L.B. Graham — author of the series "The Binding Of The Blade"

It's my real pleasure to post about Christopher Hopper, one of the Motiv8 authors I'd never met before until I hit the ground in Seattle. Wayne Batson had told me the night before I met Christopher, when we met up in Seattle before joining the rest of the Tour after their jaunt to Canada, that Christopher was the kind of guy who made everyone feel like they mattered to him, the kind of guy that it was impossible not to like and enjoy, and I found that to be very true on the Tour. Christopher and his wife Jenny were great to tour with.(By the way, the scenery photos I've copied here and mixed in along with some of Christopher's cover art, and personal photos, are pictures Jenny took on tour!)

Rather than giving a brief bio & overview for Christopher, as I have the others, I'd like to go right to the questions I asked him, as his answers are comprehensive and Christopher will do a better job introducing himself than I can. So, here we go...

LBG: I know that you have a big heart for kids, tell us a bit about the work you do with teens when you’re not writing great stories?

Christopher: I'm the Teen & College Pastor for a really dynamic church in the 1,000 Islands region of Northern NY (www.newlifenny.com / www.33live.org). I've had a deep heart for my generation since I was in high school. It's always been my desire to see them saved and discipled into such a strong relationship with Jesus that they are not only "going to heaven" but radically affecting their culture, too. I know that much of my writing comes out of that same heart. Being a preacher has also opened doors for me in the public school system as a motivational speaker where I can't talk about Jesus, but I can certainly talk about Biblical principles and make them relevant for youth.

I also preside over a two-year international discipleship school called DIBOR (www.dibor.org). If you're readers are familiar with Rise of The Dibor, then they will understand that this a real-life Isle of Kirstell where young people from all over the world come to dedicate their lives to Jesus, master the disciplines of the Christian faith, and devote their lives to advancing the Kingdom. I feel so honored to be a part of it, to know so many outstanding individuals, and to lead such an amazing staff.

LBG: It also became clear on the Tour, that you have some strong opinions about the church and the arts – care to share some of your thoughts on the matter?

Christopher: Strong opinions? Am I that obvious? ;) First off, I love the Church. Not because she is perfect, but because she is imperfect. It's full of people who are doing their best to live holy lives and seek after God; Pastors who live far below their means and sacrifice day in and day out; mom's who lose it with their kids and have to repent; dad's who fail and get back up; sinners who are saved by grace and realize that all of their righteousness is as filthy rags and are in desperate need of a Savior day in and day out. I'm pretty protective about her, recognizing that God is jealous for her and is keen on seeing her built up. Therefore I have little tolerance for people that throw stones cross-denominationally and at leaders. People come to me all the time making sweeping, broad generalizations like, "The Church does this," or, "The Church thinks that." But then I'll ask, "Well, who? Name individuals." And they inevitably can't. When you ask people to be specific, they can't. If they can name someone, it's usually one or two people, which is fine; but don't pin it on the whole Church. I've seen too much of her and know she's amazing. The Church is God's idea, not yours, so either get on board with contributing to her increasing beauty, or go somewhere else, because when you criticize her, you are ultimately criticizing God.

That does not mean I won't address issues that need changing, but I do so with a deep understanding that I am a culprit to both her error, as well as to her potential betterment. While I may have strong disagreements or assessments about where she is currently (and where she needs to go), I am fully committed to working with the churches in my county to see souls saved and the Kingdom of God advanced. It's awesome to be a part of. I count it one of my greatest privileges after knowing Christ.

One of the issues I believe that we, the Church corporately, are coming back to is ownership of the Arts once again. There was a day in generations past where the Christians were the culture influencers of the day. Not only were Godly men like Rembrandt, Handel and Bach creating art that moved nations, but they were funded by benefactors within the Church, people who housed them, feed them, and paid their bills so they could dedicate themselves to creating the next masterpiece. I believe that the Church is being called upon again to provoke such art to be created, pieces that will then become catalysts from dynamic change in culture. Artists tell the story of life as it should be, and who better than those who are Divine Dreams and have a heavenly perspective on the world. We need those artists to step forward...the world is crying out for hope.

LBG: For the record, I absolutely agree. We can focus on getting legislation passed which reflects our values all we like, but if we actually want to influence and change the values of our culture, art and story and music and movies are much more influential arenas. And it isn't like we have to choose between these methods, the church could easily invest in both if it regained a vision for it.

Given your busy life with marriage, work, music, etc., why did you decide to enter the writing arena as well?

Christopher: As most writers, I suppose I felt I had a story to tell. And the draw of writing a novel seemed like such a monumental task, I wanted to prove I could actually do it. As they say, why climb Everest? Because it's there. But beyond the ambition side of it, I believe that we are able to communicate to people in a powerful way through stories. Jesus' parables are a prime example of this. But I also saw that people who read books give far more of their lives as an investment into the art form than just listening to a CD. A song is a 3-minute experience (unless you're a Classical listener), and a CD, a 60-minute experience. And "listening" is a fairly passive action, at least as far as modern music is concerned. But when people read your stories, they are investing their lives into what you are saying, and journeying with you over a longer period of time (unless you're one of those speed readers I cringe at...do you have any idea how long it takes us to write these books?). ;) The point being that I feel I'm able to communicate truth to a whole other demographic on a whole other level when I write than I am when recording or speaking. It's not better than music, it's just different.

LBG: Any moments or memories from the Fantasy Fiction Tour ’08 you want to share with us?

Christopher: Well, I suppose one of my favorites was seeing you get so dog-on excited about Jack In The Box! I had never eaten at one before and can truly saw you have GREAT taste in cheeseburgers. Thank you for enlightening me. ;) And overall, I just felt so privileged to be a part of a real-life team of adventurists who dedicated themselves to one cause and lived life together. It was an honor, LB, and I hope we can do it again.

Thanks for the interview!

Thanks to Christopher, really, for taking time to talk with me. For more information about Christopher, visit his website, linked in my sidebar. He's a great guy and I'm glad to count him a friend.

This week, we get a chance to visit with Sharon Hinck, another of the fantastic Fantasy Fiction Tour '08 authors. I met Sharon for the first time this past July in Orlando at ICRS for a FFT '08 kickoff event. She's from Minnesota, so she and I were the 'Midwestern' contingent on the Tour.

The following excerpt is from Sharon's webpage, and it gives a brief introduction to Sharon's writing. "Sharon writes “stories for the hero in all of us,” about ordinary people experiencing God’s grace in unexpected ways. Known for their authenticity, emotional range, and spiritual depth, her novels include the humorous contemporary fiction, The Secret Life of Becky Miller (Bethany House, 2006), Renovating Becky Miller (Bethany House, 2007), and Symphony of Secrets (Bethany House, 2008), along with the standalone women’s fiction Stepping into Sunlight (Bethany House, 2008), and the ground-breaking Sword of Lyric fantasy series (NavPress, 2007-2008) which include The Restorer, The Restorer’s Son, and The Restorer’s Journey.

She was named 2007 “Writer of the Year” at Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference. Her debut novel, The Secret Life of Becky Miller was awarded second place in the 2007 ACFW Book of the Year - Lit Category. Renovating Becky Miller was named a finalist in the 2008 Audie Awards, Inspirational Fiction category. The Restorer was named a finalist in the 2008 Christy Awards, Visionary category. The Restorer’s Son received a 4.5 star recommendation from Romantic Times and a Reviewer’s Choice award from Road to Romance reviews."

Now, in keeping with my stated aim from the beginning of this FFT '08 blog tour, here in the form of questions I posed to Sharon, is a unique, lbgraham.com exclusive...

LBG: In the realm of fantasy fiction, you have a somewhat unique protagonist in the “Sword of Lyric” series. What led to this choice?

Sharon: The lives of the women I know are heroic, adventurous, courageous, and fraught with challenges. A mom who battles for the best care for her parent with Alzheimers, or is pulled into a “new and unexpected world” by a child with a learning disability, or is forced to rise to a heroic role for her friend with cancer and learn the “rules” of this new universe she didn’t want to visit . . . All could use a story of courage when the road is more difficult than expected. While sometimes that courage is shown in riding into battle, it’s also shown in building relationships, diplomacy, forgiveness, and wise counsel.

So I decided to experiment with the classic adventure story, but allow a mom to take the journey (much as Deborah did in the book of Judges) -- someone my women’s fiction readers would be able to identify with.

LBG: What’s the story of your own connection to fantasy fiction – what work(s) and at what age did it draw you in?

Sharon: Like many, I was captivated as a child by Chronicles of Narnia (and all things C.S. Lewis) as well as some of his influences (E. Nesbitt and George MacDonald), and in high school and college grew to love Tolkien, Donaldson, Lawhead, McCaffrey, and others.

LBG: What was it like on the Fantasy Fiction Tour being one of two women and being surrounded by all those men?

Sharon: Like having a bunch of wonderful big brothers. Of course, there were times I sat back and observed and thought, “men are all basically ten years old.” ;-) But ten-year-olds are fun to be with, so I enjoyed seeing the exuberant, playful, creative hearts of the men on the tour. This was also a group of men who write chivalrous characters, and modeled that in real life, too.

LBG: Any favorite moments or memories from the Tour?

Sharon: For me, there were small individual encounters that meant a lot: Meeting in person, and praying with a blogger who had followed my work. Praying with a store-owner’s wife who was an instant “kindred spirit.” Chatting with a shy little girl at the literacy event. Singing “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” with a boy at the children’s hospital. Talking “shop” with the various writers on the tour – each one a gem. Sharing my heart at the Calvary Chapel devotions the last night. And each quiet conversation with someone who’d read one of my books and been blessed by it.

Click here to access more information about Sharon and her work.

As this week is the week that the authors on the Fantasy Fiction Tour '08 are going to be posting about me, I thought I'd put up a short introduction to me & to my works for those who might come by to see a bit more about who I am.

My name is L.B., and I grew up in Baltimore, where I was born. My father was a Presbyterian minister there, so I'm what some would call, a "PK," (Pastor's Kid). After high school, I went to Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, not far from Chicago. It was a great place to go to school, and I still think of Wheaton as a home away from home.

Between my junior and senior year at Wheaton, I went on a summer program called "Wheaton-in-England." While on that program, I had an idea for a fantasy story, which I envisioned as a single book in five parts. Of course, I was only 21 and had no real idea of what I would do with it, but it stayed with me, as you'll see.

After Wheaton, I went to Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. I thought it was going to be a short stop before going on to graduate school in literature, but while I was there, I had second thoughts about that. I ended up taking a job in St. Louis after graduation at a small Christian school, mostly because a really pretty Australian girl I had gotten to know was a student at Covenant and I wanted to hang around. Turned out to be a good thing, as I married her (and discovered that I enjoyed teaching too). I'm in my 13th year as a teacher, and Joanne and I have been married for 12 years. We have two kids, ages 7 and 11.

In the the '98-'99 school year, I was asked to teach a class on apologetics. I didn't know a book that covered the specific things that I wanted to cover, so I started writing packets to hand out to my students. At the end of the year, I looked at my stack of packets and realized that despite my assumption that I didn't have time to write while teaching, I'd written something very nearly as long as a book. I decided it was time to revisit that idea I'd had in the summer of '92.

That idea gave birth to The Binding of the Blade, which turned out to be, not a five part book, but a five book series. I started working on the idea again seriously in the summer of 2000, with the help of three former students, James Klousia, and Nathanael and Noah Quay. Their help, along with the help and feedback of my friends, Tom Wenger and Shane Lankford, helped me develop the story and world that I wrote about in the books. So, one thing I'd say to prospective writers who might be stopping by to visit, find friends you trust and bring them into the loop, as learning to take good feedback to heart is crucial to creativity and developing your ideas.

I signed my book contract with P&R Publishing in the spring of '02, and the first book came out in the spring of '04. Beyond the Summerland was nominated for a Christy Award in '05, so I was honored to be a Christy finalist that year - at the Christy Awards dinner, I met Donita K. Paul, who was a nominee that year for Dragonspell. Those who followed the FFT '08, know that Donita was on the Tour too.

I worked on The Binding of the Blade pretty steadily from 2000-2006, when I finally finished the fifth and final book, All My Holy Mountain. It was strange to be finished, having lived in my fictional world of Kirthanin for so long, but it was satisfying too. It had been a long journey, and it felt good to have made it to the finish line.

What does the future hold, now that The Binding of the Blade is finished? I don't know, but I'm working on a nonfiction book and trying to get a proposal put together for a new fantasy series also. I've written about a 100 pages of the new fantasy book, so I'm beginning to get a feel for the new world and characters. I'm excited about it, but the publishing world is tough, so I can't say what will happen to the proposal or if anyone will want it. I will, however, keep you posted.

If you have questions about me or my work, leave me a comment if you'd like, or you can go to the website for my series and email me through the "ask the author" section there. Thanks for dropping by!

This week, it's author Bryan Davis in the spotlight. Here's a picture of Bryan followed by an excerpt from Bryan's bio to tell you a bit more about him...

"Bryan Davis is the author of the best-selling Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire series, contemporary/fantasy blends for young people. His book, Eye of the Oracle, hit number one on the January 2007, Young Adult CBA best-seller list.

His new series from Zondervan, Echoes from the Edge, debuted in May of 2008 with Beyond the Reflection’s Edge, and the second book in the series, Eternity’s Edge, came out in October.

Bryan is also the author of several other works including The Image of a Father (AMG) and Spit and Polish for Husbands (AMG), and four books in the Arch Books series: The Story of Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation, The Day Jesus Died, The Story of the Empty Tomb (over 100,000 sold), and Jacob’s Dream. Bryan lives in Western Tennessee with his wife, Susie, and their children. Bryan and Susie have homeschooled their four girls and three boys."

Now, continuing my quest to bring you information you wouldn't otherwise have about each of our featured authors, I sent Bryan some Q's to answer for an lbgraham.com exclusive.

LBG: You write full time and have indicated there are many blessings in doing that – what are some of the main ones that come to mind?

Bryan: Writing full time allows me to be with my family all day, every day. Although I sit at my desk for hours, I can take lots of breaks, get hugs, bounce ideas off several creative children, and be there for every family situation that comes up. I’m doing what I love every day. I can focus on my passion for creating stories without distraction. And my schedule is flexible. I don’t have to punch a time clock, so I can pick up and travel whenever I want.

LBG: On the Tour, you talked about the need for persistence and illustrated that need vividly with your stack of rejection notices. Do you think there is ever a time to say, ‘hey, maybe writing isn’t for me,’ and walk away?

Bryan: If a call from God is on a writer’s heart, and the passion is unquenchable, then the writer should never give up. He should get professional feedback, work hard to improve his craft, continue to network through writers conferences or a literary agency, and press on. If, on the other hand, the writer is unsure, and feedback from other authors is telling him that this profession might not be for him, then it might be better to call it quits. The exercise of stepping out to try a door can build paths to other doors, and it will certainly build character, so the effort wasn’t wasted.

LBG: You spent a lot of hours & traveled a lot of miles in the van with the Motiv8 authors – what are some of the more memorable moments from that experience?

Bryan: I learned years ago that authors are regular people in most ways, so I was accustomed to the widely varied personalities. What’s different about fantasy authors is their wonderful creativity. Their chatter is funny and unpredictable. And they display sensitivity that reaches beyond the norm.

I think the most memorable event was at the Calvary Chapel in Huntington Beach. Every author communicated their inner passion with clarity, and the Q&A session allowed them to open up more than at most events. It wasn’t “just another book signing.” So it was memorable to see everyone have a chance to speak from the heart.

LBG: We talked a bit about the fact that four of us, you, me, Donita and Jonathan, all had books come out close together in the spring of ’04, when “fantasy” wasn’t especially popular in CBA – do you think its resurgence is a fad or perhaps more than that?

Bryan: It’s hard to know how much time is needed to extend acceptance of a genre beyond the fad stage, but I think the newly found popularity of CBA fantasy will continue for a while. Some of the books you mentioned are still selling quite well after four years, which is longer than the shelf life of most books in other genres. A good fantasy has a measure of timelessness, so it doesn’t wear out when the culture changes. That should be a selling point for publishers. A fantasy story might start out with slow sales, but its staying power allows it to be profitable in the long-term.

Fantasy also attracts readers in more identifiable categories than other genres reach. So when publishers figure out the value and marketability, I think we will see more fantasy offerings, assuming, of course, they are able to select and publish quality stories.

And there it is, a brief introduction to best-selling author, Bryan Davis. Visit his site and blog using the link in my sidebar for more information.

I'm pretty excited today to blog about my friend, Wayne Thomas Batson. Not only is Wayne from Maryland - I'm a Baltimore kid, myself - he's a fine Fantasy Fiction writer too.

What's more, Wayne and have something else in common, we're both teachers. Here's a quote from his bio on that:

Wayne Thomas Batson has spent the last sixteen years teaching Reading and English to middle schools students. He pioneered the active instruction of Strategic Reading in Anne Arundel County and has written Reading and English Curricula for three public school systems in Maryland. Most recently, he helped develop the Challenge Reading Curriculum for advanced readers in Howard County, Maryland. Wayne tailors his stories to meet the needs of the young people he cares so deeply about.

Wayne's first Fantasy Fiction series was The Door Within trilogy, published by Thomas Nelson. Here's some cover art from that series.

That's the cover to the first book, The Door Within. While on the Fantasy Fiction Tour '08 together, I got to hear Wayne read from the book a few times, and not only is Wayne a fabulous dramatic reader, the story was very effective. Here's the cover for the last book in the series, called The Final Storm.

Now, after Wayne had written these books, Thomas Nelson approached Wayne about writing books on a Pirate theme. That led him to write two more books for them, Isle of Swords and the recently released Isle of Fire.

I haven't read Isle of Fire, but I have read Isle of Swords and I enjoyed it very much. With action and humor, Wayne spins a good yarn that will keep the pages turning. So, not only is he a talented writer, teacher and dramatic reader, but Wayne appears to have a little pirate in his blood too...

Now, if you're already a fan, most of this stuff you could know about Wayne without reading my blog. So for a special inside scoop, I asked Wayne a few questions by email in the wake of our recent tour. This insight into Wayne and our Tour is an lbgraham.com exclusive. Here goes!

LBG: It became clear on the Tour that you’re a big “Waffle House” fan – why is that?
Wayne: Waffle House (cue angelic choir) is something more that an awesome place for breakfast 24/7. It is actually symbolic of family happiness for me. Every summer, my parents would load the four kids in the station wagon (remember those?) and drive from Maryland to Panama City, Florida. Well, along the way, we'd stop at Waffle House. I came to love it there just because it was the place we went with...my family. I also liked that they always said hello when we came in. Of course, now, in addition to the memories, there's the great food. No one, I mean NO ONE makes hashbrowns as good as theirs. And you can have them prepared 12 different ways. Of course you need to master the Waffle House Language. Go there and order: Sausage Melt Texas Triple Plate Scattered Smothered and Covered! You'll be glad you did. ;-)

LBG: You were introduced on the Tour to L.B.’s favorite fast food joint, “Jack-in-the-Box,” what did you think?
Wayne: I was very impressed. The burger I had there was phenomenal. And I loved that I could get Jalapeno Poppers as a side instead of fries. Way to go, Jack!

LBG: Spending a week in the van with a hodge-podge of writers with widely divergent personalities must have been interesting. Any particular moments or conversations stand out to you?
Wayne: I loved all the goofy banter. He went too far. {he went too far} You know, just being silly and childish, and no one cared. That was WAY fun. I also loved everyone's willingness to pray for one another on the spot. Not enough of that going around these days. And there were a few theological conversations that at some points encouraged me while at others, made me cringe. Thank God for grace.

LBG: What are some things you’ll take away from the FFT ’08?
Wayne: One thing I'll take away is to trust more in God's timing. Just because I'm discouraged about the number of people who do or do not show up at an event, doesn't mean God is not at work. He taught me that at two different events. I'll also take away Bryan's message about Fantasy in the lives of Christians. WOW, that was a message. And having met so many sweet and wonderful people, I'll take away a host of smiles and a lot of love. I am so grateful that God would use me in the lives of others.

Well, that about does it for our brief intro to Wayne Thomas Batson. He's a fine writer and a brother in Christ, and I'm glad to have had the chance to tour with him. Keep your eyes peeled at Wayne's site, which you can link to from my sidebar, as I know he has some projects in the works. In the meantime, pick up one or five of his other books, and see where his stories take you...

From now until shortly before Christmas, the authors involved in the Fantasy Fiction Tour '08 will be collaborating on a joint blog tour. We'll be focusing each Monday - or thereabouts - on a different author each week. Our hope is to encourage readers who have experienced one or two of us and our work, to get a better idea of other Christian writers that they might be interested in. As I have thoughts and/or news during the next 8 or 9 weeks that I want to share, I'll probably post those things mid to late in the week, so that the featured author of the week gets his or her time in the spotlight. So, I encourage you to check back on Monday or Tuesday and learn a bit about Wayne Thomas Batson, the first featured writer of the blog tour.

With many thanks to Rob Treskillard who designed this for me, I wanted to show some of the fine work he's done for me on this site. This is the graphic you'll find under "My Books" at the top of the page.

Tomorrow evening I board the plane for Seattle, and on Saturday the Fantasy Fiction Tour 2008 officially begins for Wayne Thomas Batson and me, as we join the other six authors who have an additional stop in Canada on Friday. If you'd like to watch some of the events live, here's your chance. As the Motiv8 website explains, you can also see reruns of Tour videos around the clock during the week and participate in some of the forums by sending us questions. For more information, hit the Motiv8 website.

This is the last of my posts originally written for the Motiv8 website. It caused a bit of a stir there, so I anticipate there may be reactions here. Feel free to comment.

With the Tour gearing up to begin in less than two weeks, this might be the last post in our brief series on various elements of fantasy fiction writing. However, this post is less about fantasy writing in particular and more about Christianity in general and Christian writing as an expression of faith.

Christianity is not about moralism, and Christian fiction shouldn’t be either. Christianity revolves, not around good behavior, but around God’s mercy shown to man in the death and resurrection of Christ. However, even though we know this to be theologically true, I think we struggle to remember this as we go about our daily lives, and one of the places where we really struggle to remember it is in our engagement with the arts in general, but as fiction is our topic, we’ll limit our reflection here to that.

I’m constantly surprised at how often fictional stories are judged to be Christian or not, based more or less on how well the characters behave themselves. Of course it is true that morality matters - God has taken great care to expound in some detail the moral laws which flow from and are an extension of His own character. It is also true, though, that the Bible itself is full of flawed men and women whom God used almost despite of rather than because of their moral triumphs. However, when Christian writers incorporate flawed heroes into their stories, men and women with moral failings of any significance, they are often left open to charges of having given dubious testimony to their Lord.

Now of course, when stories are geared for children, writers should take care how graphically or explicitly they portray sin. Even in stories for adults, there are simply some things that don’t need to be spelled out or portrayed in any kind of detail. Even so, one of the really beautiful things about God’s dealings with men is that he takes really, really broken people and uses them to advance His kingdom. Are we open to reading about such things in the books we pick up and read? I suspect that for many of us the answer is no, and yet there are stories in the Bible that would make anyone blush in their unblinking portrayal of man’s capacity for sin and debauchery.

Here are a few thoughts, in no particular order, about how we could have a more biblical view of morality and fiction.

First, we should remember that we do live in a moral universe and attempts to portray immoral behavior as free from consequence cuts against the grain of reality. To be sure, in the short run, sin and evil may yield pleasure, success and more. Even so, the testimony of both scripture and history is that such gains are rarely sustainable and that ultimately, those who live by such behavior often reap what they have sown.

Second, we should remember that portrayals of characters with ‘good morals’ doesn’t mean a book is Christian. Many people have high moral standards and portray as much in their stories. We can certainly say that the moral standards of a book or story are consistent with Christianity, but that doesn’t make the book Christian. This doesn’t mean we don’t read it; it simply means that high moral standards is insufficient to demonstrate a story is “Christian.”

Third, the portrayal of sin in realistic terms, and even the attribution of sinful struggles and moral failures to key characters, even good ones, doesn’t necessarily prove the author condones such behavior. The attitude of the writer toward the behavior of his characters can be tricky to determine. Many writers stand back from their stories and refrain from obvious comment on the good or bad that is done, allowing the actions to speak for themselves and the story to reveal the consequences of choices made. This isn’t moral cowardice or neutrality, but rather, artful storytelling.

At the end of the day, I don’t see many Christian fiction writers leaving much doubt that they believe God’s standards for human behavior are both good and right. What I do see is a certain level of discomfort if characters portrayed in some way as “good” are given significant moral struggles or weaknesses. I hope this will change and that audiences and authors alike will embrace a redemptive rather than a moralistic view of stories - both their own and the one’s they read.

Again, a post originally written for the Motiv8 website. After the Tour, I will redirect my blog-posting energies to my own website!

Fantasy writing would be classified by many as “genre writing,” which basically means it is a style that conforms to certain basic expectations as determined by the general “rules” of the category fantasy. That’s a convoluted way of saying that as soon as someone picks up a fantasy novel, they have certain expectations that are brought to the reading experience because it is labeled fantasy. This sets up a rather curious dilemma - how to “conform” to the conventions so as to meet expecations without falling into the “been there, done that” trap of mere mimicry. It can be a fine line to walk, and authors don’t always end up getting it right.

Now, to an extent, every story faces this same dilemma to a degree. Certain basic expectations about interesting characters, a clear plot or storyline, some sort of conflict that raises difficulties but ultimately comes to some sort of resolution along with many other things serve as fundamental expectations for any story, and authors ignore them to their peril. However, the dilemma is heightened in genre writing because the expectations are further defined so that certain kinds of settings and characters and plots have generally been established by the works in that genre that have gone before. So, the room to manauver can feel confining.

And yet, one of the real beauties of human imagination is how much freedom exists even within such forms to be creative. Right? Have you ever thought about how there are only so many notes on the piano, and yet the composition of beautiful melodies goes on and on and on? There are only so many words in the English language, and yet year after year, men and women find ways of combining them in striking and original patterns that capture our imagination and take hold of our minds and hearts.

Working on The Binding of the Blade pressed me to be mindful of both the need to acknowledge convention and be innovative. I’m sure not all readers were happy by my choices. Here and there readers complained that certain actions or events or characters were too much like others they’d encountered, and in some places certain choices I made appeared to disgruntle them because such things ran counter to their expectations (like a certain event at the end of Beyond the Summerland that will go unmentioned…:)

In my own defense, I would say I didn’t seek to copy another author’s characters or actions, though things like the name for Wylla’s city, Amaan Sul, were intended as an homage to some of the greats who’ve gone before - in this case Tolkien. In other cases, the similarities were due in part to the fact that some of the same sources for these writers - myths and epics of the past - and the conventions I’ve here described pressed my story and characters into some similar shapes.

For you who are working on your own stories and writing skills, come at this dilemma deliberately. It is true that some things in your subconscious ‘will out,’ no matter what you do, and some things in your story will be like things you encountered long ago but have long since forgotten. Even so, you can still think through “how am I playing by the rules of this genre or style while still developing my own voice and story?”

One quick example. Dragons have generally been symbols of destruction and greed in the stories of the past. We see Beowulf seeking to free his kingdom at the end of his life from the great dragon who oppresses his people and Smaug the horder of dwarven riches in The Hobbit as two examples. Aware of this tradition but eager to have “good dragons” in my story, I decided to acknowledge the larger history of dragons by making my dragons golden. Thus their color was a reflection of their historic link to greed while their choices and actions in my story made them a force for good. In this way, I sought to nod my head to the convention even as I tried to establish an innovation.

As always, comments and illustrations from any of you about wrestling with this dilemma is welcome!