tarn]

Thinhyan' -- interesting ideas -- i've read more than one story with telepathic Elves (are you familiar with ElfQuest, a comic book and later graphic novel series begetting several spinoffs, by the team of Wendy & Richard Pini? i grew up w/ that, you could say it shaped some of my fantasy outlook)

as for the King and his Foil, i'm going to stick with mine, worked up from the text made by the folks who made Middle-Earth the FRPG and say that it has powers anyone can use, but the King can get more out of it (the 'forgotten' part of the lore) which suggests to me that it's an innate part of the kingship and the "kingsfoil" gets that name because the king uses it as a focus (like a Native American uses his sage smudge bundle, perhaps) The Tourists in this tale, of course, hear this, compare it with herbs they know, and conclude it's some local variety of hyssop, and i rather liked the Biblical angle that could be inferred from that, so... when i get it done, i'll see how it flies.

Keep it up, gang, we've got to be pretty close to page #7!!!

s.t.

[Laiedheliel]

Magic so far has been a toughie for me, especially since I just started writing the history of my 'world'. I want it to be able to follow rules without it copying too much from other stories/ideas. There are somethings that just have to overlap, like the type of power a deity would have. Most of the magicks that take place in my world have a close relation with music, such as a song having the same capabilites that a spell might. Symbols also have a big role, like runes, charms, pendants, 'coat of arms', etc. One in my world would need discipline in both mind and body to work magicks (and would need to be able to carry a tune!).

I'm staying about forty feet away from the Aragorn disscussion-I have my own theories and are quite happy with them just the way they are.

[Saxony Tarn]

Laie -- that sounds cool. i think you'd probably like my RPG if you lived anywhere within a 50-mile radius of me (which you probably don't) and had nothing to do one Saturday evening a month, we've got magic songs and runecharms a'plenty...

(guess you could say great minds think alike?)

and 40 feet is a safe distance away...

|_|) <-- a magic drinking song for you!

s.t.

[ June 07, 2002: Message edited by: Saxony Tarn ]

[Nar]

Naaramare: I like your second type 'lateral magic' & I like the way it tangles up the first-- that's interesting.

Aragorn hope you do post your Thorongil story-- I'd like to read it.

Saxony Tarn, interesting taxonomy of magic. Oh yes, I liked ElfQuest.

Laiedheliel, I like your music angle. Someone on another thread mentioned modern dissonance vs classical: do you see different schools of magic? Could dissonant magic ever be good?

Littlemanpoet-- so they get the little bro? Say it isn't so! (although I suspected as much) He gets extracted, right? No, don't tell me. I want to read it! I've got a soft spot for him-- I tutor for (something of a) living, and there's some very sorrowful kids-- oh, would I like to be able to blow Aethelas steam in their faces 'Hey, you're curling the math pages.' 'Nevermind, just breathe, kiddo, breathe!'

I think Aethelas opens a way to a good part of the other side, hence 'smell sweet when bruised' for anyone, and Aragorn with bloodline, strong spirit and training can actually go through and get the wandering soul back instead of just catching a breeze or two from the other side.

Saxony Tarn, on the gender boundaries, I've just created this monster so fearsome I have to hide under the desk and type from there to get him onscreen, and oddly enough, he's male with weirdly feminine feet-- nothing else is feminine, just the feet. I don't think it's going in the scene, though, my heroine's about to fend him off with a smashed pickle jar (don't ask) so she won't be looking at his tiny feet. She's looking at his teeth! No doubt the feet'll turn up later.

Anybody want to share favorite monsters? Traditional or just hints of ones you've invented? Do you like them intelligent & seductivly articulate like Saruman or just big ugly and hungry? Or big beautiful & wild like dragons?

[Naaramare]

Naaramare: I like your second type 'lateral magic' & I like the way it tangles up the first-- that's interesting.

I'm glad you liked it. It's mostly CS Lewis' fault, actually . . ."The Screwtape Letters." Wherein he makes some comments on prayer. The oddest things stick in my mind when it comes to story writing.

[ edit ] Go me, I jumped us to seven pages. ::is amused:: [ /edit ]

[ June 08, 2002: Message edited by: Naaramare ]

[Maikadilwen]

PAGE 7!!!!!!!!! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Anybody want to share favorite monsters?

I have a weakness for dragons. They're simply adorable. In my story though, dragons are mostly remembered in songs and legends. But who knows, maybe one will stick out it's head and say BOO! But I don't find dragons scary. In my story, the scariest "monster" can actually not be seen. It's just like a sort of darkness. Pure evil. You can't see it like you can see dragons or devils or whatever, but you can definitely feel it, and if it surrounds you long enough, it will not only corrupt and destroy your mind, but also your body. That's what I find scary. Things that can't be hit or wounded. At least a dragon can be slain and killed, right?

[Starbreeze]

Anybody want to share favorite monsters?

I have created several of the creatures in my story. Most of them are still on the drawing board (I draw them in full detail before I write about them) but one creature, which I particularly like is called the Woral. It is a Wyrm like creature - long and thin, covered in fine scales, with a thin, almost horselike head, and ram's horn. It has no wings but rather 'swims' through the air.

I wish I had time to write more, but I should be revising and I'm feeling guilty, so I'd better go.

[Lila Bramble]

Aye, I write fanfiction with weaving of my own fictional plots and characters along with Tokien's great worlds and races. I am the author of 'Master of the Red Pearl', posted here, and admire Tolkien greatly.

[Starbreeze]

Hello Lila!

*sings* We Welcome you to Munchkin - um I mean Barrow Downs, fa la la la la la la la...oh, I'll be quiet now shall I? [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Naaramare]

Anybody want to share favorite monsters?

Why, certainly. I'm partial to dragons, ki-rin and phoenixes. Dragons, well . . .that's always obvious, isn't it? :: points to her decorated bedroom:: Ahem. ^^ They're big, pretty and no one messes with them.

Phoenixes: partly because of the spiritual theme in the rebirth, and partly just because they've become irremovably linked to the heroine of my monster ( er . . .novel, right, not monster). Thus, they've become part of my ideals.

Ki-rin, because I've always liked unicorns, but the Western ones are insipid, and far too concerned with young girls' sex lives.

[littlemanpoet]

Monsters:

I have just two dragons - one evil and the other - we're not sure yet...

There are winged unicorns in my faerie world,
and 'cloud mariners' - they are humanoid and ride at the helm of the clouds, bringing rain where it's needed in faerie. Problem is, some have been made evil and bring only ruin wherever they go.

All the evil broods manifest themselves as suits their nature, so I have werewolves, serpents, were-boars, were-what-have-you...

The good faeries also manifest themselves as suits their nature, so I have a phoenix/firebird (yes, I know you know what I'm talking about, Nar and Niphredil and Thinyan and dragongirl [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] ), Cernunnos the Celtic stag god, Boltarin the pictish boar god, and many others...

Question for y'all: how do you use your monsters - as foils for the hero/heroine? in unexpected ways?

By the way, Nar, my dragons are geniuses. Clever, mysterious, leaders of armies. My winged unicorns communicate by placing pictures in the minds of others rather than by words. They are my most spiritual monsters. (You folks form 'fww', I feel like I'm giving away too much! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] )

[ June 08, 2002: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]

[Thinhyandoiel]

Actually, I've heard of ElfQuest, and have wanted to read it for a long time now, but I can't find it, so no, I haven't read it. The only fantasy sort of novels I have read are pretty much limited to Tolkiens works and a few unheard of novels. How unheard of? Has anyone heard of "Urshurak" by the Hildebrandt Brothers? I haven't found a single person who has. *shrugs*

As for the athelas. I think we have similar ideas there, s.t, I just have trouble communicating mine. I read yours and I was like "isn't that what I just said?" but then I reread mine and I realized that nope, I said something a bit different. I do believe that the athelas has healing powers that anyone can use, I just think that so far only those of Elven or Numenorean blood know how to use them. Bah. I'm really bad at explaining things, esp. things from my own head. Sorry! [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Thinhyandoiel]

7 pages!! Go us!!

Monsters? Well, obviously the dragon is a popular candidate for this category. I have a lizard-dragon-like monster in my story. It is rumored to be descended of dragons in my world; but all the true-blooded dragons had died out during the First Darkness. My original name for this monster was Luksa, but I didn't quite like it and changed it to Nucran. Later on, I use werewolves. So far those are my only two "monsters" I use. Unless you count the mist, which is a monster itself for what it holds.

how do you use your monsters - as foils for the hero/heroine? in unexpected ways?

The werewolves I guess fit in that category. Because the leader of a pack of werewolves that sack a peaceful town was the brother of one of my main characters, there's dilemna. (ooh! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] ) He was what one of the heroes looked up to, as a model soldier, and seeing what he becomes, he feels let down sort of. Disillusioned.

LMP, giving away too much? Well, maybe. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] I know the phoenix, the rest I haven't seen yet, so I can only guess! Though, I am eagerly awaiting more!! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ June 08, 2002: Message edited by: Thinhyandoiel ]

[Starbreeze]

My winged unicorns communicate by placing pictures in the minds of others rather than by words.

That sounds a lot like Anne McCaffery's Unicorn People from the Acorna series.

Question for y'all: how do you use your monsters

Well, the Worals are an ancient race and are angry about the damage the humans have done to the land they once lived in, with the dragons. The dragons have now left, along with the elves and other magical creatures because of this damage and the Worals are doing everything within their power to destroy the world the humans have built. The worals don't actually have anything to do with the people the story follows, but their actions cause problems for those people, for example, they come across famine when a band of Worals destroy an entire crop, and they are also seen as bad omens about the end of the world.
Later in the story I am considering allowing a few of the magical creatures, unicorns and the like, to return to the world they left so many years ago, and some of these creatures may help, directly or indirectly, the main 'heros' of the story.

Now I have given too much away!

[Naaramare]

how do you use your monsters - as foils for the hero/heroine? in unexpected ways?

Well, my dragons tend to become main characters in and of themselves. They're my living, breathing, flesh-and-blood "monsters"; they have a society, are utterly physical (although very strong in magic), lay eggs, raise young, fight wars (with the occasional very foolish human ruler) and so forth.

My phoenix is mostly a spiritual incarnation; I suppose you could call her a messenger of God (if you're not calling her a God in the Machine . . .^~), so she's more of the 'foil for the heroine', I suppose. Mostly simply an outward manifestation of what the heroine knows she's supposed to do, but is terrified of.

My ki-rin are usually borderline deus ex machinas. ::grins:: They're unexpected, I suppose, running about delivering justice (and not always what one would expect, as heroes have been turned into frogs and suchlike) and wisdom and occasionally "stealing" children.

[Lila Bramble]

Thanks for the welcome! And I will answer the question 'How do you use your monsters/villains?'

In my stories (which all happen to be fantasy with genres of adventure with weavings of drama and romance) the villain has always a very important role:

To make everything complicated!

In most of my fantasy works, the main character or hero has some sort of relationship with the villain or had asscotiations with him/her/it in earlier years.

Also, to make things interestings [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img], I usually let one character slip away; either to fall into the villian's side, or to be defeated or killed.

My villians always have a reason for their actions and a detailed history of their evil ways. Usually they ahve strengths and barley have weaknesses, and the hero is never the one to slay them.

Always the defeat of the villain is shared among more than one person, leaving a network of help in the slaying or demolishing, often very complaicated, leaving you to think who is the most responsible for the defeat.

Sometimes villains are thought defeated and lay dormant, and when least expected, such as in times of peace and prosperity, appear again, causing much disturbance and havoc.

This is how I use my villains, in complicated, yet interesting ways. Well, thanks for listening!