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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gronin" data-source="post: 2410293" data-attributes="member: 7603">I read just about any kind of fantasy (or SciFi for that matter) out there but I must admit that I prefer a story that has a fair bit of action.  That being said though, I suppose the most important thing is interesting characters and the interplay between those characters.  A good example of great characters are the books of David Eddings, who does such masterful job of keeping you interested in his characters and their relationships with one another that you don't even realize that the plot moves forward rather slowly.  (The Belgariad/Mallorean in particular...he gets much better with the action/story in the Sparhawk stuff).Currently my two favourite authors are Mike Stackpole (who by the way has a newsletter for aspiring writers) and David Gemmell.  Regarding Stackpole, I never really got into the Battletech novels but his Dragoncrown War series is fantastic - the characters, the plot....wow.  Lots of action, intrigue and politics, and again great characters with some real depth to them.  As far as David Gemmell is concerned he is the only author for which I will buy every book he writes, absolutely, without a doubt don't even need to know what the book is about - he has never disappointed me.  I must admit some of his characters are bigger than life (which I don't usually like) but somehow he pulls of it off.  If you haven't read any of his stuff I heartily recommend them.  My two favs are Legend and Morningstar (which is a very good example of how to make the anti-hero work).As far as gaming fiction goes I admit to having read and enjoyed the Dragonlance stuff (Weiss/Hichman only) and the Salvatore stuff (more so early on) and enjoyed them but for whatever reason they never make my highly recommended list.  On the other hand I have enjoyed virtually every shadowrun novel I have read (although that may be more a function of just absolutely loving the world - FASA sure could develop a world with flavour - rules were sometimes iffy but flavour they had.)Dunno if any of this stream of consciousness answers your questions but hey its late......My advice to you (which is the same advice I just gave to my wife - also an aspiring author - is write for yourself, write what you like to see, what you like to read because that is what you are likely to be best at.  Do not write just to get a novel published....write because you have a story to tell and tell it in the best way you can whatever format that might be.  Best of luck to you and I hope to someday be able to recommend your work when someone asks a similar question.</blockquote>

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