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Derek Leman
Dec 20, 20243 min read
Ancient Goddess Magic #3
The Creatrix. The Mother Goddess, presiding over life, death, and rebirth, associated with the Milky Way, with the Sun in the Underworld,...
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Derek Leman
Dec 16, 20243 min read
Writing Emotion #3
In my first essay in this series, I mentioned that reading Sarah Chorn’s The Necessity of Rain was a particularly emotional experience...
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Derek Leman
Dec 5, 20244 min read
Ancient Goddess Magic #2
In the first post in this series, I mentioned I am out of my depth when it comes to feminist studies, but I am commenting on this one...
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Derek Leman
Nov 26, 20243 min read
Writing Emotion #2
I probably shouldn't be writing this post. I am learning from Donald Maass how little I know about emotions. At 57 years old, I would...
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Derek Leman
Nov 22, 20242 min read
Ancient Goddess Magic #1
Preface: I'm out of my depth here, having no background in feminist studies or feminist history. If I say something naive or offensive,...
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Derek Leman
Oct 29, 20242 min read
Writing Emotion #1
The most emotionally intense book I ever read is Sarah Chorn's The Necessity of Rain . In fact, the experience of reading Chorn's...
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Derek Leman
Oct 20, 20242 min read
History of Fantasy #2
The second chapter of Farah Mendlesohn and Edward James's A Short History of Fantasy covers the pre-1900 transition from myth to...
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Derek Leman
Oct 16, 20242 min read
Nouns as Verbs?
This week Polly Schattel posted the following on Facebook: "Nouns turned into verbs joist me." I replied, "I mirror your sentiment." I...
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Derek Leman
Oct 12, 20242 min read
History of Fantasy #1
I'll be giving brief summaries and comments on the chapters of Farah Mendlesohn and Edward James's A Short History of Fantasy (2009,...
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Derek Leman
Oct 5, 20242 min read
The Case for Short Stories
If they're good. And that's the rub, isn't it. I haven't conducted a survey or searched for statistical data on reader preferences, but I...
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Derek Leman
Sep 30, 20242 min read
Holy Perdition, Grimdark Magazine #40 Is Out!
Grimdark. In the 1st issue of Grimdark Magazine, Layla Cummins says the subgenre usually is characterized by "war-torn worlds, grim...
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Derek Leman
Sep 27, 20242 min read
Some Quest Fantasy Tropes
I am not the best qualified person to list examples of tropes in Quest Fantasies because I tend not to remember a lot about novels unless...
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Derek Leman
Sep 22, 20242 min read
The Key Emotion in Fantasy
Wonder. It's not me who thought of that answer. David Farland did in his outstanding little book, Writing Wonder. In case you're...
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Derek Leman
Sep 19, 20242 min read
The Ancient Epic Known As "Eridu Genesis"
How can you not love the name of this ancient city? Eridu sounds like the invention of a wickedly talented fantasy author. Founded in...
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Derek Leman
Sep 15, 20242 min read
On Poe's "MS Found in a Bottle"
For a moment of intense terror she paused upon the giddy pinnacle, as if in contemplation of her own sublimity, then trembled and...
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Derek Leman
Sep 11, 20242 min read
How Dark is Reality?
Is it grimdark? Reader tastes have drifted toward a kind of gritty realism. Heroes are somewhat evil and villains are decent people,...
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Derek Leman
Aug 30, 20242 min read
The Moon in Fantasy
While perusing The A to Z of Fantasy Literature today my eyes came to rest on an entry for "The Moon." My own stories are set in a world...
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Derek Leman
Aug 23, 20242 min read
Ursula Le Guin on the Definition of Fantasy
Ursula Le Guin introduced me to fantasy when I was a third grader (back in 1975). Ged the Archmage amazed me and the world he inhabited...
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Derek Leman
Aug 17, 20242 min read
Showing vs. Telling, Part 2
In Part 1, we looked at an example using The Great Gatsby to demonstrate how much more captivating prose is when it "shows" us things...
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Derek Leman
Aug 9, 20242 min read
Showing vs. Telling, Part 1
Renni Browne and Dave King ( Self-Editing for Fiction Writers ) hilariously rewrite the beginning of The Great Gatsby , as if F. Scott...
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