New GRRM Interview

I am, as well as the rest of the fantasy bloggers, in an absolute tizzy/squee mode about HBO's upcoming Thrones series.

My reasons are different, though. As many, I am a fan of George R. R. Martin. The complexity of his plot, his lush prose, the characters (love them, hate them) - but most of all?

It's for ADULTS. This is the draw, to me. I read Lord of the Rings as a child, and was thrilled with the depth and lore and richness of Middle Earth. And the fantasy tropes and creatures - those are fun, the stuff of my gaming from childhood into adulthood. Swords and magic and orcs, oh my!

But now that I'm an adult, for my imagination to be compelled, I need more.
Can fantasy fans deal with murder and incest? I think so. HBO will make it appealing. Can people who thought that all fantasy was bad CGI Dragons, bad costumes and furry feet be drawn into the depth and complexity of the events within Westeros? I'm hoping, for reasons that I'll likely mention a thousand times here and there.

Six more days...
Enjoy the interview (as seen on GRRM's blog, here.)

Aspiring...

If we met today, over coffee (or a beer or a glass of wine), I'd eventually tell you that I'm an aspiring novelist, in the genre of fantasy fiction.

Which would be true. But, you (maybe) as well as I (certainly) know that there is no shortage of those. It's a cliche', the starving artist - the cliche' is a little less meaningful with internet access.

Last year, I kept a two-party blog, which focused mostly on book reviews and SF/F news and such. Then I moved, found a night job, and the months went by as life got busy. My blogging partner found another outlet for her creativity, and I was focusing on other things. (Edit: I went ahead and imported some of my older posts, for the sake of continuity.)

This isn't my first blog. I started off on myspace, believe it or not, a decade ago. Following my online roleplaying friends, I kept one on LiveJournal, which lasted awhile. People's lives change, and so do their blogs - which, more oft than not, do not last very long. This one will be my last, methinks.

I kept my first journal at the age of 8, did my first creative writing around that time, and self-published for the purpose of entertainment in high school (before I was recruited by the school paper). Public performance replaced the written word for a decade, and then I went back to it.

I write for adults, in case you're curious. Even when I was a child, I wrote for adults, parodying and rambling on about how messed up things were. I was trying to be funny, but in a laugh-when-people-fall-down way. (You couldn't air Three Stooges or Abbott & Costello in our current politically correct climate.)(Although it is arguable that vaudeville has been replaced by over-the-top scripted reality television.) I tried to fuse intellectual (geeky) humor with slapstick mentality. Ah, youth.

I got some attention when I wrote about my character(s) in roleplaying games, developing their backstories and coming up with scenes for when I wasn't logged in (obsessively) actually playing them. This resparked my interest in the written word.

I have even dabbled in erotica (under a different pseudonym, of course) - but, that was just a way to meet women who weren't interested in Elves and Dragons. I tease. A little.

I won't be blogging every day, not at this point. The purpose of this blog is to continue to develop a platform for when I am published - which sounds very methodical and calculated.

In truth, I just want a place to share random thoughts on the process of creativity, on what inspires me and motivates me, some observations about the process (writing, querying, publishing), the fantasy genre and whatever other cathartic expression which will help me become a better writer.

I'm glad you're here. Hopefully, I'll make it worth your time.

Cheers!