Fantasy Fiction This or That Challenge | Creative Writing
Fantasy Author ‘This or That’
JF Danskin’s ‘This or That’ responses
This is a response to the following challenge from Jacinta Palmer — thanks for tagging me!
The ‘this or that’ challenges are a fun way for writers to share a bit more about themselves by making a series of choices. Check out Jacinta Palmer’s article, as well as the many challenges set by Brett Jenae Tomlin in the publication BJ’s This or That — The Gathering Table.
The current ones are based fantasy fiction — ideal for me! I hope you’re ready. Let’s go!!!!
1. Dystopian or Enchanted
While I enjoy both, at least in my writing, for example my Shadow Kingdoms stories, I have leaned more towards magic, enchantment, and high fantasy.
2. Vampire or Dragon
I don’t write much about either, but feel that vampires work really well in urban fantasy, and I write more about high fantasy… so, it has to be dragons! I say this despite being a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
3. Sword or Bolt of Fire from your Fingers
You kind of know where you are with a sword, right? But on the other hand, a cantrip can’t be disarmed, lasts forever, and isn’t heavy to carry around. So it’s fire-fingers for me!
4. Mind Reading or Crystal Ball
Both feel a little invasive… but I guess I’d lean towards mind reading, for similar reasons to the previous answer.
5. Broomstick or Winged Creature
Hmm… a winged creature can’t be treated as a tool, and its trust would have to be won, but if this was done well, you’d have a companion and possibly someone who would defend you. So that’s my pick.
6. Runes or Tarot Cards
Runes all the way! When I was at high school I was obsessed with Tolkien and his runes, and created some of my own.
7. Under an Oath or Stolen Memories
Both make for interesting stories, but I’m going to go with the oath. It’s a compelling motivation for a character to write about, as is the idea of the oathbreaker and whether they can be redeemed (besides, I’ve read a lot about memory, and most people don’t understand how it works 😅).
8. Rainbow or Waterfall
I assume these are not the names of your gnomes? I pick waterfall. There is one that plays a role in the first big fight scene in my web-novel, The Tooth and Claw Guild, on Royal Road, and is in fact the name of the chapter (read ‘Chapter 7: The Waterfall’ here).
9. Enchanted Object or Cursed Object
Both cool, but again a cursed object provides a lot of fun story options! And even if it’s not outright cursed, it’s a nice challenge to give your characters when a magic item isn’t straightforward to use.
10. Seer or Warlock
I think at least as a main character, I’d rather write about a warlock. A seer might come into a particular scene, but it’s harder to know what their character arc could be. Perhaps if they were the worst seer from a family of seers? I’m talking myself into it! But overall, I love a D&D-style warlock, with the full ‘pact with a demon’ thing going on.
11. Dungeon or Banishment
Dungeon crawler stories are very popular in LitRPG, including stories where the dungeons are sentient. However, I‘m not that inspired by the traditional fantasy dungeon, packed with monsters. Banishment is interesting because it’s about character, so I’ll go with that.
12. Soul Sucking or Demon Torment
It’s got to be demon torment, perhaps a somewhat imagined one…? I’ve never quite got my head around how souls are supposed to work, or what the mechanics of losing one’s soul would be… 😆
13. Portal or Time Travel
Well, since Jonathon Sawyer said such nice things about my recent portal/isekai story, I’ll go with that! I do like writing historical stuff, but I’m not sure I’d call Sparta Online (for example) ‘time travel’.
14. Undiscovered or Forgotten
Great question! Both are fun, but on balance there is something really rich about somewhere forgotten. Check out Chapter 14 of the LitRPG story that I mentioned earlier for an example (I should probably share some of that stuff on Medium some time).
15. Enchanted to Sleep or Cursed to Ride
I’ve never really explored a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ plot, but it would be a cool one to subvert.
16. Diary or Grimoire
I think I’ll go grimoire. As with Q14, it has a lot of ‘ancient, forgotten lore’ vibes. An ancient dusty book — what sorcerer used it before? Great stuff!
17. Kraken or Mermaid
Ha… had to be Kraken (lore), right folks? But seriously… A kraken will feature in the forthcoming Sparta Online book 3. Monsters ftw.
18. Haunted or Re-programmed
It’s worth bearing in mind that a lot of LitRPG fantasy stories come through some kind of VR or artificial intelligence interface/game. So from that perspective, re-programmed fits quite well. Stories where there is something wrong with the game, or perhaps there is an AI guide that can’t be trusted…? Or maybe it’s the protagonist that has been reprogrammed, like in my dystopian LitRPG story with Froga.
19. Historical or Future
Perhaps all the mentions of Sparta would lead to a certain assumption here! I also wrote an entire 5-novel series based on early medieval Scotland, too. But actually, quite a few of my stories are based in the near future. So I find this hard to make a call. Sparta Online is based in a dystopian future where players enter a game world set in ancient Greece. So I really can’t choose— sorry!
20. This World or Another Realm
Again, it can be a bit of both (isekai, VR, or whatever), but on balance, most of my writing and thinking is about other worlds, whether it’s Shadow Kingdoms, Primatria, or some unnamed fantasy realm that’s just for fun.
Check out responses from fellow fantasy author Bradan Writes Stories here. He even used his answers as prompts to write a new story! Wow!
And hey, if you’re new to sharing fiction on Medium, why not have a go? It’s fun! ⚔️📚
If you want to keep up with my writing, you can get my posts direct to your inbox. Do that here! 🧠 And if you share my enthusiasm for fiction on Medium, consider following and signing up as a writer for publications like Choose Your Own Adventure — Collaboration, The Kraken Lore, and The Fiction Writer’s Den.