Any series on the “beginnings” of vintage fantasy fiction has to acknowledge the work of Robert E. Howard and his stories involving Conan the Barbarian. Howard published most of his stories in the 1930s as novelettes in magazines such as Weird Tales. Later, in the 1960s, many of these stories were compiled into novel-length books,…
In the third post in my series on Narrative Viewpoint: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly, I’m focusing on the good for a change, the viewpoint that I think works best for most stories: third-person limited. A great example of this viewpoint is George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. Each…
Once upon a time the most common narrative viewpoint was called third-person omniscient. The story was told through the point-of-view of an all-knowing storyteller who played no actual role in the novel except to relay story events. This was the rave back in the nineteenth century and in much of the twentieth century too, used by…
This week’s “beginning” comes from Anne McCaffrey’s 1968 novel Dragonflight, the first book in her Dragonriders of Pern series. The late Ms. McCaffrey was one of the all-time great fantasy novelists, and her books are among the top fantasy classics in my view. Lessa woke, cold. Cold with more than the chill of the everlasting…
Lately I’ve been reading a mix of vintage and more recent novels in the historical and fantasy fiction genres, and I’ve come to realize I can get quite annoyed with narrative viewpoint. Even damn near curmudgeonly about it. Although there are several different types of narrative points-of-view, there are only two I really like, and…
Continuing my posts on the “beginnings” of vintage works of fantasy fiction, I’m featuring the opening passage from Stephen R. Donaldson’s 1977 novel Lord Foul’s Bane, the first in his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series. Because the story begins in the modern day, this beginning may read differently than that of the other vintage fantasy…
Last week I read that Syfy Network is planning on turning Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon into a movie or miniseries, perhaps trying to follow in the footsteps of HBO’s Game of Thrones. For those who haven’t read it, The Eyes of the Dragon is one of King’s fantasy novels and the one…
This week’s post on the opening passages of vintage works of fantasy fiction features the beginning of Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea: The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-wracked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. From the towns in its high…
For my second post on the opening passages of vintage works of fantasy fiction, I’ve chosen the beginning of Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni Rising. Published in 1970, this novel was one of my favorites growing up. It has a puzzle-like plot filled with murder, intrigue, and magic. I’ve read this book more than once and enjoyed it…
Last week I wrote about What Makes a Great Beginning to a novel. Today I am focusing on two beginnings that in my opinion best reflect the elements of a great opening passage. To recap, these elements include conflict (or the hint of conflict) and writing that sets the tone or mood for the story….
Last week I wrote about what makes a great beginning to a novel. This includes the hint of conflict, an interesting character, and, perhaps most importantly, writing that sets the tone or mood for the story to come. My first 10 “beginnings” focused on a number great works of historical and fantasy fiction, some of which…