This is intended mostly for myself, sort of a way to put my thoughts and plans together in some semblance of order.
First things first, I am still playing around with the website to try and find a layout and structure I like. Part of this process has included commissioning a few pieces of artwork to use for the site, for which I am very excited.
Going into the new year I will begin updating with some form of regularity. Starting in January I have plans for three articles, February through May will have two each. As my Masters program begins again after the winter break I will have to balance my duties as a TA, research for my Masters Thesis, Graduate level seminar coursework and studying for a French language proficiency exam. On top of all this my writers circle will begin meeting on a monthly basis, after about a years hiatus. I am really quite excited to get back into the role of critic as well as having my own work critiqued.
So that all being said what exactly am I working on? I have sketched out several articles to put forward with the first three being fairly set. My first real entry will be considering what the point and purpose of Fantasy and Science-Fiction really is. I will explore such notions as why we turn to fantasy, what escapism is and what it should be, how do we read these genres etc. Hopefully it will be an enlightening read for people. The second article I have planned is to present the philosophy of Epicureanism and demonstrate how it gets drastically misunderstood. The third article I am working on for January will be revolving around Sensationalism versus Storytelling and I will discuss how many writers can fall into the pit trap of the so called “Rule of Cool.” I have also extensive work done on the debate between Hard magic systems and Soft magic systems.
Other topics I have broken ground on include; The philosophy of Friendship, How the Lord of the Rings films are a bastardization of Tolkien’s works (Not my words, the words of Christopher Tolkien), Stoicism and how fiction misrepresents the Stoic philosophy, Examining the arguments surrounding Diversity in fiction, Vikings and how they are represented in fiction, and I have the old hamster spinning away on his wheel on a few more topics.
I may end up writing a few reviews of Fantasy works as I have had several of my friends and family ask for my opinions on certain works. This will likely not be a large part of this blog but if I continue to get requests for the same works then I will consider doing so. Anyways to top this all off I will be scheduling at least one update per week but mostly as an exercise to keep me working away at this whole thing until I am at a point where I no longer have as many obligations as I currently do.
If you want to follow me you can follow on Twitter for now @gadlfyfiction
Other social media platforms may be introduced at a later date
For now, All the best
DPJ Miles
Gadfly Fiction 