There shear amount of fantasy literature out there, along with the limitations of the english language mean you simply cannont come up with a new word that doesn’t sound like gibberish.

I’ve writted a few short stories myself, and usually end up destroying them when I re-read and realise the plot devices I believed were original mirrored so many other storylines (for a prime example… see Eragorn). Not to mention the hours spend googling words I thought were mine only to find them online.

Congratulations on not falling into that trap, what I’ve read so far has been original and very enjoyable.

(Please remember though, it’s best served cold.)

All of this within my framework of cultural names and places, of course. Anyone that’s seen me use the term Caer instead of castle probably thinks I’m incapable of subtle, but sometimes I go for the obvious to get the tone I’m looking for.

Either that, or I just don’t do subtle well. :)

I never read those two books of his, The Mirror of her Dreams and the other one.

They say that there’s nothing new under the Sun, but I do try to use original creations in everything I’m writing. I love taking familiar conventions and reimagining them into something that seems comfortably familiar on first glance, but is truly alien or different once the inner psychology begins to be revealed or understood.

What I’m finding is that, since I wrote most of the original world creation stuff over twenty years ago, other people have written similar concepts and already been published. What I once thought was pretty cool and an intriguing spin on an old idea that nobody would have seen before has become something associated with someone else already. I’m okay with that, I’m pretty sure that what I’m actually writing isn’t the same as anything else I’ve personally read anywhere, ever. God knows, though, when the next person digs up a link saying “Oh I read that basic idea in a short story in Amazing Stories circa 1948″.

All you can really do is write the story you’re enjoying writing, as best you can, and roll with it. :)

Revisiting the elf thing… what I’ve presented that you know of elves in this world probably seems fairly typical; long lived, lithe and beautiful, long ears, exotic eyes, exceptional skills or mysterious powers. Even the partially revealed tattoo probably sounds like some kind of fanboy thing meant to look neat but with no real significance. Like the fascination some authors had in the nineties with having their characters have wierdly colored eyes, or shining eyes, or metallic eyes, or glowing purple eyes shooting frackin’ laser beams.

Some of the background I’ve given on their military history with humans is obviously different from normal fantasy conventions, but these days it’s nothing too out of the ordinary. It’s in the origin of the species and the actual spiritual values of the race and their motivations that I’ve established major differences. At the time I wrote the source material and histories and legends behind all this, over 20 years ago, I thought that depicting Roman-themed Elven military Legionnaire force structures in passing would be a glimpse that there was a shitload going on beneath the surface… but I’ve already had a few people reading tell me they’ve seen Elven Legions in some other book… and the assumption is, I stole from a good source, and it’s just a cute gimmick that goes no deeper.

All I can say is, when you’re writing, you do what you can to be original, but there are thousands more people just like me who are also writing and trying to be original too. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordant%27s_Need

couple of books I read eons ago, not bad tbh.

Samuel definatley seems to be one of those Characters you cheer for when you know you shouldn’t. Very enjoyable :)

Will there be more coming from you story-wise, or is this a one time only interlude?

Cheers!

what a splendid way to begin a Friday :)

That was a fantastic story. What a great character. I do love dark hero’s and tragic pasts.
Look forward to reading more