Hi! Well, where to begin - as my post title might suggest, I'm writing this from Oxford, home of Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, which makes setting to to write anything in a fantasy speculative fiction theme rather daunting to say the least (my hometown of Middlesbrough, on the other hand, has not produced many famous authors - so less daunting for a wannabe speculative writer like myself!) As opposed to wittering about myself, I should probably briefly introduce what I'm interestred in writing. basically, to tracem y tortured tohught processes back to their roots, my initial idea was 'why don't any of these fantasy universes ever progress beyond a largely medieval, feudal society? Is it just because we can only picture elves and demons running around in a setting where contemporary humans would have believed in them? What would a fantasy world be like after it developed modern (or near-modern) technology, and yet still had these creatures and concepts in it?" so the idea was born - about two years ago. Since then it has gone through many changes, with various elements becoming more and other less prominent, and the net result is, well, the setting in which I would like to write (for all that a lot of the fun comes from designing the setting as opposed to a functioning story, TBH ). Essentially, the world of Eryth. Eryth is a world which contains many of the ingredients of fantasy literature (sentient non human races, magical/demonic forces, etc) yet tones them down (in most cases) in favour of a by and large technologically based world whose technology and culture are best described as 'dieselpunk' (1930s to 1950s in origin, level of development and style). Many day to day features of this world are quite mundane - clothing, vehicles, building are all more or less consistent with 1930s-1950s real world styles - which makes the fantasy wierdness, when it occurs, particularly bizarre and (usually, because this is a universe in which such wierdness is rarely harmless) distubing. Think a combination of Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil', the 'Lovecraft' mythos, and 'Sky captain and the World of Tomorrow' and you won't go too far wrong this is probably far too long an introductory post, but nevermind cheers, YardMaster
Hello YardMaster, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Posting your own work should not be among the very first things you do here. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Review Room, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Review Room, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize reviewing as a critical writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. The Review Room forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Review Room forum). See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
