Fantasy Foretold Forum Tips for Fantasy Authors

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In this thread, I am hoping to focus on the three pillars of fantasy writing: World building, plot, and writing style. That also happens to be the order in which I would suggest tackling them. Let me know what tidbits you've picked up as your writing has advanced.

World building: While this is not necessarily more important than the other two pillars, I believe that word building is easily the most challenging. It requires a discipline to work through all the little nooks and crannies of your world before you ever truly put pen to paper (which is maddening! I'm hardly that patient, myself... but I'm working on it). The BIGGEST CHALLENGE in this phase is creating something so complete and so real that inconsistencies never happen in your story. It is such an inconsistency that can complete dismember a world in a reader's mind. Anything that happens in chapter 1 should be mirrored precisely when it is referred to in, say, chapter 15.

If you ever read about writing methods like "word vomit," or "the snowflake method" where an author essentially drools ideas onto a page then comes back later to add detail, you are reading something that happens much later in the fantasy genre, as compared to most stories written in a real-world environment. Some things to focus on: history of your world, world map (it doesn't have to be beautiful at first; it can just be some basic shapes to give you a relative perspective on the places in your story), character sheet, nobility, magic system, religion(s), military (potentially multiple approaches to this if there are different nations with different military structures), chapter outline, and detailed synopses of all of your own ingenious systems.

Plot: Where world building is the glue that binds your story, plot is the value proposition you present to the reader. This is where the reader will either become an addict that needs his nightly fix, or find that he's been left with a bad taste in his mouth, wondering why in the world he paid good money for a pile of rubbish. To truly capture the reader, the plot needs many layers. There are two basic categories here: the immediate layer and the peripheral layer. The immediate layer is directly tied to the protagonist(s) journey, while the peripheral layer entails all of the things that are more "supplemental," if you will. These are the events that play out in spaces external to the protagonist(s). For example, if my main character Tom kills an orc, that is immediate. If, in the next chapter, the orc's brother Zagadash vows to take his revenge on the wicked, gleaming edge of his mighty axe Skullsplitter, that is peripheral. A good fantasy needs both. Now, a lot of genres get away with just the immediate stuff, but because the world is so large and detailed in a fantasy novel, it's generally important to focus on both. Other plot components for consideration are the external struggle (often manifesting itself as a primal good-versus-evil scenario where the protagonist(s) is charged with saving the world or the universe), the internal struggle (the emotional struggle within the protagonist(s) as she grows throughout the story), and the micro-components (such as intrigue, war, swordplay, magical battles, romance, etc.). This is such a lengthy discussion, and I hope you all will point out some of the big pieces I'm missing here.

Writing style: This is the component of novel work that requires experience and patience. If you feel like your writing is just not that great and that it will never get better, fear not! It will. Keep reading and writing, constantly trying new things and adapting your own style to sound more like your favorite authors. Here a few very simple pointers.

1. Generally sentences should flow from one to the next, so that the current sentence reflects some notion from the previous sentence. The caveat to this is the transition between paragraphs. At this point, a new thought is born, often flowing from the entire, previous paragraph.

Example: "Calairah shook her head in response.  Ardarth should know better than to be participating in tomfoolery with the squires at this time. If Father knew how lightly he was taking this meeting with the Bekaarians, he would be livid.  She just hoped she could talk some sense into him before word got back to King Reahdill that his first born son was making hay when the future of Ahrsdale depended on the success of his imminent meeting with their eastern neighbours.

"However, despite her mounting anxiety, Calairah chatted amiably with her sister as they made their way steadily through the bustling castle, taking care not to disrupt the harried, often heavily-laden, servants preparing for the mid-day feast.  Without much mishap, save for the near catastrophe of Ira accidentally bumping into a woman carrying a large vat of boiling fat, they reached the inner courtyard, blinking as they waited for their eyes to adjust to the bright morning sunlight." ~ From Fallacy, by Lubaina 

Notice how each sentence in the first paragraph flows directly from the sentence before it. Then, at the paragraph transition, Lubaina first mentions Calairah's "mounting anxiety," which acts as a bridge between the first paragraph and the second.

2. Don't feel like you always have to use conjunctions ("and," "or," "but") to connect different thoughts in a sentence.

Example: "She popped her knuckles, loosening her grip on the sword’s hilt, and rolled her shoulders so that they stayed flexibly round." ~ From Song of the Keeper's Sword by JazzSoulKeke.

Now think about this: What if this sentence had read, "She popped her knuckles and loosened her grip on the sword's hilt and rolled her shoulders so that they stayed flexibly round." The sentence doesn't flow well with the extra "and." As an obviously experienced writer, Keke chose to use the word "loosening" instead of "and loosened," which allowed her to get three actions into a single sentence while maintaining a good flow.

That is some spot-on advice, Mr. Poe. I've been writing for a while now, and I know I definitely still struggle with it from time to time.

I'll write a sentence, erase half of it, rewrite it, read it three times, erase the whole thing, rewrite it, read it, back up a paragraph and read through, erase it, and rewrite it... all to try and keep the darn thing from sounding like a dissertation, lol! ;-P

Speaking of which, I know we have some members who are really great at writing elaborate detail. I don't think anyone's given any advice in that particular arena. Anyone care to share some tasty nuggets of glorious wisdom? ;-D

(((I had to use symbols for paragraph breaks because my browser is being difficult right now. I apologize for the lack of organization. I hope it's not too distracting.)))------------------------------------------------------- I think one of the biggest errors I see fantasy writers make is explaining things instead of showing them in some form or fashion. It's easy for me to tell you: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The city was split down the middle by a large wall. The rich people were on one side. The poor were on the other side. The houses on the poor side were small and nasty, while the wealthy homes on the other side of the wall were high and mighty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------So this lacks detail--obviously--but now I'm going to SHOW you this same thing. Remember action is the key to story telling, and as a fantasy author you're going to need to show us your world. Don't explain anything. I've seen writers here on writerscafe add in the description below their works details that should have been in the story. That's one of the few things I'll TELL someone that they can't do. So here's action combined with the description. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tristan walked in the shadow of a ten foot wall. The white stones of the wall scrapped against the tips of his scared fingers, and with an occasional glance into the late orange sky, he wondered about the world that sat on the other side. Better opportunities prospered on the other side, a whole new wealthy life may be awaiting him-- "On the other side," he lipped but did not speak. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The palm of his hand slid down the wall, and slapped his thigh. He starred at nothing, and moved sluggishly towards the town of Brighton. The people there lived quietly, yet in tyranny. Their homes sat close to one another for protection, but were scarred after years of attacks. Shards of Glass laid strewn across the streets, catching in gutters when a hard rain came. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And blah blah blah. I completely pulled that out of my butt and have no idea where it's going, but maybe my point has come across? It's so easy for me to tell you that there is a poor society on one side of the wall, and a rich society on the other side, but it's so much more difficult for me to SHOW you that. It's a combination of action, a good flowing train of thought, and description. Sometimes you'll have to include smaller stories in your writing to show what's going on, but make sure they're not TOO distracting and unimportant, otherwise they'll jar out at your reader and turn them off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I didn't really discuss the 'good flowing train of thought' part. I don't really know how to explain that in words--(kinda ironic, right?). But there's an exercise I learned that helps and it involves movies. A good book is nothing but an extraordinarily detailed movie. (Some people have argued with me that crossing movies with the writing world isn't a good idea, because books are intended to be a completely different art. While that may be true to an extent, a lot of us are inspired by and have more time in our busy schedules to watch movies rather than reading a 600 page novel.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So here's my exercise: Write a scene from a popular movie, and let a friend read it and guess what movie it is. Be detailed and try to stretch the amount of time it takes to read it to at least equal if not double the length of time of the movie scene. (If names make it obvious, then change the names, otherwise you'll miss the point if the exercise.) This will help you with what I demonstrated above, combining pure action and pure description. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (By the by, if your friend is a complete idiot like most of my friends, and can't guess the movie/scene, play the scene for them and see if they at least pictured the same things.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another exercise that helps with MULTIPLE areas is to rewrite a scene from memory from one of your favorite books, and compare the two. It's kind of...depressing...especially when your favorite authors writing styles are very advanced, but I'm telling you, it will help you GREATLY advance.

I fully agree with the premise that world-building is one of the most challenging pillars of fantasy, especially with respect to high fantasy in particular. I, myself, have found that one of the more difficult aspects of world-building is the pressure to keep things not just sensible, but plausible as well.

So the formatting was being stupid and wouldn't put spaces between paragraphs, so that is why it's all zig-zaggy. This looks a lot better then what it looked like previously: just a big glob of words all mushed together that made my head hurt looking at it. Hope I help anyhow!

What I found helpful in my "world building" as it's been so named, was writing everything down. First I found a good, sturdy notebook, picked up a pen, and instead of drawing a map, I wrote down what was in my head. I have four worlds, four different planets, connected by cylindrical bodies of water that are considered the oceans. There are two suns at the northernmost point. The easternmost planet is in the season spring, which I deemed as Wakening, and is considered "morning", northernmost being Summer Storm and "noon", the westernmost being Autumn Brace, "evening", and the southernmost being Winter Slumber, and being in complete darkness, the only light being provided by the moon(s). I then wrote down names for all four planets together, and then each planet seperately, so on and so forth. 

To come up with names, I chose something mundane, like the number of planets (four) and plugged it into Google Translate and started going through the many different languages trying to find something that fit what I wanted. All of these details I recorded in this notebook, and as I wrote my chapters of my book, anything that I deemed important, I made a page in my notebook for each character and wrote down even the smallest of details. Then, I digitalized all this information in whats called Microsoft OneNote. It's incredible at organizing information. I still write things down in my notebook but I always digitalize them. The program comes with Microsoft Publisher which unfortunately costs money, but I don't think that much.

Another tip I would suggest for world building is to use history as a strong pillar for knowledge. An example would be the seven criteria of civilization (there are more complex versions, but this is the basic): organized government, complex religion, public works, art & architecture, writing, social structure, and job specialization. Want a more barbaric, animalistic world? Take out a couple of these things and see what happens.

Another thing to think about in your world is what area supplies what goods? Also, in the content of  your writing, are you going to try and send a message to the world? J.R.R. Tolkien did this in Lord of the Rings. His concept of the treants and how Sauromon (I apologize if I'm spelling anything wrong) cut down a huge mass of trees to build his fortress and such, was Tolkien's way of telling the world how wrong it is to cut down so much and destroy so much for personal gain. So in your world, what exactly is going to go on? What do you want the reader's to be appalled at, what do you want them to remember when describing the book to someone else?

That's all I have for world building. I do, however, have a few pointers for fluidity in writing. The best way to be better at transitioning words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters to flow smoothly and easily for the reader is practice. Practice, practice, practice, and even more practice. Reading all types of different authors also helps tremendously. But you can't just practice - you have to have someone around you who writes well sit down and help guide you and give pointers in how to be an even better writer. You can ALWAYS improve. It doesn't matter if you are 99.9% correct in all grammar in anything you've ever written... You still have .1% of improvement that you can work on to better yourself.

The best thing I can say for writer's who are reading this is to practice what you're worst at, even if you hate it with a burning passion. Don't like dialogue? Sit down and start writing conversation between people. Don't write about how they look, write about the facial expressions they exchange and the words that are passed between two characters. Doing this with characters you've already created helps tremendously as well, is it helps you understand them better. Don't like grammar? There are websites galore on helping you better your grammar, and then there are the grammar nazi's in teh world that would love to sit down and critique your work. Have a low vocabulary? Sit down with a dictionary each down and copy a page or two of the word, it's definition, and use it in two or three sentences. Try to use some of the words in every day life.   Small things here and there do add up eventually, even if it seems hopeless. Just practice, practice, practice, and get someone to help you. Even the best of us need help sometimes.

Good luck!

Man, between the 3 of you guys, that's some REALLY awesome stuff! I think we're really onto something, here (I've never even heard of the 7 pillars, Moon). I say, after a few more people weigh in, we seriously consider putting together a comprehensive fantasy course.

I just learned about the seven pillars/criteria of civiliaztion myself just last semester in World History class. It's amazing what can be learned from regular high school classes that can stick with a person to help write all kinds of different stories. Oh, and I also have a course up all ready that's sort of popular... It's a few years old and I haven't read it in a while, so there are probably a few mistakes and such that I should edit, but I think it's worth the read.

Hey guys! Jazz and I were just messaging each other about the many wonders of English literature, and I thought I'd add a few things about figurative language in creative writing!

I just thought that I would share with you guys a definition of civilization that I always keep in mind when I develop different cultures that are sedentary (based on agriculture) as opposed to nomadic.  

Good stuff guys! Jeeze, at this rate we'll all be Tolkien by autumn ;-P

@Jane: You should teach all elementary English classes. By the way, if you're into novels that really center (pretty much purely in this case) around the "quest," you should definitely read "The Belgariad" by David Eddings. It's pretty good, but I wouldn't recommend following it up with his "The Mallorean," as it's literally the exact same plot, like verbatum (and "The Elenium" isn't bad either... also kind of a similar plot, though not so much the coming-of-age tale as "The Belgariad," but I confess I never finished it lol).

@Lubaina: That's a great call out. I never even thought of having nomadic or barbarian peoples in a novel!

Okay, here's a question for you guys:

So I've got like 10,000+ words I can't do anything with until I finish chapter 2, but I've got these three guys on a path in a forest. They don't have weapons so a sweet sword fight is out of the question, but they are being pursued. I need a good, solid 2,000 words on the path, but I'm boring the life out of myself with this thing! Any ideas on how to make it exciting?

The last two stories I gave up on ended with a droning walk through the forest. The last one was at like 25,000'ish words, lol. It's the bane of my literary existence!!!

Hmmm....  You could do what I do when I don't feel like writing about something and just skip time with a good break in the page, filling the reader in with the highlights/important parts of the journey through retrospect.  Of course, if you REALLY need those 2000 words, then I suppose you could: 1) create an interesting conversation (perhaps regarding something about the characters or plot that will seem insignificant but reappear later) 2) have them be attacked (maybe the pursuers caught up) and engage in a fist fight 3) create a random something in need of quick saving 4) maybe they eat some hallucenogenic plant and begin to see stuff 5) a combination of these

I can't give incredibly good advice as I haven't read your story, but those are some things I came up with.