I really have enjoyed writing my Kennedy Ryan series. Nothing like a Christian series of mystery, action, and adventure with some Wild Western vibes thrown into the twenty-first century, right? And as I mentioned in my previous post, I want to be a multi-genre author.
But I must admit something: the genre I am most excited to engage in is fantasy.
Yes, my favorite genre of all is fantasy. How can I not write fantasy? All my life, even as a little girl, I have written stories about magical worlds with fairies and mermaids, heavily inspired by the old Barbie and Disney movies, Narnia . . . oh, I can name so much! Even those good ol’ Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, pretty much anything from Hanna-Barbera, Rocky and Bullwinkle and their adorably hilarious Fractured Fairytales, all those old cartoons have played significant roles in the nostalgic playground of my fantasy-driven imagination. Oh, how I would love to stumble upon a hidden, mysterious, magical world and rise to the mystical throne coveted by an evil witch, and being revealed as the prophesied warrior queen!
But I suppose the closest I will get to such a fate is attending the Renaissance fairs in a costume and fighting in their arenas.
Yep, there I am, fighting (and winning) a sword fight against a guy in the arena at the 2023 Halloween Renaissance Fair.
So it was inevitable that I would purchase the How to Write Fantasy and Science Fiction course by Daniel Schwabauer on the Christian Writers Institute. As soon as I laid eyes on that course, I knew it was for me!
I’ve had many fantasy series in mind for who knows how many years. And I am currently working on the first books of three of those fantasy series. Yes, I’m one of those authors who has way too many works-in-progress all at once.
One of the fantasy series is a trilogy featuring King Arthurian legends. One of the best parts? Writing the first draft of this trilogy had become part of my past assignments from my online course from Author Media, The 5-Year Plan To Become A Bestselling Author. Nothing like a taking an online writing course to add a little extra motivation to my writing!
But, as a child, I only knew the bare minimum of the King Arthur legends. Basically, Arthur was a king, Merlin was a wizard, Morgana was an evil witch, there were Knights of the Round Table, there was a magic sword named Excalibur, and there was a fairy realm called Avalon under a lake. I’ve grown up with the 1963 Disney movie The Sword in the Stone. But that was roughly about it.
Well, my lack of knowledge of the King Arthur legends needed to be fixed. So here came the books. I’ve read all four of the King Arthur books by Howard Pyle. Those books made for an excellent start. Then, of course, I found myself buying a Barnes & Noble edition of Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. And believe me when I say it that this famous fifteenth-century work of the King Arthur legends is no easy read! And this Barnes & Noble edition is basically twenty-one books packed in a single volume! Then I read other famous works such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King to keep that studious inspiration coming.
What really jump-started my learning of the King Arthur lore, and my inspiration, was the 2008 BBC Merlin series. I was sixteen when I first watched that series. My sisters and I were at a sleepover at a friend’s house. It didn’t take long after that for my family to start watching the series and fall in love with it. Everything about that series is awesome. The plots of each individual episode and the overarching plots, the characters (oh, the shenanigans and sarcastic, witty remarks between Merlin and Arthur are hilarious!) and the music. Oh, the glorious thirty seconds of the theme music. I really enjoyed Katie McGrath’s performance as Morgana. So much so that I kind of wish Morgana didn’t turn evil (spoilers!) after the second season. After all, in the earliest versions of the King Arthur legends and in some modern adaptations, Morgana is on the side of good. All the same, I strongly recommend the Merlin series for anyone who has not yet seen it.
Anyway, moving on. The next fantasy series I would like to talk about is a remix/retelling duology. A remix/retelling, you say? Oh, yes. I’ve read some awesome retellings of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Here they are, I should really recommend them:
- Heirs of Neverland by Kara Swanson
- The Curious Realities by Sara Ella
- Through a Shattered Glass by Sarah Pennington
The third one, Through a Shattered Glass, is not just a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. It’s a remix of Alice in Wonderland and The Snow Queen. This is similar to I am going to my own remix/retelling duology. I will have Alice in Wonderland, but the other classic that will be included in my remix is not The Snow Queen.
Oh, did I say “other classic” as in singular? Hmm. Better correct course here.
The other classics that I have chosen for my remix are Sherlock Holmes and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!
Yes. Not two, but three classics remixed into one series!
I know it sounds ambitious, but I am ambitious about this duology! I will admit that I am actually quite pleased with how combining these three English classics turned out. We have adventures in Wonderland with its bizarre logic, which Detective Sherlock Holmes will totally suffer just trying to figure it all out (now that’s gonna be some hilarious fun to write!), all the while Holmes, being the chemist as well as the detective, will also be trying to figure out the strange potions of Wonderland and the infamous potion of Dr. Jekyll!
The third series I have been working on for a VERY long time. Here’s something I will admit: as of right now, I don’t have a definitive number of books for this series yet. Anyway, as a child and into my mid-teenage years, I had been planning to write a series about kids finding and saving a magical world. Heavy inspiration came from The Chronicles of Narnia and the Barbie: Fairytopia movies. Originally, I had different main characters throughout the books, and then they were going to gather together for the last book.
Over the years, though, my mind slowly drifted away from my first vision for the series. I almost kind of forgot about it. More inspirations came to mind. Particularly, an amazing, awesome, and wonderful YA fantasy series I discovered when I was 17: the Avalon: Web of Magic series by Rachel Roberts. One day, I simply laid eyes on the last book in the series sitting on the shelf in the old public library of Billings (yes, I remember the old public library in my city; the last time I was in that building before it was torn down was when I was 18). I thought, “Ooh! Interesting! I like the bright colors on the cover.” But of course I couldn’t start with the last book in the series! Some time later, I found the first book and began reading. I fell in love. I loved the characters. I loved the amazing worldbuilding.
So yes, I plan to keep some of the initial visions I had when I was younger. But there is no way on Earth that I can deny that the Avalon series has been one of my biggest inspirations.
Another fun thing I want to share about this fantasy series is the inspiration that came from the cartoons I mentioned earlier in this post. What? Cartoons like Looney Tunes? What do they have to do with this particular fantasy series, you ask? Well, let’s just say that some of my characters planned for this fantasy series will . . . not be human. Think of it like Bugs Bunny, or Daffy Duck, or Huckleberry Hound ending up in The Wizard of Oz or even those Avalon: Web of Magic books I just mentioned.
I did say earlier that all those old cartoons have played significant roles in the nostalgic playground of my fantasy-driven imagination, right? To be perfectly honest, I might have to say that this particular fantasy series is the book series that I am truly most excited about sharing with the world.
So that’s where I am at right now. Writing drafts of three different fantasy series. But you won’t find any other major details in this blog post. Too early for spoilers, but do stay tuned!
