L.T. Getty's Blog, page 2

Bartering as World Building

This is the second part of the previous article; that one deals with what we’re measuring and, I got into a tangent on bartering. I always like to consider how economies work as part of the world building, so most of this will probably seem straight forward and more of a general guide.

I’m back to work after the injury, not saying I’m 100% but I’ve injured myself before so right now I’m in the cautionary working out phase. I shouldn’t reinjure but I have one more tour after this one, then a w...

Measurement in The Fantastic

               I had this topic come up several times over the past few weeks and I don’t disagree with the premise, but the practicality. The idea is how many stories use references that don’t make sense. If I have a fantastical world, referring to a day of the week as Tuesday or referencing a distance in leagues or kilometers sometimes takes you out of the story.  I have no problem with the idea that Tolkien is translating a text, so it doesn’t bother me when Frodo wakes up on October the 21 i...

Manitoba is On Fire, but Hey Books!

               I don’t have a lot of markets this year but not for lack of trying, but this year I have books in two stores: The Cozy Fox in Selkirk and Poor Michael’s in Onanole. Not a lot of copies but remember these are small stores. If you go looking for something another author says they have copies and there don’t happen to be any, ask the people running the store so they know people are looking. The Cozy Fox has really fun local stuff and the old owners of Poor Michaels used to bring in s...

Beyond the Veneer: Masking and Meaning

If you’re traveling this Easter Weekend/Passover week be safe! Hope you get to spend time with you and yours. Me, I hurt myself so I’ll be spending more time with the family than anticipated. Nothing serious, but shouldn’t be lifting patients.

I don’t think it’s a secret that I enjoy theatre masks, I briefly used a masquerade at the beginning of Dreams of Mariposa, but given it’s a vampire novel that’s hardly groundbreaking. When developing A Fable of Wood and String my niece wanted to ...

Heroes, Antiheroes, and Villains Ahoy!

I was going to include antagonists in the title, but the definition of antagonist is they oppose the protagonist. Go see the last post if you need a quick refresher.

For the sake of this article a hero is someone who behaves in a virtuous way according to the author’s intent. I think it goes without saying that not everyone agrees as to what the highest virtue is, or that virtue is universal – for instance, a Viking may have no problem mowing down a weaker foe, for his culture the virtue is s...

Roles in a Narrative

I feel a little stupid for even having to bring this up, but then I reminded myself that I explained at the end of Dreams of Mariposa that Marie is a villain protagonist. I was getting sick of protagonist-centered morality, which IMO has only gotten worse in contemporary fiction, but here we are.

Spoilers below, but I mention the series relatively early in all my examples.

Narratives can take place in many mediums – books, video games, movies, tv shows, and sometimes the characters we foll...

Open Sandbox; Different Castles

One of my least favourite attitudes is that because it’s in the realm of the fantastic, we can do everything and anything. Now, yes: You can pick a direction and do whatever you like at first, but you need to be internally consistent with your creation’s logic.

Narnia feels different than Middle Earth, which again feels different to Earthsea. These works are very popular and have stood the test of time, but also differ in rules and tone, philosophy, as well as who is the intended audience. Th...

More Thoughts on Romantasy, and Cross-Genre Fiction

               I saw a trend on one of the Facebook groups I frequent where someone asked if there could be any truely ‘good’ romantasy – not necessarily Hemmingway but, with well-developed plot, characters and world building.

               I pointed out that romance by itself can be very well written, even if it wasn’t my cup of tea I’ve been given stories I wasn’t expecting to love, and other times I get given stories that should have everything I want but are kinda meh.

               ...

Thoughts on Warnings and Disclaimers in Books

I’m noticing a trend where I’m picking up a fantasy book where I expect battle scenes and authors are putting out the disclaimer for fantasy violence. I’m kind of irked, mostly because if you have the word ‘sword’ in the title and then skip all the action sequences, I’m going to be the first person to complain, and do so loudly. If we were to be completely honest, many times I am seeking out books, movies, video games for the action. Action doesn’t always have to be violent, and I’m the first on...

Thoughts on Season 2 of Rings of Power and Wheel of Time

I’m not going to analyze episodes. In my opinion, the problem is both had bad writing. No shame if you’re enjoying them so far.

More than twenty years ago the Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings Trilogy came out (2001-2003) and there were a bunch of copy cats which resulted in failed franchises. There were also other projects coming out around the same time that were their own thing (Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Harry Potter)and I don’t mean failed franchises in that they didn’t make money ...