Lordy

#5: The Lord of the Rings

This is another one of those books that I wonder if I even need to state the author... But for the record, it's Tolkien. Not Tolkein, not Tolken, Tolkien.

I'm counting all three books in the series as one, because I can't bring myself to choose which one I like best. I like them all. They're all amazing and deserve to be read over and over and over again.

This man really had to be in the top thirteen, because hey, I'm a fantasy author. So here, the three F's of why Tolkien made the list:

1. Foreshadowing

I'm going to tell you how it is. Foreshadowing is hard to do successfully. It's confusing, it's annoying, and when I'm writing it I don't feel like it's worth it.

But then I read LOTR and I see all the marvelous foreshadowing that Tolkien somehow managed to weave into every single chapter of every single book... and I wonder if it really has to be that hard. Tolkien was a master in this art, and there's a lot to learn by simply reading his work.

Almost everything that happens in the books is foreshadowed. Yeah, it might be a bit much, I'll give you that, but that doesn't mean he wasn't successful in doing it.

If it'd really been too much, people wouldn't have enjoyed the books.

2. Fantasy

Tolkien is one of the foremost writers when it comes to this genre. Mention the fantasy genre to anyone on the street and they'll probably say "like Lord of the Rings?" and your answer will be yes. In some ways, I believe we all aspire to be like Tolkien, to write at his caliber when it comes to fantasy fiction.

That alone would be reason enough to read these books. Everyone knows them, and has either read the books or seen the movies.

Wouldn't you love to be the author who wrote that work?

Learn from him and maybe you will be.

3. Frodo

If there's one character in this series that means that most, it's Frodo.

There's a reason for that.

Tolkien created a character that's interesting, that's fluid and changeable as people are supposed to be. He has struggles, he's a little quirky, and follows his heart. That's a true character--enough so that I could almost call him a person.


When you put those three together, it adds up to #5 in my list of authors and novels that inspired me to start writing. Tolkien's work pushed me to start my first novel. It was terrible, but hey, it was a start.

Everybody has to have one of those.

[love]

{Rani D.}