Short
stories are challenging to write, however Tales of Mundus
doesn't work as anything else. Stories are about conflict, and Leon
and Celebramar just don't do epic quests.
I've
TRIED to create longer plots, really. (Writer's block should not
involve my own characters forming a picket line around the
imagination part of my brain.) The closest thing Mundus has to an
antagonist is a Fey queen with a grudge against the dragon. However,
she just isn't 'wicked' enough to be a re-according problem.
Mundus
refuses to have Big Bads. It's not a utopia or even a violence free
world. Nevertheless, I just can't work an Dark Lord into current
events.
There
were Evil Empresses and Mad Sorcerers, but they got vanquished
at least thirty to forty years before Leon was born. I also don't see
the people of Mundus letting more take root. (You try setting up a
dictatorship when a nosy fairy-godmother can wander though and
befriend your serfs.)
Also,
the whole point of Mundus was to watch how wizards and dragons live
when there's NOT an epic quest. What do they do with all that extra
time? Do they have hobbies, steady jobs? Order groceries, homestead?
(Plus, the thought of Celebramar trying to visit a butcher shop is
much more interesting than him fighting a frost giant or whatever.)
Tales
of Mundus feels right as a semi-connected short story anthology.
The only way I think it will every be a long plot with a set villain
is if Disney manages trick me into a contract -_-;
