Fantasist's Scroll

Here’s a little bit I did with fish.
The classic beginning image for 3d artists is something underwater, with fish. Usually, with dolphins, but I managed to refrain from that bit. Still, this is a look at shore from the underside of a mythical tropic paradise. A “fish eye’s view”, if you will. I hope it’s different enough to warrant its inclusion here.
Well, anyway, it’s art. Of a sort.

It’s been a long time since I posted any of my digital art.
That’s partly because I’ve been so busy getting divorced, changing jobs and just generally trying to maintain my life. Still, as things stabilize, I plan to do more of this art stuff. And, of course, I’ll show it here. I suppose I should start putting copyright information on these things, but I don’t really care if anyone steals them. They’re not good enough to get money out of anyone, or I would have tried already! So, just enjoy them.
This one is a nice, little river valley with gold veins in it and a freaky plane.

No, this isn’t a news story.
Nor is it an appeal to the “hero in the grey flannel suit”, either. Rather, just an article on MSN about the value of fantasy. The author claims, and I think rightly so, that because we don’t have to exhibit physical heroism on a regular basis in our modern society, we learn about bravery and heroism through our stories, specifically, fantasy stories. Examples sited included the Lord of the Rings series and Harry Potter, and, in an earlier age, Icelandic Sagas. The claim is that all three examples serve the same purpose, namely, to teach us about how to “act right” and find that little bit of courage inside us when we need it. I’d say the entire article, short as it was, spoke very highly to the need for good, heroic, fantasy fiction.
In a sometimes bleak market for writing in general, and fantasy and science-fiction in particular, I found the sentiments uplifting and hopeful. Now, all I need to do is find more time to write…

I know I’ve talked about this before, but not recently.
I love maps. I love looking at them. I love drawing them. Maps can make an otherwise confusing travel story clear or just spark my imagination to new ideas about how geography effects the world. As a result, I’m always looking for more ideas about making my own maps. I use a lot of different tools to make maps, but mainly I use Campaign Cartographer. Though, the tools don’t really matter as much as good technique. And, I know that my technique is pretty weak these days. So, when I saw Maldin’s Greyhawk – A Guide to Mapmaking, by Denis Tetreault, one of the main cartographers for Wizards of the Coast, publishers of Dungeons and Dragons, I got really excited.
Sure, much of the information is a rehash of things I’ve read elsewhere, but plenty of it is new stuff. And, what’s more, it gives a nice look into the mind of a professional fantasy cartographer. How often do you find that kind of information? Right, not very often. That’s why I linked to it and suggest that, if you have any interest in fantasy map making, you check it out.

Hmm, I seem to be talking about this a lot lately…
Still, it’s something that is so often done poorly, that I think it warrants a little extra attention. So, while I was looking around for links on this subject, I found the “One of Us Creative Writing Workshop” online where they had an article on Creating Fantasy Worlds. This article, though, was little more than a collection of links to other articles that went into more depth on specific topics. Still, enough of these links seemed fresh and new to me that I thought it was worth posting. One think I did like about this site was the Discussion Forum. It didn’t seem too active at the time, but I think anyone who’s in that very lonely job of writing needs all the socializing they can get!

Ever had the urge to create a fictional world?
Maybe even just a country? Well, over at Everything2, there’s an article on just that called, ironically enough, Designing a Fantasy World. The article takes you through the basics of what one needs to consider when putting together a fantasy world, if you want it to be believable. They touch on most of these subjects lightly, but there’s enough there to take you through the physical forms of your world, as well as the mythology behind that, and all the way on through the society that might develop in such a place. They’ve got plenty of links and Everything2 is sort of like Wikipedia, so there’s a lot of information there to browse through and digest. The article has lots of helpful suggestions in addition to those links, too!
But, for my money, the best thing in the article is:

The cardinal rule in all of this is to preserve mimesis – that is, the apparent reality of your world. You don’t need to have volumes of abstractions like language and geology if you don’t think you’ll use them. But a little care can give the reader the pleasing illusion that such things could exist, and that there are no glaring contradictions lurking just below the surface. A little thought about the points mentioned can lead to an altogether more pleasing experience for the player or reader.

Remember that, and you’ll do just fine creating your own fantasy world.

How cool is this?!
The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society has produced a “silent” film, much like would have been produced in the 1920’s, of Lovecraft’s most famous work, The Call of Cthulu. The movie is done in the classic style of the silver screen and has “mood” music background. Also, the DVD has a “making of” documentary and other bonuses. I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this soon, considering how much I love HPL and his work. Anyway, it exists and now the word is out.
The trailer is here and the DVD available for purchase is here.
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Not “laws of magic” but laws governing magic.
I’m reading a book called Industrial Magic at the moment and the author has some interesting ideas that she tosses around. What interested me the most, however, was a secret justice system for magic. Well, more specifically, for people who use magic or “are magic”. And that really makes sense. After all, would a “normal” court, who has no real concept of how magic works or what is magically possible, be able to effectively render judgements that involve magical crimes? I don’t think so.
So, if you have magic in your created world, whatever its purpose, have you thought about this issue? How do courts deal with curses? Or the withholding of a blessing? Or “unfair competition” that was aided by magic? How about murder that involves magic? These are important issues. And, of course, all potentially important plot devices. Do lawyers have to go through a special school before they can work in courts that involve magic? Does every court use magic to determine the facts of even mundane cases? A little truth spell goes a long way! Are spells a closely guarded asset that one can sue someone for stealing, like intellectual property is today?
So many issues to think about. And every issue can be a potential story. Dealing with any of these problems, or any others in this vein that you might think of, can produce any number of good stories. Just remember what Lawrence Watt-Evans said about magic, “If a story can be written without a fantasy element, then don’t bother with the fantasy element.” It’s a good rule.

So, now I’ve given you some ideas, go! Write!