Fantasist's Scroll

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!

This is funny to me.
The daughter of a favorite author of mine has written an entry in her blog about writing a “literary” novel that’s good enough to sell. Sadly, I’m afraid that she may well be right!
According to the entry in her father’s blog, this was inspired by the fact that she was forced to read a “literary” novel that didn’t agree with her mental digestion. And, interestingly enough, the author himself got started in response to the statistic often quoted about authors getting a “mere” $2000 for their first novel. Apparently, his thought was “For two grand, I could do something that bad. In fact, I think I could so something a little better.” And, I can think of worse ways to get inspired. After all, $2000 not bad, frankly, for a kid in high school with literary aspiration and some free time.
Hmm, maybe I could do better, if I follow her formula and put out a little effort…

Well, maybe tomorrow. Today, though, I revel in the fact that it’s Friday. Enjoy the link!

According to Writer’s Almanac we have three birthdays to celebrate today.

First, there’s novelist Herbert George (H.G.) Wells, who was born in Bromley, England in1866. According to the note I got from Writer’s Almanac, Wells had a job writing biology textbooks until he developed a respiratory illness in his late 20s. Since he thought he didn’t have long to live, he left his wife and ran away with another woman, after which he began writing furiously. In roughly three years, he published all the novels for which we know him: The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds.

It’s also the birthday of the novelist Stephen King, born in Portland, Maine in 1947. His father was a merchant seaman who left the family when Stephen was just two. He has no memories of his father, but one day he found a whole box full of his father’s science fiction and fantasy paperbacks, and that box of his father’s books inspired him to start writing horror stories.
He was working as a teacher when he wrote his first novel about a weird high school girl with psychic powers named Carrie White. He gave up on the book at one point and threw it in the trash. His wife rescued it. Carrie was published in 1973. The hard cover didn’t sell well, but then his agent called to say that the paperback rights had sold for $400,000.

Lastly, but, perhaps, most importantly, today is the birthday of the man who first put high quality literature into paperbacks, Sir Allen Lane, born in Bristol, England in 1902. He was the founder of Penguin Books.

Finally, a personal note. I am not evacuating during Hurricane Rita. I have nowhere to go, really, so I’ll stay and brave it. I’ll blog, as long as I have power and an Internet connection, at Diary of a Network Geek, my other blog. Take care!

Ever wanted to make your own language?
Well, if you’re like me, you have, but you may not have always known how to go about it. Don’t worry, there are lots of places on the web to help you figure out what you need to know! Of course, I’ve mentioned LangMaker.com here before, but just recently I came across the KICKS Academy Fictional Linguistics on-line course. It’s an easy “course” of material on the web that you can take at your own pace. They have plenty of references and handy worksheets to help you get through the design of your first language. They cover everything you need to know here, though, if you really enjoy yourself, you’ll probably want to branch out into some other, less traditional, areas of linguistics.
I think you’ll find it to be lots of fun, once you get started.

I saw a strange story…
Okay, a really, really strange story, on BoingBoing, about a woman breast feeding two tiger cubs in South East Asia. Obviously, after trying to picture this scene in my head, what I pictured was a kind of Asian Romulus and Remus story.
If you’re not familiar with these two fine lads, according to legend, they were twins who were raised by a wolf bitch and went on to found Rome. Imagine the same thing, but with a tiger in Asia somewhere. I can see a small, island country, not unlike Singapore, that has this as their “creation” myth. It’s similar to Romulus and Remus to resonate with Western readers, but different enough to be interesting and exotic. And, possibly, not immediately recognizable, either.
Dang! I keep giving you guys these ideas and what I need to do is develop one of them myself! Ah, well, maybe the next one.

No, actual menus!
Have you thought that much about the details of any fantasy world that you’ve created? Sure, you have a language and a history and even a legal system for your freshly minted culture, but what do they eat for lunch? Well, if you haven’t thought about this, it’s not a bad idea to flesh it out. Luckily, you don’t have to go it alone. Over at the Zompist Web BBS, Dewrad has a thread started for just this topic called, Concuisine. Also, if you’re not familiar with this place, it’s a great source of information about any number of topics. And, there’s always someone willing to chat with you about ideas, even if they’re half-baked.
Go check it out!

How to Be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More!!!
Yes, this is a real book. No, it is not serious. However, if you’re designing a villain, it’s not a bad place to start. No, seriously! Here in one book are the collected cliches of bad guys. Everything from talking when you should be shooting to the “Rube Goldberg” killing machine. You name the tragic mistake that any and all James Bond villains have made and it’s in this book somewhere. So, in a humorous way, it’s a guidebook for what NOT to do when creating your literary villain. In fact, part of the book is a warning to up-and-coming super villains on what to watch out for in heroes and the big mistakes that the “average” villain makes that costs them their victory.

Today is Edgar Rice Burroughs’ birthday!
ERB, as he is often known by fans, was born in Chicago in 1875. He is probably most famous as the creator of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, which is a series of stories about an English nobleman who was abandoned in the African jungle during infancy and brought up by apes. His first Tarzan story appeared in 1912, and Burroughs followed it with the novel Tarzan of the Apes in1914. He is also the author of A Princess of Mars, which is the first book in a series about a US Cavalry officer transported “mystically” to Mars, as well as, Pellucidar, about a savage world hidden beneath our own, The Pirates of Venus, about space pirates on Venus. Not to mention his lesser known works, including The Mad King and many others.
For many of us, ERB was our first introduction to science-fiction and fantasy. He was a real writer, by which I mean he churned out novels and stories at a furious rate for one reason onlyL to support his family. He is, in many ways, one of my heroes.
So, Happy Birthday, Mr. Burroughs, wherever you are.