GEORGE R R MARTIN – Page 2 – Mythic Scribes Test Site

4 Elements of Epic Storytelling

When I’m immersed in fantasy, a trance envelopes me. There’s something about great fantasy storytelling that trumps all other genres in drawing me into the world and story.

Call me crazy, but I think I’m onto something here. And that something is the recipe for the domination of the imagination. Much like The Hero with a Thousand Faces, I think epic storytelling has a certain formula that can produce a killer product.

What is it that makes your heart plummet when the screen goes black after Master Chief detonates the nuke at the end of Halo 4?

What is it that makes you want to lend your back to carry Frodo up the slopes of Mount Doom?

What is it that makes your muscles tighten every time your hero takes a blow, as if you were the one receiving it?

Writing the Military: 5 Biggest Mistakes

by Featured Author

This article is by Joseph Zieja.

I’m an officer in the United States Air Force, and I’ve been wearing the uniform for ten years. I also write.

I’ve had pieces appear in Daily Science Fiction and some other anthologies across the web and in print. So I have a tiny bit of writing clout to back up my military experience, and you can lean on that when I tell you that there are a lot of mistakes in the way that writers portray the military in their fiction.

I therefore present to you the Top 5 Biggest Military Mistakes in Fiction, According to Joe Zieja. I’ll try my best to keep it to speculative fiction, since I know that’s who my audience is, but these mistakes extend to all genres.

One last warning: I’m from New Jersey. Hold on to your self-esteem.

Once Upon a Time and Pancakes

by Nathan Lauffer

Science fiction and fantasy feed my mind and soul the way that pancakes feed my belly. And, I crave them just as much if not more.

When something in these genres comes about that especially moves me (or, I believe will move me), I live tweet on Mythic Scribes about it. I knew Once Upon a Time would be my spiritual version of cinnistack pancakes from IHOP when I first saw the commercials for it with “from the writers of Lost” appended to the end.

Once Upon a Time was a very risky move. Fantasy and Science Fiction is a genre that rarely makes it on prime time television. For every series that makes it, there are many that don’t. For this reason, it’s hard to get a series in those genres even green lit. Add to that the fact that it’s an adult series about fairy tale characters, and things get even more challenging.

Imaginative Realism – Interview with Marc Fishman, Illustrator of A Dance with Dragons

by Nathan Lauffer

Divine Hammer: Kingpriest Trilogy, Volume Two (Cover)

Imaginative Realism is the art of painting or drawing what doesn’t exist. It’s the act of bringing visual life to fantasy, often based on the words of fantasy authors.

Several months ago I knew Marc Fishman to be an amazing artist and an insightful human being, and A Song of Ice and Fire was just a series of books that people kept pestering me to read. Then an HBO series (Game of Thrones) based on the books came along, and I decided to live tweet during it for Mythic Scribes. I read the first book, watched the series and was hooked.

Shortly thereafter I learned that Marc was illustrating a limited edition version of George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons.