Friday, April 28, 2017

Vid



So I’m sitting here, wondering what I can possibly share with you about Dwr, that will be even more exciting than what I’ve released thus far. And I had no ideas.

I’ve already talked about writing the book.

I’ve shared an excerpt.

Okay, so there’s really only one other thing that I could do.

So I will.

You’re now the first to see the new Dwr promo video! Enjoy, my friends. Enjoy.



And while we're at it, how about a new video to promote me? 




Feel free to share everywhere. Actually, yeah. Please share. ;-)


[love]

{Rani D}

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Fantasize



Happy Wednesday!

How are your weeks going? Mine is still chaotic, but I’m hoping that tomorrow it’ll start to calm down, and hey, I’m actually posting closer to the right time today! I won’t have internet on Friday, but don’t worry—that won’t stop me from posting. I’ll figure something out.

For now, let’s talk about today’s genre, and the genre most of you know me for. It’s the last in our series, before we move on to something new in May. But it’s also one that I’ve been itching to write, all month long.

Fantasy


Like I said on Monday, fantasy is a subgenre of science-fiction. So though all fantasy does fit into the science-fiction category, it is a completely unique subgenre. It’s where the Druid Novels fit in, and the genre I’ve spent the majority of my writing time in at this point, if I’m being honest.

Why do we enjoy it?


Similar to what we talked about for science-fiction, it’s an escape from the world as we know it. It’s a chance to explore mythologies, really, which many people are utterly fascinated by. We talk about elves and dwarves and trolls and dragons, monsters and knights, castles and dungeons. It tends to be in that era as well, yes, of castles—and for many people, I don’t even know why, but castles are enough to get them to like anything. Looking at you, Mum.

Fantasy is a way that we make sense of the weird mythoi that surround us. There are millions of them, you know. Every culture has its own mythos, and fantasy is a really fun way to explore its meaning, or add details to the little stories that never got much attention before. It’s like modifying fairytales, which is really weirdly fun.

What do we gain from it?


We gain a story! And one that sticks with us for a really long time. Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, these are fantasy stories that have stayed with their readers long after the series’ ending. I mean really, I even have an LOTR tattoo now. 

They’re stories that we relate to, that we connect to, through the modifying of something that we knew very well from when we were children. And let’s face it, we all want to remember what it was like to be a little kid. It was a lot of fun.

So in some ways, we gain an adultified version of our childhood stories—and for a lot of us, that’s a really, really cool thing to gain.

[love]

{Rani Divine}

Monday, April 24, 2017

Sci to the Fi



It’s Monday! And I'm utterly late in posting this... sorry guys!

This week marks the beginning of something a little fun, for me, but more chaotic than anything else at the moment. See, RAD Writing is moving offices. And that’s where I work. So while I’m also moving houses this week, I’m moving my office to a new building as well. (so we here at RAD and Mavguard might be a little quieter than usual this week, but we're not gone—I promise!).

But! I still want to talk about genre! Of course I do! We’re finally to the week that we’ll be discussing the genres I write all the time!

Today?

Science-Fiction


Okay, so I know I haven’t released anything from this genre in a while, but while the Druid Novels have been coming out, I’ve finished writing my first continuous series, Earth-Space. It’s entirely science-fiction, and was a ton of fun to write, I’ll tell you.

So, why do we enjoy this genre?


To me, it seems as though people really enjoy science-fiction because it’s a great escape from the rest of the world. It’s actually become one of the most popular genres out there, if I’m not mistaken. People might not read it all the time, but a lot of us do watch a plethora of science-fiction. (Remember: all fantasy is science-fiction, but not all science-fiction is fantasy)

We like this genre because it’s a fun and unique way to talk about the real world, to show what people might be like in a different world, or a different form. And really, we all want to know more about humanity. We just do. We want to understand life in general, and science-fiction is a really cool way to do that.

But then, what do we gain from it?


I would say that we gain a certain level of understanding from sci-fi, honestly, that we can’t always get by just reading fiction or thrillers. We really see what the world is like, by putting this unique spin on it. For example, we can see what life would be like if perfect peace was had on Earth, by seeing how it was in Star Trek. Or, we can see how chaos could reign, through shows like The Expanse (which I don’t happen to like). Books like Old Man’s War are also really good examples of war in a non-human-exclusive way. That one is actually a really interesting study on age, as well.

There’s a lot we can learn or gain from science-fiction, and a lot that mirrors reality. For me, that’s enough to really enjoy it, and to never stop reading, writing, and watching it. 

What do you guys think?

[love]

{Rani Divine}