In the early 1990s, J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth almost became a setting for Dungeons & Dragons. At that time, TSR, the company that created D&D, saw a window of opportunity. Tolkien and his works already had a worldwide following. Creating a game in one of his worlds might bring countless droves of Middle-earth fanatics into the ranks of Dungeons & Dragons. Furthermore, TSR wanted to create sequel novels to Tolkien's iconic trilogy. The man in charge of this effort would be editor and now internationally renowned Tolkien scholar, John Rateliff.
Links of the week June 27 2022 (26)
Full Faith and Confidence: A Conversation with Denise Mina ‹ CrimeReads
According to Scottish crime fiction author Denise Mina, Glasgow- her hometown where she lives and works and gets around as a pedestrian and a bicyclist-is a city of brutal frankness where a thick skin is a necessity of life and it's very hard to feel special. "Glasgow," Denise says, "is a place where people come up and talk to you, ... my whole career has been people walking up to me in the street and saying, ‘I read your last book. And I thought it was shit. And this is what you did wrong.'" And, at least according to Denise, that's okay because "everyone is a central character in Glasgow."
Writing practice is a way of life
During the winter of 2013, I sought refuge in Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. 'Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write.' For a half hour each day, I leaned into her words as though they were the reassurances of a beloved friend, and she made me forget the exhaustion I felt as a mother of two babies under the age of three, or how lonely I was having recently moved out of town away from my friends, or my worries about the repercussions of an extended second maternity break on my legal career.
The Challenges of Writing Fiction About the “Darkest Corner of the Dark Ages” ‹ Literary Hub
When I started writing my novel Dark Earth five years ago, friends asked what this new book of mine was going to be about. When I told them it was going to be set in the ruined city of Londinium in the sixth century, they raised their eyebrows.
"Sixth century?" one said. "Sixth? Really? Isn't that a bridge too far?"
Why do so many long-running series work so well? ‹ CrimeReads
Ah, series. Most readers love them, and most writers love to write them. We get to know the imaginary world we've created, and it is fun and rewarding to slip back into that headspace and get caught up on what our protagonist has going on.