Official Ramblings of Steven Capps
The speculative fiction genre, in particular adult fantasy, is undergoing a sort of renaissance in the mainstream publishing community. It is not that fantasy had fallen away. Since the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in 1954...
Back when I was reading slush for PodCastle, one of the things that would get me to perk up was when a writer would introduce a clear character motivation within the first page. This didn't have to be anything major. In fact, it didn't necessarily have to be the focus of the story. I just wanted to feel a sense of purpose from the get-go. I hated reading a story and not having a clear understand of why I was reading.
