Are You Writing Serious Fantasy? II

[mark12_30]

Saraphim-- Yes. I love that quote. This is the quote that inspired me to start writing:

"I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never before been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horselords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but "Fangorn Forest was an unforseen adventure. I had never heard of the House of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystified as Frodo at Gandalf's failure to appear on September 22."

I love this quote, especially the part about Strider sitting in the corner. If Tolkien could be baffled by who and what he wrote, thought I, then so can I. Easily.

I sat at the PC, and the first thing I wrote was a man running down a hill somewhere north of Bree. It went nowhere. The second thing I wrote was about a hobbit in a train station. Thank God. I'd call it a turning point in my life, I think... Two novels later, Bolco remains a huge favorite with me.