The Fantasy Genre Returns

So apparently my blog is very popular over this past week due to a post of mine called “A Little List of Lies about Leprechauns”. It’s gotten over 400 views, something I considered impossible for any of my posts. So with this in mind, I’ve decided to discuss the thing that birthed such creatures in the first place: the fantasy genre.

It seems like the fantasy genre is finally making a comeback. With shows like Game of Thrones, the Shannara Chronicles, and the recent success of The Hobbit, the general public is eating up fantasy as intensively as the upper class is eating lobster. But where does the booming interest in fantasy come from?

Personal Writing Tips

Write the book you want to read. 

If there’s something you don’t like in books, make a point not to put it in yours. 

If there’s something you think modern books need more, put more of it in yours.

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t fit a specific genre completely. It doesn’t matter if absolutely nobody else likes it. Just write the thing. Write it for you, because you’ll regret it forever if you don’t.

Write what you want to write and screw what anyone else says. 

The Machine by Gabriel Penn

THE MACHINE IS BACK.

Well, really, it’s just a repost of the original story. But you all should read it anyway. It’s my favorite thing that I have ever written, and one day I want to do another one. Sequel or prequel, I will not say.

And, as always, please vote for me in the contest.

EDIT: Rape scenario in part two. Not intensively described but it is there. You will understand the reason it is there by the end of that chapter, I promise.

The Machine by Gabriel Penn

Magic Systems

blackwingedgabriel:

It’s 2am when I’m writing this and I can’t sleep, so allow me to tell you in detail about the magic system for my upcoming book Dark Soldier.

In Vaela, magic is a very tangible thing. The most common form of it is called crystal magic. In this form, one can actually buy magic by purchasing crystals. You can open up the locked magic inside by reciting phrases depending on the stone you buy. Also depending on the spell that you are in need of, magic can be very, very pricy… unless you are one of those crazy people who actually go to crystal sources to find them. That’s a bit of a risky operation, so most people don’t do that. Instead, the poor are just far less protected than the rich. Due to the fact that the rich are just generally more powerful, especially having powerful magical stones, there’s not much the poor can actually do about it. The stones are often color coded to define their specific trait. For instance, an air-based stone will be colored differently from a fire-based or protection-based stone. The more tumbled, polished and/or purified the stone, the more powerful it is. Thus, the bigger price for the bigger amount of work involved.

Now, there is another way to get magic in Vaela. This form is called beast magic. It means that the user does not actually need crystals to perform magic, but instead has magical energy inside their soul. It is generally more powerful than crystal magic. This type of magic is not very common, and those who have it won’t often use it due to its energy-draining nature. A very powerful spell could make the user lose consciousness, go into a coma-like state, or occasionally, depending on the power of the magic, even kill the magic user after they say the spell. This is not a coveted ability, especially since beast magic users have a hard time using crystal magic.

That’s all I’ll give away for now! Thanks for reading this long spiel and let me know what you think! Also, tell me the magic systems for your fantasy novel! I love to hear this kind of thing.

Newest Scene

Easily my favorite scene I have written for any of my stories:

---

Destiny awoke with a start. She had not had any nightmares that night. In fact, she could not think of what she had dreamed at all. She imagined that she hadn’t dreamed. It was very possible.

But what she was hearing now was just the strangest thing. She put her hear to the edge of the door to hear their voices. It was two very shrill voices arguing about seemingly nothing.

“What?” asked the first one.

“Oh, nothing,” replied the other.

“Nothing at all?”

“Some sort of nothing, I should say.”

“So something as well as nothing?”

“No, just nothing of something.”

She heard tea being sipped.

“I say…”

“Say what?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

The first voice groaned. “None of that.”

“None of what?”

“Yes.”

She heard a cup hit wood angrily. “We don’t have any of what? We really ought to.”

“I should say so.”

“But you haven’t?”

“I just did.”

“What?”

“Say so.”

“Not you!”

“Not me?”

“Of course not!”

She heard a chair move. “Fine then, I won’t!”

“Won’t what?”

“Say so!”

There was a long pause. “But you just did.”

“Did what?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I’d forgotten.”

“As had I. What are we forgetting?” She heard tea being poured, and after a little while, it being sipped again.

“How should I know?”

“I don’t know.”

“Me neither.”

“No, you’re not neither.”

They sipped tea again. “Then what am I?”

“What.”

“I’m what?”

“Yes.”

“And you? What are you?”

“No, you are.”

“I know, but which are you?”

“I don’t really know.”

“Neither do I.”

“No, I don’t really know.”

“Oh, you don’t?”

“No, I don’t really know,” the second repeated again.

“Nor do I.”

“You don’t understand. More tea?”

“Certainly.” She heard tea being poured another time.

---

To become a writing buddy for NaNoWrimo, check me out here!

As much as I would like my book to get famous, there are times I hope my book does not get famous. Because if it does, it may get a following. If it gets a large enough following, it may become a movie.

And I worry I will be the most obnoxiously picky writer that poor director will ever deal with in his life. 

That moment when you make a dystopia for your book, and suddenly realize that it would actually work. Quite well.

And perhaps that makes it far more terrifying.

Only three thousand words into the NanoWrimo novel and already I have some quotable stuff.

Yes, I know that means I am 3000 words behind.

*sobs quietly in the distance*

Anyway, if you want to be writing buddies, check out my page here.

Making a genderless godlike character for the book Dark Soldier is fantastic. It puts so many people on edge. They ask: “Is it male or female?” I reply, “No.”