This is a massive collection of rants/essays that are actually quite insightful: Rant on things that really irritate Limyaael Writing fantasy without magic Ten alternatives to genetic magic Class/caste systems Limitations on magic rant Good explication/exposition The archive.
I love those rants. I've been reading them for over a year now, and they never cease giving me good ideas. They also helped me avoid a lot of rookie mistakes. Thanks for posting them.
Yeah, they really are helpful. It makes you identify chiches that you never really thought about (made me realize how much I hate those cliches) and also gives you ways to avoid them. From one essay alone, I thought up about 3 new magic systems. I never really thought people used those to the full extent, so I wanted to give some things a try. And not that you particularly need it, but go check out my other 2 posts dealing with general writing tips and a world-building/story-development podcast. (Tameri's Guide for Writers / Shakespeare & Dragons) Not particularly taken from an essay, but I was thinking: with novels that have an evil ruler kill say, the first born male, what is the country to do about the radical decline in the workforce that will soon occur? That's the kind of thinking these essays provoke, so go read them!
