Helen Lowe's Blog, page 79
May 13, 2018
Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes: #2 — A Prince/Princess Finds A Destiny
Last week…
Last week I kicked off a new post series on Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes (I certainly intend to have maximum fun and I hope you will, too 
May 9, 2018
A Geography of Haarth: Lion Throne (Updated)
The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick
The A Geography of Haarth post series traverses the full range of locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.
From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.
Now it’s returned to gazette the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.) The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.
—...
May 6, 2018
Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes: A Farm Boy/Gal Goes On A Journey…
I’m betting we all know this one—and it’s hardly surprising that we do, since epic fantasy has its roots in myth, hero tales, and folklore, and this is one of the most deep-rooted characteristics of the epic tradition.
Of course, to fit the trope/tradition, the protagonist doesn’t have to be a farm boy or gal specifically (although they very often are) but rather a person of comparatively low degree in their society/world, who nonetheless becomes the pawn of prophecy (I’m sure all keen fantas...
May 2, 2018
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Dalay
USA
In 2017, I resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, because :
“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blo...
April 29, 2018
Having Fun With Epic Fantasy — Meet The “Tropes”
Tolkien’s Middle Earth & the classic epic tour
Some years back, I posted a short guest series on SF Signal titled “Having Fun With Epic Fantasy” in which I explored a few of the characteristic features of epic fantasy literature. While by no means exhaustive, the entries included “Making the Grand Tour” (aka the Road Journey), the “Band of Brothers” and the “Soul-Sucking Sword.”
Sadly, SF Signal closed its e-doors a few years back, but my love of epic fantasy has continued and there’s plenty...
April 27, 2018
The Wall Of Night Series Map
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Fantasy literature readers generally, and Epic Fantasy lovers in particular, *heart* maps.
So far, I only have one broad brush map for The Wall of Night series world of Haarth, but a reader was inquiring about it recently and the relative locales of the Derai and the Swarm — think “here be dragons” and “beyond the edge of the map” for the latter — so I thought I’d post the Wall series map again in as large from as da blog will accommodate without di...
April 25, 2018
A Geography of Haarth: Lathayra (Updated)
“The Heir Of Night” map: artist, Peter Fitzpatrick
The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.
From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the posts explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.
Now the series has returned to gazette the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.) The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listi...
April 22, 2018
When Nice Things Happen For A Book I’ve Loved Reading
As an author, I know what a wonderfully exciting moment it is when when nice things happen for a book.
It’s pretty durned exciting, too, when a book I’ve loved reading wins an award. It’s nice, you know, to discover that others out there have enjoyed a book as much as I did myself. But as an author, I also know what it will mean to the writer, probably after she has spent years on the solitary process of researching and writing the book, then getting it to the world.
So I was over the moon w...
April 18, 2018
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Dain
USA
In 2017, I resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, because :
“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blo...
April 15, 2018
Artefacts Of The Writing Life #6: Desk and Chair
This year, I’ve been sharing a few artefacts* of the writing life with you. You can find the previous entries under “About Writing” — below “Categories” in the far right-hand side bar.
And this week the spotlight’s on the ever-essential desk — or in this case, trestle-style table — and chair.
As you’ll see, I like a desk surface with a lot of space to spread stuff out! As well as clear space still, in-between the stuff!
And the chair ticks “serious” in the ergonomic stakes, essential when one...
