A.E. Marling's Blog

My Most Popular Flavor Text

Through good fortune or perhaps bad fortune, my most popular flavor text is also one of which I’m most proud. I had studied the use of the chiasmus in writing as a way to give an idea resonance and power. In a chiasmic phrase, two words are repeated in reverse order. For instance, Lord Byron wrote:

“Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure.”

The words Pleasure and Sin are reflected in opposite order in the second half of the phrase. The human mind finds chiasmic phrases more pleasi...

Frozen Fan Fiction

To promote my sanity, I have been writing a fan fiction for Disneys Frozen. The loving relationship between the two sisters is an elixir for these troubled times. Though I adore the whimsy of the series, I also believe Frozen 2 introduced discord between the two sisters, when Elsa left Anna to adventure alone over the Dark Sea. The movie did not resolve this broken promise, so I decided to in a fictional correspondence.

You can read the letters on Archive of Our Own and FanFiction.net.

MtG Fan Fiction

The Ixalan Magic Story set up multiple narrative promises, all of which were broken. This fan fiction explores what it might’ve looked like in War of the Spark if they had been kept. Date on Tin Street Vraska and Jace sat outside in an eerily peaceful Tin Street Market. Goblins moved carefully between the stalls, not racing and bumping into anyone. When a clumsy krovod knocked over an urn full of peppers, the merchant didn’t start screaming. Even the birds of paradise on display in cages...

My Most Popular Card Name

It’s not close. The card name I wrote that most people compliment is Runaway Steam-Kin. When a streamer gets run over by the elemental they’ll often say, “That’s an aptly named card.” When it goes off the rails on video coverage I have heard announcers say the card is true to name. I’ve flung fire as a Red mage for over twenty years, and I know power when I see it. When I name cards I try to evoke their characteristics but also the feeling they will cause in players. Few cards cause more of...

Writing Magic Cards: Dominaria

Flavor text and card names immerse players into the world of Magic. Join me in returning to the first plane of the game, which has weathered apocalypse after apocalypse to now flourish. Card names appear in the upper left, and flavor text is at the bottom of the card in italics. For this first section I wrote both.

Card Name and Flavor Text:

Researching the chronicles of Magic’s past in Tolarian Academy, I wrote the flavor text for these cards.

Flavor text:

I scribed...

Writing Magic Cards: Rivals of Ixalan

As you push aside the last fern, the jungle opens to gleaming fantasy. The lost city of Orzaca glitters as golden as your dreams, but who is that? Your rival is slipping through the gates, already ahead of you, and you must hurry or loose your treasure forever.

Flavor text:

For the following cards I wrote the flavor text (in italics at the bottom).

Flavor text and card name:

For the following cards I wrote not only the flavor text but also the name (upper left).

Ca...

Writing Magic Cards: Ixalan

Flavor Text:

I’m as happy as a pirate rich with booty to say that I wrote the flavor text for the following cards:

Card Names:

As a bold explorer cresting a new horizon, I lay claim to these card names.

Named the destination half of the following card: the Cradle of the Sun.

Both Name and Flavor Text:

Writing both Vorthos elements of a card is as beautiful as discovering a new city in the jungle full of happy people, so it’s not “discovering” r...

Writing Magic Cards: Hour of Devastation

The best part of making a sand castle is when the waves wash in and you get to watch it’s destruction. That’s how excited I am to share my writing with you in Hour of Devastation. For the cards below I penned the name and wrote the flavor text in italics.

I’m as delighted as a dragon tyrant wrecking a city to say that I wrote the following card names.

Flavor text helps immerse the player in the Magic card plane. It appears in italics, and I wrote all these below.

Writing Magic Cards: Amonkhet

I am skating-down-pyramids excited to announce that I wrote creative text for Amonkhet. For the cards below I penned the name and wrote the flavor text in italics.

For the following cards, I etched hieroglyphs in 2016 that were transcribed a year later by Wizards of the Coast into flavor text.

And I wrote the names for these last Magic cards. As a boy I summoned such greats as Sea Serpent, and I have no doubt which of these would have been the favorite of young me.

...

In Which I Announce A Winner and Discuss Winning Villains

As promised and foretold, I will now reveal the dark lords quoted in my most recent epic fantasy. Later in the book, I give due tribute to the most memorable villains who all in their own wicked ways made possible my favorite stories. Following this, I’ll announce the nefarious schemer who managed to guess more dark lords right than any other. The contest is over, but if you wish to test your villainous mastery, you can find the original post here.

1. “I have seen your heart and it is mine.”...