The Story of the Awesome Kally

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Who is Kally?  Aka Kally, aka Kallysti, author Stephanie Ciofalo is one of the FantasyFic writers.  I should say she is one of the very talented FantasyFic writers and also one of the administrators at the FantasyFic.com site.  I am also proud to call her a colleague.

Kally is really an amazing person.   She has more energy than a pack of chimpanzees and a most delightful sense of humor.  Add those to her writing talent, and you have a woman driven to write (which means she will be successful) and yet is still able to laugh at herself.

This lady, a fantasy fiction writer, has invented a world that is unique.  I have never seen anything closely resembling it in any literature I have read.  Mind you, I haven’t read even all the classic fantasies, never mind contemporary ones, but I still think I would have heard of a world like this during shop talk.  She has peopled it quite naturally with the most interesting men and women (and children) you would ever hope to meet.  They are natural and true to their own culture in a way that is masterfully overseen.  No, I don’t mean author intrusion; I mean making sure that the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief is never broken.

I don’t want to tell you about this world, because that is Kally’s province, but believe me when I tell you this lady just might hit the bestseller list with at least one of her books in the series she is writing.  Just my opinion, but I’m keeping an eye on her.

Author Stephanie Ciofalo - aka Kallysti

The unusual thing about Kally is that she didn’t start out to be a writer.  She didn’t think she had that much skill at it in the beginning and went to college to get a geology degree.  Then when she started playing EverQuest, then EverQuest II, she started writing fan fiction about her character in the game and the characters of her friends.  This is how she met her husband, and they had an interesting courtship online by writing these stories together.  People liked them (the stories, I mean – although they liked Kally and her hubby-to-be as well).

Encouraged about her writing, Kally joined FantasyFic in 2007 and proceeded to blossom (writerly-wise) like a magic rose under the summer light of two suns (her world has two suns, I believe).  She wrote material that just blew me away.  Of course, I encouraged and helped her.  She was one of those delightful writers that is polite about critiques and suggestions.  (When I was editor at Warcry and Silky Venom, I would only critique if people asked me to – for safety reasons :P).  For Kally, however, there was no looking back.

If you’d like to see some examples of her writings, visit her at her site, Stephanie’s Stories, where she is currently talking about the things she has written.

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Welcome to Fantasyfic – Journey Through the Worlds of Fantasy Fiction

Anthology edited by Sandra Bell Kirchman and published by FantasyFic - recently released.

To paraphrase a well-known bathroom wall graffiti:  Here I sit, broken-hearted; came to write and never started.  I’ve discovered that writing is one of the loneliest occupations in the world.  Even if I am collaborating with someone else, in the end it boils down to me sitting down and…well…writing.  Just me and my computer screen.  On occasion, I’ve even felt like Dr. Johnny Fever, who, when sitting in on the all-night show for Venus Flytrap in “WKRP in Cincinnati,” called out over the mike at 4am, “For the love of God, is there anybody out there?”.  Fortunately, there are ways to counteract that loneliness.

Hi, I’m Sandra Bell Kirchman.  If you’re trying to write fantasy fiction and hitting road blocks, I invite you to follow along with me as I hit the open road of writing a fantasy novel.  It’s an epic adventure with the working title of Battle Cleric, full of various kinds of elves and a journey both into the past and the future of retired Battle Cleric Emerald Verity.  I’ll be sharing some information on plot structure, character development, world building, name-calling (but we’ll be polite about it 🙂 ), where, when, and if you need to find cover artists, and basically the joy and freedom of writing fantasy.  Perhaps we’ll explore book signings as well, something I’ve done a fair amount of.  And anything else that touches our fancy along the way.   I hope you’ll be sharing some of your techniques and ideas along the way as well.

In addition, we be touching on pictures and quotes to inspire us or represent a part of our writing.  We’ll also be discussing a few of our favorite fantasy authors and why they are our favorites, pinpointing technique and style as we go.  Fantasy movies will also be a part of it. 

I do hope you’ll join me, as we take our “Journey Through the Worlds of Fantasy Fiction.”

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I’ve written a fantasy novel, Witchcanery, which has won quite a bit of acclaim around the world and a few awards along the way.  It has also earned me a much-coveted spot in “50 Great Writers You Should be Reading” (I’m the one hidden behind the “d” in “Reading.”)  This is a book of hope for writers and insight for readers into the struggles and successes of 50 writers chosen by The Authors Show.  The book was published and recently released by The Authors Show for purchase.

I have also edited, contributed a story, and done the layout for two anthologies—one entitled In the Shadow of the Burr Oak, written by my students of a short story class; the other entitled Birth of a Unicorn and Other Stories, written by the writers at my website’s forum and just recently released.  I have worked a lot with these writers, and together we have written a wonderful book.

And now, together, you and I can explore the world of fantasy together, while I regale you with all my adventures and you share with me your own writing tribulations and successes. 

“Journey Through the Worlds of Fantasy Fiction” will commence January 4, 2011, perhaps heralding a brand new year and a brand new writing horizon.