Ohh, great! Why didnt I come up with that? Oh well, youre welcome to call me whatever you like

Fair enough Kira it is

I think I'll use Zackster, Or Zackaroni . Just kidding .

Anyhooo, I liked your paragraph Fela. The Prose was a bit Purple, but that can work for short segments, though it can bog down a story if overused. Reminds me a lot of Ray Bradbury, but his fiction was mostly short stories, so the descriptive flowery language didn't overwhelm.

I would often use similar passages to set up a scene, then shift to a style more or less Tolkienish to describe the conversation or action.

Show, that was an excellent beginning to an Epic. It would be brilliant if you could post installments. I would just recommend breaking up your paragraphs a bit though, to make it easier for me to find my place . I loved the hurling of the very knife that was being discussed. Definitely got my attention .

Okay, I don't have any of my old scribblings available at the moment, but I will relate an outline to an Epic that I never got off the ground called, The Crystal Blade.

It begins with an old man with long white hair and beard waiting at a Railway Station in Britain attracting stares from passersby (what is it with Brits and trains ?). He's awaiting the arrival of a young lad (who doesn't know it yet) being sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle after his parents are killed in a plane crash (I penned this in the late 70s, long before Potter was a gleam in Rowlings eye ).

To make a long story short (even though I never got past the first chapter ). The old man is Merlin, the young lad (though he doesn't know it) is a reincarnated Arthur. Now it turns out that Merlin isn't just Merlin, he is also known by other names that slyly reference Obi Wan and Gandalf.

His task is to help Arthur discover his identity, track down Excalibur (the Crystal Blade), Rescue the Elves who are currently residing on another planet on the other side of the Galaxy under a cruel Nazi-like regime, and return to Earth to re-establish Magic and restore the Fairy Folk to their rightful status. Copyright 1979 (just in case I ever finish the project ).

GB

First off, great beginning of a story, Show, unique . I agree with Beren in which you certainly didn't copy the style of Tolkien's writing, and at first I visioned the description of the Prancing Pony, until the two men were seen walking about the fire, the Prancing Pony was a more. . . enlightening place, if you will . Sorry, just got around to reading the post, but a post worth reading indeed.

A while back, I wrote a 61,000-word fantasy called "The Deathline". Never really did anything with that. In late December, I started on another fantasy novel and just finished with the editing a month ago. It's a 96,000-word fantasy called "Shadow of a Shadow." Some people might argue it's not really fantasy, for there's no magic, elves, dwarves, or anything like that. At first, I was gonna categorize it at scifi, but changed my mind.
It's about a young man named Brandon meeting this stranger called "Woodsman", and on the night of an ambush, Woodsman leads Brandon and a famous actress named Sara into the woods. Woodsman, it turns out is a very important person that could possibly stop the impending war (exactly how, I'm not telling), but he's infected with an incurable illness that will kill him in time if they do not find a cure. Brandon and Sara decide to help look for the cure Woodsman thinks is out there, but they don't exactly know if they trust Woodsman. As they travel the world, they meet civilizations of legend and inadvertently start building an army. Who Woodsman is and where he comes from is quite possibly just a bit more complicated to explain. Whatever the case, if Woodsman dies, everyone dies.

Well... I can only repeat what others are already saying.

I've often started writing what i thought would make a really good story, then had to put it aside for a while. And before I could resume writing, I've already have thought the story to an end, and lost interest because a new idea for a story crept up... During the years I have probably created hundreds of stories, at least a few of them promising, but none ever made it past the first couple of pages.

Of course, the real test for a story is whether it is interesting when all the details are filled in, the ones you only have as images in your mind. It is very easy to imagine a sorceress, proud and stern, suffering from her love to a half-beast warrior, but how to describe it convincingly, and keeping the image alive, page after page... In the end, a few people have the talent for it, and they end up as published authors. The rest of os only publish to our desk drawer, or the realm of dreams. Sigh.

Hey you all... I know I havent been active for a while, but Ive been really busy with projects and such. Its election day tomorrow, you see. For the Norwegian government. But anyway, I have been reading what has been said, so im not totally foreign here now.

Now, what I wanted to say, was I had an experience Scary...
What happened is, I just had so many thoughts, and I found them quite interesting, so I wrote them down, and before I knew it, it had been a hole chapter full of personalities! Its an interesting experiment, you should try it.

That sounds similar to Automatic Writing, or, more likely, Stream of Consciousness...Which basically means you just spill your thoughts out onto the page without editing. It can be a very cathartic process. And you will often be surprised at how much material you can generate if you don't think too much about it. But it often requires heavy editing afterwards to make a cohesive story out of it. A lot of writers in the 1960s and 70s experimented with Stream of Consciousness, much to the chagrin of their editors .

GB

The main thing that seems to separate those who begin from those who finish is determination.

The below quote might be useful:



‘A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating.
You're there now doing the thing on paper.
You're not killing the goose you're just producing an egg.
So I don't worry about inspiration or anything like that.
It's a matter of just sitting down and working.
I have never had the problem of a writing block.
I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer.
I'd much rather go fishing, for example, or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming or what not.
But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, "Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write." There's no difference on paper between the two.’

FRANK HERBERT



I say, if you want to write and finish a story, be determined - and let others judge its worth when the first draft is done.

And write what you like, even if it seems to be a carbon copy of your favorite author (or authors). 'Gandalf" can always be changed to "Dumbledore" before you give it to anyone! No one will know!

Odo

NB I have finished the first draft of a fantasy novel (in four parts - ONE novel!) It's a bit over 500,000 words in all. I have a friend going through Part One at the moment. When that's done - I shall attack the text again with 'determination.' Scary thought - but it must be done!

Let us know when you publish Odo. I'm looking forward to reading it . You asked me on another thread (I think) to go into a bit more detail about the book I am working on (in fits and starts ). I'm a bit tired tonight (long day sorting boxes and getting ready for a rainstorm. So I'll just be doing a quick run through the forum tonight. I'll have to pop back later to give you more details.

GB