Fantasy is the harshest mistress

Although I read fantasy voraciously, I have never even dreamed of writing it - much too hard! Getting the language alone right is a fearsome challenge.

And Kristin Cashore, author of Graceling and Fire, proves my point in her excellent article Hot Dog, Katsa!, published in the January/February Horn Book Magazine. As she points out, "It's limitless, right, the freedom of the fantasy writer? Except that it's really not. Writing fantasy happens to be all about limitations. It's about keeping to the rules; it's about building a world that's believable to the reader because it's both comprehensive and consistent; it's about assembling a body, a structure, that stands up on its own."

I think she's got it down...