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.