So you want to write fantasy. Well, let me load you up on everything you need to get yourself started. Have some elves, dragons, dwarves, gnomes, magic, warriors, spellcasters, medieval weaponry, orcs, trolls, griffins, political intrigue, religious intrigue, thieves, and all the other standards you need.
Have all that? Good. Now throw and alter as much of that as you want. Will it cause problems? Of course it will. People will tear into you for not respecting what came before you. Keep all of it? You can, but people will tear into you for being cliche. Welcome to the genre, kid. Each camp of fantasy fan thinks they’re the modern ones. Kind of funny how they don’t realize they’re all old hat.
What’s the difference you ask? Popularity, kid. It’s whatever is popular now. Give it some years and the other side of the coin will touch the sun. For now, people think politics and religion are the fresh parts of the genre. The truth is that those are being spiced up the best. After all, I remember those types of stories from my youth. Why not jump on the bandwagon? Go right ahead. It depends on what you want to do with your own story because in the end, you have to enjoy what you write.
Let me give you some pointers for both:
- Going political? Remember the whoever starts as king must be killed. Not too early and not too late. That way you have an empty thrown with all the established heirs and jackasses killing each other to get it. Your choice if you want to reveal the winner beforehand. Who’s the winner? Typically, the guy that the narrator follows. You can switch it up by continuously killing all your main characters. Not a bad thing, but you have to be prepared for fallout. A fan loses his or her favorite character and you’re going to get hate mail. Also, you really should have some endgame in mind or else you’ll wake up one day with no clue who should be the new ruler.
- What about the evil advisor? It’s been done to death, but I’m sure it’s still there. Toss a few in and don’t make them look evil. Only the people reading to see how you screwed up will take offense. Be adventurous and have him win. Don’t forget the facial hair too. Probably go for the gusto and make him religious as well. Whip up a dark god that used to be worshiped during the ‘bad times’ and have the advisor be one of the secret followers.
- Heroes on a quest? Now you’re going old school and are in for a world of hurt. Carry around some dice because you’ll be accused of playing too much D&D. It’s not as much of an insult as they think since D&D is based on Tolkien, whose epic tale is a quest involving good versus evil. Guess the oldies are respected, but not to be imitated.
- What kind of hero? Well, you can go boyscout and have been complain about the cliche. You can go anti-hero too, but people will complain about it being a cliche. In fact, you’ll probably be accused of having a boring hero with no development that is similar to another character. Expect that for everything you do because people love that accusation.
- What kind of monsters? Let’s skip this question because you’re fucked no matter what you do.
- A lot of magic or no magic? Whatever your heart desires. You’ll get in trouble for it some point.
Why am I talking all doom and gloom? Because that’s what fantasy writing is these days, kid. You pour your heart onto the page and enjoy the read. Just gotta remember that everyone has different tastes and you’re not going to be enjoyable to a lot of people. If you go against the current trend, you’re fucked. If you follow the current trend, you’re fucked. The goal should be to carve out a fanbase and write what you want to write. Always think of yourself as your #1 fan because if you love what you write, it will show through your words. The naysayers can suck a troll for all you care. You’re not going to use trolls? Your choice, kid. It’s always your choice.
Legends of Windemere 
“Also, you really should have some endgame in mind or else you’ll wake up one day with no clue who should be the new ruler.”
*cough* George RR Martin *cough*
Funny post, Charles. Constantly making me think and re-think my fantasy WIP.
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I’ll admit that I took a swipe at Martin, but I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. You can’t kill off characters left and right without having a general idea of who will win in the end. Right?
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Swipes at Martin are allowed, he walks himself straight into them. One would hope not…I become less sure with each book.
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He seems like such a happy, friendly guy. I’m surprised at his literary bloodlust. How has it been since his last book?
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I’ve met him and he’s adorable and grandfatherly! No sign of bloodlust in public. Just over exactly 2 years. I believe the later books have taken up to 5 years for him to write, so we have some waiting left…
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Yikes. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing. Personally, I want to be the type of author that writes at least 2 books a year. Probably can’t be done with a traditional publisher though.
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I’m actually in the midst of writing/plotting/drafting my own fantasy story at the moment. I think at this stage it will probably end up as a small novel
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Small is good. A lot of people like a break from the long epics that fill the fantasy shelves. Seriously, the 500 pagers get tiring after a while.
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Yeah you’re right. I just finished A Game of Thrones recently and finding it hard to get the will power to start the second book. I think I’ll read the legends of windmere first. My only problem is coming up with names that sound generic and as if they belong, and that don’t sound too alien.
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I bought a baby naming book to help with that. Find one with popularity or category lists. You’d be surprised what already exists and you can alter them if need be. Enjoy Legends of Windemere. Hopefully it’s a good palate cleanser for Game of Thrones.
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Great thanks! I’ll keep that in mind. Can’t wait to get started on it–i’ve read so much spectacle about it here on your blog and on other wp blogs!
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I’ve been told the second book coming out on July 31st is better. Hopefully, I can keep that trend going.
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Hopefully! ^.^
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Speaking of killing the kings… down with Joffrey!! I find reviewers are really hard on fantasy novels for some reason. It seems that storylines and structure are always compared (sometimes harshly) with what other fantasy writers have produced. I haven’t seen such levels of criticism in other genres. So you’re not going to have any swamp dwellers?
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Yeah down with . . . is that the Toys R Us giraffe from the 80’s? I tried watching the show and every time I jumped in there was a brutal killing. One time it was babies. After the third time, I figured I simply had bad timing on catching the show.
I think the fantasy genre is divided into multiple camps with each one rotating into the spotlight. When that fantasy type is the star then it is fresh and the others are cliche. Eventually, the tides will change or people will realize it really has been done before. The keys for fantasy are the worlds and characters because all of the essence of stories have been done.
My main villain lives in a swamp, but I haven’t designed a society in there. I can’t really be compared to Game of Thrones because I’m high fantasy while they’re political fantasy. The two are in the same overall genre, but they don’t have much in common beyond that.
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It’s all about the world building and the characters. You are right about GOT it can be brutal!! I’m more likely to read high fantasy than any other… I’ve got to get to Legends of Windemere before end of the month!!!
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I’m not a fan of brutal fantasy, but I do use it at times when I want my villains to get boos. One guy in particular is hitting a high level of brutality that he’s going to pay for. Still, nothing compared to GOT.
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I think GOT is in a category all by itself. I don’t think I could read the books. I discovered urban fantasy recently and it’s not bad at all. I’ve got too many books to read, too little time and not enough time left to write 🙂
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That’s why I slowly make my way through books these days. I’m not in any rush really.
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Hate mail? I get to send you hate mail for killing off my favorite characters? Cool! Do I need to go old-school with that, i.e. paper, ink, and a stamp, or can I just throw an email at you? 😉
Perk up Charles, you are an amazing writer. You’ve taken a lot of flack, and I’m sure there is more to come, but you’ll get though it. One day, you’ll look back at this time in your writing career and be able to laugh.
(As a matter of fact, I was reading the 1, 2, and 3 star reviews on Beginning of a Hero, and I was amazed that everyone who gave you negative reviews have lots of misspelled words in their reviews! Even the ones who were saying the book needed to be edited! LOL)
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My method of accepting hate mail is easy. Write your complaint on a squirrel and send it into the wild. If it finds me the I’ll read the hate mail.
There’s a trend of bad spelling in ‘book needs to be edited’ reviews. The most common trend with my bad reviews is ‘I never finished the book’. I’m starting to look at that as my book is a more challenging read than I expected.
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Well then, it looks like you won’t be getting any hate mail from my, since you stole all my squirrels! Remember that pizza you lured them away with? Yep, they have NOT come back yet.
It is a little hypocritical, I think, to say in a review that the book had grammatical errors, and then not spell the word ‘mistake’ correctly.
Your book(s) were not challenging to read. I’m a little slow, but I think I followed and understood your book perfectly. Though, I’m still not sure why Luke started going out with that squirrel demon. Especially when that one girl seemed to like him a lot.
Oh wait, that’s not how the book went? Okay, maybe it was just a t-i-n-y bit challenging. 😉
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I gave them to the toddler, so he can rule with a drool-y fist.
The challenge seems to be in the writing style. I’ve been over the jarring nature of present tense. It’s a real killer and I’m sticking with it.
I try not to think about the reviews with grammar errors. I’ve got a book to finish writing this week. No idea what I’m going to do next week. Maybe start editing book 4 again?
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The toddler is in charge, eh? Okay, I guess that will work.
Personally, I like fantasy books written in present tense. It is easier for me to read. But yes, I know you’ve had many heated debates about that.
Good luck with those books. 🙂
I’m wondering, would you mind terribly if I copy your blog blitz idea?
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Go right ahead. I saw it done, so it’s not my original idea.
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Thank you! 🙂
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If ever I take a stab at this genre I will keep these things in mind Charles… I’ve tried twice recently but deleted both when I purged 86 pieces of unfinished writing last night… it’s a tricky genre… think I’ll stick to romance… lol…
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Funny because I see romance as tricky. Fantasy feels like it’s so much freer than other genres. More imagination flexing, but that’s just me.
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In truth it is really a cross genre piece but the story is of two people and their quest to find love with one another. hence it is a romance without the typical Romance template… According to Ionia I make love feel dangerous… I think my stumbling block when it comes to writing Fantasy is the esteem in which I hold Tolkien
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You can’t avoid Tolkien. Just realize that everyone has a little Tolkien in their books. Game of Thrones? Just look at the political side of LOTR. Legends of Windemere? Blatant quest with good versus evil. So some are more subtle than others, but they all take from that mold even a little.
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You’re right about that. It’s hard to create anything new in this genera. You don’t want be cliche, creating characters or scenes similar to other or previous stories. My major problem with fantasy is setting up the intro. I got some ideas for some characters and a bit of an idea of their plot, but I can’t seem to figure out how to introduce them or get the story rolling.
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My method is to use a prologue that shows a few events that get the ball rolling for the overall story. For me this is a villain scene or a discussion between gods about what is on the horizon.
The thing about cliches is that people don’t always agree on what a cliche is. Something that is overdone to a person that reads fantasy books religious might not be a cliche to a casual fantasy reader. You have to target your audience.
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Cool, might have to look into coming up with a prologue.
As for cliches, that’s true.
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From the looks of almost every stock in the Fantasy genre has been done to death. From an evil adviser, boy scout hero, the nut biting wenches, a snarky companion, an obese king, chicks with swords, clubs pikes, and maces, and so forth
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Yeah. So it’s funny when a fantasy fan claims they have a book with entirely fresh ideas. It’s all in the world, character personalities, and style. That’s the way to make your mark.
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One of these days, I ought to post on my blog titled something like this, an half-assed approach of not falling into cliches and hate mail laced with mouse traps and banished spirits seeking revenge on writers who dissed fans 😛
😉 :O
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Go for it. 🙂
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I always feel that my fantasy writing ends up being lame because I’m naturally rebellious and don’t want to conform but then it ends up not making sense. I get to a point where I think ‘What the hell am I doing!’ which is annoying because I love the genre so much.
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You could always make your own subgenre. 😉
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I am reminded of the boy the old man and the mule. First nobody was riding the mule, but people thought that was pretty stupid. It didn’t matter which one was riding, nobody watching felt it was appropriate. No body could be pleased. So they both got on and that wasn’t appropriate either. So they toted the mule, and he bucked going over a bridge and they all fell in and got wet.
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Moral of the story is that mules always win.
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No Charles. Mule got wet too. Moral is you can’t please all of the people all of the time. So you might as well at least least please yourself. Maybe in doing so you will enough other people who matter to get by.
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True. Question: Did the mule need a bath?
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They all did. Except the people doing the watching. They also had no emotional investment whatsoever
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Silver lining with the bath. 🙂
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Wow, sounds terribly painful to write in your genre, but I’m sure that it also can be very rewarding.
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It isn’t much nicer in other genres from what I’ve heard. It’s a cutthroat business.
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It is a cutthroat business, but I think with your genre there is much more that is expected as being, pardon the expression, “standard issue”, such as trolls, dragons, swordplay, wizards, etc. and let’s face it what would a fantasy novel be without some of these things. 🙂
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That’s the odd thing. There are the standards that some people expect, but there are also fans that despise the standards. So, you really can’t win everyone over in the fantasy genre.
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Sigh. So true, Charles. I’m reminded of the book packager I used to work for. Our clients didn’t often know what they wanted. But no matter how many versions of the product we presented the to them, they would tell us they didn’t want THAT each time. Out of desperation we’d go back to the first version, only to discover they LOVED that, and what took us so long to present it?
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Wow. That sounds frustrating, but not that surprising. People always seem to go back to the first one without realizing it.
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I like how you threw in the “kid”! I think you are right that if we enjoy what we are writing it will show in our story. My problem is that I have all these great ideas. I start writing them down. I get about 7 chapters written and then I get distracted with work or something else. Then I start on a new idea when I go back to writing and the whole process starts all over again. Right now I have 7 books I’m working on. Hmmm…what’s up with the 7s?
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7 is supposed to be a lucky number. Maybe now is the time to return to the first one and finish it. 😉
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That would be great if I could remember which one was first! lol I can go back and look at the dates. The hard part is that my mind has visualized the entire story but my fingers just can’t keep up! lol
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Maybe outlining before hand would help?
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What is outlining? lol I’m so bad about doing things the proper way! I’ve only started outlining since I’ve read your blog. It does help some. I just tend to free write. I get an idea. Write like a banshee then stop when the idea has taken written form. I keep telling myself that one I’m going to go back and finish all of them. Do you write a couple stories at once or always finish them first & then start on the next?
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I outline future series on the weekend, but full writing is for the series. Since I’m published, I can’t afford to go series hoping. Gotta stay on target for the fans. 🙂
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I don’t have that problem! lol I haven’t really shared any of my stories with anyone. They are all just works in progress. I’ve mentioned my ideas to people and they love them, but I’ve never read the fleshing out of the ideas. One day I might be brave enough to try and publish!
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Make it a goal and work toward it. 😉
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When you write that it makes sense. When I say it sounds sooooo farfetched! lol My dream is to one day write full time. I’m not sure what kind of writing it will be. I’ve been published in a couple of national publications, but it was at their request and I had to follow their guidelines. And I’m published weekly for another publication. These are both topic oriented and strict guidelines. It is different that writing a novel.
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Published is published. It’s experience, which can lead to more leverage for novel publication.
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I hadn’t thought about that. I’ve been writing for both of them for over 5 years. Hmmm…I guess that counts for something. At least they haven’t kicked me out! lol
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Use the experience in a query letter when you finish one of the books. It’ll take you further than you expect.
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Thank you. I would have never even thought about using it. One of the publications actually reaches over 100 countries. That is probably a good thing! lol
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What kind of writing is it? I mean genre and topic. If you can tell me, of course.
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Of course I can tell you 🙂 They are devotionals for non-profit organizations, churches, and individuals. I often use contemporary movies and tv shows to make the writings relevant to people’s lives.
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Interesting. I think it’ll help.
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I’m laughing because its very interesting considering my struggle with sex addiction. Now you know why I could get fired because of my addictions 🙂
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I can see that. Secret is safe. 🙂
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Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll just stick to reading fantasy. 🙂
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Good idea. A lot easier.
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Actually I wrote a little one on my fiction blog today… but it’s just a little one, so the rules don’t apply, right? 😀
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I think you’re in the clear. 😉
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Yay!
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Yes it looks like a bit pessimistic but your black humour is out once again and I like it! I agree with all you said, it’s hard and you get complains. Is number 1a veiled critique to GOT by any chanche?
I usually go for the quest, I love the way the “travel” change the person! 😉
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It is a slight shot at GOT, but only because I’ve had some run-ins with the fanbase. I’m starting to notice that many complaints that I get e-mailed or messaged to me are from GOT fans. It’s what’s popular now, so people are using it as the measuring stick. The same thing happened with LOTR years ago. It’ll pass.
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When people realize my story doesn’t have dragons or elves they’ll probably want it when they want to read beside a cosy fire…as in they’ll burn it. I write what I write and anything else would be me writing as someone else and who wants that? So I shall pause beside Tolkien’s grave, thank him, and bow to his accomplishments, but then move on.
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Dragons and elves do not a fantasy story make. The last series I read was called Ranger’s Apprentice and there were no fantasy races in there. It was still a damn good book series. People that hate a fantasy book for lacking dragons and elves are missing the point of genre. It’s to pull you into a world where the rules differ from our own.
So, you have no Tolkien traits in your story?
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There are wizards and sorcerers and magic. Unicorns are mentioned. The setting is a land that was advanced, but has become quasi-medieval. Think of Arthurian legend meets Victorian England meets Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Gone With the Wind. Yeah, it’s something like that. Gargoyles are raised like guard dogs. Mammoths still roam the north. Old World “technology” is still around if a person knows where to look. I’m sure that makes it really clear. lol
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Pretty clear. I’ve read a few books that deal with Old World ‘technology’. I like the gargoyle guard dog thing.
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