To kick off this fun-filled week of fantasy goodness, I’ve got a guest post for you about fantasy and murder from A.F.E. Smith. Stay tuned afterward, because I’ve got all the deets on a great Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post!
Fantasy and murder: what’s the appeal?
It’s no secret that fantasy is, and always has been, my favourite genre. There are many reasons for that, but one very good one is that the sheer number of possibilities it opens up to a writer is breathtaking. Fantasy has no limitations except for your own imagination and your ability to convince your reader to suspend disbelief.
Yet for that reason, writing fantasy can feel like being handed a bottomless bucket, pointed in the direction of an infinitely wide pick’n’mix stand, and told to take as much as you want. And if you’re me, that might result in something like this.
I like birds. And unicorns. And shapeshifters. So let’s have a flying unicorn shapeshifter! Duels to the death, always good. Add them to the bloody murder and general mayhem. Airships, sure, why not? Bit of romance. Bit of mistaken identity. Swords, yes, gotta have plenty of swords … oooh, guns! Hmm, swords or guns … what? Swords AND guns? Don’t mind if I do. And a walled city. No, a double-walled city. No, a SEVEN-walled city.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 