Call of the Creator: Fantasy Writing from a Christian Worldview

 Hey longtime friends! A while back I gave myself permission to quit blogging because I kind of got to the point of hating it. (Sorry to say. And current advice to authors includes "Don't do stuff you don't love.") Weirdly enough, I started blogging again today, but not here. I'm going to keep it all over on my website: rebeccapminor.com. I've added a blog there I'm calling The Wellness Epic. Why that name? Mostly because an epic typically follows a character or characters through a long span of time, and my chronic illness journey has definitely done that. So if you are interested in following my quest to defeat my chronic illnesses, as well as hearing updates on creative pursuits and life happenings, please come see me at The Wellness Epic .

Last week, I had the fabulous opportunity to attend the Superstars of Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs, and being the conference junkie that I am, I soaked up so much goodness and learning until I was goggle-eyed with determination. If there's any conference I would recommend besides Realm Makers, this would be it. No other conference I've attended has the commitment and real sense of tribe that Superstars did. And it didn't hurt to spend the three days learning from mega bestsellers either. In his address, Drawing Out the Dragons, James Artimus Owen told some amazing stories of daring to take leaps of faith in order to do what he loves. He told one story where a risk that looked like an opportunity of a lifetime turned out to be a dead end. In order to pursue the opportunity,  he had sold practically all his earthly possessions and  taken a trans-atlantic flight, only to have the goal fizzle before his eyes and leave him sitting on a bench in the rain, with less tha...

Those of you who know me a little better are probably familiar with the fact that my first storytelling medium was animation--long enough ago that the animation for feature films was still drawn by hand on (gasp) paper. Although making animation ceased to be feasible for me because I was a stay-at-home mom with no time or equipment, that doesn't mean the storyteller part of my soul packed up and took a hike--it just got restless. So restless it spat out five novels and three novellas. Well, the artist part of me wouldn't be put to bed so easily either, which is why I am now working on a graphic novel version of my first Windrider Saga book, Divine Summons . (This is simultaneous with me also preparing the novel for re-release and freelancing steadily for Rabbit Publishers and couple of other clients.) All these projects have my head spinning a little, as you can imagine, and the practical side of me has put her foot down and said, "Look, if you're going to invest ti...

Dear friends and fans, I know it's been a long time since you've seen much in the way of new writing from me, and I promise you, I am working to remedy that issue as soon as possible. That's why I come to you with a question: do you prefer shorter books, or big, long, immersive ones? Here's the reason I ask: I have long been mulling over my books from The Windrider Saga because I have been concerned that the nature of the series (book 1, novella, book 2, longish novella, book 3 THICK novel) was going to make it difficult for me to catch and retain a steady readership. So, in an effort to unify the series, I have been working on Divine Summons (book 1) to extend it to novel length. But the more I read about fiction trends, the more I see that novellas are actually pretty hot at the moment. People have less time to read, on the whole, so a shorter book appeals to them for this reason. So, if you ruled the world of my Windrider books, how would YOU want to see t...

Now that the dust from this year's Realm Makers conference is settling, I'm going to attempt to sum up my thoughts on the event from my very-insider point of view. I won't say I'm writing in any kind of lull, since we're already waist deep in the planning for next year's conference. In fact, the location and dates are now locked in, but you're going to have to wait a little longer to learn those details. We took a lot of risks with the 2017 conference, and I'm glad to inform you we came out financially solvent, despite the significant potential for missteps that would have sunk the Realm Makers ship. I am extremely grateful we were able to provide our conferees with what I thought was a five-star experience (even if the hotel lobby was smoky because of the nearby casino floor. It's Nevada, what can I say?) Offering our attendees the opportunity to take classes with award winning and bestselling authors is a standard we intend to continue to striv...

If you've ever read Gary Chapman's book, The Five Love Languages , you've probably figured out in what way you express and receive love. This was a book my husband, Scott, and I read through and took to heart in the months before we were married, and since then, it's been interesting to evaluate how this theory of emotional expression plays out in my everyday life. As an artist and author, I spend way too much time in self-analysis, but hopefully my observations will be useful to some of you as well. My primary love language is time. It doesn't matter if we do anything productive or exciting. I just want to know that you value spending time in my presence. Ironically, because of my socially anxious nature, it takes a long time before I feel safe enough with any person to connect with them face-to-face. So that "quantity time" that deepens my relationships is hard to come by. Clearly, it's complicated. As an artist, I have discovered that if I don...

We Minors are about to head out on a major adventure, and you know what? Adventures are expensive. And I don't have a contract from a bunch of dwarves promising me an equal share of the treasure at the end. As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Here's a little context to help you make sense of things. Every year since we began Realm Makers, I have designed the official Conference T Shirt as well as a "fun design" that we sell as a simple artistic endeavor. From fandom to geekery, these shirts have definitely been popular--and I've enjoyed seeing friends and strangers alike wear them. This year, we've been working with the fabulous Kirk DouPonce, illustrator extraordinaire, to generate some updated branding for the conference and our awards. Out of that process, this awesome dragon graphic arose. Being the dragon freak that I am, I was immediately ready to slap that puppy on everything, from our awards seals to our car to ...

Today marks a fun day that authors never tire of: release day! The project that I'm humbled to be a part of is an anthology called Freshly Brewed Fiction , and it's a group of stories penned for the purpose of supporting a local library. Better yet, we'll celebrate the release of this book at our local independent book store, The Towne Book Center in Collegeville. It's good to know the piece I've written will be helping the honorable institution of the local public library as well as our indie bookstore, which does a great job with author events. In case you're interested to see what I've contributed to this book, I'm offering the first segment of the story for you here. "A Dragon Problem" introduces a new character to my story world, an ebony hatchling dragon named Silya, and it reunites readers with the tempestuous Raen, dragons warder, as well as the unquenchably direct Vinyanel Ecleriast. Mix in an undead necromancer, and you'v...

Image Credit: Dog Eared Design, Kirk DouPonce At the header for this blog, the graphic reads "Author-Artist-Ringleader," and for some of the folks who stop by, the "ringleader" part is a bit of a puzzlement. I thought today that I would shed some light on the reason people attach words like that (or nerd-herder) to me. A little over 5 years ago, I started planning this thing called the Realm Makers Conference. It came into being because of several factors that exist in the publishing world that make it difficult for Christians who write fantasy and science fiction to find publishers for their work. On the general market side--that means the Big Publishing Houses of New York, stories that center on traditional values are often passed over as "been there, done that" at best, or "dangerously misogynistic/insensitive/out-of-touch" in more critical scenarios. This climate  has only gotten worse over the decade I've been following publishin...

When you're like me, and you lost your dad at 13, it's easy to romanticize how you perceive a man who's been gone for the vast majority of your life. I like to remember the Marine, the idealist, the brilliant man my dad was, even though he was also an alcoholic, a child abuse victim, and ultimately lifestyled himself to death until he left my mom with 6 kids and no real career to support us. I didn't learn much from my dad, sadly, because I was too young at the time to tap the brilliance part, while we still had him. He did, however, one afternoon in our smoky, cluttered 80s living room, teach me how to draw a tree. My dad was a charcoal artist who never pursued honing his gift outside of high school. Probably not a lot of opportunities to draw still life or models while drill instructing on Parris Island, I'm assuming. But I can't count the number of times he sat in his kind-of-gross recliner and told me how he drew a series of beautiful nudes during art ...

I officially have my first appearance scheduled as a book illustrator! The work I've been doing on the Harry Moon brand is pulling me from my typical introverted seclusion into not one, but two opportunities to sell and sign books on Small Business Saturday, which is just after Thanksgiving. These events will be great, for a few reasons: I will be able to hobnob with the Queen of Author Events herself, Suzanne Kuhn, who will be signing the Honey Moon books she's written alongside me as illustrator. I will be able to encourage people to support local, independent businesses--a Christian bookstore and one that sells all book genres. I am a big fan of the "Shop Local" movement. I'll get to see my work pass into the hands of new readers--what creative person doesn't love that? So, if you know anyone in the Mid Atlantic who would like to pick up some fun reading for their elementary aged kids, please tell them about us. Find us at The Master'...

ARTIST With just a few weeks left until summer's end, of course the thrust of my work right now would be all about winter. It's like the crooked, sardonic smile fate likes to cast at me, because it's a gazillion degrees outside, and every frame I design for my new graphic novel project has a dusting of snow over it. My characters are wearing scarves, and I'm fending off heat induced hives, which are one of the awesome additions my fibromyalgia has thrown into the mix. Anyway, the project I've got brewing for Rabbit Publishing right now is another tale set in Sleepy Hollow, featuring Harry Moon and the usual suspects. It involves a 150-foot snow sculpture of the headless horseman and his mount, which magically end up wreaking havoc. I won't say more for fear of spoilers, but it's been a good laugh to have the instructions come back from my project manager that say, "Make it creepier!" I have also had the awesome privilege of receiving my first ...

I used to be a fan of horse racing--mostly because, well, horses. I've become less enamored of it because of the extremes the sport subjects young animals to and the gambling aspect of things, but let it suffice to say "the home stretch" generates a more robust metaphor for me than maybe your average user of idioms. The home stretch, if the race is close, means the jockeys are pulling out all the stops to get every last bit of speed from mounts that are just about spent. The whips are flying, horses are foaming, there's likely mud everywhere. So when I say I'm in the home stretch of finishing the first Harry Moon graphic novel, I don't mean I'm happily drifting toward a blissful light at the end of the tunnel. I mean I'm flogging myself, proverbial foam lathering my productivity, and there's almost as much chance of me blowing a tendon as there is of me finishing the race with flying colors. Because my monitor is a beast, you may not fully app...

Maybe some of you have noticed...I sort of suck at blogging. I mean, really. I don't know why, but article-writing just seems beyond my capacity...any point I want to make is basically able to be summed up in the space of a Facebook post, so that's pretty much where I've been doing all my ruminating for the past couple of years. So in terms of my blog, I have decided to allow myself to let it be for the occasional announcement, periodic update, or sampling of "here's what I'm up to." Today is a "here's what I'm up to" day. I've decided to share a couple pieces of artwork with you fine folks, hopefully for your enjoyment and not just the stroking of my ego. Ah, Harry Moon--the project that has me drawing about 15-20 drawings a day right now. Fun stuff! Praying for a strong finish and excellent reception of the final product. This was just a moment I had to take to acknowledge that working as an artist still leaves you a lit...

Hey loyal friends! I'm blowing the dust off the old blog here because I finally have some news on the art front. First, the time-sensitive thing that I need your help on, and then I'll do a general update about what else I've been up to since the summer. First of all, I have been painting for a paint-and-sip model art studio called Painting with a Twist since January, and they are sponsoring an art contest. The idea is that artists from the franchises would submit paintings they think customers (often with little to no art background) would like to paint and find attainable (since painting is SO not fun when you can't do what the artist is teaching.) So anyway, about 500 paintings landed in the submission box at the corporate office, and mine made it into the top 20! Feelin' pretty good about that, even though I will probably go to my grave insisting I'm not really a painter. The submission I offered up looks like this: So if you go to:  http://www.paint...

For a limited time only, you can pre-order the shirt that captures the spirit of the 2015 Realm Makers Conference! If you're coming to the Realm Makers Conference in St Louis from August 6-8, you can pre-purchase this year's "fun shirt." In the past, I've designed a fun shirt choice, like the Geek Girl shirt of previous years. This year's fun shirt will work for both sexes, and plays on the super hero mania that is the current media trend. Printed on a deep blue shirt and available in sizes adult small through 2XL, get yours today. Sorry if you're just finding this--preordering is now closed.

It has been my privilege, as the founder of the Faith and Fantasy Alliance, to sponsor the Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction. Readers weighed in for the past two weeks to nominate their favorite books, and now the award is accepting readers' choice semi-final votes. If you are interested in weighing in on which books should go to the judging panel for the final round, you'll find the voting survey HERE . It's really exciting to be able to "put your money where your mouth is," in terms of sponsoring the award, because as the Realm Makers conference gains momentum and the Clive Staples Award gains name recognition, I'm happy to do whatever I can to help authors build their audience and gain legitimacy in the marketplace. In order to see a full list of the semi-finalists in the award, visit the Realm Makers conference blog , Read the voting rules carefully so that the award has the fairest outcome possible. Good luck to all the semi-fi...

Looking for a quick read full of fantasy adventure, including an elf who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut, a prophetess who's been charged to influence him, and a silver dragon at their sides? Then you want to read the new, revised edition of Divine Summons, book 1 of The Windrider Saga. This novella is now available for the bargain price of $1.99 for Kindle. Or, if you're a member of Kindle Unlimited, borrow it for free. But what's a book release without a giveaway, right? For the rest of this week (April 13-18), we're taking entries to a Rafflecopter giveaway You know you want this, so enter. I'd also love it if you'd tell friends. A strong re-release of this books paves the way for me to continue onward to return the rest of books to market. Good luck, and thank you for your support!

It’s official. I’m still an author, but I’m going solo. The Windrider Saga is reborn, this time as a publication of Realm Makers Media (which is me, don’t be fooled.) Some of you might wonder why I’ve decided remove these books from the world of traditional publishing (which means you send a book to a publishing house, and if they accept it, they edit and product it), so let me try to break that down.

I got a bee in my bonnet the other day because of a convergence of faith-oriented circumstances that simply made me incredulous. The first was a conversation that happened at once of my workplaces between two coworkers, who were talking about how they have a desire to find a community of faith, but how stringent rules around divorce, annulment, and baptism left them feeling sneered at and "unfit" for certain congregations they visited. (Honestly, I'm about as big an opponent of divorce you will find, especially when the family has children. But this post will go way off into left field if I start down that road, which isn't what I'm hoping to talk about. The point is, the church's attitude about previous divorce in people's lives, and the fine lines between what they recognized as a marriage and what they didn't, too often sours a person's perception of faith in general.)