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Mark's Thoughts

Peeves – 2

I recently got a lot of flack on Twitter for protesting about various groups attempting to change the English language to suit their particular agendas. The problem came up when I noticed someone tweeted that 'crewed' should be used, and not 'manned', which he/she said implied an all-male crew.

I replied that I, personally, saw no reason not to use 'manned', and hated the 'politically correct' stuff that some people attempt to push these days (actually using the phrase 'politically correct nazis' in reference to 'grammar nazis', which most writers know about from their editors)

Of course, this went down like a lump of lead with some people (particularly some women) and I actually got called a 'white privileged dude' (What my colour has to do with this, I'm not sure). And another person said I should use 'crewed' because in the future we could meet aliens, and they might be offended if we used a word that referred to only humans.

Anyway, here is a little sketch I dashed off about a possible future scenario.

Peeves – 1

I have various ‘peeves’ about modern-day writing and publishing, some of which will probably draw flack from both writers and readers. However, I’ve decided to put them out where people can see them because they deserve to be discussed.

Please note; I’m not saying my style is right, and the rest wrong. I am giving my personal opinion and accept that others will differ. No problem, we are all different. That is what makes this world such an interesting place.

This is the first ‘peeve’ of the series.

Fantasy

One problem I have with mainstream ‘epic’ fantasy is that the characters are so unbelievable. In general, they seem to have no emotions; whether in a romantic sense, or when lopping off people’s heads in battle.

Although a lot of what I write is fantasy, it isn’t really ‘epic’ fantasy of the style of ‘Game of Thrones’, where kingdoms are fought over and people moved as if they were chess pieces; nor is it ‘high’ fantasy, where orcs, elves, dwarfs and talking dragons co-mingle with humans.

And it isn't ‘paranormal’ fantasy, with vampires, demons, angels and werewolves fighting it out.

Mostly I write about people, although a Goddess does appear in a few of the books.

I suppose, if my style has to have a label, it’s ‘cozy’ fantasy.

But that doesn’t mean to say there’s no profanity or sexual situations involved; although I very rarely write explicit sex scenes. However, certainly sex is implied and Marie Anne, the heroine of three of my books at present, is obviously bi-sexual, and, to her close friends, makes no effort to conceal the fact.

Nor are my fantasy books free of politics; although nobles replace modern-day politicians, and one of the power blocks is the ‘Church’, which is not highly regarded by my main characters.

I’ve also taken the time to develop the characters in my books, which is, perhaps, why they are so long (‘An Affair of Court’, the latest, has 220,000+ words and runs to 660 odd pages in softcover). I do not subscribe to the modern practice of cutting everything to the bare bones of plot – who wants to eat bare bones? I prefer to develop both plot and personages, believing the reader will enjoy the book more that way.

In a way, this modern manner of writing, which seems to come from ‘Creative English’ courses, is fine for journalism where space is limited, but lousy for a novelist who is involved with enticing a reader into his world.

If anyone, after this rant, wants to read my fantasy series, it’s called; ‘The Chronicles of the White Tower’ and is available in Kindle at $2,99 each – Free if you have Kindle Unlimited, or in 6” x 9” softcover at prices starting from $14,99. You can read the first chapters of each of the novels on my website; www.markpatrick.net/books, or click here.