About this time last year, I received the fantasy fiction challenge during an online discussion about self publishing and the fantasy genre. As a notoriously difficult reader to please, one acquaintance got tired of me dismissing all the fantasy authors they recommended and suggested – nay, demanded – I attempt a fantasy novel myself.
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What I call Tolkein’s Legacy of the Rings doesn’t kick-start the fantasy genre. It originates in the roots of story telling. …
We’re currently watching Brandon Sanderson’s Free Writing Course online. Fantasy author Sanderson‘s 2020 BYU Lecture Series – Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, is online for free on Youtube.
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‘Starting the story in the middle’: that’s the Latin term in medias res. The Greek playwrights understood it well. Don’t start with a boatload of exposition, get into the action and explain things as you go. Horace named it but writers have been using it since writing began.
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Another way to think about plot is Joe Nassise’s Seven Elements of Story Structure. Last seen at [2022’s] Plot Forest Summit, best selling author and coach Nasisse has his version hooked up like an express train. …
From a talk in New York, Kurt Vonnegut on drama explained why people have such a need for drama in their life. It’s related by author Derek Sivers from way back in 2009. …
Amid the writing advice about weak verbs and passive voice, there is also a directive to eliminate the is-was verbs.
Is and was are states of being. Sure, they state facts about things that exist. But there’s no doing. There’s nothing active. Nothing happens. There’s no progress, no movement. Nothing dynamic. …
What goes onto our fictional empire-builders’ checklist? This is where essential world-building for culture and setting begins.
In the current fantasy-fiction challenge, our protagonist is in revolt against the Evil Empire de Jour. With inspiration from the Mythcreants blog, here’s a ten-step questionnaire for creating detailed and credible Imperial powers.
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According to Christine Frazier’s Better Novel Project you need twenty characters to start a book. Her post advocates this as an essential kick-starter for pop-fiction. It cites first chapters for Harry Potter and The Hunger Games (19 each) and Twilight (24). Even generalising for genre-fiction, twenty characters in Chapter One seems a bit much.
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Iconic author Kurt Vonnegut’s Eight Rules for Writing Fiction are practical, humourous and endearing; much like the man himself. …