Today I’m joining in on the #FantasyMonth blog tag, and oooh boy, are these questions fun!

If you missed it…
The illustrious Jenelle Schmidt is hosting February is Fantasy Month over on her blog. It’s a big ol’ celebration of fantasy for ALL the month of February. And is there anything better??? This year the theme is World Building and Fantasy Creatures. Jenelle already has some fabulous posts on those subjects up on her blog, and there is sooo much more to come. Plus a MASSIVE giveaway! You can check out THIS POST for all the details on that.

There’s also a super fun BLOG TAG going on! Which is why we’re here today. It does not take much to motivate me to do a post about FANTASY. So let’s do this!

THE #FANTASYMONTH
BLOG TAG

THE RULES

• Thank the blogger who tagged you. (Thank you so much, Jenelle! This is gonna be great!)

• Include the graphic somewhere in your post. (*points up*)

• Link back to this blog somewhere in your post. (“This blog” referring to Jenelle’s. Which I’ve already linked to but HERE’S ANOTHER LINK because you need to be following her epictastic blog.)

• Answer the questions. (We’re almost there!)

• Tag a few blogger friends – and let them know they’ve been tagged. (See below!)

• Have fun! (LET THE FUN COMMENCE.)

THE QUESTION

1.) In a strange twist of fate, you are transported into a fantasy realm of your choice. The catch? You have also been transformed into your least favorite fantasy creature. Where are you, and what are you?

WELL. I have four top favorite fantasy worlds—Middle-earth, Narnia, Wonderland, and Neverland—and to this day cannot decide which is my favorite. It usually depends on what mood I’m in. But for this question let’s go to Wonderland. Because Wonderland seems like a place you’d fall into only to wake up as your least favorite creature.

If we’re sticking to creatures you’d find specifically in Wonderland… I guess I’d be turned into the Mock Turtle, which is literally a cow turtle. That would be, erm, unpleasant, to say the least.

The Mock Turtle itself. Yeah, I’d really rather not be that poor thing… 

2.) What fantasy creature do you wish featured in more stories? What is your favorite story that has that creature in it?

I would love to see griffins as a more prominent part of fantasy. There are occasionally some here and there, but not nearly enough. (Or maybe I just haven’t read the right books? I don’t know.) But, I mean, GUYS. It’s an eagle-lion! How much more epic can you get???

There’s a FABULOUS griffin in Orphan’s Song by Gillian Bronte Adams. It’s even featured on the cover! That’s the first one to come to mind, and the only book I can think of that has a griffin as a big part of the plot.

This creature, I like it. *slams fist on table* ANOTHER.

3.) As you are reading this, a voice rings in your ear proclaiming:

A hero true, a leader strong,
A quest is where you do belong,
So arm thyself, and take your stand
With an item to your left your fate is at hand.

Besides the fact that this prophetic voice is clearly incapable of sticking to a meter, what ordinary item do you now find yourself armed with? (And, for bonus points, what helpful magical properties does it now possess that will help you on your quest?)

Hahahaha! My phone is literally perched to my left as we speak. So take THAT, fantasy villains! No one can defeat me and my ability to…scroll on Instagram and Pinterest for hours at a time???

AHEM.

I mean, it WOULD be useful to order pizza while out on a great quest. No more of this having to pack food and run out within the first week nonsense. For that matter, I could just use it to call an uber driver and skip the whole trekking on foot halfway around some dangerous fantasy world. They have cell service in fantasy worlds, right?

But hey! If it just suddenly becomes magic once I’m swept away on this vague quest, that’d be great too. Maybe the whole “there’s an app for everything” mantra becomes TRUE. Bad guy captures me and ties me up? There’s an app for making a razor blade pop out of my phone to cut the rope with. I’m in the middle of the desert with no water? Unending water app, in which my phone transforms into a water bottle that never empties. In the middle of the Big Epic Final Battle and ran out of arrows? No problem! Text 500 to Gerald the Arrow Guy, and he will deliver you a full sheath of arrows in five minutes flat come rain, sleet, or hoards of armed orcs (for a small fee).

I would be UNSTOPPABLE.

Ya know, until my battery died.

4.) You happen across an ad in a catalogue promising a magical fantasy cruise that will allow you to stop in any three realms of your choice and explore each for several days before returning you home (and the ad promises your safe return or your money back, guaranteed!) Assuming this is not a hoax and that the tour guides will actually be able to cater to your requests, what three realms will you tour and what do you hope to see/who would you like to meet along the way?

I WANT THIS TO BE A REAL CRUISE.

Since I went with Wonderland for the first question, let’s go with my other 3 favorite worlds.

MIDDLE-EARTH: First stop would be Lothlórien, where I’d want to explore this gorgeous woodland realm and listen to the elves sing. It is my favorite Middle-earth place. I’d also want a tour of Minas Tirith. The White City is just so beautiful. I’d love to go to Rohan and ride horses and then visit Rivendell. And of course I’d need to make a trip to the Shire. Maybe visit Bag End and have tea there.

NARNIA: Can I just explore all of it and visit as many creatures as possible??? I’d also LOVE to see the famous Lamp Post. And staying at Cair Paravel would be a must!

NEVERLAND: Again, I just want to explore the whole island—tease the pirates with Peter and the Lost Boys, visit the mermaids, dance with the fairies, tell stories in the tree home. ALL OF IT.

5.) Congratulations! You are a fantasy hero/heroine about to start your adventure. You get to choose a small fantasy creature to accompany and assist you on your quest. Who/what do you choose?

Can I have one of the minor dragons from The DragonKeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul? PLEEEASE??? They are literally kitten-sized dragons, each with a special ability (like one can heal, one lights up in the dark, etc.).

I WANT A TINY DRAGON, GUYS. SO SO SO BAD.

6.) Elves or dwarves?

Elves alllllll the way. I mean, my old blog was called Musings of an Elf. I used to go by Lauriloth on the internet which means “shining golden flower” in Tolkien’s elvish tongue. I. LOVE. ELVES. They’re like my favorite fantasy race of all time.

I just love how mysterious and ethereal they can be. Or mischievous and enigmatic. Probably my favorite scene in The Hobbit is when the elves are having a party in Mirkwood and keep disappearing when Bilbo and the dwarves try to approach, only to appear a few yards away. I am HERE for impish fair folk!

Elves can be so very…not human. And I love that. I love how, in so much fantasy, they’re these ancient, enigmatic, powerful beings with rich histories, beautiful homes, and all sorts of stories to tell.

Elves are epic. The end.

Just look at this ethereal boi.

7.) Do you prefer your dragons (we had to have at least one question devoted solely to dragons!) good or evil or a mix of both?

I JUST LIKE DRAGONS. Where elves is my favorite fantasy race, dragons is my favorite fantasy species. GIMME ALLLLL THE DRAGONS.

I literally do not care if they’re good or bad. I mean, Smaug is one of my top favorite dragons of all time and, ya know, he’s terrible. SO. I am not picky! I love how in the Goldstone Wood books dragons are unquestionably evil things. Or in the Dragons in Our Midst series they’re just like humans—some good, some bad, they just are. I like them when they can talk or are more animal-like or somewhere in-between. I JUST LIKE DRAGONS, GUYS. I’m not picky.

Can I keep him?

8.) World building is a complicated undertaking full of many details. As a reader, what is a small detail you really appreciate seeing when it comes to diving into a new realm? What is something that helps you lose yourself in a fantasy world?

Oooh, this is a fantastic but hard question!

Strangely enough, I think it’s the style of clothing. Something about a book that is great at describing the characters’ clothing, and tends to have a unique twist on fashion, really grounds me in the world. Even though it’s not fantasy, obviously, The Hunger Games did a phenomenal job of that. From Katniss’ leather jacket, to all the absurd clothing in the Capitol, to the wild costumes the tributes had to wear—it really brought the story to life. I find myself getting annoyed when stories don’t ever describe anyone’s outfits. I just want to SEE what the characters are wearing so I can picture everything fully. Obviously, having paragraphs of descriptions for every single character’s style would be ridiculous, but just a quick mention of “soft leather boots” or  “sparkly green eye shadow” can instantly indicate the style of the world (and, bonus, the character’s personality!).

Another thing is the names of people and places and even items. Harry Potter is the first one to come to mind whenever I think of this. J.K. Rowling was BRILLIANT in the way she built her whimsical world off of the names. Dumbledore, Hermione, Hogwarts, Muggles—all these things give off the same…vibe, I guess you could say. The Harry Potter books have a very specific aesthetic, and the names of things really brings that together. This is something I’ve been working on with my own stories. Instead of just giving everyone/thing random names, I think you can really pull the feel of your world together with matching-style names.

9.) You have been transformed into your favorite fantasy creature. Problem is… you’re still in your own bedroom and your family is downstairs, completely unprepared for this shock. What creature are you, and how (if at all) do you break the news to your loved ones? (Or how do you get out of your room?)

My answer is the same at Jenelle’s: A Dragon. And this could be quite the problem. My room isn’t especially large, especially since I have my bed and a recliner in the middle of it. Both of those would probably be squashed immediately, and I fear I’d have to break down a wall to get out.

As far as my family’s reactions… I mean, it wouldn’t be much different than the way I am now. I hoard books much like a dragon hoards gold and can often be quite grumpy and territorial. So, yeah. Other than me being bigger, I don’t think they’d notice much of a difference. XD Plus, we live on private land, so we could just build me a larger room and wouldn’t even have to worry about neighbors noticing or anything. I don’t see how this could go wrong. 😉

That was SO. MUCH. FUN!!! Another huge thanks to Jenelle for creating this epic set of questions! Answering these felt like taking a vacation to fantasy worlds. This was great!

So let’s pass on the fun!

TAGGING

Kirsten @ A Synethete Writer | Tracey @ Adventure Awaits | Emily @ The Ones That Really Matter | Merie @ Imperial Scribis | Becky @ Moth of the Day | + any other fantasy fan who wants to join!

(Obviously nooo pressure to anyone to do this!)

Here are the Questions
(For copy and pasting purposes)

1. In a strange twist of fate, you are transported into a fantasy realm of your choice. The catch? You have also been transformed into your least favorite fantasy creature. Where are you, and what are you

2. What fantasy creature do you wish featured in more stories? What is your favorite story that has that creature in it?

3. As you are reading this, a voice rings in your ear proclaiming:

A hero true, a leader strong,
A quest is where you do belong,
So arm thyself, and take your stand
With an item to your left your fate is at hand.

Besides the fact that this prophetic voice is clearly incapable of sticking to a meter, what ordinary item do you now find yourself armed with? (And, for bonus points, what helpful magical properties does it now possess that will help you on your quest?)

4. You happen across an ad in a catalogue promising a magical fantasy cruise that will allow you to stop in any three realms of your choice and explore each for several days before returning you home (and the ad promises your safe return or your money back, guaranteed!) Assuming this is not a hoax and that the tour guides will actually be able to cater to your requests, what three realms will you tour and what do you hope to see/who would you like to meet along the way?

5. Congratulations! You are a fantasy hero/heroine about to start your adventure. You get to choose a small fantasy creature to accompany and assist you on your quest. Who/what do you choose?

6. Elves or dwarves?

7. Do you prefer your dragons (we had to have at least one question devoted solely to dragons!) good or evil or a mix of both?

8. World building is a complicated undertaking full of many details. As a reader, what is a small detail you really appreciate seeing when it comes to diving into a new realm? What is something that helps you lose yourself in a fantasy world?

9. You have been transformed into your favorite fantasy creature. Problem is… you’re still in your own bedroom and your family is downstairs, completely unprepared for this shock. What creature are you, and how (if at all) do you break the news to your loved ones? (Or how do you get out of your room?)

LET’S TALK!

Let’s discuss fantasy thiiiings! What fantasy creature do you wish appeared in fiction more? And what’s a worldbuilding detail you particularly appreciate? (I adore that question and would LOVE to know your answer…especially since worldbuilding is one of my writing weaknesses.) Tell me all your thoughts!