Tag: Dragon Age

What kind of wizard are you? – A Quiz.

On By nexusfictionIn Books, Fantasy Fiction, films, magic, Reading, wizards, writingLeave a comment

Ever wondered what kind of wizard you would be? No, we not talking sorting hats here, we’re talking about how your personality and power would come together. In the Book of Water (Enchantress Trilogy) by our author JW Whitmarsh there are four different kinds of wizard; enchanters, illusionists, seers and druids. Each have distinct approaches and perspectives but, ultimately, it is the person inside who shapes how the wizard comes to their power.

After a quick word from the author find out where you would sit

Nexus-Fiction: We’re trying to decide what kind of wizard people would be if they were born gifted in the world of the Elemental Cycle. Maybe we should start with some famous examples.

JW Whitmarsh: OK, but bear in mind this would mean they would have to be limited by the lore of my world. You can’t really dump a character from another world into a distinct fictional construct cohesively.

NX: Indulge us.

JW: Very well.

NX: Right. Let’s start with a biggie. Gandalf?

JW: Difficult. I think you’d have to treat Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White differently. Gandalf the Grey seems to have an affinity with fire magic principally, which says enchanter, but he also does defensive wards and shields in the manner of a seer. I’m going to say seer with exceptional skills in elemental charms. Gandalf the White on the other hand is all about light magic and in the Elemental Cycle world he’d probably be a summoner like Loreliath, but that’s not an option in this test.

NX: Alright, Merlin?

JW: The recent TV Merlin on BBC seemed to be a seer mostly but if we’re talking about the Merlin of legend he would definitely be an illusionist.

NX: Prospero?

JW: He is quite controlling and gets others to do his bidding a lot so I’d say he’d be an enchanter.

NX: Who’d be a druid?

JW: Radagast the Brown would fit very comfortably into the druid role, I think. Or Herne the hunter.

There you have it. Now it’s your turn to decide what you would be.

Question 1: If you had to face one of the following, which would you LEAST want?

  1. Going blind
  2. Losing both hands.
  3. Losing sense of taste and smell
  4. Going deaf

Question 2: It’s raining hard outside and you want to pass the time. Pick the game that would amuse you best.

  1. Poker
  2. Chess
  3. Blackjack
  4. Dominoes

Question 3: Your bedroom is drab and spartan. You can cheer it up with one thing, which would you choose?

  1. A teddy bear
  2. A plant
  3. A ceiling painting of the stars
  4. An encyclopaedia

Question 4: You have to go onstage and entertain a crowd for a short time. What is your act?

  1. A Stand-up routine
  2. Juggling
  3. Magic tricks
  4. A poetry recital

Question 5: Which danger sign would most likely adorn your workshop.

  1. 1024px-Flammable-symbol.svg 2. electricity 3. 2000px-WHMIS_Class_D-1.svg.png4. 2000px-Danger_radiation.svg

Question 6: You’re worried about security for your home, which do you invest in?

  1. A state-of-the-art alarm system
  2. Beefing up the neighbourhood watch
  3. A guard dog
  4. Hidden traps

Question 7: Which of the following phobias bothers you LEAST

  1. Crowded places
  2. Spiders
  3. Heights
  4. Snakes

Question 8: You’ve got some time to relax, what do you want to do?

  1. Take a walk in the park
  2. Visit an art gallery
  3. Listen to classical music
  4. Have a massage

Question 9: You have to commit a bank robbery and want to use as little violence as possible, how would you go about it?

  1. Fill the bank with smoke and set off the fire alarm to get all the employees out first.
  2. Hack the security cameras so you can pass by unseen.
  3. Convince the bank manager that you have his family hostage
  4. Pump a sedative into the air conditioning to send everyone to sleep

Question 10: You are in fear for your life, how will you protect yourself?

  1. Find a vantage point from where you can see anyone approaching.
  2. Escape to deep within the forest
  3. Surround yourself with the best guards you can find
  4. Retreat into a cave network that you know intimately

Answer Time.

Add up the following scores for each question. Pens and pencils ready.

1: 1)d  2)b  3)a  4)c        2: 1)d  2)c  3)b  4)a    

3: 1)b  2)a  3)d   4)c       4: 1)b  2)c  3)d  4)a

5: 1)b  2)c  3)d  4)a       6: 1)c  2)b  3)a  4)d

7: 1)b  2)d  3)c  4)a       8: 1)a  2)d  3)c  4)b

9: 1)d  2)c  3)b  4)a        10: 1)c  2)a  3)b  4)a

Mostly As Click Here     Mostly Bs Click Here    Mostly Cs  Click Here     Mostly Ds Click Here

 

Interview with the author II (continued)

On By nexusfictionIn BooksLeave a comment

Here follows part 2 of 3 of our second interview with JW Whitmarsh author of Enchantress Awakening 
AwakeningcoverblueNX: Just to recap, you mentioned fan fiction, RPGs and Game of Thrones as examples of how their is an audience for adult fantasy fiction. Let’s take those in turn. How does fan fiction relate?

JW: A lot of fan fiction is based around taking characters from fantasy series which we might term PG or 12A and putting them into more adult situations. Clearly there is an appetite  for this. Let’s not forget 50 Shades of Grey started as Fan Fiction based on the Twilight series and that was consumed by how many millions? Moreover, I think writers and fans of Fan Fiction here are picking up on a certain tension within fantasy. We take these beautiful characters and put them into life-threatening and highly emotional and often very violent situations but then fade to black when it comes to them doing the most vital of acts. I don’t see it as surprising that people would want to see that side too.

NX: What’s your take on Fan Fiction in general? Writers often have mixed views.

JW: Mixed views would probably describe my position too. First of all, if you get to the point where people are writing fan fiction based on your books it’s a pretty good seal of approval. As to the the process itself, I’m kind of torn. I would always encourage people to write about what interests them but at the same time I would personally always choose to create my own world and characters as far as possible so I could have full ownership of the story.

NX: How would you feel about people setting fan fiction in your worlds?

JW: I think if you’re going to write inside someone else’s creation you need to respect the boundaries of the canonical material. First of all, you should abide by the lore. If you it says you can’t cast the same spell in succession, you don’t do that. If time travel is stated as impossible, you don’t do that.

Next and just as important is character integrity. I hate seeing adaptation on TV or film even where characters behave in a way that is completely different to how they were written.Then, I think you need to respect the plot too. You shouldn’t try to rewrite the original story into something else.

So given all that, I would define ‘good’ adaptations, spin-offs and fan fiction etc as ones that stay within the spirit of the original. Everything added is something that could have happened but we just didn’t get to see it. So if someone really wants to know what happened to two minor characters we meet along the way and that’s not a story I’m ever going to write then sure write that story if you want.

NX: Ok. I think RPGs were next.

JW: I think RPGs are a great example of how there is an appetite for adult interactions within a genre. You look at Bioware games or something like the Witcher series, they don’t shy away from the fact that the fans who explore those worlds also want to explore the relationships between their characters. People might say ‘aren’t video games for kids?’ but the Dragon Age games are all 18-rated and still sell very well. I’m not saying they sell because of the adult content, as they are great games anyway, but they recognise that romance is something that usually involves coupling at some point.

NX: Favourite Dragon Age characters?

JW: I think I’d have to have Isabela and Varric in there. I love Leliana but I actually like her interactions with the dog the best. The dog brings out the best in a lot of them. Anyway, that’s a terrible party. Can’t have three rogues.

NX: Do you think the characters in Enchantress Awakening fit into the warrior, rogue, mage dynamic?

JW: Haha. I didn’t devise them in that way. I suppose it depends how you define the classes. There’s a fair few warriors, like Penric and Ceol and mages in Caleigh, Gideon and Tovrik etc. Not so sure about rogues. Maybe Ellie.

(Interview continues with reflections on Game of Thrones and other fantasy series) >>>