If there is no willingness to use force to defend civil society, it's civil society that goes away, not force.
Teresa Nielsen HaydenDon't use metaphors in fantasy; your readers will take them literally. Or they may take them figuratively - but if so, they'll also take your magics and transformations figuratively. Either way, you're in trouble.
Teresa Nielsen HaydenThat's the great thing about doing good: Anyone can do it, any time, no waiting periods or batteries required.
Teresa Nielsen HaydenThere's a rule for what makes good fantasy work, and it's as strange as any riddle ever posed in a fairy tale: In fantasy, you can do anything; and therefore, the one thing you must not do is 'just anything.' Why? Because in a story where anything can happen and anything can be true, nothing matters. You have no reason to care what happens. It's all arbitrary, and arbitrary isn't interesting.
Teresa Nielsen Hayden