Tammy Spahn

My writing usually alternates between two phases: For the main plot, I like to keep only a premise, an ending and a few key points in my head and let the rest of the story grow organically and connect everything. This doesn't always happen as planned, as my characters like to develop a life of their own and do something unexpected, and I end up in a situation I hadn't foreseen!

The other part, which takes up the most time, is the more straight-forward one: the "crafting" phase, in which I go back to chapters and chisel away at them to smoothen the narrative, add details and generally make sure that everything feels right. Once everything is "done", I like to distance myself from it for a while and then read the entire thing again from start to finish to brush over irregularities.

Sadly, I do! I was very young when I wrote it; it was in English despite my not being a native speaker, but it was written like bad fanfiction (my main exposure to English-language literature at the time!) and the plot was cartoony and almost non-sequitur. It has since evolved into the webcomic I run (Tails of Lanschilandia) while my other writing endeavours have moved on to semi-serious Fantasy; I've come a long way since then!

My first serious attempt at Fantasy writing after that was the result of a small 2000-word story writing competition hosted by someone I used to know; a possibly humorous tale about a troll and a goblin magician in a prototype of the "Pelsatia" universe I tend to write about these days. It still wasn't the best, but it set the mood for much of what was to follow, and I don't regret writing it; it was the best "warm-up" to my career I could have asked for!