fantasy

Writing Fantasy – Do’s & Dont’s

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writing-a-bookFantasy is a fun genre of fiction that uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally set apart and crosses paths with science fiction and horror as they all three have sub-genres in the fiction world.

Fantasy is one of those genre’s made up of many creative things and frequently includes elements from the Middle Ages.  Most fantasy is adventure based, with a conflict between good and evil which is usually the common theme of plot.  When you here fantasy you probably think of things like wizards, elves, magic, etc…Fantasy is often based on myths, legends, and folklore, that could stem across multiple cultures.

If you’ve thrown around the idea of writing fantasy then here are a few things to do.  

  • Read a lot of fiction in the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genre’s. Soak up as much as you can about the way the books flow, plot layouts, structure, etc.
  • Do the real world research on any folklore, culture, and traditions those era’s had you want to pull into the book.
  • Ask questions, find writing mentors, learn new ways to bring an idea to the page.
  • If you are setting your story in medieval times or using elements from those times, research medieval life in the real world.
  • Plan your fantasy worlds before you start, figure out all the details you want the readers to know about.  This will help you during the writing process as it will become more natural and eliminate any doubt you might have on the topics.
  • Set limits for your world and hero / heroine of the world, as this creates obstacles within the story for readers to be evolved with and helps get to know the world.
  • Bring your fantasy to life with lots of detail.  Give the readers a chance to meet everyone in the book, and make them feel at home like they are actually in the world you are describing.

Here are a few things not to do when writing fantasy. 

  • Don’t disclose everything you know about the fantasy world you’ve made.  The planning you do up front is for you to make sure the story is told correctly, but that doesn’t mean that every detail you write needs to make it to the book.  All the prep you do up front will give the readers something real to look forward to and enjoy. Give the readers some play room with things that you know about the world but they don’t yet.  Let them come up with there own ideas and conclusions about a specific personality of a person, or maybe a place in the book.
  • Don’t break the rules of the world that you have planned.  This in a way will give the readers a false sense of reading and make them feel cheated like what your telling isn’t worth the time for them to read it anymore.
  • Don’t copy people, places, things from other fantasy authors.  Use your imagination to create this magical universe you want the readers to be a part of.
  • Don’t lose track of the story and where you are at with it. Map the book out, the ideas, and all the fun details you get throughout the days while prepping to write.  It’s fun to create worlds with magical tales to tell but don’t get so caught up with the tiny details that you forget to create the main plot of the story.
  • Don’t forget to save MULTIPLE copies of this story and the details, along with any planning materials you have along the way.  You don’t want to lose that work and not have a backup to revert to.

The Battle of the Gladden Fields

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AnduinThe One Ring Lost

The Disaster of the Gladden Fields was a battle at the beginning of the Third Age, in which Isildur and a group of acompanying Dunedain were attached by a large group of Orcs as they were marching home after defeating Sauron. The king and his three eldest sons Elendur, Aratan, and Ciryon were all slain and the Ring of Power was lost in the River Anduin. Only three men survived this battle, Ohtar being one of them, an esquire of the kings which was able to save the shards of Narsil.

With the death of Isildur, it impacted both Gondor and Arnor as it left both kingdoms seperated and isolated.  Arnor wouldn’t be able to completely recover from this loss of it’s nobles and knights until the kingship of Aragorn in the Fourth Age. Most importantly, Isildur’s death prevented him from passing on the One Ring to the Keepers of the Three, which he had passed on to his brother Elendur to be his chief reason for visiting Elrond in Rivendell.

After the War of the Alliance, Isildur remained in Gondor for one year, taking back lost lands.  He sent a large part of Arnor’s armies back to Eriador through the Fords of Isen to Fornost.  After getting the affairs of the southern realm in order, he handed the South Kingdom over to Meneldil and marched to Rivendell. He chose to leave his wife and son at Rivendell, but also came for counsel from lord Elrond.

ae12The Battle Ground

The Dunedain traveled northwards from Lorien, marching along a path that led to Greenwood the Great where Thranduil ruled. They had to change routes due to the flooding of the Anduin, which led Isildur to take the road on the eastern banks of the river. Isildur’s party was flanked as the enemy used the steep cliffs overlooking the river.

The Dunedain sang cheerful songs but as the evening drew close they began to hear the orcs in the nearby forest. The first onslaught struck quickly so Isildur called for his esquire Ohtar to take the shards of Narsil back to Rivendell for safe keeping.  The second attack from the orcs brought down the Numenorians great defenses, and Elendur convinced Isildur to flee and cross the Anduin if he could and find safety back at Rivendell.

Isildur cloaked himself with the ring, and made a run for the valley parting ways with his armies and tried to cross the river. Unfortunately the rivers waters were flowing to hard and Isildur being exhausted got tangled in the reeds and in doing so the ring slipped from his finger. Nearby Orc’s caught sight of Isildur in the waters and out of fear quickly shot him and fled.

eiszmann42Wake of Destruction 

Only Ohtar, Elendur, Estelmo, and a handful of men survived the battle. Isildur’s body was never recovered, and was presumed captured and mutilated by Sauron’s forces  The orc army that ambushed the Dunedain were scattered among the lands by a relief force but they were to late.  Estelmo after being recovered spoke of how Isildur and Elendur related to each other about the One Ring. Isildur remarked: “I cannot use it. I dread the pain of touching it. And I have not yet found the strength to bend it to my will. It needs one greater than I know myself to be. My pride has fallen. It should go to the Keepers of the Three.”

Probably the biggest fall of the Gladden Fields was the union of Arnor and Gondor were broken by blood, and Isildur never managed to give the ring of power to the three.  Elrond, Galadriel, and Celeborn if given the chance probably would have destroyed the ring of power long before Sauron would have gathered his spirit and refortified Mordor.  But we all know how this story ends as Sauron does finally fall to the hands of many brave souls, and one very important little hobbit named Frodo.

Newbie Blogger Initiative 2016 – Cartography of a Fantasy World

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See, you can post about anything for #NBI2016

I wanted to do something different this morning and take a look at map making!!!  Didn’t you ever draw a secret treasure map when you were a kid?  Map making is fun but it can be a huge challenge and pain point for writers who want to depict their world to the audience.

Technically I’m wrong in calling it “Map Making” which I pulled this from the definition off of Wikipedia.

“Cartography (from Greek χάρτης khartēs, “map”; and γράφειν graphein, “write”) is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively”

Personally I’ve always enjoyed making maps for any of the stories I’ve written but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have frustrations that came along while making them.  Creating a map for a fictional world is one of the most satisfying things you can do, as it gives you a greater idea and visual reference to what your world really looks like.  All those ideas floating around in your head about this magical world is only a pen and paper away. Creating a map on paper is one of the best ways for a writer to connect to their world as it allows you to see the geography of the land, and best thing is it’s yours so customize how you see fit.

I’m not a published writer “Yet” but that is something I am diligently working on as I have a fantasy novel series that’s in the making. This epic story is currently four years in the works and map making has been a huge piece of depicting this piece of fantasy.  The worst part about writing when you have a map for reference is when you go back and realize you’ve missed a great detail of location specifics in the story.  It’s one of those oops moments you get when writing and the questions begin to pop about why didn’t I look at this closer, or why did I write location A when it really should have been location B the war took place.

Frequent reference to your map can be one of the greatest tools in the bag for you as a writer.  Stumped on where your hero was supposed to end up, check the map and maybe it will turn a flickering light bulb into a bright spotlight of an idea.  The uses for a map from a writers perspective are to help bring the story to life, and give the geography of what you have in your head a visual presence for you and the reader.

Mapping a world isn’t a set style and there really isn’t anything you can do that is wrong or would break some hidden rule of map making.  Take a look at the visual style of the following map.  Probably one of the most famous fantasy worlds ever created to date.

middleearth.jpg

I don’t think their will ever be another world quite like what Tolkien created with Middle Earth, but that’s not to say we can’t get some inspiration off of the beautiful world he created.

Another famous author and amazing story with a vast beautiful map is Narnia.  Both C.S Lewis and Tolkien had grand creative minds and each with their own flair for map making.

Map-of-Narnia-cs-lewis-1434807-700-528

Now a quick look at a rough draft for one of my maps I created.  It’s nowhere finished and doesn’t have the flare or prestige either of the maps above do.  The world I’m creating is for the novel series I spoke about earlier.

This is the first time I’ve ever let anyone look at one of the early rough drafts of one of my maps.  This one is still in the works and it’s ever changing at times with new places and grows as I continue to write this novel.

Welcome to Ardonia – The main world of my novel series Brothers Three

Map (2)

 

How do I get started map making…..?

  • Have fun and CREATE
    • First and foremost have fun with it and allow it to be something that sparks creativity for you and your story.  Don’t let it become a burden or you will be overwhelmed and quit pretty quickly through frustration.  It’s easy to try and be a perfectionist when creating a map for anything so don’t be afraid to have multiple versions, drafts, copies, and let the map be something that could continually grow and change just as a real world does.
  • Take Risks
    • Don’t be afraid to develop something that doesn’t work the first time around.  Remember things have a natural process for development and as you write and grow the story, your map may continue to grow with it.  Don’t get stuck in one style of box….have a bunch of them and hop in and out whenever you want.
  • Create the Foundation
    • Every world has a center of attention.  What is your’s?  What are the major cities, towns, and locations on your map?  You have to start somewhere so why not start with a basic list of cities and towns.
  • Land Development & Growth
    • Anything you create will always be a work in progress of sorts.  As I mentioned above the land mass you create will have a natural development process and a free flow but you have to allow for that space and development to happen.  Have some places in your world that aren’t mapped out per say….maybe it’s a discovery point later on in the story and a new map get’s released. Just sayin.
  • Features of the World
    • This is a very complex piece of map making, as you not only have to think about the geography of the land, but the type of surroundings, climate, cultures, race of inhabitants etc.  Do you have a town with a unique culture that stands out from the rest, or maybe a deserted location locked away with dark secrets.  The possibilities are limitless of how you carve the land and features of this world.

 

Have fun creating your world and enjoy the development of how the characters of the story interact with their surroundings. Go checkout some of your favorite fantasy / sci-fi novels and begin to explore their worlds as it will help you get a perspective of what to do for your map.

 

 

Writing & Building a Fantasy World

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8da509b65cfd623939820230f39dc6d9As with most things in writing, there are a lot of ways to build a world well, and a lot more ways to do it poorly.  First, let me start with the fact that I am still working on my first novel series, and the world building early on became overwhelming.  This is no one’s fault except mine as I rushed into a very large project that at the time I wasn’t quite ready to tackle yet.  Many years of writing short fantasy / sci-fi stories, and personal blogging gave me the feeling I was ready to take on a novel of epic proportions.  Ultimately, I’ve loved every minute of this writing journey I’ve ventured into as it’s helped me grow as a writer, and building worlds was a huge step into the creative for me.  These few paragraphs are  just some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned a long the way to make world building easier, and more enjoyable.

When looking at the world you want to build think of it along these two lines: first, you need to establish what you know about the world.  Start looking at everything the world needs to have….Does the world have technology based on some time period we currently have or seen?  Does this world fit into a specific time period that we already know?  Maybe it’s set in the colonial age, or maybe some time period we’ve never even seen before. If you’re setting your world into a specific time period, you can answer a lot of questions for yourself as we have the history to study on it. The more different you make your world than any culture in earth’s history, the more challenging it is both for you as a writer and for your readers to imagine.

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Secondly, you’re going to have to think about how the world works which is where the writing gets fun!  This portion of the story creation is where you let the imagination run wild most of the times!  This is where you get to ask the big questions: Does this world have magic in it? What are the economic systems in this world? What kind of ruler or rulers will you have in this world? See, the fantastic thing about writing fantasy is that you can make up almost anything you want – as long as it makes sense and can be explained to some degree. If your world feels too weird, it will be hard for your readers to buy into what you’ve created. So in some ways, the weirder you make things, the more you have to make sure that readers see that your characters experience these weird things as normal everyday living. Think of the most normal objections readers would have to the weird things in your world, and don’t be afraid to confront them head on within the story.

So looking back at our first line of thinking, you really need to make a big decision of how this world actually works and functions.  Brain power is all this takes, along with gallons of coffee, and caffeine!  Really though, this just takes some time and deep thought, but coffee just goes well with that process!  It may take some serious study, as you look into how societies operated. Or it may just take time thinking. Whatever it is, you want to have the broad outlines of how people interact in your world figured out and settled. Secondly, you can look at layering other cultures into the story and process of how the world functions.   Does the kingdom next door have no nobility? Or not believe in magic, or believe in whatever you want really. This can get very mind-boggling though but if you are willing then go for it. Basically, there’s a lot of hard work here, and none of it will show up on the page. At least, none of it will show up as extra words that you write.

Third, do things out of the box and differently.  Don’t just copy some great authors ideas down and try to copy what they’ve created.  They became great writers and created those worlds because they did just that, thought differently and outside of the box. This will make your world more interesting. Doing things differently from what you’ve always seen is a good habit to trait and continue to cultivate that as a writer.

writing-fantasy-1920x1200Fourth, You’ve decided how your world works, you’ve decided your characters’ places within this world, and now you have to write, write, write. I tend to give very broad outlines of my world and the inner workings; then as the characters move through the world, I bring out those specifics.  My plot within the story moves very fast and at times the world building takes a back seat, but all in all the creation of the world takes place and ultimately becomes immersive.

Fifth, the greatest thing about world building is it’s your imagination and it’s not limited to a keyboard, or whatever walls you dwell in while writing.  Whatever you find fascinating and want to pursue for your book, go after it with vigor and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  Whatever you find fascinating, can make your book stand out from every other book that has ever been written – as long as you make it fascinating to the readers.  Most of the times this is an easy task as you know what you like, and what draws you to enjoyment while reading.  If you find something your passionate about it is extremely easy to communicate that as it’s just that a PASSION!  Just remember take care to communicate with the readers.  If you can do that within the flow of the plot and overall book, they will more than likely enjoy and love what you’ve written.

Don’t let building a world of fantasy be something to constrain your imagination, instead let it be the freedom you enjoy while writing what you love!

scr.ee tags:

#writing #writer #novel #fantasy #books #worldbuilding #fantasyworlds #howto #process #amwriting

Writing In a Winter Snow Storm

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writing-a-book

 

Hello again everyone!

It has been around a month since my last legit post and that has been strategic, and completely on purpose.  It’s that time of year where our families schedule becomes insane, but like I said it’s on purpose.  This time of year for us is busy with family events and time for us to relax, escape with each other and do those fun family things together.

This has not only been a busy few months but an extremely busy year in total.  As a husband and father to seven year old triplets life has a way of pulling your attention to the important things.  We as a family have always been prioritized, but as everyone we can stray away from those “Important Things” and have to wrangle our small attention spans back in to focus.

I’ve had to slow down the frequency of blogging lately mainly because I can’t create more than 24 hours in a day…though I wish I could sometimes.  This summer was a killer in hours for me due to a very large project at work I was managing in which I was having to work both days & nights a lot of the summer.  With that being said, the project was overall a pretty good success and allowed me to manage a team of people who could make it a success in future years.  Now that the summer has passed and winter is upon us…which happens to be my favorite time of year BTW.

That brings me to my next statement and why I named this blog post what I did.  Winter is my favorite due to a lot of reasons, but one very important and dear to my heart is writing and creativity for me started one very cold winter when I was just a young boy in which I got to read “The Hobbit” for the very first time.

This sparked a passion for writing, creativity, reading and knowing one day I would write my own book, or books.  That has been many years ago and even though my background in school was majoring in creative writing and arts, I ended up being a project manager of all things.  Now that doesn’t mean I’ve lost the passion to write, but what it does mean is I have to prioritize my time so that I can continue my passion of writing.  That prioritization comes in many forms and sometimes it means taking a break from writing which I think any writer out there could say the same thing.

Writing to me is always like writing in a snow storm and the reason I say that is,  “A snow storm is beautiful chaos filled with creativity and awe inspiring moments of it’s ability to fascinate the mind and be completely unique every time it happens.”  This is why I love winter and why I will always continue to love writing no matter the form it comes in.

To all those creative minds and soon to be, thinking about, am doing writers out there I prod you to find what inspires you to do what you love.

One of my  favorite quotes and something I always try to remember, “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words” – Mark Twain

Keep writing and having fun while you do it ya’ll!

Cheers!

scr.ee tags:

#winter #writers #writer #blogging #bloggers #community #writing #creative

 

Creative Writing – What, How, Why of a Fantasy Novel

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Writing a fantasy novel is great fun – you can literally let your imagination run wild.  It’s a little different when writing a novel set in the real world as unlike books set in reality where you can use real life as examples, you’ll have to invent everything in your new fantasy world.  Do you enjoy writing, are you working on a fantasy novel, or have you had the notion to start one?  I hope the next few minutes while reading this helps you no matter what stage you might be in for writing a novel.

One of the best things you could do to kickstart things is read as many classics as you can find!  No matter the type of book you begin writing this will give you a good idea about what works and what doesn’t.  Remember though that reading other peoples works is something to help with idea spawning and relax your mind.  You must take note not to simply copy the ideas you’ve read from any of the good old classics or other pieces of work you find.  If you find yourself dealing with elves, half-lings and orcs whilst being a reluctant hero on a quest to destroy a powerful item, it’s probably best to scrap it and start again. It is true that all stories are a combination of those the reader has encountered over the years. But, you should always try to find an original angle and it certainly should not be obvious what the source material was. Reading the classics will also allow you to discover how well-crafted characters interact with each other as the story progresses.

Tip 1. Use established myths and legends as the basis for your fantasy world. Think about what your fantasy world might be like.  Do your studying and find out what your world and culture is most like….Is it Celtic, Roman, a medieval world or a blend of multiple cultures with your own twist on it? Once you’ve chosen, go and read about the myths and legends that relate to those cultures. The mythological creatures and characters and their stories will give you a great basis for your new world.

Tip 2. Get to know your imaginary world – you need to be able to describe it in detail if you are going to convince your readers, for the duration of the book at least, that it exists. Be thorough and detail everything you can possibly imagine about the world you are creating.

  • Physical – what does your fantasy world look like? Think about and make a note of:
    • the colour of the sky
    • what other planets can be seen from the surface
    • whether the air is breathable
    • what the plants look like
    • what creatures live there
    • whether there are seas
    • what the landscape looks like
    • futuristic world or something older
  • Residents – decide who lives in your newly formed fantasy world. You should spend time thinking about how they look, what they eat, how they move, whether they need sleep, how they speak to one another etc…
  • Society – what kind of society exists? Do they need money to buy things? Is there a complex system of politics they follow? Do they have a police force, a king or president? Is there a religion?
  • Special powers/magic – Do the residents have any special powers or use magic? If so, what are they and why do they exist? Does everyone have use of them or only certain people?

Tip 3. Make your characters believable. This is one of the most essential parts of the book if you want to hook and keep readers interested in the story. A great way to achieve this is to apply logic to every character in every fantasy world you create. This means creating a set of rules that apply to the world and the character. The rules can be based on either real life or they can be simply invented by you.  Remember if you are creating the rules of the world, don’t let a BOX hold you back from being creative.  Sometimes creating our own ways is just the push we need to make that next step in our creative writing.

Tip 4. Make sure you keep careful notes of all the details you invent for your new fantasy world. This will help you maintain continuity throughout the novel. There are many ways of doing this, some writers like to have a set of cards with the details on, others set up spreadsheets; so play around with different systems to find one that suits you the best.  I personally use a book mapping chart I created in excel that helps me track all major parts of the book I need.  I hope these few steps help you get started, or give an idea of what steps to take next in writing your new fantasy novel!

Remember, have fun!! That is the first and foremost thing I can say when writing… Have Fun and lots of it!