The second part of the city rant.

Yeah, can’t think of any grander title than that.

( Here we are )

Aaaand adult bildungsromans are next. And then writing fantasy without magic.

The first of two parts. There is just so much to be done here, and a lot of the information will be more or less useful depending on whether you’re writing urban fantasy set in another world or just using the city as a passing-through point.

( Cities )

I have more ideas, for the second part, but that’s enough right now.

Interesting city-oriented fantasies:

-Terry Pratchett’s Guards subseries of Discworld novels
-Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sarantine Mosaic duology
-Steven Brust’s first two Khaavren Romances, and certain books of his Vlad Taltos series (particularly Teckla, which deals with what happens when the despised human immigrants start revolting against the Empire—in the Empire’s capital city).
-K. J. Bishop, The Etched City.
-Paula Volksy, Illusion.
-Simon R. Green, Guards of Haven and Swords of Haven.

I’m trying to make this apply to any place—such as forest, city, jungle, village, and so on—but some points will be more openly applicable to one than others.

( So here we go )

I suppose that’s all I have to really say on the subject.

There are two rants with equal number of votes in the poll, so that means I get to choose which one I write. And because I am feeling rambly and self-indulgent, and have had border wars in two of the last few stories I wrote, I’ll do this one.

( Sometimes people forget that not all borderlands are the Wild West, nor deep space )

People should use borderlands, I think, not just make them convenient excuses for wars.

And the island life rant is here. These are general pointers, since I don’t know how many fantasy authors base their islands directly on Earth ones (other than the obvious candidate of the British Isles).

( What’s a poor, isolated island to do? )

And it appears that I’ve done all the rants that were listed on the poll, which means I’ll be posting another one sometime tomorrow or this evening.

It was going to be undersea fantasy, but I decided not.

( If you're running on the grasslands, there are some things you should remember... )

Well, that felt abbreviated. A lot of it's obvious, though.

Yep, high seas rant. Since I don't have a lot of technical knowledge about ships, this is confined to the simple and obvious, again.

( Then again, considering many amateur fantasy authors' tendency to be dramatic... )

Undersea fantasy's next, I think.

If that brought "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" into your head, I'm doing my job.

( In the jungle, the quiet jungle... )

For good, realistic descriptions of jungles in fantasy, read Glen Cook's Black Company series, which uses Indian and Vietnamese mythology and settings, or the Monarchies of God series by Paul Kearney, which features an alternate world where the characters are just starting to explore their version of America. Best description of the heat, insects, and jungle-traveling problems I've ever read.

That will teach me to try and be clever so early in the morning.

I have had George Meredith's poem "Love in the Valley" bouncing around in my head for five days now. I am typing a verse of it here so that it will shut up and stop bothering me.

( Pretty verse, but it's distracting when I'm trying to grade )

( Desert rant )

Why do so many fantasy authors think deserts= hot and lack of water, and nothing else?

Yep, stole the song title.

Random Fact: Dante Gabriel Rossetti was so devoted to his wife Elizabeth Siddal that when she died, he buried a manuscript of his poems with her. However, several years later he wanted the poems back. He had to sneak into the graveyard at night, dig her up, and recover them.

( Life in the north )

Study and research is necessary here, I think, if only because so many fantasy authors either don't live in cold environments or do so only in heated homes with modern facilities and no need to rely exclusively on hunting.