From Reading Fantasy to Writing My Own

I've spent a good part of my life reading fantasy. Some books have stayed with me for decades, while others I've enjoyed and promptly forgotten. That's the thing about stories. Sometimes they become part of your life without you really noticing.

Through Mostly Epic Fantasy, I've talked about the books I've read, the worlds I've explored, and the memories I've attached to them.

But for years, I've also had my own ideas floating around in my head. Characters, places, bits of history, and events that might eventually become stories.

So I decided to start writing them down.

Enter Strenkar

My first story is called Strenkar's Gloves. It's a complete dark fantasy short story of approximately 6,000 words.

It follows a man called Strenkar, who was struck by lightning as a child and survived with terrible scars and an unusual ability to manipulate magic.

Thirty years later, he's living in a castle, researching the nature of magic and building something he calls the God Maker.

Strenkar isn't an engineer or some great scholar. He's a man who has spent years reading, experimenting, making connections and figuring things out for himself.

He's also carrying around a considerable amount of anger towards the gods.

And being the reasonable sort of fellow he is, he's decided to do something about it.

Naturally, things don't quite go to plan.

Why write it?

I've always enjoyed fantasy that explores the messier parts of people. Grief, anger, ambition, the decisions we make and the consequences that follow.

I also enjoy building worlds and thinking about how things work within them. Magic, for example, is far more interesting to me when it has rules, limitations and consequences.

Strenkar's Gloves grew out of those interests.

Writing it has been an interesting experience. Having an idea in your head is one thing. Getting it onto a page in a way that makes sense to someone else is quite another.

I'm an amateur writer, and I'm enjoying the process of learning the craft and bringing these ideas to life.

What's next?

Strenkar's Gloves is currently being prepared for publication as an ebook, with a planned release on 27 November 2026.

It's a short story, but it's also an introduction to a larger world I've been developing.

I've got more ideas and stories from that world I'd like to explore. Where they eventually lead, we'll see.

For now, there's Strenkar. A man who believes he's clever enough to challenge the gods.

If dark fantasy, flawed characters and the occasional spectacularly bad decision sound interesting, I'd invite you to read the opening of Strenkar's Gloves when it's available.

After all, Strenkar has gone to a lot of trouble to get the gods' attention. It would be a shame if nobody noticed.