The Dialogue

This is how your characters converse with one another, or your characters ‘script’. Many teachers often use the principle “Show don’t tell”. There is no point in having a complex character if you are going to have them talking about their life story for nine pages. To you this may look good, but nine pages of it will bore your readers, and that is definitely not the right foot to get off on.

The great thing about Dialogue is its ability to reveal new things, or points about your Main Character as the story goes on. This gives the story the ability to perform major twists.

The character needs to keep the reader interested by doing things, not just hearing about which county he comes from at great length.

One mistake many novels make is in thinking that their readers are not intelligent, and that they do not have the ability to pick things up and learn along with the character on their journey.

Some key points about dialogue that you may need to take into consideration are as follows:

The Tone of voice they use while conversing with each other

The Words they use

The Sentence structure

The Character’s accent

The level of Volume they use

Their apparent Confidence or lack of confidence

WORKSHOP: Write a conversation between your character and one of their relatives or another close character if no relatives are applicable. Treat it like a script, so just dialogue without and descriptive words or “He said, she said”. If you need help in writing your script, look at this blog post here

The Plot

This is when you summarise your story so that you know what’s going to happen throughout the story.

It is said that there is only a limited number of general plots. However, this shouldn’t discourage you from using an existing plot and twisting it to your advantage. This does not mean you can take an existing story and claim it as your own, this is copyright and against the law.

The plot is basically a step by step description of your characters journey, so you can see where he is headed in the story. Think back to the map of your world that you created as this should help you plot where he stops in his journey throughout the story. You should also think about his characteristics and whether or not they fit in with his physical journey, ie a clumsy oaf wouldn’t climb a steep mountain range.

Working on your plot can either be a positive or a negative experience. Whilst it helps knowing where your character is headed, some people often find that writing the plot takes away the fun of actually writing the novel as you already know what the end is. Keep in mind that your plot should only help in creating your DRAFT, and from there you can work on the polished product.

Your plot may also help you when you’re figuring out your synopsis for an editor or publisher, but we’ll talk about that later.

WORKSHOP: Take your map, and draw your character’s route that he will take while on his adventure. Write some dot points that he will accomplish at each major destination.

The Villian

This is the person behind all things wrong in your Hero’s world. Generally Villains are dark characters, dressed in black. A good example of this is the Necromancer, who calls upon the dead to do his bidding.

On the other hand, your Villain may be a person in power (King or Queen), who has become corrupt and is using his power for evil and greed rather than the good of the society. A corrupt King/Queen may be one of the most difficult men/women to overcome as they have many followers and a lot power at their disposal.

The Villain may also be a loner, the unbeatable warrior that no other has been able to overcome, thus causing much bloodshed with his many challengers falling before him.

One thing we need to consider is what made our Villain evil? Was it a traumatic life experience? was it a bad influence in his life? Or is he under the influence of another, causing these evil actions.

Another thing we need to consider, are you writing from the perspective of the hero? Or are you writing from the perspective of the villain. Writing from the Villain’s perspective can be as much fun, if not more fun than writing from the hero’s perspective, and allows you to break away from the stereotypical Hero and cause havoc and disaster.

WORKSHOP: Who is your Villain? Is your Villain a warrior or a spell caster? Is he a man with religious or political power to get others to do his bidding? Why is he a Villain? What has he done to become a Villain and why does your Hero feel the need to stop him? Research these points to create your own Villain.

The Mythology, Religion and Lifestyle

These three points can be wound into your story with ease as they are the base of any common society.

In saying that, many fantasy stories don’t create their own base for religion or the origin of their created world, rather they use our world as a basis, Christianity or the Big Bang are two examples.

Mythology refers to how the world came to be, and how people lived many years ago. It is the point before recorded history and is often wound in with religion. Different beliefs on how our world came to be are the basis of all existing religion and you may not want this to be the basis of belief in your own society, instead based on your own idea of how your own world was created or just a world without any religion whatsoever!

Keep in mind though, that if you do create your own religion, you may encounter some resistance from existing religious bodies, but don’t take it to heart!

The lifestyle of your world is also closely tied in with your society’s religious beliefs. For example, some religions may not allow the use of magic and may see death as suitable penance for practicing it. In many cases also, if the ruler or King/Queen of a land is religious, this religion becomes the law. In these societies the people that embody religion (The Monks, Priests/Priestesses) are seen as above all others except the king.

WORKSHOP: What do your characters, and your society as a whole believe in? Is religion a part of your story? Think of possible religions to assimilate into your society and see if it fits your needs!

Reading Material

As mentioned before it is important to read a variety of different published literature to broaden your understanding of what fantasy is and the types of plots that are out there. It can also help you identify some clichés to avoid and identify writing styles that appeal to audiences.

Fairy tales often have a large fantasy component to allow them to tell a story they wouldn’t normally be able to tell. Some modern fairy tales for you to read include:

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

The Blue Bird by Fiona French

The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame

Samples of Modern Fantasy Stories that you may have read or are considered classics of Fantasy literature include:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

A great blog site that names some interesting books to read can be found at Love.Love.Literature

WORKSHOP: Go out and get yourself a good book. You don’t have to buy it; you can even borrow it from your local library. Now tell me, did you like that book? Did you hate it? WHY? What made it appeal to you? Was it the writing style, characters or plot? How would you make it different?

The Magic

It comes in all shapes and forms and fantasy novels are often filled with it. We’re going to look at the different forms of magic that currently exist in popular novels. Note that not every fantasy novel contains magic, but it’s something that appeals to many readers. It’s the idea that something fantastical can exist and that is often achieved through magic.

First off, magic can exist on many levels. Perhaps everyone in your world has a magic talent or ability of some sort. Or perhaps only chosen people can use magic, and they are either despised or envied for being able to. Alternatively maybe magic exists in objects and it takes a certain type of person or a particular circumstance to use it.

There are many different types of magic currently in literature. A few of these include:

Spell book Mage: A very classic magic method. Some good examples of this can be found in online role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons and World of Warcraft. This is where the Wizard or Mage has actually written down their various spells or incantations and calls them forth from the book or tome.

Herbalist/Alchemist/Witch Doctor: Sorcerers that blend particular potions or ‘mixtures’ in order to create a new brew or item to aid them. An example of this can be found in the Anime/TV series FullMetal Alchemist.

The Channeler: These Spell casters call upon nature or spirits from beyond the grave to unleash their magic upon foes. This can be anything from conjuring a friendly deer to melting someone with dark magic. Commonly referred to as a Necromancer or a Shaman these characters often symbolise the good or the evil in a fantasy world. Examples come from games such as Diablo or World of Warcraft.

Essence Manipulator: The other classic Mage, this mage however does not rely on a spell book, instead their magic flows from their fingertips freely. These Mages can commonly transform their foes/victims, and can also charm others easily to do their bidding. Many essence manipulators turn evil, as power such as this can corrupt the mind and spark feelings of superiority and greed. An example of this are the Jedi and Sith of the Star Wars saga.

WORKSHOP: Think about what types of magic you want in your world. Reflect upon the benefits and downfalls of these different methods of magic and which would best fit your world. Furthermore what is magic called in your world? Do some think of it as gift? Or would some shun those with it, calling them outsiders? Do they need to train amazingly hard to gain the ability (The “Force” – Star Wars)?

The Setting

Where your story takes place. It could be an island, an alternate world, another planet – the possibilities are endless.

Before starting your novel, you will need to think long and hard about where you will set your story, as this will influence how your characters will act and who they will interact with. Will your world have specific features? Perhaps it has an undiscovered species or creatures roaming about the lands. Or maybe it’s a baron wasteland with nothing in sight. Whatever the case, you will need to familiarise yourself with your character’s surroundings – for if you don’t understand your location and how your characters interact with it, your reader certainly won’t!

You will need to think about the size relationships of your world and its inhabitants.

If it is a large world, perhaps the possibility of the different characters or beings running into each other is small. For example, in Rowling’s Harry Potter the wizards are hidden away from the normal ‘muggle’ humans with magic, even though they all share the same London. If your world is a small island, does that mean you can travel from one end to the other in a matter of days and how ill this impact on the story?

If you decide to make your world rural or medieval, you will need to decide on the different types of landscape or geographical features. Do some research into ancient history to see how people lived in particular times, therefore giving you an opportunity to improvise or design fantastic landscape features e.g. The Neverending Story.

Where are the rivers or mountains? Do you have volcanoes? Where do the people that inhabit your world live? You may also want to start thinking up names for different villages and towns or other prominent areas. Some helpful hints when naming an area is to use names of the existing scenery. For example: the name Meadowbank is the joining of the two words meadow and bank when in all reality they could mean the meadow on the bank of a river. However, it is also fun to just make up the names as you go on, not too many or you will tax the memory of your readers.

As mentioned above, you may also want to think about the different types of creatures that live in your world. A good guide to existing creatures you may want to use can be found here

WORKSHOP: Draw a map of your world. Include all the different features and start labelling the map. Look at Tolkien’s Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. It doesn’t have to be a good copy; it’s to help you reference where your character is and where they are going.

The Supporting Characters

They’re the people that hang around your main character, feeding them bits of information, pointing them in a certain direction or perhaps just being plain annoying. What ever they do, they populate your world and have back stories of their own – no matter how complicated or dull they may be.

A lot of new writers I find tend to get too wrapped up in their primary character that they forget about everyone else in the story. But the people around your character aren’t cardboard cut outs; they’re beings with emotions, thoughts and feelings that will often impact your character in one way or another. So whilst your story is focussed on your main character you need to remember to give your supporting characters as much life as possible, depending on the situation.

For the more prominent supporting characters, you will need to ask the same questions you did for your main character, eg who are they, what are they doing, etc. but don’t waste too much time to begin with as they often get created along the way as you’re writing.

‘But what if I don’t want anyone around my character! What if I want them to be a loner who is independent and doesn’t need anyone around them!’
That is fine in theory, but how many books have you seen where the main character is in what is basically solitary confinement. Would you like reading about someone like that? Whilst you don’t need to flesh out everyone around you, there will always be a few people around that you will interact with.

When creating your characters, something you may want to think about is the type of species that inhabit your world. What type of creatures are they? Do they act in character or in a particular way – e.g. the Ents in Tolkien’s’ Lord of the Ring or the whooping tree in Harry Potter both have characteristics to make them different, but still act like trees; their true nature. Characters and creatures should mirror the environment in which they came from as it shapes who they are.

WORKSHOP: Your main character is eavesdropping on two people. Who are they and what are they doing? Do they have any distinct features? What are they talking about? Write a passage to describe what your character is witnessing.

The Main Character

One of the most important elements of your novel. These are the people at the core of the action in the story and the good thing about fantasy is that you’re not bound to the scientific laws of normal stories. So there is nothing to stop you from making a talking tree your main character.
When starting a new story I often ask myself a few basic questions:

Who are they?

How old are they?

What is their background?

Do they have an occupation?

Do they have a family?

What do they look like?

What is their personality like?

Is there anything special about them?

It’s ok if you don’t know the answers to these questions. Brainstorm your ideas, put down anything, you can always refine it later. An important part of writing is watching your characters grow and change throughout the novel, even if you didn’t mean them to! Once you give them life and a writers voice to express it with, anything can happen.

It is also important that you don’t get influenced by characters someone else has created. A scruffy looking boy with an unusual scar that finds out he is a wizard has already been done. Be original! It may sound like common sense but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, a lot of people seem to fall into the trap of continuing with those stereotypes.

Other common traps many new writers fall into is creating cliché characters known as ‘Mary Sues’. These characters often have traits that make them the best at what they do, or practically flawless – something which in the real world is virtually impossible to be. It is also something to remember when writing; that no matter who they are or where they come from, no one is perfect. More importantly, no one likes reading about perfect people.

A guide to common Mary Sues can be found here

WORKSHOP: Take the dot point questions from above and answer them in relation to your character or even pretend you are interviewing them. Try and answer in ways that your character would and see how their personality takes control of your page.

Getting Started

Do you want to write a fantasy novel?

Do you want help with your characters?

Do you want to learn more about what makes a great fantasy novel?

This blog is here to help you

We include helpful hints or tips, workshop activities to guide you in creating a fantasy novel, as well as including my own personal experiences and difficulties in writing fantasy.

We will look at the fantasy genre from classic to modern tales. I will suggest a variety of fantasy novels to get you started and how published fantasy writers achieved their success.

You will be given ideas and tips to help you improve your ‘writer’s voice’; the way you’ll actually write your story. We hope to help you gather some discipline and be able to sit down and actually complete your epic novel.

We will also analyse what is fantasy, what makes a great story, including:

Getting to know your characters

Age-old conflicts

Overcoming evil

Light versus darkness

Life over death

Wicked enchantments

Transformations

Tricks with Time

Magic

WORKSHOP: Your first Workshop! You will need to start writing for 10 mins every day for 10 weeks about anything you want. It sounds like a lot to start with, but you can always do it while you’re eating breakfast in the morning or perhaps when you’re sitting in bed waiting to sleep. After a week it won’t seem like so much. The catch is; you’re not allowed to reread what you have written previously. This should help you see how your writing voice, or the way you write your novels, is changing or maturing.