Inspiration for Justi (RRB)

David Edding’s novel The Belgariad entertained and inspired me to write my epic fantasy, Justi the Gifted.  I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Belgarion as he prepared for his confrontation with a god.  In 2012 Eddings commented on his successful series of fantasy books:
The story itself is fairly elemental—Good vs. Evil, Nice Guys vs. Nasty Guys (or Them vs. Us).  It has the usual Quest, the Magic (or Holy) Thingamajig, the Mighty sorcerer, the Innocent Hero, and the Not Quite so Innocent Heroine—along with a widely varied group of Mighty Warriors with assorted character faults.  It wanders around for five books until it finally climaxes with the traditional duel between “Our Hero” and the “Bad Guy.”
 
Justi has some of these features.  The protagonists Justi and Garion struggle to come to terms with their unexpected and unwanted power.  Both act as if they were teenagers told to get a job. My readers will, of course, find Good vs. Evil and Nice vs. Nasty, but I really don’t have a Magic Thingamajig, a Mighty Sorcerer, and an Innocent Hero.  Heroine Mercerio is quite innocent, although she can be pushy, outspoken, and critical.  The closest I come to magic is a focus stone that directs Justi toward Mercerio.  The interference in the world of men by the gods does allows tinkering with the minds of animals—dogs, wolves, a bear, a boar, and a cat.  That is a sort of magic.  My seers or wise men are the closest I get to sorcerers, and they are more likely to be buffoonish than mighty.  As for the traditional duel between hero and bad guy, the reader must await a future book for that satisfying, resolving tidbit. 

As book readers, we know what we like and gravitate to read that type of book again.  The same thing works with writers.  We tend to emulate what attracts us in other writers.  I like Eddings as a fantasy writer and I like Grimes as a mystery writer.