Mythic Writers Blog

Beginnings are hard. I feel as if I should write something pithy and clever, be so witty and insightful that anyone reading this will just sit at the computer longing for more until I post again. That’s not actually going to happen, though, so I think I’ll just start right in.

I have been in love with mythic fiction since before it got that name. I’ve been reading Charles de Lint and Terri Windling and Robert Holdstock and so many others from the moment they first appeared in the bookstores. And before I discovered these magic makers, I read fairy tales and folk tales and anything that spoke to me of magic and myth touching the “real” world. And I am always seeking more. There just isn’t enough mythic fiction out there! Happily, though, the field is growing…

You might be asking “what is mythic fiction?” The term, coined by Charles de Lint and Terri Windling, refers to fiction that has mythic elements. That’s the broad-stroke definition, but it’s so much more than that. It is lyrical, ephemeral, magical, intense, gritty, stark, dramatic…It is too many things to write about all at once. Many of my posts here will be me going on about all of the intricate, beautiful, fascinating details of what makes up mythic fiction. It will be me writing in appreciation, and writing to get a clearer picture for myself of what it really is.

I keep trying to pin down what mythic fiction is. It may be an impossibly task, but I keep trying. So really, what is it? Mythic fiction is a longing. You know those beautiful tales that fill your head with visions of fairy lands, images of misty mountains, rolling hills, impossibly green lands filled with whispers of magic? Mythic fiction takes these elements and brings them into our world, brings them to a place where maybe we can see and touch them ourselves. Mythic fiction is the kind of writing that stirs a longing in your heart, that bittersweet pang of homesickness for places you’ve never been. It is magic.

Can I promise you magic here? I don’t know. I can promise to take you along as I search for the magic and look for ways to write it into my world. I’ll stop in here at least twice a week to chat more about mythic fiction, writing mythic fiction, reading mythic fiction…You’ll usually see me on Mondays and Wednesdays, and sometimes on Fridays, too. I’m looking forward to the conversation. I hope you are, too.