Ladies and gents, boys and girls, children of all ages…

Welcome to the main event!

Okay this isn’t exactly the main event, but as I read stories both published and online, I find an incredible amount of stories with unique elements. A Song of Ice and Fire is one of my favourites as it keeps you guessing constantly. Who will die? Who will win? Will anyone win (especially if you watched the finale this season)? I like that it isn’t just a cliche, heroes might have a dark side and villains might have a heroic side. Jaime Lannister for example being known as the Kingslayer for breaking his oath and killing his King, couldn’t let him lay waste to the entire city. It’s because of him everyone is alive, but yet everyone looks down upon an oath breaker. Sad situation, but he’s also still quite the jerk.

Sometimes though, I just love cliches. A named sword with untapped power. A dragon hoarding his gold. A bard with a quick tongue and even quicker hands. A guild for thieves. Wizards with long beards and wooden staves. I could go on, but I’ve made my point. Something like The Hobbit for example has virtually all of these and more (although in its defence, it’s the archetype for all fantasy thereafter). Ever since I read about Excalibur, I’ve always loved swords of legend. There is something incredibly magical about a weapon that grants you power and skills beyond your own. Perhaps that is why I’ve always favoured fantasy over every other genre.

As stories swirl in my mind for weapons, armours and magics of an epic scale, it makes me want to give an inanimate object a back story and history not unlike a character. For example, imagine a sword called Valestia. This sword was forged in the first light of the sun for the Great Guardian Gabriel, Watcher of the World and Leader of the Arch-Angels. The sword was crafted from illarium, a pure white steel with small gold flecks that had never seen the darkness, and was bound to the soul of a dying goddess. As the darkness spread across the world, the goddess of light found herself incapable of defending the world against the growing night. By sacrificing herself and binding her essence to Gabriel, together they would lead armies into battle and in his hands, vanquish evil where she had failed. As Gabriel became overwhelmed by the essence of darkness, he launched his sword through the air far away, in hopes that one day someone would stumble upon its beauty and raise an army against him. Even now, Valestia’s sad song whispers through the Everwood, causing many males to venture into the woods searching for the siren song.

More weapons! More magic! More epics!

Despite all of the advice out there saying avoid the cliches, that is virtually impossible now. Especially when you’re a genre writer such as fantasy. Even in my story I have the Mentor and Student relationship and the character is an orphan (there’s a reason for that which is very important to the story). These are all cliches nowadays (Harry Potter, bloody orphan… with his mentor… damn it) and sometimes it is not a bad thing to borrow from these, after all… what would a fantasy story be without magic, dragons, elves, dwarves and a rising darkness?

Anyway back to my submission for the month… I can already feel that I’m growing nervous. I hate being judged on something so private but this is my first step to getting over that. The hardest part won’t be trying to finish it, it will be picking one of the stories I am writing specifically for this. Although I am keeping productive on my current novels as the short stories I am writing are also being set into the world I have created. The first I am writing is about a leaper who has moved to a new city to escape the inquisition only to find that they have moved into the city at the same time. The story even includes the first days of the Grand Inquisitor and his push for legitimacy.

Alright! Enough talk, more write! Talk to you all soon and good luck!