I like writing fictional and fantasy stories, and yes there is a difference. Fiction is something that is not real in general. You could write a fictional story that could actually have happened, say a law novel to the tune of Grisham. Fantasy is the realm of fiction where the impossible occurs. Where orcs rampage, wizards study, elves hunt, and warlocks generally enjoy their evil.

Writing is the third, and in my opinion, the most important form of language. The first was speaking, the second was drawing. But writing was the first method of communication that could be forever preserved and still convey the exact message the author intended. It is a way to express yourself that speaking alone simply can't contend with.

When a person reads, a story plays out in their mind unlike one that can be told in words, pictures, or on film. The reader can imagine exactly how they want a character to look, how their voice sounds. The reader can take the setting and make it their own. When describing a building in a book the author will give details on what a house or street or even a town looks like, but the reader will always (sometimes unknowingly, sometimes not) add their own details, at least in their mind. That's why book to movie transitions fail more than often. The movie takes the characters and settings that you always imagined a certain way and makes them something that is no where close to that. Take Bella Swan from Twilight. The author purposely left Bella's character ambiguous, meaning she barely describes her in the early novels, so that the reader can make the character what they want her to be. This tactic works. Seeing Bella on the big screen shatters that image entirely.

I am in the business to make stories. Not money. One of the reasons I enjoy this website, complete fan fiction and non profit. I've had an account here for years, and am finally getting back to writing the story I started back in 2006. In the time between then and now, I have been working on a few books I am writing in the hopes of becoming an author. If you, like me, believe in what I wrote above, then you can understand how I'm writing my books, and I hope that when the big day finally comes and they get published you will enjoy them. My favorite thing to tell people is that I enjoy a good read, and a good write.

Cheers,

OtO