A year ago today I published my first blog post titled What is Fresh-scraped Vellum? It analogized the medieval art of bookmaking to the task of writing a publishable novel in today’s world. It also promised book reviews and commentary on both classic and recent fiction in the historical and fantasy genres, along with posts on writing fiction and tales from my own journey in seeing my first novel to print. Here is my personal assessment of how things have fared since then.
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| What is Fresh-scraped Vellum? |
There have been plenty of book reviews, including reviews of The Arcanum, Pirate Latitudes, Agincourt, Byzantium, Patrick: Son of Ireland, A Princess of Mars, The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, A Clash of Kings, Lion of Ireland, The Eyes of the Dragon, The Drawing of the Three, The Wind Through The Keyhole, Black Ships, Eaters of the Dead, Spartacus the Gladiator, and Some Kind of Fairy Tale.
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| The Arcanum, My First Book Review |
I’ve offered a whole series on “beginnings,” including the beginnings of vintage fantasy fiction, with works by Michael Moorcock, Stephen R. Donaldson, Anne McCaffrey, and Robert E. Howard. I’ve also looked at the beginnings of some of the greatest works in historical and fantasy fiction, such as Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. And throughout, I’ve asked the question: What Makes A Great Beginning?
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| One of the Best Beginnings! |
I’ve commented on writing historical and fantasy fiction, and these were among my favorite blog posts. I discussed the Top 5 Clichés in Fantasy Fiction, which was really an exploration of the critical archetypes essential to a genre we know and love. I also analyzed issues with narrative viewpoint in my series on Narrative Viewpoint: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. My bottom-line advice: stay away from Third-Person Ugly!
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| I was on the warpath against bad narrative viewpoint! |
And finally, I gave you insight into the writing of my first novel, including My Revision Odyssey. You’ll be happy to know that my novel is currently in the hands of a wonderful editor and I expect it will be published by the end of 2012. But more on that to come. For now, I’d like to thank all those who have followed Fresh-scraped Vellum, or followed me on Twitter, or liked my blog on Facebook. It’s been an amazing experience, and I hope it will continue for many years to come.