My questing party has made it just about halfway (close to 50k words) through their first tale together. Writing a full length fantasy has been an immense task, but rewarding at the same time. The characters are plodding through the world, handing their vices as any person would: the best they can. One theme that has soaked through the text is guilt and its many manifestations. I never really thought of just how many ways the human experience can attribute what appears as a simple word and feeling. Of course, all words are spells and remain subjected to the way in which we weave them. <\/p>\n
Also noteworthy is the fact that the characters commit actions all their own. Often I have little input in these manners and at times must leave them to their own devices. I trust them more than myself, and leave it to them to tell their own story. Interestingly enough, I could see why J.R.R. Tolkien, in the spirit of George Macdonald, believed that writers were instruments of God. The crux of their argument is that ideas, words, etc, come out of nothingness. There is nothing there until there is something, and so there must be a source outside of ourselves. I must say, I feel like Tolkien in that I am merely recording a history of these characters instead of actively creating what happens to them. It makes for quite the uncanny feeling.
\nPerhaps my wording isn’t very clear right now, as neither is my head. Please forgive me for that, I haven’t had any sleep. Still, I am very much looking forward to the completion of my first full-length novel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My questing party has made it just about halfway (close to 50k words) through their first tale together. Writing a full length fantasy has been an immense task, but rewarding at the same time. The characters are plodding through the world, handing their vices as … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6aT9B-3A","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1342,"url":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/?p=1342","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":0},"title":"Yeah, That Third Dark Compass Novel..","date":"April 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I just took a word count of where I am at. The manuscript is sitting at around 23,000 words. To give reference Ravens In the Sky and Raven's Bane are between 80,000-90,000 words each. I have about 13 chapters mapped out, and many notes. I'm fairly certain I can finish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":867,"url":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/?p=867","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":1},"title":"Eff it! Why I (Sometimes) Write with Bad Words #Amwriting","date":"June 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently a conversation sparked up in the Fantasy Writers and Readers group. As with any such group, many people hold strong personal convictions about swearing and the use of bad words when writing fiction. Suffice it to say, as I am a writer who tends to get a little naughty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":972,"url":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/?p=972","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":2},"title":"Q & A with Ghouliana Stories","date":"June 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Ghouliana Stories (Bess Sturgis) writes tales for young readers that are spooky but not too scary. She is one of the hardest working writers I know and also one of the most optimistic. She is a champion of literacy for children, and uses costumes and props to enact her stories.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Author Interviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1134,"url":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/?p=1134","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":3},"title":"5 more questions with John Blenkinsop","date":"November 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"1. We last touched based in July of 2016. What has changed since then? My daughter Yifan is now 17, and everything at home is geared up to her - tuition, homework, going to University open days. She hasn't got much of a social life, so neither have we. 2.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Author Interviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":463,"url":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/?p=463","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":4},"title":"Fantastic journey (A Fantasy Writer and Reader Prompt) #amreading (Michelle Reads)","date":"September 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Fantasy Readers and Writers Group challenged me with a question:\u00a0 What do you like about \/ look for the most in fantasy books? \u00a0 This prompt made me realize something: I haven't read many fantasy books at all (a problem I am working to remedy). For now, I'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":507,"url":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/?p=507","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":5},"title":"Review of Ravens in the Sky by Will Bly (Michelle Reads)","date":"November 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote this review awhile back, but as a family member I am unable to post it to amazon. At the time, I had just got finished reading the final proof of RITS and I was super excited about its completion. I had fun interpreting the story and sharing my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willbly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}