Writing is a voyage of discovery

[gridlore]

So after a brief break, I'm back in my writing group. Doing our weekly assignments and working out longer pieces has led me to a rather startling revelation.

I write fantasy.

If you were to peruse my bookshelves, you'd find tons of hard SF, the kind of books that are written by PhD holders and have technical appendixes. Alastair Reynolds, Hal Clement, Robert L. Forward... these luminaries and others are well represented and I devour anything with a good crunchy tech base and a strong story.

But when I write, I can't really do it. It's not lack of knowledge, I can do research with the best of them, but I find that my style just isn't suited to the genre. Even when I try less rigorous SF, my stories still wander off towards fantasy tropes without my wanting them to do so. The only things I've felt comfortable sharing (and trying to sell) are my fantasy works.

So I'm going to stick with what works for me. I've been thinking of doing a series of "Road" stories. Two heroes with a plot concerning going from A to B by way of the charming town of Hijinks Ensue. One is fairly straight forward man at arms, who carries his family's ancient ancestral sword. Problem is, none of those ancestors wrote down how to invoke the sword's powers. That's why he's wandering the world. The other is a former mage's apprentice who just wasn't disciplined enough for the trade. He knows a few minor spells, is decent with a sword and bow, but his real power (and curse) is his charm. Possibly add a recurring female character, who shows up mysteriously to move things along then is gone by the end of the tale.

Have to start plotting out the first tale once I've gotten some sleep. I'm on day three of not sleeping well at all.

Comments

[nodrog]

If the man at arms doesn't know how to invoke the powers of the sword, why is he risking the loss of it when any other sword would do as well? i e the family sword is no more useful to him than any other sword would be, so why bother? Is he likely to find the instruction manual, is he going to somewhere that he knows to have it…?  If he's just wandering the earth on the off chance, he'd be smart to leave the snickersnee in its display case 'til he gets back.

[gridlore]

On its own the sword is very useful. Extremely sharp, never bends or rusts, and is perfectly balanced.

Besides, a mysterious magical sword can make a great plot complication.

[nodrog]

That last is a good point.  Just because he does not know how to invoke the sword's powers, doesn't necessarily mean it's inert!

Nor does he need to admit this.  A guy carrying a magic item can be presumed to know how to use it, and if he's smart he'll cultivate that impression.  After all, it lights up when he takes hold of it (since he is of the family), and that's enough to make people back off - unless someone calls his bluff!

[gridlore]

Don't know if you've ever read El Cid, but just the sight of his sword Tizón was so fearful to see that enemies surrendered on seeing it. His other sword, La Colada, is equally fearsome...

Martín Antolínez took his sword in hand,
it lights up all the field, it is so clean and bright,
he gave him a blow, he hit him a glancing blow,
it broke away the top of the helmet,
it cut away all the helmet straps,
it tore off the mailed hood, and reached the coif,
the coif and the hood all were ripped away,
it cut the hairs on his head, and it reached well into the flesh, one part fell to the ground and the other remained.

When precious Colada has struck this blow,
Diego González saw that he would not escape with his soul,
he turned his horse to face his opponent.
At that moment Martín Antolínez hit him with his sword,
he struck him broadside, with the cutting edge he did not hit him.
Diego González has sword in hand, but he does not use it,
at that moment the infante began to shout,
-Help me, God, glorious Lord, and protect me from this sword!-

[nodrog]

This reminds me:  The scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Luke is found on the ice planet by han Solo, who cuts open his riding beast (!) to shove Luke inside for body heat while he builds the Arctic shelter, caused a bit of a stir at the time because it's the only time still, to my knowledge, that a non-Jedi is seen using a light-saber!  There'd been speculation at the time that none such could, that only a Jedi born (even though not trained, as Luke in the first film) could wield a light saber.  That was silly, of course; it's a techno gadget, anyone could switch it on and swing it around, and even use it with some skill, but you know how fans are.

[melchar]

Hey, as long as you know that 'pointy end goes in bad guy' any additional sword powers are just gravy.

I like the idea of the 'Road' team of 'Hapless' and 'Causeby', with appearances made by 'special effects' [would that be DI?] and Lamour*.

[* her name is too perfect to change for a pun.]