Literary agent Rachelle Gardner recently ran a readership poll on her extremely popular blog and has now published the results. Of particular interest to me (and her, as it turns out) is that 26% of writerly survey respondents write science-fiction/fantasy (SFF), making it the most popular represented genre. The next most popular was general/'non-genre' fiction (21%), followed … Continue reading Why I write fantasy
A hot topic at today's pub writing session (in the gaps between writing) was point of view (POV) -- specifically, how many points of view are optimum in a novel? This is actually rather pertinent when it comes to 'epic' fantasy, in which genre it has become quite common to write from several character POVs, often up … Continue reading How many points of view?
Today I attended the launch of Eona by the lovely Alison Goodman. It's the sequel to fantasy epic Eon, a tale of dragons and power and imperial politics set in a fantasy land inspired by medieval Chinese and Japanese mythologies. I'm actually reading Eon (also known as The Two Pearls of Wisdom) at the moment, and can't … Continue reading Eona launch at Glenfern
The rise of 'paranormal romance' as a best-selling genre has me reflecting on the role of 'romance' in the wider speculative fiction genre and fantasy in particular. I think it's fair to say that most fantasy novels written over the past few decades incorporate romantic sub-plots, and I'll admit without shame that I for one like a good dash … Continue reading With a dash of love
After a recent conversation with a writer/editor/journalist friend, and having spent much of the past two days proof-reading an 80p technical product catalogue, I am reminded of the benefits of keeping a style guide -- even as a novelist. Particularly when one is writing fantasy. Style guides are used to maintain consistency across a publication. … Continue reading A sense of style
Ellen Gregory 