Tolkien

This guy has some very interesting things to say about the balance of characters in LOTR.

Something ideas that I must keep in the back of my head for my universe.

Of course I've only been developing my universe for 9 years. Tolkien had much much more time, education, and experience to draw from. This thought has often kept me from writing any of my sagas. And is also why I am so glad that Mercator came to me.

Which also brings me to a problem that I have with much of the Fantasy that is out there. It all seems so derivative. Like they are just tweaking other people's ideas and creativity to be something they can claim as their own, but most of what I've read is boring, mostly because it lacks the historicity that I crave in fantasy. Even the books that present wholly new types of magic and society seem a bit cardboard thin. One culture may be incredibly detailed, but only on the surface. I seldom feel that the characters are anything more than characters fulfilling a barely fleshed out role. Of course there are the exceptions, but too few. I run out of books I am interested in.

Of course as a writer, I am afraid that I will fall into these pits too.