Bruce Wayne is hanging up the cape and cowl in 2009. I haven’t read comic books with any regularity since I got married, and only just heard about this event a couple months ago when it hit mainstream media. My immediate reaction was cynical, born of too many “death” events and the cold, hard business [...]

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There are many different types of heroes, each with their own set of motivations and methods. Picking the right protagonist for the story is an important task for a fantasy fiction writer. While I don’t subscribe to the theory that characters can take over a story and rewrite it, I have experienced struggles in writing [...]

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Top ten lists provide good fodder for blog posts. I came across a “top ten” rules of using magic in fantasy fiction article last week. While I’m all for magic-related rules that fantasy fiction writers should follow, a good writer learns how and when it’s appropriate to break the rules. I’ve broken several of the [...]

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Religion is often a defining characteristic of a culture. Fantasy fiction authors can use theology as a point of conflict between characters, as motivation for the protagonist or antagonist, or to add to the richness and depth of the world they have built. Limiting the inclusion of theology to passing references is a squandered opportunity.
Robin [...]

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The first fantasy fiction I ever read that included a pantheon of gods integral to the story was David Eddings’ The Belgariad. Eddings follows classic polytheism in many ways, with the gods being related (a father and seven brothers). The gods were involved in the creation of the world. They scheme against each other, use [...]

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