Creative Writing: How to Write a Dark Fantasy Novel for Beginners

1. Introduction to How to Write a Dark Fantasy for Beginners: Dark fantasy, a favorite too many fiction writers as it gives them an opportunity to present a wonderful fantasy world and contradicted immediately with grim atmosphere. In addition to this new world, you get to explore characters that are realistic and relatable as they battle with mortal and immortal problems. Hi, my name is Matthew Dewey and I'll be your writing coach, teacher and instructor. Throughout this course. In this course, I'll be discussing the important aspects of routes in a dark fantasy novel, from the world to a plot, as well as some easy to miss aspects such as the antagonist, the ending, and the world, the sun itself. All this and more awaits you. Now, I've been writing and teaching for Sibley is helping tens of thousands of students ranked these stories. It is my goal to help you write your phones and do this by not only lecturing you and giving you exercises, but also about providing you with professional advice and answers to your questions in the discussions. That's wrapped by joining the discussions, you not only discuss things with other writers and students, but with me as well. And I'm always happy to help. By the end of this course, you'll not only have a grip on dark fantasy, but also some advice and inspiration on tackling the aspects of dark fantasy that make it great. If you're looking for a course that helps you meet these challenges and overcome them. Thin luck, note her, them. Thank you for joining me and I'll see you in the first lesson. 2. Story and Structure : Dark Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome to the very first lesson in your dark fantasy writing course. In this lesson, I'll be discussing the common aspects are dark fantasy stories, as well as some plots structures. First, I'm going to be talking about the plot structures. Typically, dark fantasy is no different instruction than other novels. You can construct a plot to have the same highs and lows as you have an any other novel for beginner writers are recommend using what is known as the three-act story structure. It is one of the most common structures used, not only in novels, but in screenwriting as well. It's a proven classic writing structure and what are the easiest to route? I will discuss that briefly, that's lesson. But if you want a more in-depth look at the three-act structure, I recommend the article or website if I haven't posted it in the discussions pillar, if you were to take a 20 chapter book and use a three-act structure, the first and last acts would be five chapters and the middle act, ten chapters. And that first step, you establish the main characters, the world, and the inciting incident that sends your characters on a journey. The second act is the bulk of the novel, containing scenes that develop your characters and the plot leading up to the climax. The last step is the result of the events that have taken place throughout the novel. It's typically in this act with good and evil clash. You can also use the final chapter to tie up loose ends and ask simple structure. And it works well with any genre scene as us as a beginner course, I'll be referring to this structure a lot in examples. And only if it's necessary will be discussing more complex structures. Now it's structure covered. Let's discuss the core elements of a dark fantasy novel. I want you to take a moment and consider the scope of fantasy writing as a whole. A fantasy story can be set in any time period and can contain a few or many elements of fantasy. For example, your fantasy story can take place in the present and early fantasy element, could include, Could be dragons and nothing else. With this unmanned, you then have the tools to create a world that fits your story based what will make your fantasy dark is the events that take place, the realism that you employ. And of course, some groan power adding to the atmosphere. Now these are things that you can introduce to your fantasy world or build your fantasy world around. So let me break that down a bit more with some hypotheticals. Let's take a typical horror fantasy, such as loaded the rings. There are dark forces at play, but these forces, while terrifying, are constantly proven to be weaker than the good Lord of the Rings does this through many wonderful events and elements that help it retain its half fantasy. However, let me make some simple adjustments to this series to turn it into a dark fantasy. Now you might think I'd take the antagonist and makes them more powerful, haven't sweep across the lens, taking them over at a steady pace. That's not what I'm gonna do. Instead of making the dark forces darker, i'm gonna make those broad, happy places appear more gritty and grim. I can do this by adjusting some descriptions, creating an overwhelming sense of display, and introducing more conflicted characters. So I'm going to assume you have not read or watch Lord of the Rings and didn't know the specifics. I'm going to paint a picture of a popular seen. Our main character's reach a place of refuge at the beginning of their journey. A pretty place called Rivendell. An elephant palace, perch splendidly against some wonderful mountain framed by beautiful thoroughly edge, a stunning waterfall and own land from the city in the sun. The promise of safe, raced, good food and morally sound company is a short. Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? Now let me twist this colorful image and turn it into something a bit more foreboding. First, I remove the warm RAT and describe the coldness of the shadows, although somewhere atmosphere. Second, leave the waterfall but described the dark waters that for beneath it contains something unknown, giving off the aura of mystery and danger. Third, while it is a place of refuge, they inhabitants scowl at our characters, showing suspicion or even hatred at the side of them. With the overwhelming feeling of being unwelcome, their characters dread every hour they raced and Rivendell preferring the danger of the forests for it is better to be ambushed when a way than ambushed when underway. That is what you need to picture when creating a dark fantasy. The main characters have few friends, some untrustworthy acquaintances, and many enemies. The moments of race part of few and far between. And it could be a story of good versus evil. But as you'll soon discover dark fantasy, there's never really a true good and dark fantasy. I'll be discussing how you can write descriptions for dark fantasy in a later lesson. For now, I want you to picture a world more selfish people, more fearful people. There is always hope, but few people feel it when constructing your story is up to you to decide whether those few people make a difference. And the next lecture, I'll be discussing some dark fantasy inspirations to give you some ideas or perhaps draw your attention to some literature and media that provides great examples of dark fantasy. I wouldn't be giving you an exercise for this first lesson, you on the preparation phase of rising or dark fantasy. And it's a fun phase. Simply write what you imagined, construct a sequence of events to different places in your world, and take what you feel is right and work it into a dog fantasy story. And if you need an opinion, I'll be in the discussions going on. With that. I'll see you in the next lecture. Bye for now. 3. Dark Fantasy Writing Inspirations: Hello and welcome back to our dock. Tend to see a writing course in this lecture, I want you to relax as I'm going to be going through operations for your dark fantasy story, I'll be discussing the methods that I use to get inspiration from our routing. As well as recommends some books, music and movies to give you some other inspiration. Think of the list and as an exploration of what you want for your dark fantasy novel. And what do you wish it to become or think of it as a fun listen, we only exercise is to read some great books. Listened to music, and perhaps watch a few movies. Of course, you don't have to do any of these, but nothing helps the rotting process more than a good attitude. And then write it. First, I'm going to be talking about how argued inspiration. Notice that I don't wait for inspiration. It's a fickle thing. You don't know when it will hit. Which means you could be tired, ready to go to sleep one day. And then inspiration, Casey, just like that, you click and you will want to write, of course, the rest of your body is asleep and that burster inspiration is wasted. How after consistent inspiration is the research, music and artworks. Our research, my genre, are looking at writing blogs. Who are the stories that are the same genre? Next, icon. Music That helps me imagine these scenes that better afterwards. Very hard to imagine, or rather certain scenes when you're listening to music that doesn't match the theme. For example, it's very hard for me to imagine a peaceful medieval seem with indie rock music plane. Luckily, there's a lot of ambient music that you can find on YouTube and play when you are writing your novel. Finally, I search for artworks on websites such as Pinterest to help me better visualize some characters and places. For example, if you need to visualize dragons clearly, and a search such as Dragons concept art will supply you with an endless amount of talented artists works. Dragons. Soon you will have a collection of images to help you. Now, since this is dark fantasy, must searches are different from music. I look for foreboding music that puts the time period I am working with. For medieval periods are more orchestral or choir music with deep voices. More modern periods, it would be more than one or music, but the same vibe of uneasiness in her content on a time period or music genre. Merely search instrumental, piano, violin. There isn't much Army art music that fits dark fantasy well. And that is my own personal opinion. Because when I search on beyond music in the genre, the music that I get as an adult to creepy for what I need. I need something a bit more gloomy, but that's just me nitpicking lets ambient music might fit your criteria. Now if you are looking for movies, I only have a couple that I would recommend for both inspiration and perhaps having some good funnel with as well. If you are writing for adults out recommend that Brothers Grimm and movie that may not be so fantastic and rioting, but certainly fantastic and grim, frightening imagery and hiding the evil behind the seemingly good. If you are writing for young adults, are directly correlate a claymation film based on the book of the same name by the brilliant Neil Gaiman. Caroline makes use of some classic fairytale tropes that makes them ever so unique or giving them a dark twist as a box, there is a wealth of literature to choose from. Emperor thorns are Marc Lawrence, Stephen King has doubled in dark fantasy with these dark tower series. Then there is the red tree by Caitlin are cured. To name a few. Now, what I don't personally enjoy the Game of Thrones series. Professionally, I cannot deny that the books are very popular and a series even more so. In fact, I understand that it became so popular. There was a brief clam and dark fantasy literature being published. And there's even a chance this series that inspired you to write in the genre. You can listen to the music, watched the movies, read the books, all in urine term, should you choose to do so. The exercise that I gave you for this lecture is to simply research the genre through experiencing it at its best. You can read whichever book, short story, or poem that fits the theme. More than anything, I wanted you to have fun with your writing projects. And previous courses I have done, I haven't really talked about finding inspiration and maintaining that enjoyment and writing. Typically I give writing challenges and exercises for my students to submit and the discussions Pillow instead. However, in this lesson alone, I'm encouraging you to enjoy the works of others and use them to help you create and develop your own ideas for your stories. Now if you've read some great dark fantasy literature, I would love to hear thoughts. Tell me about what you enjoyed, what you want to replicate in your own work. As always, you can do that in the discussions, but in the next lecture I'll be discussing the characters and dark fantasy literature and the roles that they play. And I'll see you then. Bye for now. 4. Characters in Dark Fantasy Stories: Hello and welcome back to a dark fantasy rotting goals. In this lesson, I'm going to be discussing characters and the roles that they play in a dog fantasy story. Whenever I discuss different genres, I always make sure to have a lesson that discusses the characters as well as their design and roles tend to shift a character from an adventure story is fundamentally different than a character from a thrilling. Such a character from a fantasy is going to have a different role in design to a character from a dark fantasy. First, I'm going to be discussing some typical characters that you find in dark fantasy novels. And then I'm going to be going in depth when it comes to their roles, the purpose in the genre. In the previous lesson, I talked about how I always ground things in gritty realism and always lean into bit more towards dark themes when it comes to dark fantasy. By that same token, we need to then ground up characters to make sure they fit the genre better. And wireless is a fantasy. You will still have to create some limits in order to establish a measure of belief ability when it comes to your story. After all, magic is only interesting if there are limits to it. If everybody had superpowers that had no limits, then there wouldn't be as interesting as those who do when designing a character and their personality tried to not make them a complete force who could broken characters with their own thoughts and fears. Fertile genre than any witty, adventurous, silly character that you find in normal fantasy. That's not to say you can't include characters that are fun and adventurous, but certainly the protagonist has to be broken in some way. A character could be struggling with some fault, such as a fear of monsters, which will challenge them throughout the story. Or it could be something as simple as paranoia, where they don't exactly trust anyone that they meet, yet they are constantly forced to trust. Some kinda personality can be linked to the kind of world that you are writing or to perhaps a darker past. This is a great back story can come an AMI. Now, your plot can go any way in a fantasy novel. Good, good one, evil could win, both could lose all Wen. However, the themes regarding characters like an old great stories is their development over a series of events, especially when it comes to more realistic genres such as dark fantasy. That's your characters info, a journey in which there'll be developing a personality. Perhaps the girls stronger or perhaps they grow weaker. They could become more braver. They could show more good than bad or more bad and good. The Enter a rise or fall. The character that you have in the beginning of your dark fantasy novel will be fundamentally different from the character that you have in the end. Now here is my professional method for designing a realistic character to fit your dark fantasy story. First, I establish a goal. What is it they seek in the world? Peace, safety, wealth, love, power. Once I've decided that, I then choose a personality. Quiet and careful or mysterious and tough or grim and aggressive. I tried to make what they're saved compliment, but they do. Of course, whatever choose are always include a floor that often gets in the way of their goal or even their most basic decisions. For example, if I create a character which I found too aggressive, and then create a floor that ambassadors. So for example, if our characters presented with a fad scenario and they can start a fight or they can stay out of it. Their personality will want them to create a fat. However, their floor, which could be then mean weaker than the enemy. Or perhaps they have a sickness which makes them weaker when they exert themselves. Or perhaps they have someone to protect. And which case they don't want to get into a font in case that person gets harmed. While the third option is not necessarily a floor, it is certainly a barrier that keeps the character in LAN. As I said before, we need to ground our fantasy as well as our characters in a gritty reality. And that means setting some moments, restrictions. What our character can and cannot do. They are not the protagonist in a very half fantasy where everything that they challenge, you know, that they're going to come. What do you want to establish in your dog fantasy is that anything could happen to a character's. There needs to be some insecurity within the character and within the reader. Have the reader questioning whether a character will lose or win or lose. The purpose of any character. And I'm gonna, what the genre is to provide a character for the reader to sympathize with. The protagonist, in essence, is a container Hello reader. The reader sees things from their perspective. The reader is kind of pushed to root for them, was that a month, flawed characters are much easier to relate to them. Perfect characters. So with that said, characters and a dark fantasy, or earn a bit more sympathy from the reader and a character and a half fantasy because it's more relatability to the more human nature. After all, To Err is Human. My, here's a funny comparison that I like to make with dark fantasy and half fantasy. Taking a character from a dark fantasy, even the protagonist, and placing them within a half fantasy. Immediately the personalities and designs or contrast completely where even the most heroic character from a dark fantasy will appear like an unlikeable sod character or even a villain compared to the many characters and a high fantasy. That's the kind of differences that you're trying to aim for. You are trying to create a character who is fundamentally flawed and bad in some way. Not necessarily bad person, but in many aspects of their character, their not exactly great people either. And while I'm on the subject, let me discuss a bit about the degrees of how dark your dark fantasy can be. Now you can create a rather grim tale filled with many controversies or perhaps shocking moments. With that said, you can include many elements from horror and any drama to add to the impact of your story. But you also need to consider your target market. While this is certainly the darkest former dark fantasy you can write, there are much lighter versions which could even be compared to a half fantasy and some aspects. Who said, said you can have heroes, you can have more friends. You could have characters which aren't as flawed as I'm talking about as these other more average flawed characters. In essence, you're going to have a somewhat happy dark fantasy. Or you can have one way. There is very little happiness to be displayed in characters or events. But that is something for you to decide. You decide how dark your story should be and to what degree the characters are going to need that dogs? Well, however, I will recommend that you consider your target market. Are you writing for young adults or adults? And then what degree of adult or young adult would read such a story? Will there be someone who's interested in such incredibly dark and themes or latter theme. But it still could be a pool and adopt. These are just small little things to consider, but they do just how many scenes play out in your story. On that note, it's time to end this listen. No exercise is to create your protagonist. Starts simple. Talk about the first qualities that come to mind. Even how they look countries. Then humanize them. Give them depth. Explain why they talk like they do, act like they do. And the reason behind the goal. And the next video, I'll be discussing dog visuals and how to run them. I'll see you then. 5. Writing Dark Visuals : Dark Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome to a dark fantasy rotting calls. And this lesson, I'll be discussing dark visuals and how to run them. Let's listen is more for rioters who aren't sure how to convey the dark and servicing to describe the morbid nature of some events. The gray ground gripping, the gratuitous, grotesque descriptions that often fills such novels. Well, first let me burst that bubble. You don't need to, you don't need every day to be gloomy and gum. You don't need Gore and guts. You don't meet any such features to make your dark fantasy a dark fantasy. You could make your world sunny. You can make the wounds less bloody. You can even make the world colorful. What makes a dark fantasy? A dark fantasy is the death that IS stain the sadness, and many are emotions in their purest form, from anger to the SPEI, if written properly, can make a land of candy and wonderful things seem like anatomy. However, if you wish to relay such imagery to your reader, there are two paths that I can recommend. The first is to keep it simple. Once you have set the scene and mood, don't continuously reinforced the imagery. If you have mentioned that being a dark day, that don't repeat yourself by commenting on the Lamartine later on, once you have set the scene, your focus on the actions that dialogue and so on. And when you do the scrap imagery, be concise. Choose your words carefully. Don't mince them. Tell your reader in the planus terms. For example, if it is a cold day, tell the reader is cold or chilling and leave it at that. Such simple descriptions will help you avoid the trap of repetition. Repetition makes your writing look amateurish. So if you can't add anything more to Hissene, don't add anything more. Second way is the complete opposite, where you make use of both verbiage to get your message across. Describe the clouds, the shadows, the cool lat, coldness or the, a, the smell of blood or whatever you are challenged in this form of writing. To expand your vocabulary, you use metaphors and similes. It's a poetic way of writing and rather enjoyable. In addition, such writing style works, wonders and fantasy. So bonus points. Now, I am going to be set in a scene using both methods so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about. I'll be describing a danger. So let's start with method one, simplistic writing that narrow corridor was learned with cells, the torchlight doing little to reveal the contents. Yet subtle movements within them stood out in the quiet dungeon, making my walk aware he won. It's concise. A provides all the description necessary for the scene and understands the feelings that the character and reader should feel. I would leave it they and continue with the scene describing the events that transpired next or the dialog. However, I will do no more to describe the surroundings. Now for method two, verbose routing, the corridor was worryingly narrow, suffocating me and the little lot Mar torch provided a couple path stretch forth into the darkness. Sets of iron balls flanking both sides. The contents of these iron cages made themselves known by sinister shuffling lights and shadows. With each step has started between the cells, wary of what would happen if I strayed to close. The same dungeon scene has been set by both with very different writing styles. You could lean more towards one or the other, but try to be consistent once you have settled on a writing style. Now before we end this lesson, I want to give you some final tips that are recommend when writing descriptions. First, don't repeat the same word. Second, use any writing tool to emphasize the description. It could be assonance, alliteration, metaphors or similes. Third, is don't overdo it. There is a fine line between being descriptive and simply rambling. For if you want to describe is seen as dark. Use dark woods and imagery. Don't allow a single happy word to detract from the scene. Fifth, and finally, if it is crucial to the story, Take your time. Experiment, test words, rewrite entire sentences until you are happy with it. And there you have it. If your story includes more horrific elements, the same rules apply and use the right words. Don't overdo it. And if it is critical to the story, such as describing an attack, take your time. And now for the writing exercise, once you have entered an ominous barn, describe it. You have to use your preferred routing method and posted in the discussions below. And we'll happily review it. And I'm always eager to see creativity. I'll leave the details of the bond up to you, tom, on the date to the time period. If you truly want to test the range of your writing style, provides two versions. One can SAS and the other for Bose, like the descriptions that are provided on a console tangent. And that is the end of this lecture. And the next video. I'll be getting in depth when it comes to realism in dark fantasy. I'll see you then. Bye for now. 6. Harsh Reality in Dark Fantasy Stories: Hello and welcome back to her dog, NTC rotting cause. And this lesson, I'll be discussing the aspects of dark fantasy in regards to realism. So far in this course, I've discussed plot and structure, characters that are included in your story and how to describe all of it and a foreboding fashion. Now, we're gonna take a step back and look at the bigger picture. What is interesting about writing a dark fantasy is that you are trying to write a different reality that is still realistic and that becomes a difficult balancing act. Because if you are too realistic, you detract from the fantasy elements. And if you're not realistic enough, you lose that harshness, that grittiness, that dark fantasy is famous for. Worse still, you lose its believability hot simply I'm going to be discussing mortality and human limits. Every character is going to be an action hero who performance amazing feats and seems almost fantastical themselves. Death is ever present, reminding the characters and the reader that are well-placed, struck a well-named bullet, arrows, spell, or slip while being pursued are monster, could be the end of them. That is realism and realism that grounds the story, making it more interesting. But that token, realism doesn't mean going into detail. This is what I call uninteresting realism. For example, in fiction today is all well and good to describe a hero getting up in the morning, going through the morning routine and going to work wherever to describe every little thing they do and how they do it. From the weather, the economic close to the way they brush their teeth, all the way to them getting in the car and driving to work, discussing the traffic and the lance and so on. And if this amines detail or uninteresting realism is not necessary to the plot that would take away from the story rather than accurate, dark fantasy is fantasy with overpowering dark elements and depth. That means that there are clear threats to the main characters throughout. From law for death moments to rather grim, thoughtful moments, such as a loss or sacrifice for us, the rotten each include elements like this in your story from now on. And a counter with a monster has an effect on the protagonist. It could be physical, mental, or emotional. A has to be an event at means something and carries forward. And that brings us to the characters who are doomed from the beginning. Now, killing off a character in a story can become difficult if you don't include a viable reason for the days, it needs to be understandable, realistic, and have an effect on the story more than shock factor. For example, the main character and a friend of book into a forest when they are ambushed by bandits. A frame gets killed off either from the front of the bandits or because they wanted to sacrifice themselves for the protectionist. The first scenario where they killed him for fun, comes off as more realistic and adds to the cruelty of the bandits. It's understandable, it's realistic, and it adds to the story. The second option will have more of an emotional impact as a person who sacrifice themselves for another. Not only does it add to the plot, but it adds to the importance of such a character as well. However, if we were to kill off this frame by, let's say an arrow LET loose, bound, banded in the woods. And it appears all of a sudden the character is killed just like that. That death isn't as interesting as a would-be at the bandits had killed him for fun. What does means in, as it's more for shock factor, it's a surprise, a sudden snap back to reality, but at the same time is a depth. And that is a heavyweight to include in your story, especially one so sudden without reasons. However, if it is written well, then we have now given our main character motive for justice or for revenge, or a deep-seated trauma that they need to overcome. However, if this character is death, has no effect on the main character, the plot, or even if the death comes off illogical, then they didn't force flat. It then becomes a wasted element in a story, and that is not what you want. However, that is one example when killing of a character, make it realistic, habit effect the character or the story. If you keep this in mind, any death scene that you do, rat will hopefully have an impact on the reader. And that is after all, the purpose of stories such as this, to entertain an emotion in the reader. Another element to consider when writing realism and a dark fantasy is luck. Now in most fantasy and adventure novels out the luck typically sways in favor of the protagonist. A bullet will always miss. Order only hits something that is minor, such as a grays across the arm or an arrow hits someone else, such as an enemy that is sneaking up on Hero, things like that. Yet in a dark fantasy novel, luck rarely sways in favor of the protagonist. If there is a chance of something going bad and will most likely go bad. For example, if a character crosses a desert almost dying of thirst, and finally funds water. That water is money and disgusting. So what does a cap to have going away? What makes the protagonist so compelling and adult fantasy? What keeps them going and often see a good ending in the journey? The answer is willpower. Even in a realistically harsh world, a human being will still keep going on sheer willpower alone. It's what determines the strength of the characters, spurred. It's what makes a hero a hero and fulfill the role in the story. To top it off, it's a realistic depiction as well. It's human, it's relatable. It makes for great character and a great story. And that brings us to the end of this lecture. And the next video, I'm going to be discussing the antagonist and what makes them a formidable Vernon. I'll see you then. Bye for now. Yeah. 7. The Antagonist in Dark Fantasy Stories: Hello and welcome back to a dark fantasy writing course. In this lesson, I'm going to be discussing the antagonist, the villain, or the monstrous entity, or the cruel tyrant, or the power hungry fiend who challenges the protagonist and perhaps even the world with their evil. In a dark fantasy, the antagonist can be accrual and cunning person, or a deity powerful and exerting their malicious will on the world. Now that's a wide range of villain tarps to use. It's up to you hybrids and decide which one hertz your story-based. However, no matter what you choose, you can always make your antagonist someone's special or something special. Special in the sense that they not only fetch you a story and a real and not only does slacks or likes them, but that they are memorable as well. Actually, if we want to address that point a bit further, it is very rave or an antagonist to be likable and a dark fantasy scene as it is a fantasy that's geared towards darker, seems. The antagonist really has any redeemable qualities that makes them likable. But reader, there isn't much depth to it than that. They can have their reasons. The reader can even empathize with them. However, it takes much more than that to make the character lockable. In fact, from their words to their actions, to their insidious goals. The antagonist is unlikeable. And these profound, unlikeable, evil qualities that make the protagonist seem more likeable, as I said before, characters in a dog fantasy, typically broken characters who have their own darker qualities. Was that a month that needs to be such a contrast between protagonist and antagonist to tell them apart. That's where they antagonist takes it too far with a tag, ernest will not go. And for that reason, the protagonist comes off not only as likeable and understandable as the hero of the story. To sum that up, think of the protagonist in a morally gray area. That gray area is made on not brighter by the darkness of the antagonist. Now I've already taken an example from Lord of the Rings, but I'm gonna do so again because it is such a clear cut example of an antagonist and GCG fantasy. Sarah, who is a character that is spoken about in hushed whispers. And there are no redeemable qualities when it comes to him is a mysterious entity and everything about him is evil. And it's all being pushed against the protagonists who are fundamentally good. Was that a mud He makes for perfect dark fantasy antagonist? Now, while this is some of the best and most recommended ways to write your antagonist, you don't need to do that as well. You can write a protagonist with some likable traits. However, it is there evil traits, the ones that are unlikeable, that overpower and these many nuances of that said, you can have a character but as interesting and likeable quantities. However, it is there in city is role that overpowers this part of the personality. And as I said before, the range of your antagonist is quite a wide one. You can have a canning or powerful human being, or you can have an all-powerful deity and your dark fantasy world. And now let me give you some professional advice on how to craft the antagonist. The first is intelligence or power. Then taken us needs one of these, or both. An antagonist to is unintelligent, needs power to compensate. Or if they're lack power, they need brains. They need an edge that helps them earn the place of antagonist. If they have power and intelligence, they make for a truly formidable villain. Number two, you need to make sure this motor, the antagonist needs a desire, a goal that they hold about everything else. It could be control over Kingdom, ancient magical power, then amass of all their dispatchers. It has to be something they're willing to do the wrong things to in Team. And the third and final thing you need to make sure you have is the connection to the protagonist. The antagonist could have bought harm to the protagonist or harm to those that the protagonist cares about. There needs to be something that pushes the protagonist to clash with the antagonist, and it needs to be a reason of the antagonists own creation. These three points, if you keep them in mind, make up the core of your antagonist. And all you need to do is make sure they fit within the scope of your world. And you can make this very simple. For example, the antagonist could be cooled tyrant who enjoys having power and wishes to remain in power. They're goal is simple then, and there have that quantity per hour. And the protagonist could be a character who is the rightful ruler. And which case it is the antagonists desire to go up against the protagonist and order to remain in power. And for this reason there might overstep themselves. They might harm someone close to the protagonist. Or the protagonist would want to fight for their survival and realize they need to clash with antagonist to do so. What do you have right there as a story and you have connections and an antagonist that is well constructed. Or we are antagonist can actually start at the very bottom BY accrual and cunning person that does something against the protagonist in order to attain wealth or power or any other city has gone. And the connection between the antagonist and this can be something as close as that. Or it could be that because the protagonists can't stand for such atrocity. And which case that a stone upfront on the protagonist, which is the connection they need. You can picture your antagonist. You can imagine many scenes. However, if you don't have any of these boxes checked, they were just an idea floating, not grounded in your story. There's no reason or purpose behind. You need to establish these three things and then you're ready to run them. Your exercise for this lesson is to explain how urine antagonist meets these three requirements. Be sure to share your work in the discussions below our API reviewed and providing a professional up should you need it. I'm also here to help you work the entire writing process, not just the exercises. So if you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Now, I have one question for you. Who or what is your favorite antagonist? It could be an antagonist stance by the derived you own, or it could be one you just simply enjoyed reading. And it can be from any genre. Personally, I always enjoyed the antagonist of Mariotti internal comms. And intelligent antagonist isn't something so special nowadays, especially one like more reality. But it was Moriah 99 inspired many. A character who was always two steps ahead of the average error. And I always think about Maury IT when I'm crafting such an intelligent character as well, that cutting edge. And I was always hard in some important information. And for that reason they almost unpredictable was that this lesson comes to an end. I look forward to seeing your favorite Vernor. In the next video, I'm going to be discussing the endings to dark fantasy stories. I'll see you then. Bye for now. 8. Ending a Dark Fantasy Story: Hello and welcome to the final lesson in dark fantasy writing course. As it is the last lesson, I am going to be discussing the ending too dark fantasy stories, giving you some last minute advice. And of course, your final exercise for this course, Patsy ending. Endings are tapped, arrived even on the best of days. Dark fantasy. Usually the Indian involves a clash of some current, usually physical, between good and evil. And if the not-so-good arrow does when they often ushering in a new world order, some kind one where there is actually good in the world. Or quite simply, they just put an end to that particularly evil. The ending to a dark fantasy story is not that much different to an ending of a typical fantasy. The events of your novel lead up to this final moment. And usually at this point in the story, the reader already knows the outcome. This is not a bad thing. Sometimes you end up writing the most obvious but the most desired in the story. For many successful novels, this is the case as well. It all comes down to what is the right ending to your story? Who does, who lives, and what happens after? Obviously, it is up to you to decide if the ending is something expected or entirely different. But allow me to sum up what it takes to write a very conclusive ending to a story. First, protagonist versus antagonist. Usually this is a fat, but it can even be a conversation. Scene is this is a dark fantasy. However, usually the end of this conversation of fat will be resulting in a death. Second, you need to talk about what happens next, or at the very least, hint at what comes after. You can do this through a Tom jump way. You return to the story several years after the climax with the same characters, different, perhaps a bit wires all stronger. And talking about the world as a whole, what has happened over the years, whatever happens in this final chapter is the final message, the file picture that you're believing your reader with. As they close the book with our last words in mind, they'll either be satisfied with the ending or perhaps Saturn, or you're going a bit of both. You can also make use of an epilogue or simply just a final chapter, two tiles summaries in. This really depends on the length of your novel. And make the novel contains many subplots that need to be addressed. With that said, the last chapter is the perfect time to do so. And again, this is something you can address in a Tom jump chapter. As usually by this point, many of these subplots had been resolved and they're talking about how they think of it much like a where are they now Segment two story. However, this final chapter is not necessary for your story. You can end your story at the final Conflicts Resolution. I've known many novels to do this. And while they end in may be abrupt, It is not anticlimactic. In fact, I found that these kind of endings are rather fitting for the genre as well. Dark fantasy, it has one mode that even after the protagonist to feeds the antagonist, the world still pretty much remains the same. There will still be terrible monsters, so untrustworthy characters or places you certainly don't wish to visit for that reason. And Endian that happens straight after the final Conflicts Resolution is quite fitting because the reader knows that even after the protagonists defeats the antagonist, the world keeps spinning and the grand scheme of things, nothing really changes. It's very rare for a dark fantasy to have such an antagonist that when defeated at the world changes completely as such. It's a fitting end to adopt fantasy, as I said at the beginning of this course, and in every single one of my writing courses. The ending is something you need to have in mind from the very beginning. It is the final act to your story. And if it is something that you only addressed the last minute and don't give the proper term and k, It could spoil the entire story. And that's the last thing you want when you surplus to finishing it. If there is any point in the writing process that you feel the ending is no longer fitting your story. You need to take a moment and craft a new one that does produce story, writing, an ending that makes you go, that will do, or it's all right, a better experience. And one I am familiar with, it doesn't do your characters justice, doesn't do you a marble. Which Justice? I try not to talk about emotional aspects of writing a story. I prefer focussing on practical methods, but this is one that certainly needs addressing, right in ending, you feel is right. It's as simple as that. And now for the exercises, Listen. If you haven't tackled it already. I want you to read the first chapter for your novel. Set the atmosphere, introduce your characters, and when you are writing anything dark or scary, right? What you find is dark and scary because you know that best. Now, I'm not how writers are with the work. So you don't have to share your chapter in the discussions below. But if you want any help or friendly opinion, you can share a segment of your chapter and unhappily read through it and tell you what I think. I'm always happy to read any of my students works well if that this lesson has come to an end. In the next video, I'll conclude what you've learned in this course and where to go from here. I'll see you then. Bye for now. 9. Conclusion to How to Write a Dark Fantasy Novel for Beginners: Well, we have reached the end of this short journey, but really it is only the beginning. Having reached the end of this course, you and are ready to start writing your dark fantasy novel if you haven't started already. And I want you to think of this course as a persistent AID rather than a short carrot and how to write your doc NTC. Am an active instructor, always teaching and helping whoever needs it. Which means if you have a question a week from now, be sure to drop by and join us in the discussions. But now, as dark fantasy goes, it is a genre that has always interested me and always find the gritty, gloomy atmospheres are learning. And as I write thrillers and horrors are usually combine these two. When writing dark fantasy novels, I'll write about some ancient evil, or I said my stories in a Gothic fantasy world, I find that sense of unease and dread adds to the stories. However, when it comes to a pure dark fantasy writing, I enjoy writing and stories about knots in a rotten world, fighting corruption announced that encounters such evil defeated. But I changed in small subtle ways. Slowly, they are being corrupted as well. I found those stories the most interesting, especially when explain other characters and talking about the dark visuals in fall. These are stories where the worlds are characters in their own right. And important ones too. And very much like to hear what you think, your thoughts and opinions and dark fantasy perhaps, and the methods that you recommend when writing in a genre. As for what comes next are recommend you look at my profile. I host an array of courses where I talk about different genres and subjects on matters of rotting. In addition, I have a website where our blog regularly. I have hundreds of short stories, and I even have a YouTube channel. We have placed a weekly discussion and I'd love to see you in the comments theme as well. And it was that, good day, good, not unhappy rotting.