Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas Greetings from North Carolina! I can still say Merry Christmas because today is the 4th Day of Christmas! I'm at my brother's house in Fayetteville, which is quite a ways from New Jersey. A bit warmer, too. :)

I hope your Christmas celebration was joyful and memorable. Truly, it's amazing to me that God pushed aside his glory just enough to let humanity in. How much He loves us!

There's no new topic today - just wishes for a blessed and happy 2010. We'll review The Hero's Journey briefly next week and then will be off on new topics. I'm looking forward to more great discussion on the wonderful world of fantasy writing!

Thanks for participating. I am blessed and encouraged by each one of you!

Fondly,

pam <><

Return With The Elixir

Here is where the hero returns to the Ordinary World, but the journey is meanlingless if he doesn't bring back some kind of treasure or lesson from the Special World. It might be a magic potion with the power to heal or a great treasure like the Grail that magically heals the wounded land. Or it might simply be knowledge or experience that could be useful to the community someday. The Elixir may be a treasure won on the quest or it could be love, freedom, wisdom or the knowledge the Special World exists and can be survived. Sometimes it's coming home with a good story to tell.

We Seekers come home at last, purged, purified and bearing the fruits of our journey ... There will be other adventures, but this one is complete, and as it ends, it brings deep healing, wellness and wholeness to our world. The Seekers have come Home.

There are two branches to the end of the Hero's Journey; the circular form, in which there is a sense of closure and completion. And the "other" way; an open-ended approach, which there is a sense of unanswered questions, ambiguities and unresolved conflicts.

The Return can fall flat is everything is resolved too neatly or just as expected. A good Return should untie the plot threads, but with a certain amount of surprise; a little taste of the unexpected or a sudden revelation.

A special job of the Return is to hand out final rewards and punishments. It's part of restoring balance to the world of the story, giving a sense of completion. Punishment should fit the crime and have the quality of poetic justice.

Many stories fall apart in the final moments, so we have to be careful how we handle this all important part of the story. We've taken our readers on a fine adventure. Nothing is worse than a bad ending. How are you handling this part of your story?

The Road Back

Sorry I'm posting late again. Getting my Christmas sewing done is making me crazy! But in a good way. :) We are almost done The Hero's Journey and will finish up next week. Then we'll start something new in January.

The Road Back
Just when you thought you were done ... your hero is not out of the woods yet. Now he has to deal with the consequences of confronting the dark forces of the Supreme Ordeal. If he hasn't managed to reconcile with the dark forces, they may come raging after him. And he has a choice to make; does he return back to the starting point or does he continue on the journey to a new location/destination?

This is where your story's energy can be revved up again. The Road Back marks a time when the hero rededicates himself to the adventure. It's a turning point that marks the beginning of the end of your book. It can be another moment of crisis that sets the hero on a new and final road of trials.

This is where the antagonist retaliates. What the hero "throws down" in a chase (to trick or hinder the persuing enemy) may represent a sacrifice or the leaving behind of something of value. Or the enemy may steal the treasure or kidnap an ally.

Not every book deals with this part of The Hero's Journey, but I'm thinking there may be a little of it in every story. And there are many ways to handle it. How are you dealing with The Road Back?

The Reward

Sorry for the last post. It's been a crazy week and it's only Wednesday!

The Reward
This is also called, "seizing the sword." Having beaten death, the dragon, the dark lord, whatever you can come with, the hero now takes possession of the treasure he or she has come seeking. It might be a weapon or token or some elixir which can heal the wounded land. It can be an epiphany or self-realization.

This is almost always a time where the hero is recognized or rewarded for having survived the great ordeal. There can be a celebration, a campfire scene where everyone reviews recent events or even a love scene, where the hero finally gets together with their true love.

But it's essential the hero takes possession of whatever they came seeking after. Some heroes "purchase" the treasure, buying it with their lives or the willingness to rise their life. Some steal the it. The prize is not always given, even if it has been paid for or earned. It must be taken.

How can we handle this in a satisfying way for our readers?

The Supreme Ordeal

The Supreme Ordeal is the black moment of your book. The hero faces the possibility of death and is brought to the brink in a battle with a hostile force. The reader is held in suspense and tension, not knowing how things will work out. Your hero is in the "belly of the whale."

This is a critical moment where the hero must die or appear to die so he can be "born again." The experiences of all the stages so far have led us (the reader) to this moment. Our job, as authors, has been to create such character/reader involvement, that the reader experiences the brink-of-death moment with the heroine. Emotions are temporarily depressed so they can be revived by the hero's return from death.

Every story needs a life-or-death moment in which the hero or his goals are in mortal jeopardy. This is the climax of the story. Everything hinges on this moment.

We want to build up to this point, pacing the story so we don't get there too soon or too late. And we don't want to make it obvious how our hero gets out of the horrendous situation.

If you've come this far in your story, how are you handling it?

Happy Thanksgiving

Greetings, fellow FFFers! I meant to post this on Monday, but the days have gotten away from me.

I wish you all a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving celebration! I'm thankful for each and everyone of you. We'll get back to The Hero's Journey next week.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
pam <><

Approach to the Inmost Cave

The most dangerous spot in your hero's world is the Inmost Cave. When the hero enters that place, he will cross the second major threshold. This is an opportunity to stop, prepare, plan and outwit the villian's guards, which is known as the Approach.

This is the heart of the Special World, between the border and the center of the Hero's Journey.
The hero may find other Threshold Guardians, tests, allies and enemies. Now is the time to make final preparations for the central ordeal of the adventure. *Just a reminder of what a Threshold Guardian is: these are powerful figures who raise the banner of fear and doubt, questioning the hero's worthiness. Their purpose is to block the Hero from the adventure.*

Some heroes may develop a romance here. Some boldly stride up to the castle door and demand to be let in. Some sneak in the back way. But the hero needs to beware of obstacles, illusions, guardians, warnings and "impossible" tests. They may enter another special world.

Here is the time to raise the stakes, add complications, build conflict and tension and have time to step back and reorganize. The hero is facing internal challenges as well as external.

The Inmost Cave can be physical or emotional.

There's a lot to think about here. We have to remember this part of our story can be so very different from other stories. It's a large part of the Adventure. What do you think about this part of the Journey? How are you handling it?

Allies

We've had some great discussion on Enemies/Villians. Let's turn our attention to Allies.

Allies, friends, sidekicks. Typically, we have all these things in our story. They help the Heroine.

Allies come and go. Friends come and go. Sidekicks pretty much stay with the Hero. These characters can provide help, companionship, wisdom and humor.

In my WIP, Akeela has several friends. Not sure if any of them qualify for the type of sidekick we usually think of. There's Anon (a faun who is mentally challenged), Hawk (the boy she ends up falling in love with) and Hawk's cousins (a boy and a girl.) They all travel with her until the very end when she has to spend some time alone.

Allies can also band together to form a team, which I've done with Akeela.

I also have fairies, who are under the antagonist's (Tzmet) spell. They are enemies who mascarade as allies. This ends up causing a rift between Akeela and Hawk, which is the ulimate cause of Akeela falling into the Moon Dancer world. Which is not a good thing. Which is a good thing ... for tension. HA!

How important are allies, friends and sidekicks? How are you using them in your stories?
Let's talk!

Villians and Magic Arts

I'd like to continue talking about our villians. As Christian writers who love the fantasy genre and understand we can tell great stories in this way, we also know we need a dark character to come against our hero/heroine.

How far do we delve into the dark characters? How much do we reveal in their thoughts or actions? It depends on our audience, of course.

And what about magic? Scripture warns us to stay away from magic arts. Still, in fantasy, magic arts are prominant, especially in the villians. Take The Lord of the Rings; there are good and bad wizards and there is Sauron. All have some kind of magic power, but they are also limited.

How are you handling this in your WIP?
Let's talk!

Tests, Allies and Enemies

Once your hero begins his/her adventure, they will naturally encounter new challenges or TESTS. They'll make ALLIES and ENEMIES. And they'll begin to learn all the rules of the quest/special world. This allows for character development as your hero and other characters react to stress, set backs, new friends, facing the enemy, etc. This is also a place to introduce a side-kick, if you already haven't.

The hero can encounter all these things throughout the story.

As we know, in fiction, we want tension and conflict - something to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. Things that will make the reader stay up late to read "just one more chapter." The things we hate in real life, we seem to love in books or movies. I think we like seeing how things resolve.

So, let's talk about tests, allies and enemies. What kind of things does your hero encounter? How much trouble should we throw at our characters? We don't want to beat them to a bloody pulp, right? So, we want to give them times of fun and rest.

It's a balance, and it's our job to make it happen without everything falling apart.

Crossing the First Threshold

This happens when the hero finally says yes to the quest and fully enters the Special World of the story for the first time. He agrees to face whatever needs facing with the problem or challenge of the Call to Adventure. This is where your story takes off. You've set up the Ordinary World and introduced the main character, mentor and other important characters.

This doesn't mean your hero can't turn back. At this point, they can. But there's no reason to right now. The hero often feels condfident and ready to tackle anything.

How are you handling this part of your story? Are you leaving the reader feeling as confident as the hero or have you written in some kind of menacing threat, ever so slightly?

The Mentor

I've been away for the long weekend. It was a good weekend with a writing friend. But I'm home now, so, let's continue talking about The Hero's Journey.

By the time the hero is at the refusal point in the story, along comes a Merlin-like character who is the hero's MENTOR. The relationship between hero and Mentor is one of the most common themes in mythology and one of the richest in symbolic value, especially for Christian writers.

The Mentor may appear in many forms; an old man or woman, a parent, a pastor, a boss, a friend. The purpose of the Mentor is to prepare the hero for the unknown or quest. They may give advice or some kind of talisman or weapon before setting the hero free.

Sometimes, the Mentor comes back into the hero's life if the hero needs a push.

So, what do you think? Does every hero need a Mentor? If a hero doesn't have a Mentor, where do they get their knowledge, advice or encouragement? In my WIP, my heroine, Akeela, has a couple of mentors. One dies, one can't be with her once she starts her quest. I want Akeela to be able to figure out some things on her own. It gives me a chance to write in her mistakes and show her weakness. It also enables me to allow her to overcome.

If we are using a Mentor, we don't want that person to do everything for the hero. It would make the story boring and predictable. How are you using a Mentor?

The Reluctant Hero

REFUSAL OF THE CALL (or the reluctant hero) is typically the next step in The Hero's Journey. The hero learns something about herself or about some kind of quest he has to complete and it isn't something they want to do. They may feel fear, unbelief or apathy. But then something happens to make them change their minds and they are willing to start on the adventure.

This is typical. Ordinary. But it seems to work. Human nature (or whatever nature you are writing about) most always hesitates unless they are motivated. For myself, I need to know WHY I'm being asked to do something that doesn't make sense to me.

How are you handling your hero's REFUSAL OF THE CALL? Have you found a nice twist so that it's not your regular, I don't wanna go . . . okay, changed my mind, guess I'll go.

The Call to Adventure

We've started looking at The Hero's Journey for our fantasy writing. This formula works for any genre, of course, but we're mainly talking about fantasy.

According to my book, the Journey has 12 stages.

1) Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where
2) they recieve the CALL TO ADVENTURE.
3) They are RELUCTANT at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but
4) are encouraged by a MENTOR to
5) CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter the Special World where
6) they encounter TESTS, ALLIES and ENEMIES.
7) They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second threshold
8) where they endure the SURPEME ORDEAL.
9) They take possession of their REWARD and
10) are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World.
11) They cross the third threshold, experience a RESURRECTION and are transformed by the experience.
12) They RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure to benefit the Ordinary World.

We've talked about the Ordinary World and Physical/Inward Journey. Christopher Vogler's book The Writer's Journey, breaks down these 12 steps, adding more detail. Vogler says, "The Hero's Journey is infinitely flexible, capable of endless variation without sacrificing any of its magic, and it will outlive us all." It is a map we can follow, taking our own turns and making what we want of it.

Let's look at the second step of THJ: The Call to Adventure. This is where the hero is presented with a problem, challenge or adventure to undertake. I like to call it a "quest." This mean he/she cannot remain in the Ordinary World. The Call to Adventure establishes the stakes of the game and makes clear the hero's goal.

Let's talk about The Call. How long do we spend there? How do we bring it about? Is The Call clear in your writing? Is The Call unique? If so, how can you give it a twist to make it less typical?

The Journey Itself

We talked a little about the ordinary world of our hero last week. And we all agreed it's important to show what's normal for the hero before he/she sets off on their adventure. It gives the reader an idea of what's at stake.

Here's a quote from Christopher Vogler's book about The Journey:

"... the hero's story is always a journey. A hero leaves his/her comfortable, ordinary surroundings to venture into a challenging, unfamiliar world."

Then it goes on to say, "... many stories take the hero on an inward journey, one of the mind, the heart, the spirit."

Let's talk about The Journey this week. What sort of journey is your hero/heroine on? Is it an outward one with a quest into a labyrinth, cave, forest or strange location? Or is it more inside the hero's character/mind?

Vogler says, "It's these emotional journeys that hook an audience and make a story worth watching."

I believe the Journey should be both. Fantasy readers expect the characters to set off on an impossible quest into strange and mystical places. But they also want to *feel* things along with the hero. How can we balance the physical with the emotional?

The Ordinary World

Welcome back, fantasy lovers! We had a nice break, but I'm looking forward to getting back into our discussion on writing fantasy.

I've been learning about The Hero's Journey, which all stories follow to some extent, but in fantasy it's necessary to pay closer attention to it. What IS the Hero's Journey? According to the book, The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler, the Hero's Journey contains "a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams and movies." He begins the book talking about mapping the journey in Three Acts.

Act One begins with the Ordinary World. Vogler says it's necessary to show your hero in normal life so when the Call to Adventure comes and the quest begins, you can "create a vivid contrast with the strange new world he (the hero) is about to enter." It's also needed to establish who the hero is and begin the character arc.

That makes perfect sense to me. The reader needs to know who the hero is without the new situation. Writers need to establish character and personality. We need to create a sense of caring what happens to the hero. Otherwise, why would the reader want to read on?

So, let's talk a bit about the Ordinary World. How do we set it up? How long should we stay there? How can we make it interesting? How much description should we use? I look forward to your comments.

Doug's blog

Greetings, fellow Fairies, Fantasy and Faith blog readers! Sorry to be a day late here. We're dealing with a huge problem at my autistic daughter's school and yesterday got away from me.

This week, I'd like to share Doug's blog with everyone. http://hathrae.com/annay/
Doug is a faithful reader of FFF and a fellow fantasy writer.

Next Monday is a holiday, so be looking for the fantasy writing discussion to continue on Monday, September 14th.

Enjoy the end of summer! The magical season of fall is almost upon us.

Something for fun

I've been on vacation, so here's a little something for fun. I'll get back to fantasy writing next week! Enjoy!! http://members.ozemail.com.au/~imcfadyen/fantasy.html

Great conference - new opportunities

Wow ~ I got back from the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer's Conference on Saturday night. It was an amazing conference! I met several fellow fantasy writers, who I hope will join us here on Fairies, Fantasy and Faith. The faculty was great and everyone I talked to learned a lot and felt encouraged.

My 16-year-old daughter, Mary, went with me. Dr. Ted Baehr (Movieguide.org) taught a three-day screen writing class and she attended that. She learned so much more about the industry that she ever dreamed and has the opportunity to go out to CA next summer as an intern! We will be getting all the details before we make the decision to send her all the way across the country.

Jeff Gerke from Marcher Lord Press was there. He was great fun and his continuing workshop was amazing. I talked with him about Fairyeater and he was encouraging and showed me some places I needed to work on. That's always a good thing.

I also have the opportunity to send a proposal to an agent and another publishing house, so I'll be working away over the next few weeks to whip everything in shape before I send it all out. Of course, I want to send it NOW!! But that would not be wise, so I'll do what I have to do and be patient. It's all in God's timing anyway, so what do I have to worry about?

Next Monday, I'll be leaving for vacation, so I will not be posting again for 2 weeks. But when I get back, I want to start really looking into the various parts of fantasy writing and the Hero's Journey and character development. I'm hoping we'll get some really good discussion going.

Happy writing!
pam <><

Writer's Conferences

I finished with summer theatre last week and am now turning my attention to the Greater Phila. Christian Writer's Conference, which is next week (see www.writehisanswer.com/philadelphia). I'm teaching the First Timer's Orientation with my friend, novelist Joyce Magnin, and one of the workshops for the Teens Write Track.

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot in Christian conferences for fantasy writers . . . but Jeff Gerke from Marcher Lord Press is going to be there and I'm totally jazzed about that. And I've heard a rumor that there will be a continuing track on fantasy and sci-fi writing at Mt. Hermon next year.

We fantasy writers MUST hang in there!

Janet mentioned she was coming to the Philly conference. Any other Fairies, Fantasy and Faith bloggees coming to the conference?

What other conferences are friendly to fantasy writers? Let's share information ~ maybe we can help each other get published. :)

Ideas

Let's talk about ideas this week. Where do you get your ideas? Do pictures help or do ideas simply spring out of nowhere? I'll chime in later. Right now, I'm off to dress rehearsal for our local summer theatre children's show. I'm the music director and we're doing Alice Through the Looking Glass. Talk about a fantasy. HA!!

Secondary Characters

Every hero needs a side kick and friends. This week, let’s talk about secondary characters. What do your secondary characters need? How important are they to the story? How do you keep them from taking over? Do you like them more than the main character?

I have several secondary characters in my WIP that are important to the story line. I am the parent of a daughter who has autism and seizures. Because I deal with special needs on a daily basis, I’ve found that I always include a character with some kind of handicap. My other daughter reads my chapters and she’s grown to love the faun, who is friends with the heroine. The faun (his name is Anon) has Down’s – but, of course, I don’t call it that. Anon is “touched.” He adds a different dynamic to the story, even though he is quite secondary. And if not for him, the heroine would not be able to complete her task, although we don’t know that until almost the end.

Let’s talk about secondary characters.

Creating the Main Character

Okay, we’ve talked about God and villains. Now, let’s turn our attention to the main character – or protagonist.

What makes a good hero/heroine? They need to be someone the reader can sympathize or care about right away. How can you create interest right away? My friend, Joyce Magnin, says to put your hero up a tree and throw rocks at him.

What kind of characteristics should a protagonist have? A hidden magic ability? A gift already known? Luke Skywalker had the force. Wil Ohmsford from The Elfstones of Shannara had enough elven blood to bring the Elfstones to life. Frodo only had his hobbit sense. My heroine, Akeela, has something I call spirit-sight; she can see auras around living things.

My mentor has a list of questions she uses when beginning a new story. It has helped me develop and know my characters better. When you know your characters well, they become real. And when they become real to you, they’ll be real to the reader. When they are real to the reader, the reader will care about them. That keeps pages turning.

Your main character had needs. In the beginning of the story, what is the obvious need? Something the reader can identify right away. When you establish this, you create sympathy and the reader will want to see what happens next. You’ve hooked them. This is true no matter what genre you write.

But there also needs to be a hidden need, which the protagonist will realize by the end of the book. The reader should not know this right away.

To recap: how do we create a hero/heroine the reader will care about from the very beginning who is interesting, real and not stereotyped?

The Dark Side

We had great discussion last week about including God in our fantasy writings. Now, let’s go to the dark side and talk about villains.

All stories need a strong antagonist – one the protagonist must prevail against. And it can’t be easy. It’s even been said the villain should be stronger than the hero. Or seem to be.

What makes a good dark foe? What characteristics should you give him or her? What makes your antagonist different from all others out there?

Sauron, Darth Vader, Maleficent. Just three examples of fantasy, sci-fi and animated villains. One was redeemed. Two fell to their tragic deaths.

As Christian fantasy writers, how do we handle evil characters? How evil can we go? Can we make our dark characters likeable? Should we?

Lots to talk about this week. Spread the news! Let’s get more people on board for this potentially rousing discussion.


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I'm a guest blogger

I'm a guest blogger today on: http://hopeforspecialmoms.blogspot.com
Stop by and say hi!

Including God in Fantasy

Doug wrote this about his WIP: They have the same God that we do, not our God mapped into some other form.

I attended a one-day workshop with SCBWI last fall and got the opportunity to talk with an editor from Scholastic. We talked about including God in fantasy novels. Her advice to me about having God in the story is to make sure it’s a natural part of the culture, whether fantasy, sci-fi or futuristic. Don’t put God in your story simply for the sake of making it “inspirational” or Christian. The reader will know if you’re hitting them over the head with a message.

She also advised me to give Him another name – I was calling Him “The Most High God” in my story. That was too much like the Bible, and fantasy writers need to keep in mind that there are not fairies, elves, wizards or dwarves in the Bible. That made sense to me. So, I renamed Him, Celtar. I think it works.

I also included a book of “Holy Writings” which my characters quote from time to time, so I’ve paraphrased enough to keep it from being a direct quote from Scripture.

Should Christians include God in their story? I’d love to hear your opinion on this. Let the discussion begin!

Should Christians Enjoy Fantasy?

I taught a workshop on writing fantasy last year at a conference. I opened up for questions at the end and got hit with a biggie. A woman asked if Christians should be writing or enjoying fantasy as the Bible teaches us to avoid sorcery, fortune telling and other such dark arts. She was genuine in asking as she wanted to write fantasy and but felt troubled. I find this a fascinating topic since I’ve always enjoyed fantasy and never had a doubt of whether I should or not.

I believe great truths can be told in a good story. Jesus Himself, told stories, many with fantastic elements, like a camel going through the eye of a needle (Matt. 19:24) or the vision between heaven and hell (Luke 16:19-26.)

I also think there’s a difference between using magic and wizards and sorcery to move the plot along and glorifying the practice of them. As Christian writers, we must be on guard so we don’t make the dark arts appealing to our readers. But a good fantasy includes these things. There has to be something for the hero to fight against.

So, let’s talk about this. What are your thoughts? Examples? Reasons? Let’s get some good discussion going!

What is fantasy?

To get some discussion going on fantasy, I’d like to start with the basics. When you hear the word fantasy, what comes to mind? When I think of fantasy, I think of fairies, elves, dwarves and characters like that. I think of magic and wizards and a quest to save the world from a dark and evil force. Sound familiar to you?

Webster’s dictionary defines fantasy as:
1) imagination or fancy; esp. wild visionary fancy
2) an unnatural or bizarre mental image
3) an odd notion; whim; caprice
4) a highly imaginative poem, play, etc.
5) same as fantasia (see below)
6) a daydream or daydreaming, esp. about an unfulfilled desire

Fantasia is defined as:
1) a musical composition of no fixed form
2) a medley of familiar tunes

The only part of these definitions I wasn’t familiar with was caprice, so I looked that up, too. The definitions are:
1) a sudden, impulsive change in thought or action
2) a capricious quality or nature
3) music same as capriccio (a lively musical composition of irregular form)


Hmmmmm … I don’t see anything in those definitions that fit in with my thoughts of fantasy. But let’s take a closer look. Any kind of fiction takes imagination, of course, but fantasy even more so. Fantasy writers need to come up with new worlds and characters. My WIP has fairies, dwarves, humans, a witch, a dark lord and characters of my own creation. And now that I think about it, a bizarre mental image is needed to picture them. Guess Webster's isn't too far off. :)

What about you? How does your story fit in these definitions? I look forward to your thoughts.


WHAT’S NEW?
Check the progress of my fairy garden to the right
I’ve added Fantasy Photo Fridays. Send me your fantasy-ish pictures and I’ll post them, adding new pics every Friday.

A new addition to Fairies, Fantasy and Faith!

A quick announcement to let you know that I've added a page to my blog. I'm building a Fairy Garden and will be posting my progress. Check it out by clicking on the link to the right under Ten Random Things About Me.

Welcome, Fantasy Lovers

Greetings, fellow fantasy lovers! I’m happy you stopped by. With this first post, I want to acquaint you with the vision I have for this blog.

I am a published children’s author. Two years ago, I got an idea for a fantasy novel. The thought had never occurred to me to actually write fantasy, although I love the genre. But the idea wouldn’t go away, so I wrote the beginning to Fairyeater – my WIP – and showed it to my writing partner, Joyce. She read it and said, “Wow, you just found your voice.” So, I started working on the plot and characters. At first, my intention was to make it a trilogy, but after getting into the story, I decided to combine everything into one book with three parts. It’s a lot of work, but I’m enjoying it so much.

In the process, I’ve met several other Christian authors who love fantasy. And many wonder if fantasy should be written, read or watched by Christians. In the workshop I led last year at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference, we got into some good discussion regarding this, and I thought it would be great to have a blog where we could come together and kick the topic around. So, here we are. I’ll be posting once a week, on Mondays, to start with, and I hope we’ll get some good discussion going in the comments section.

Please introduce yourself and let us know if you are a writer of fantasy or simply a lover of fantasy. Don’t forget to subscribe. I’m looking forward to getting to know you!