Wednesday, May 11, 2016

IGGPPC: Inside the Theme: Woodland Fantasy


elven princess - from my instagram: @whimsyandnoir

Every month, the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club chooses a theme to concentrate on, with blogs to discuss certain creations within the theme, or cosplays, and all sorts of fun stuff. For May, the theme is "Woodland Fantasy", which I am 1,000% most definitely into!




What is your favorite fantasy story, and what’s so great about it?

Are you kidding? I don't think I can choose just one. I love all the big ones like LOTR and the Hobbit, but I'm also currently SUPER into Sarah J Maas' novels, the "Throne of Glass" series and the more recent "Court of Thorns and Roses". And yes, those are more "YA" and maybe not "true" fantasy, but they do have amazing world building and ELVES with magic powers. I'm kind of all about the elves... but then theres' also Storm Constantine's "Wraeththu" series, which is all sorts of magical and amazing! And, of course, Alice in Wonderland is completely a fantasy story: talking animals, made up creatures, and evil queens in the forest!



What was your first experience with fantasy?

I can remember reading "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" and "Prince Caspian" in the fifth grade, and I was so amazed. Up until then, I don't think I had ever read anything that I had been able to immerse and lose myself so fully in - it started a love affair with books, for sure! A couple of years later, (when I started my vampire novel 'phase' - back when "Twilight" was a mere twinkle in Stephenie Meyer's eye, by the way..), I was obsessed with the author Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' novels. Aside from the vampire ones, she started a fantasy series about a world filled with 'hawk' and 'snake' - like clans of people who fought and warred with each other, she even came up with an entire language, much like Tolkien, and there was a whole website with lessons where you could go to try and learn it, but I could never quite grasp it!

Modern technology allows fantasy stories to be told in a variety of different mediums now; do you prefer diving into a good old fashioned book, reading a colorful comic, yelling at your videogames while bathing in the blood of your virtual enemies, or snacking on all the popcorns in front of your TV or at the movies? (Listening to troubadours performing the ballad of Beowulf is also a totally valid choice.)

All of this! But I definitely gravitate the most towards good old fashioned books. There's just something to be said for being able to imagine these fantasy worlds and characters completely inside your own head, just by reading the author's words. You can go as deep as you want!

Also, I think attending Renaissance Festivals is a fantastic way to get your 'fantasy fix' - there's magical music, food, things to buy, and you're surrounded by buildings that look like castles, and people who aren't only cosplaying lords/ladies/elves/royals/knights, but vikings, and fairies, and pirates, and whatever else they can think of! And the people who work there, especially, stay 'in character' the whole day. It's quite fun..



my first Ren Fest in 2013!!


Pets are a very popular choice in fantasy. Because pets are awesome. Which magical pet would you most like to adopt? (You can either go with a kind of creature, or a specific pet from a specific story you wouldn’t mind moving in with you – because let’s face it, we all want Toothless as a bestie.)

Something cute and furry! Talking cat, maybe? Cheshire cat? Or a cute little fairy that follows me around!

Your RPG play style: alignment, faction, race, and class. Do you play tabletop style or in a digital medium?

I've only recently started trying my hand at Magic: the Gathering. I'm quite fond of the version with the dark angels ;)
I would love to try an online game, though, like World of Warcraft! One of these days!


from my instagram: @whimsyandnoir



5 comments:

  1. I love going to Renaissance Fairs! It's so easy to really immerse yourself into it, and I love all the story-telling going on everywhere. (My favorite people to watch are always the musicians or the jesters.) And YA doesn't exclude something from being fantasy - as long as it has fantastical elements, it belongs to some or other fantasy sub-genre :D I still need to check out the Wraeththu series, thanks for reminding me with this post.

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    1. Ren Faires are the best!! Check out Circa Paleo on youtube - its a band I saw one year and they were great! They even played the Game of Thrones theme!

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  2. Did you do that drawing? It's literally amazing!

    Aah, Narnia! I honestly thought it was a real place as a child and wished like mad I could go there.

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    1. Yes, I did!! Thank you for thinking so! :)
      I know, me too! I wished my vloset would take me there!

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  3. I love the Throne of Glass series but A Court of Mist and Fury was AMAZING. I LOVED IT. Let me know when you finish reading if you want to chat about it :) I love fantasy books and movies so this post gets an A+.

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