Fantasy. What do you think of when you hear the word fantasy (as in the genre)? I think it can be a fairly negative and restrictive category to be lumped into. Dungeons & Dragons, sword and sorcery, stuff that was done way better by Tolkien back in the 50s. I write fantasy, but I don’t want to be pigeon-holed as a fantasy writer because I don’t write that kind of stuff. I prefer modern near-future settings with steam punk slants, but to the groaning masses I’m probably still a fantasy writer.

Oh well, Stephen King mentioned how he had become a horror writer without ever really intending to (I believe I read it in his very useful On Writing book) and that he didn’t mind too much because it put his kids through college. If I’m ever in that position then I doubt I’ll be complaining too much!

It’s the same with Sci-fi - instantly I think of nerds and Star Trek, before I think of stuff like Star Wars or War of the Worlds (which in my opinion have a wider appeal - whether or not this is fact, I do not know). I refuse to buy the latest issue of SFX because it’s got a photo of Sylar on the cover doing the Star Trek sign - is that supposed to entice me?! well it doesn’t. It’s a brill magazine, though, even if the “F” in the SFX logo looks a lot like an “E” …hmm, I wonder.

Ultimately in order to work out as stories, both the above genres need similar problems that we all must face and a dollop of human condition or there would be nothing for the reader or viewer to relate to. Still, it’d be nice for a few cooler-sounding genres to appear. For example, “fantasy” could become “awesomepeoplereadthese” or some cut-down variation of this. Wouldn’t that increase reader/viewership? Just an idea.

I had a dream the other night where I was forced to leave my family home pretty quickly. I forget the details but it was some apocalyptic scenario possibly only involving this part of Devon because I think the plan was to just move up country a bit and live as nomads. Now I know full well that in situations like that you should really just leave - I think the destruction of my home was imminent because people were all panicky, but before my escape I went into my room and started selecting things I couldn’t live without.

Basically I got myself a carrier bag and stuffed in two of my story manuscripts (double-spaced), my mobile phone and my wallet. I spent a good deal of time in deliberation over what else I could cram into my straining Asda bag but pretty much settled at that little lot. It intruigues me that I glazed over my DVD collection and books. I don’t remember grabbing my mp3 player either. I must have been feeling ruthless. In reality I’d probably have spent a good deal more time trying to ransack my own room, and possibly have left it too late to leave (house crumbles/burns/is eviscerated with me inside, amen). It would be an interesting scenario to try, I’d love to be able to live without things and lead a simple life near the foothills of Alaska (is life there simple? I don’t actually know) but then I do like my DVDs. And my books.

Hmm.