So you want to be the next JRR Tolkien
That’s great. But you aren’t actually him, so you aren’t entitled to just steal his plot, change a few names and call it your own. You need to write originally. The question is, how can you draw on the rich heritage of books, movies, TV shows and films that made you fall in love with the genre in the first place, and use that inspiration to write an original fantasy novel? How can you get that classic Swords and Sorcery feel without becoming derivative? In short, what is the right amount of inspiration to take from your favourite authors, and how much is too much?
In the frigid depths of space, it tumbled.
No one saw it pass. The fleeting magnificence of mankind had burnt out long ago as had countless civilisations, scattered about the vastness of creation; brief flickers of sentience that were soon gone, lost to the depths of the great void. No intellect now scanned the heavens in search of meaning, nor probed the mysteries of the infinitesimal. No mind dared dream that one day all might be known, the cosmos catalogued in its ultimate complexity and, at last, understood.
Recently, I’ve started writing poetry.
Before that, I’d mostly limited myself to prose — for the simple reason that poetry scared the living daylights out of me. But then my partner started dropping hints and, well, one thing led to another.
I am now five days into my burgeoning career as a starving poet.
Much to my own surprise, I’ve written five poems in that time and feel quite proud. So proud, in fact, that I’ve already submitted four of them to literary journals (the long and nervous wait begins; watch this space for news).