by Drew Ellenwood | May 21, 2014 | Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fantasy & Theology, Path to Publishing
Hold a book in your hand. Where did it come from? The publisher, of course. The publisher probably got it from a literary agent. The agent represented an author. The author had a story to tell. But where did the story come from? Stories start as a spark of an...
by Drew Ellenwood | May 7, 2014 | Fantasy & Science Fiction
This blog is from my son-in-law Matt Wright, a bona fide linguist. He’s also a fantasy/science fiction fan. But who isn’t? Languages are rich treasures for us fantasy and science fiction geeks. This is where alien cultures get good; this is where another world...
by Drew Ellenwood | Mar 26, 2014 | Fantasy & Science Fiction
A fantasy or science fiction author chucks out one or more real physical laws in order to construct an imaginative world where magic and dragons coexist, where starships can exceed the speed of light, where heroes still look good even with blue skin. But there’s...
by Drew Ellenwood | Jan 15, 2014 | Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fantasy & Theology
Invincibility is a story killer. The magic in fantasy or the technology in science fiction can be so awesome that nothing is able to stand against it. For storytelling, this is bad. Story needs conflict, a way to endure or overcome, a real chance of failure. If the...
by Drew Ellenwood | Oct 10, 2013 | Fantasy & Science Fiction
Let’s talk about fantasy worlds from various sources. I’m going to start, of course, with C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, a world simple enough for children and complex enough for adults. Magic Magic infuses Narnia from the beginning when Aslan sang it into being. But for the...
