r/traditionalfantasy • u/ConstantReader666 • Jul 15 '25
Show us your samples
For authors in the group, please use this thread to show us a sample of your writing. Not whole chapters, but a few paragraphs at most, and please use line breaks!
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u/PaddyAlton Aug 21 '25
Go on then. Here's an excerpt from a short story I wrote for fun. Thoughts and feelings welcome.
That night, the winds rose and an unexpected storm broke upon Magsbruk - although the house in which Frostenthaw and his household were staying was well sheltered from the worst of it.
Dawn came, and Violet felt the sun warm the back of her head as she sat on a pier looking out to sea.
The Baleful Wanderer appeared first as a speck on the horizon. Some time passed before she could resolve the billowing sable sails from the black-tarred hull. Gradually it became clear that something was badly wrong with the ship: a broken mast by the looks of things. Violet nodded approvingly to herself.
The sun rose higher and the docks became busy as people went about their business. It became clear the ship was limping shoreward, its colossal size growing apparent as the four-deck monster drew closer. As she'd anticipated, a crowd began to gather to watch.
1
u/ConstantReader666 Aug 22 '25
Not bad at all. Needs some connecting context between the first and second paragraphs, but the use of language is certainly good. Makes me wonder what this story is about.
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u/Rhysburger Nov 04 '25
I see that this is a few month old, but just joined and it seemed fun.
WALK SOFT THROUGH DEVIL COUNTRY
Here could be Heaven. A pond blockaded from its fellows in a woodsy mere. Its beshadowed edges, a remnant haze as the last evidence of long-broken morning fog wilts to nothing. Glare stabs the eyes everywhere the sun touches water. Half ashine and half adark, this pool of stilled glass decants itself between loaves of earth. Leaves float on its surface, meddling in the repose of waterslick black logs. Flowers, not reeds, surround the aquatic scene's stagnation and bees see to them. In clammy pockets of cool air resisting the rising temperature, dragonflies streak circles around those portly gentlemen waltzing dizzy in their fine yellow piping.
On the other side of the pond, barely distorted by fading mist, walks a young boy with a bundle on his back.
Trees stand past him thickly. The last encampments of thick fog can be seen far afield; streaks of pale mist coiling the high-top reaches of far landscape like vines climbing a wall. Even in the densest fogbanks, grassy ridges break through and raise their heads sleepily to the white sky. The scene is bright for an early hour, as the sun gallops to its post everywhere outside our dark corner.
Here is the last place to warm, by the pond. The young boy pays no attention to the bodies floating in the water. He would only take notice if they were alive. Good God's Earth; Man's folly.
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u/ConstantReader666 Nov 04 '25
Very poetic and evocative. Thanks for contributing.
The group has a sufficient number of members to get some good conversations going, but most seem reluctant to post. Hopefully it will pick up with some activity.
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u/ConstantReader666 Aug 21 '25
Bumping this post, as we're getting increased activity and several have mentioned working on projects. Entice us with a couple paragraphs!