[Mattius]

Hey I thought I would get my post in before the thread gets closed down, if it does that is! I haven't read ALL of the past 20 pages but have several.

How have you dealt with the temptation to be imitative of Tolkien?

Its hard, believe me it really is. I thought long and hard before putting pen to paper (or finger to key as the case may be) but decided that I really needed/wanted something Tolkein-esque without being a complete rip off of his works. After much deliberation I decided on something. As Tolkien's mythologies are based in our history and on Earth, not some other planet or fantasy world I would do something similar. My work would be based on Earth too but in the future (eww I HATE that word- so sci-fi-ish!). My idea would be that the world has changed and civalisation has taken several thousand steps backwards for whatever reason- could be mass nuclear war, disease whatever- the reader makes up their own mind. I do not want to get bogged down in science and technical stuff about how life came to be this way, in my works it just is. Phew, so therefore the world is in a medevil style environment in which I can work in without having to deal with our history.

How long have you been working on your story, and why?

I have been working on it on and off for a few months. Why I do it- for my own pleasure, I don't really think people would like to read it and I'd probably be too ashamed to let them anyway. I allow my imagination to run wild when bored- it happens a lot, trust me- I work in a shop.

What pitfalls have you faced and how have you overcome them - or not?

The major pitfall is my own pessamism. I may write something like eight pages, come back to it a week later, hate it then delete it all. I also am short of time at times with exams and real life comming first.