For all intents and purposes, I wish that I started this blog sooner. At the time of posting, I will have written 45 000 words already. My original intent was that to take you, the reader, along during the creative process of the book. However, just because I have written a certain amount of words, does not mean that I am anywhere near finished with the project. There are still around 20 000 more words that need to be written, and editing will most certainly take as much time as writing the first draft. Anyway, I am going to post these diary entries of the struggles that I had early on, in the order that I remember them. I hope that you will find these helpful when you decide to start a project of your own.

I love fantasy! but I don´t love everything about it. Even though Tolkien´s work, by todays standards, can feel generic, his work is still timeless because even though the books take place in a fantastical world. It was still rooted in reality. For instance, Mordor and Sauron was not generically evil like in the movie, they did not aim to destroy the world but rather conquer it. Orcs need food and other resources as well after all. Simply put, there is one power that desired to expand its territory. Another thing that I respect about the LoTRs books is that magic was always subtle, they was never put at the forefront of the tale. I would like to say that it was also never used in a cheap way to get out of trouble, but we all know about the giant plot hole with the eagles by now. But I am sure there was a reason that they could not use them from the start haha.

Anyway, that is the goal of my book, to be subtle, to be grounded, but still have a fantastical feel, and at the same time be original and not use dragons, orcs and elves. Because, lets face it, they have been done to death! When you think about mythology used in the fantasy genre, real life myths is used as inspiration. Goblins, orcs and elves all stem from Nordic mythology. But, has there been any new invented mythos that are not heavily inspired by real religions and myths? Probably not. Modern myths are instead created by the sci fi genre, which is fitting for our time really. Space is the new mysterious place that we know very little about.

When people created myths in the past, it was mostly to make sense of the unknown. What was lurking in the thick forest? who lived on top of the tall mountains and deep caverns? It is fascinating to to think about. I don´t aspire to reinvent the fantasy genre, but I still aim to, at the very least, be original.