Recent content by Prince of Spires

Welcome Joseph! Feel free to throw up a few pages if you want people to take a look. We have all kinds of fantasy here. There is indeed plenty of epic scale fantasy going around. However, there is also enough Urban Fantasy as well. Some of the most succesful published authors here write Urban...

I think there are 3 big factors to consider for the empire: infrastructure, bureaucracy, and technology level. Infrastructure determines how big an empire can get pretty much. It's why empires got too big at some point to rule. If it takes a month for a messenger to cross your empire, then...

There's a lot to unpack in this thread.... Firstly, medieval fantasy isn't going anywhere, regardless of what people on soapboxes are telling you. For proof, just go to any medieval castle or church and see how many people visit them. As long as kids like playing knights or princesses, then...

I didn't know that he was. But considering everything that happened last millenium, and all the great people who featured in it, then I can think of plenty of better candidates. Regardless of that, the main point of the argument wasn't the hightlighted part, but rather the part where it's a...

sorry. Yes it was. Star Wars Episode 4, A New Hope is a very clear case study of the Hero's Journey. All the big moments get a clear scene in there. George Lucas is a big fan of the hero's journey apparently. So if you're interested in writing one, then you can do worse than studying Star Wars.

What I remember from the writing itself is that it's pretty good. Though of course it might not have aged well. It's been 20 odd years since I read the first one I think. It is a good case study of using an unlikeable protagonist. I think Donaldson manages that very well. Both in understanding...

I read Of Mice and Men in English and I enjoyed the read. It was fast, fun, and accessible, while still offering depth. I personally do think that the focus on literature in high school can do more harm than good though. Forcing teenagers to wade through dense, hard to read texts and then dig...

I personally think that if you're a beginning writer on your first or second novel, then don't worry over theme. First off, people will find a theme in your novel no matter if you include it or not. But also, you can write a fine story without a specific theme, and writing a novel is hard enough...

Late to the party perhaps, but in my opinion, it very often depends on what the main viewpoint character knows. If the main viewpoint character knows he's playing a videogame, then the reader should probably know from fairly early on that this is the case as well. If the main character...

I think he would make a great Etienne

Plenty of good advice here already. To take it in a different direction, I'll add two points to consider. The first is to ask yourself why you want to write a story at all. There's nothing wrong with simply world-building and dabbling with a few characters who could live in that world. Plenty...

There were about 600 entries last year. Must be said that they limited it to 600 then and simply closed the submissions after they received those. Now they kept them open for 24hrs to give everyone a fair chance of entering. Might be that there are fewer entries now because of the controversy...

Indeed, but we have no idea how any of the other magic in the world works. All those elements are simply a matter of "because magic." At one point they have a magical tent that's small on the outside but like a mansion on the inside. How? Because magic. Or they have a tree that's alive and...

I personally don't like the explanations. The chapter 1 bit for instance just feels silly, even with knowing the character has run into a word in a different language. Writing is like real life with all the boring bits taken out. All your readers will understand what magic and a mage are on a...

He does stick to the character, especially in the first three books. The protagonist isn't likeable, but it does fit. I enjoyed the first three. As I mentioned, for the three after that I felt like I was re-reading the same thing in just a slightly different form. And the same again with book 7...