Wendy Wagner 859's page

Apart from fantasy, what other genres would you like to write? Sci-fi? Romance? Horror? Historical fiction? Spy thrillers?

I'm currently working on a SF novel, but a big chunk of my short fiction is horror. I do most of my work in those fields, really--Pathfinder is the only fantasy that's been holding my attention lately.

My favorite genre to read, though, is mystery. I'd really like to write a nice tight mystery set in Golarion some time. Maybe one of those cozy ones with the recipes and the cats. ;)

Inspired by Winter Witch, but a question for everyone:

How do you deal with power creep?

Specifically, there is a tendency for characters in continuing series to grow in power (as they overcome the core conflict in each tale) to the point where it eventually becomes difficult to significantly challenge them.

For one, my heroine is her own biggest threat. Jendara is a really rash person. Sure, she's becoming a better fighter all the time, but she's still prone to making terrible, unsafe decisions.

Also, my greatest love is creating challenging settings. Sure, it's no longer a big deal for Jendara to fight a troll or a giant -- when she's in reasonable territory. What if she can't see? What if she's hallucinating? What if there's a landslide going on? As a writer, you can always find a way to make things much, much harder for you characters.

Actually, it's kind of disturbing how much I enjoy doing it!

My story in Adventure Path #95 is about an alchemist--he was my first serious magic-user in fiction (although when we play, I play as a cleric). It was weird and fun to figure out everything the character could and couldn't do. To be honest, I really picked an alchemist because I wanted to include cool explosions!

I do love writing fighters. I like reading about weapons and thinking about how they'd be used in different situations. Research is probably my favorite part of writing for Pathfinder--I'm a total history nut.

Can't wait to meet in person, Wendy! I also recommend GenCon and Worldcon (that's where I met Dave). Will you be at either this year?

I'll be at Worldcon for sure!

I'm having WAY too much fun reading everyone's responses. I wish I knew all of the other Tales writers in real life! I'm lucky to know Josh Vogt pretty well via social media--I think we'd have a blast collaborating on a project together.

Guess I need to make sure I get to PaizoCon!

Aggh! I can't wait for payday so I can get a copy of this--I've been eager to play this one for a while now.

Itchy wrote:

Shivok wrote:

Is this novel set in Arcadia?

Negative. The novel is set in Golarion in The Land of the Linnorm Kings. The main character lives in the Ironbound Archipelago, so I assume that the story will at least START there.

Where it goes from there, only James Sutter and Wendy Wagner know.

While there's definitely been some talk about skinwalkers being an Arcadian thing, this book is set completely in the Linnorm Kingdoms/Ironbound Archipelago. That said, it *is* interesting to note that the archipelago is about as close as you can get to Arcadia without leaving the Inner Sea region, so it's quite possible that the skinwalker superstitions and traditions of the Linnorm Kingdoms were influenced by historical contact with Arcadia!

Now *that* is fascinating to think about!

Thank you both so much!

Also, I just discovered this forum discussion today, and my mind is blown. Fingers are crossed that you all enjoy the book!

Does anyone know who painted the cover art? It's awesome!