I read a lot of Fantasy. I love the rich worldbuilding. I love magic. I love fantastical creatures. The ultimate pleasure is disappearing into a rich, enchanting, new world with memorable characters. We are tackling tropes on the Blood Red Pencil this month, so I wanted to touch on a few troublesome, perhaps trite, Fantasy tropes and suggest ways to change them. 1. The Chosen One In a sense, the Protagonist is always the "chosen one." The protagonist is the character who ultimately solves the overall story problem. That said, they don't literally have to be "chosen" or "destined." They may just have the right skills, knowledge, or determination to win the day. I liked the character Kaz Brekker in Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows because he wasn't a "chosen one." She left that up to Alina in the Shadow and Bone series. Kaz was motivated to overcome adversity because of a rough childhood. He wasn't "perfect" or infallible. H...

Last week we delved into Literary Fiction ; if Science Fiction or Fantasy are more your thing, then pull up your favorite armchair and turn on the reading lamp. Here are four excellent authors of color writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Tomi Adeyemi Tomi Adeyemi Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0 , Link 26-year-old Tomi Adeyemi wrote Children of Blood and Bone in response to police shootings of innocent African Americans. Beneath our skins of varying shades and differing features, we are all just “children of blood and bone”. Fantasy is a great way to explore oppression and cruelty metaphorically in a way to help stimulate empathy for real humans being treated so horrifically. Website: TomiAdeyemi.com Twitter: @tomi_adeyemi Facebook: T Adeyemi Books Nnedi Okorafor Nnedi Okorafor Photo by Cheetah Witch - Own work , CC BY-SA 4.0 , Link Nnedi Okorafor’s dual Nigerian-American heritage has given her a wealth of material for fiction that explores a wide range of s...

As the mists of October roll in, there is no better time to curl up with a good Steampunk novel. My love of steampunk started with Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel series, continued with Susan Kaye Quinn's bollypunk Sisters of Dharia series, The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, and the Lady of Devices by Shelly Adina to name a few. I have added to my toppling to be purchased list with these titles from Best Sci Fi Books.com . Initially a combination of Victorian steam age and futuristic mechanics, the genre has expanded to cowboy punk, spacepunk, cyberpunk, bollypunk, elfpunk, mythpunk, and atompunk. The story skeletons are firmly rooted in Science Fiction and Fantasy, sometimes with a little Romance thrown in. Westerns also get a retool with cowboy punk. Some could be considered alternate history. Others have a literary feel. In steampunk, world building is a unique mixing of old and new worlds in the costuming, settings, vehicles, and props. The only limi...

I had been working on a series of posts about worldbuilding when I read this wonderful debut YA Fantasy novel by Tomi Adeyemi , Children of Blood and Bone . Drawing on her Nigerian heritage, Adeyemi weaves the story of Zélie Adebola who sets out to restore magic in the country of Orïsha. The story is told by three shifting first person points of view: protagonist Zélie, an escaped Princess Ameri, and her brother Prince Inan. The setting never really came alive for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story world presented and the plot kept me turning pages. Let's take a look at some of the worldbuilding choices. Names:  Zélie, Tzain, Ameri, Jailin, Baba, Mama, Inan, Lekan Olamilekan, Kwame, Mother Oya, Saran (king), Roën, Nailain, Kaea, Zulaika,Folake, and Zu. Language: Adeyemi draws from West African Yoruba (eg. sún èmí okàn sùn, sùn sùn èmí okàn sùn). Exclamations: Oh my gods. Thank the skies. Maggot is an insult. Clothes: dashiki, ipélè, and a jeweled headdress fo...