Fantasy Authors That Go Their Own Way

I'll often advise writers to avoid reading stories that are too close to their own work. While this may conflict with the advice of many industry professionals, I firmly believe that if a writer wants to have a unique voice, then they need to draw upon a variety of influences when crafting their stories. With that in mind, here are a few fantasy authors that I feel have something unique to the way they tell a story, with some ideas of where they might have gotten these influences.

Brian Jacques

Who would have thought that a story of mice and rats wielding swords would result in a beloved franchise with over twenty-two novels? While Jacques' Redwall series is definitely formulaic, they have a distinct flavor all their own, and I happily return to Redwall Abbey on a regular basis. Besides being an author, some of Jacques' other careers included merchant seaman, railway fireman, longshoreman, police officer, boxer, bus driver, and stand-up comic. Do you think he might have had some unique life experiences to add to his work?

Jane Yolen

The best book I ever found at the library  was Dragon's Blood, a tale of a young man training a dragon to fight in gladiatorial games. While the sci-fi setting with an emphasis on dragons may resemble Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, Yolan's Pit Dragon series focused on the dusty, dirty world of caring for such large animals, rather than the glamorous image of dragons in flight, etc. Perhaps this was what drew me to her stories. When I was in the Boy Scouts I spent part of one summer getting my horsemanship merit badge, which, unlike the riding merit badge, consisted mainly of caring for my assigned horse rather than riding him. Each day I had to feed him, clean his hooves, brush him down, and most importantly, muck out his stall. I think anyone who has had a similar experience and then reads the Pit Dragon series will recognize that Yolen clearly drew on some life experience as she imagined what caring for a dragon would really be like.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy

For years, I had a vague recollection of another dragon novel I found in the library. It was you typical rags-to-"a boy and his dragon" tale, but what set apart Nightpool was the world that the main character inhabited. With a displaced prince taken in by a colony of talking otters, the CS Lewis fan will likely see the many comparisons to Prince Caspian to be made here. But Murphy doesn't just touch on the otter colony as two-thirds of the novel focus on the politics, morals, and mystery of their society. In many ways, the first novel of the Dragonbards Trilogy feels more like Island of the Blue Dolphins than a fantasy novel, which gives it a unique, ocean-flavored mystical quality.

Freda Warrington

I found Freda Warrington's first fantasy novel, A Blackbird in Silver, in a little used-book shop near Long Beach, WA. How an obscure fantasy novel published in the UK ever found its way all the way around the world has always fascinated me. The story itself is an epic fantasy with a quest to slay a serpent that's destroying the world. Fairly common fair. But Warrington wrote with an intensity of character and a depth of emotion that was uncommon in fantasy writing. Her long list of influences (including CS Lewis, Tolkien, Tanith Lee, Michael Moorcock, Joy Chant, Ursula LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, and JS Lefanu) meant that she wouldn't be too heavily influenced by a single source as she explored the emotional impact of a heroic quest and a world facing its end.


As a final note, I wanted to mention an interesting coincidence that I noticed while creating this short list. With the exception of the works of Brian Jacques, each book I mentioned by the above authors were followed at some point by drastically inferior sequels. I would hypothesize that this is a sign of those authors failing to maintain their unique voice, something that Jacques managed to do for his entire writing career.

Thanks to Aaron from my Guild of Adventurers for suggesting this week's subject.