Ask the Author: Dan R. Arman
Answered Questions (3)
Dan R. Arman
In many respects, not all that different. I stayed away from fantasy early in my career because I felt that "magic" was too easy an answer to solve or create problems in a story. However, science fiction needs to be grounded in some sort of reality with well-defined rules to follow.
However, as I began to read more modern fantasy, I realized that fantasy wasn't such a free-for-all and needed its own set of boundaries. So world-building isn't all that different, though as I writer I do have a freer hand to create a world to my desires or needs, just so long as magical mechanics are consistent within its own system.
I also noticed that I do as much research, if not more, writing for fantasy as for science fiction. Even the most fantastical realm doesn't come from thin air and I spent a considerable amount of time researching Joan of Arc, the Hundred Years War, the Black Plague and other historical events and personalities for inspiration for the Night Maiden series.
But I love doing that. I think that added dose of realism makes the world richer and more immersive.
However, as I began to read more modern fantasy, I realized that fantasy wasn't such a free-for-all and needed its own set of boundaries. So world-building isn't all that different, though as I writer I do have a freer hand to create a world to my desires or needs, just so long as magical mechanics are consistent within its own system.
I also noticed that I do as much research, if not more, writing for fantasy as for science fiction. Even the most fantastical realm doesn't come from thin air and I spent a considerable amount of time researching Joan of Arc, the Hundred Years War, the Black Plague and other historical events and personalities for inspiration for the Night Maiden series.
But I love doing that. I think that added dose of realism makes the world richer and more immersive.
Dan R. Arman
Really anything can inspire me. The inspiration for my Night Maiden series came during a trip to Paris, for instance. My wife and I had just come out of the Louvre and we were confronted by a massive golden statue of Joan of Arc on horseback just standing in the middle of the street. I stood staring at it for several minutes, thinking how a teenage girl had changed a country so much that reminders of her legacy still stand hundreds of years later. I remembered reading a picture book about her and I returned to the States to do more research about her and the times she lived in. That moment in Paris eventually became the instigation of the Night Maiden trilogy.
Dan R. Arman
I'm working on a new fantasy series to debut in the second half of 2021. I can't say much about it yet, but it's tentatively titled "A Good Way to Fall." Here's a snippet:
The most important thing in life, my father once taught me, is learning how to fall. If one can fall, even from a great height, and then learn from that mistake, one can then rise to even greater heights with dignity and grace, he said. But there is no good way to fall in the forests of Andria. Because as my father demonstrated with his fall—or rather a dive—falling can only cost you your life here. And it can cost a daughter her only parent.
The most important thing in life, my father once taught me, is learning how to fall. If one can fall, even from a great height, and then learn from that mistake, one can then rise to even greater heights with dignity and grace, he said. But there is no good way to fall in the forests of Andria. Because as my father demonstrated with his fall—or rather a dive—falling can only cost you your life here. And it can cost a daughter her only parent.
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