Transcripts
1. Introduction to Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome to your
fantasy writing course. I am Matthew Dewey and I
am a writing instructor. I've been writing
books and teaching other routers how to write
this for many years now, having taught so
many courses and personally coached
several rioters. In this course, I'm
gonna be talking about the fantasy genre and the various elements
that make it up. I'll be talking about
the world space. I'll be talking about
the protagonists and antagonists
are talking about the law and the
common cliches that are often associated
with fantasy. Along the way, I'm
going to be giving you professional writing advice as well as some projects to put that advice into practice. Another important point about this course is that I am
an active instructor, which means if you
have any questions or you want to submit
your projects for review, you'll receive response
in very good time. And if you want to take full
advantage of this course, I highly recommend that
you ask questions in the discussion set you do
these projects. That way. By the end of this course, you will have a
great understanding of how the fantasy genre works and a head start in
writing your own fantasy novel. I should also tell
you that I have a writer's workshop
on my website. Matthew, do you also.com,
This Rogers workshop, you'll be able to access every
single one of my courses, past, present, and future. And if you're interested in some more personalized guidance, you can sign up for
the coaching program over three months program, you and work together to write a novel you
can be proud of. You will be able to
submit your writing to me and I'll be
able to give you professional
feedback and getting your story and the direction
you want it to go. I really do hope you enjoyed this course on the
fantasy genre. And as always, good day, good and happy writing.
2. Fantasy Structure | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome to the
very first lesson and your fantasy story writing course in case you
skip the intro, My name is Matthew Dewey and I'll be your writing instructor. In this lesson,
we're going to be talking about the
different plots, structures that dominate
the fantasy genre. If you're unexperienced
fantasy reader, I'm sure you've noticed that
there is a common theme when it comes to plot
structure in the genre. I'll be talking
about the four most popular plot structures
in the genre. The pros and cons of each, and how you can use them to
help develop your story. Let's get straight into the
very first plot structure. The first structure I
call the generic or MLU structure as it is often the most
successful and in fact, simple structure to use. Generic structure is where
the plot is centered around the main character
who is thrown into a world much like the reader is. The reason this is often done is because the
main character, typically the protagonist, is in the same position
as the reader. They are new to the
fantasy experience, that is the world space. They are new to the places, the magic of it,
all, the characters. So they are learning
alongside the reader. And with that said,
the main characters, opinions and how they form them are often the
same as the reader, as the reader sees it from that main character's
perspective. Great examples of generic
fantasy plots that did well. Our Harry Potter and pneumonia. Although non-UI followed
several main characters, the effect was much the same. Generic plots are successful as most fantasy novels
incorporate a sense of wonder, giving the reader the curiosity to learn more about the world. The next structure for a fantasy novel is similar
to a generic structure. So I gave it the
name semi generic. The main difference between the first and second
structure is that semi generic main
characters grew up in the world instead of
being thrown into them. And as such, it often
leaves the reader behind to piece together
how the world works. Now that is not to say that the main character
understands the world fully. There'll be plenty
of opportunity for the main character
to learn something new alongside the reader. However, the main character is familiar with a lot of
points in the story. Other words, the characters,
the different places, or perhaps a different
concepts that you are to introduce in your story. Popular examples of
this plot structure or the spook series, Game of Thrones series, and even Lord of the Rings. Yes, while many of
these characters aren't unfamiliar to concepts
in this world space, there are still experiencing
terrifying things, are wonderful things
for the first term. And for that reason,
they experienced still translate well
to the other reader. And as Game of
Thrones and Lord of the Rings and many
others have proven. This is a very popular plot structure where
you don't need to have a character who's entirely
new to the world space. These are books that became
big names and the genre. And it's understandable. But they use a plot
structure that you can use in your
novel as well. One of the benefits of this plot structure is that
it allows you to introduce more complex concepts to the reader as having something
heard of in a world space, something well-known, allows you to introduce
smaller details and elements to the reader before the main characters actually
encounter that experience. E.g. if you have a complex creature or perhaps
a complex form of magic, you can talk about it
earlier in the story before you actually
introduce it in the plant. This is a technique
that a lot of science fiction writers are familiar with as it allows you to introduce complex
technology in your story by introducing
it first through a dialogue or through
a small bit of narration before you actually included in the story itself. The third structure is
the fable structure. The structure of these novels is centered around a moral lesson. In these novels, the
character could be thrown into the world,
are born into it. But the potent structure
are centered on the main character coming to grips with an important lesson. I'm sure we're all familiar with those childhood
fables that taught us very simple moral lessons, such as don't lie, don't steal, brush
your teeth before bed. Things like that.
That makes sense, but it's not exactly
deep thinking. The moral lessons that are
often taught in fantasy novels today tend to deal with
the more emotional, spiritual aspect of
a main character. And as such, have a
few more levels to it than simple fables we
learned in primary school. But it's typical with
this plot structure, is that the main
character tends to start off truly rotten or
thoroughly misguided, or simply just rude. But then they are thrown into
or perhaps convinced to go on an adventure and
change who they are. Most of the story will
include encounters that challenge the values
that they began with, if they had any, as the story develops. They will achieve a
better perspective on people in the world
space that they are in. By the end of the story, they tend to have more
morals than they began with. And they'll channel
that energy towards more moral acts
than immoral ones. I'm sure we all
already familiar with many stories where
character has developed, that tends to be
a common theme in every story, not just fantasy. Another popular
example is actually from Tolkien again,
being the Hubbard. The main character
starts very closed off, a shut in, in their own home. But as the story progresses, by the end of the novel, they are more open to the world space and they'd
like to go on more adventures. And yes, the character is still empty social in some respects. But there are a lot better
than what they want. Finally, there's the
three-act story structure. One of the most common stories
structures in fiction, not just the fantasy genre. It is a structure
that even applies to some of the examples
I mentioned earlier. The three-act story
structure is like this. The first act is you
introducing elements of your story from the world
space to the characters, basically setting the scene. And this act ends
when you introduce the conflict that sets
the story in motion. Typically, the first act ends
very early on in the novel. The second act is the
bulk of the story, as it's made up of most of
the scenes that transpire, the scenes that developed the main character and the plot. The second act ends when
there is the final conflict. That is the third act. In this third act, the final conflict
transpires whether it's a battle of
good versus evil, whether it's a facing
of an emotional trauma, whatever this conflict may be. Once it ends, we are left
with for the resolution, whether it'd be the
antagonist, winning or losing. We tie up some loose ends. We leave the reader with
some final thoughts, and we end the novel. And yes, the three-act
story structure is dreadfully broad. And thus it can
apply to many novels which have a fundamentally
different structure. Personally from these
three structures, I would recommend the generic
structure to start with. The structure is a great way for the writer to tell this
story to the reader. That is because the generic
story structure allows you the opportunity to introduce
the elements slowly. Because you're trying to have
the main character loon, as well as the reader. Because as you teach
in the main character, the different elements
in your story and you're building
up the world space. Reader is learning with them. It's much easier for
a reader to get into a story that way
than to throw them into the deep end and try to
make sense of all the jargon and characters and elements
that make up the story. Personally, I'm a
big fan of semi generic structures
as I like to have an established world space and introduce the elements
slowly to the reader. If I find my world
space so complex, I like to start off
in a very open area, one that has few elements
that need to be introduced. And then I'll take the reader along with the main character, two more complex areas in
the world as they learn. And that brings us to
the end of this lesson. Your project is to decide upon a structure that best
fits your story. It can be one of the
ones that I mentioned before or can be a
combination of them. It helps us well to do an
outline of your plot to help figure out where certain scenes would go in the plot structure. This will certainly help
with your pacing as well. In the next lesson, we'll be talking about fantasy
world building. I'll see you then. Bye for now.
3. World Building | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome back to your fantasy story
writing course. In this lesson, I'm gonna be
talking about fantasy world, building, an important part of any fantasy novel creation. We establish the setting in
which your story takes place. Now, there are two popular
tubs of fantasy world space. I'll be talking about. The first most popular
fantasy world top is a fantasy world that is
established in the real-world. It could be at any time period, but it is the real-world. The places are the same, the people taught much the same, the culture is very
much the same. There are two main reasons that writers use this world space. The first is it opens up a whole new dimension to will
that we are familiar with. It's quite wonderful
to imagine that beyond a certain forest or
through a certain door, we enter a world space that is not too
different from ours, but so much more wonderful. Then there is the other reason, which is it allows a lot of the worldbuilding
to already be done. A reader can easily imagine the world they live in and just adding some fantastic elements to make it that
much more exciting. The second type of world
space is the one way. Everything is created
from imagination. The places, the people,
the culture itself. Everything is created
from scratch. Everything is fictional. Even though there are
some similarities between that fictional story and
perhaps some real-world events. And the reason that
many writers use this world space is because
it allows them to introduce elements that are
entirely their own to create an entire
world space for a reader to escape into the radical come up of creatures
that are specific, spacial to the story. They can create spells, they can create
incredible technology. The list goes on. When it comes to using a more
real-world setting. There is some limits that
we have to set in order to make sure that it fits
in the real-world space. With that explained, Let's talk about fantasy world building. And personally, this is one of my favorite parts of
writing a fantasy novel. All it really comes down to is asking herself many
questions to help establish important aspects of your story and willed space. One of the first questions is, will you be building a
fantasy world set in the Dark Ages when a modern,
almost futuristic world. This is the first question, are certainly ask myself when creating an imaginary world. Sometimes my decided
we'll doesn't fall exactly into one of
the two categories, but it helps when choosing which way it leans towards more. Does it have cars or
horses, swords or guns? These questions are
quickly answered by setting an error
for your story. The second most
important question is, does it have magic or not? Because this can decide
the various elements and the way things act
in your world space. E.g. magic can extend from fantastic creatures to
spells, to even technology. When it comes to
fantasy world spaces, there are so many
ways that magic and influence the elements
that make up the world. So you have to decide,
do you want something that's more gritty
and down to earth? In which case,
you'll use magic a lot less or just
not use it at all. But if you want to create something that's
more fantastical, more dreamlike, the inclusion
of magic needs to be apt. E.g. magical be a
fundamental part of every person's laugh. Or there can be plenty of figures in your world
space that use magic. Now on the subject of magic, your next question is, if you do include
it in your story, what are the limits to
your magical system? Magical systems are only
fun and interesting. If they are limits
placed upon them. There could be a variety of
spells, but at the same time, they shouldn't be expelled
for every situation, making everything a problem
that can be easily solved. At the same term,
magic shouldn't be so powerful that anybody could use it to takeover world space. There needs to be some limits on your magical system to
maintain those stakes, to maintain that
suspension of disbelief. Now let's say you have chosen a world space that's
based in reality. In which case you might
create what is known as an alternative reality with
a history is different. Perhaps a monumental
decision in the past was influenced by the fantastic
elements in your story. If that is the case, you need to consider history and culture. You have to decide who
lives and who dies in the past in order to
influence this reality. Of course, that only changes a few aspects of the
world, noticeable or not. You need then decide how far
you are willing to take it. Perhaps there is a
cataclysmic event and not the world
going through another S-H. Remnants of history can also be found an
alternative realities. So choosing how far back the
change happens will help. Now that we've talked about the different fantasy
worlds that one can create, I'm going to give you
some advice when creating your fantasy world that helps you in the writing
process as well. First, it cannot simply set with describing how
the world looks. It is a common mistake beginners make in building their world. Deciding how place or person looks doesn't properly
set the scene. What does set the scene
is the way the characters speak and what actions they
take in their daily lives. What societal terms
fill the world? E.g. if you're going to set your story in a dark
fantasy world space, you need to include the
elements that make it up. Just the look of the elements. That means bringing
your world to laugh or your characters tending to
horses and sharpening sold. What are the sounds and smells that make up
the world space? All of these elements you want
to use in a novel as soon as possible to help build the
world space for the reader. The sooner they become immersed, the more attached they will
become to the world space. And there are so many
more elements to discuss, whether your workspace as
a king or a president. What is the ruling system
over your society? Finally, language, the way the characters speak really
shows the time they live in. More formal language is
used in older periods. So if we'd lingo, if that is what
you're aiming for. If you have a more
modern space, of course, you can have more fun
with the language, including more modern slang. Language is one of the
most difficult things to master for most writers. Because when you're
writing something that's set in a moment
of evil period, it's very easy to slip in more modern speech because that's simply what
we are used to. It's another reason that a
lot of writers like to settle into a world space that
set and now Tom period, because we can include sentences and lands that they would use. That's why a lot of
writers like to create a world space that is
set in our time period. Because we can include speech
that we are used to instead of trying to compress
speech that best fits that time period. Then
there you have it. Your project for this lesson
is simply to sit down for a few days and think about the elements that
make up your workspace. You don't necessarily
have to write things out in your story
as you go just yet. But take a moment to really consider what makes
up your workspace. What does it look like? How do things operate? What are some of
the mundane jobs that characters can take up? Ask yourself what the small elements in your
world space are, not just the bigger ones. As you ask these questions
and list out these details, you'll have a deeper
understanding of your world space than the surface level understanding
that you might have now. And while you might
not include many of these details in
your world space, does help to know
them because it can help you establish
settings a lot better. Now in the next lesson, we'll be talking about
the protagonists in fantasy stories. I'll see you then. Bye for now.
4. Fantasy Protagonists | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome back to your fantasy story
you're writing course. In this lesson, I'll
be talking about the protagonists that are
popular in the fantasy genre. Now this is main characters and sad characters in the
protagonists group. And I'm not gonna go
too in depth into this discussion because I understand that your
story is your own. There are many elements
that you already have in mind when it comes to
your main characters, but protagonist and antagonist. For these next two videos, I'm simply going to talk about the combinations of characters, the popular personality
types, things like that. You don't have to use any of these elements in your story. But if you are struggling to make a character that
fits well in your story, having these ideas can help. I'll also be giving you some
writing advice and tips on how to better convey these
characters to your reader. So if you do want them to become more attached
to your character, understand and
better, stick around. First thing to take note of
when creating a character in any genre is what their
personality will be. Personality is often an influence
on the plot or subplot, depending on the role
of the character. To better decide to personality
for your character, you must decide upon
one governing trait. That trait to be what affects most of the
characters decisions. And the best way to figure out what this trait will be for your character is to look at the plot you have
in store for them. What role are they going
to play in the story? What are their experiences? E.g. if your characters in
for a tough time and they're going to be encountering
many challenges and horrors. Perhaps traits
such as courage or perseverance are gonna be
there governing trade. With that in mind, you can
show off their governing trade in the dialogue that they
speak, acts they do. Once you have decided on the trait that will
help develop the plot, you need to look at
their face value trait and a bad trait. The face value trade is what governs how they talk
most of the time, how they act on a daily basis
in a more casual manner. The bad trait is
their Achilles heel, which in the end is
what makes them human. And working with these two
traits can actually be a lot of fun when it comes
to character design. E.g. a bad trait
could be cowardice. Whenever they facing
a tough situation, they're always looking for
a way to get out of it. Yet their face value
trait when there is no threats around,
is actually bravery. Now that can lead to a lot of funny encounters might also be a character that's simply
is a sad character who comes off as
tough and strong, but really is probably the
weakest one in the story, the painting on the
importance of this character. They can simply learn to abandon their face value trait or
overcome their bad trait. That really depends
on the scenes that they plan to
encounter in your story. But that's just a basic idea. Depending on the importance
of this character, they might simply continued
to be that way for more comedic relief
or just to be an unlikable character
because of their hypocrisy. Or it could be
that they overcome their bad trait in the end. And this can also develop
their face value trade, making them more humble and quiet than talking
tough and acting tough. But right now you're
probably thinking, well, these two traits seem
very two-dimensional, doesn't make the
character deeper. Well then we go back
to our governing trait and see if we can use that in combination of
these two traits to make it something very
interesting. So e.g. let's take this brave
colleague of ours and make their governing trade an intense desire to
protect their family. So you have a character
who is cowardly, sneaky, not very likeable
because of their hypocrisy. But when it comes
to their family, they easily abandon
their bad trait and they really become
a stand-up character. And suddenly we have a lot more interesting of a character because we have
something that's less of a comedic break on a
likable character. We have a character that is
admirable in some sense, even though most of the
time they don't appear So. Now appearance of
your character is something I personally
don't take too seriously. And rotting the way
a character talks and acts as what really gets
the interest of the reader. However, appearances
important in its own way. Working with
appearances, you can decide how this person lives, how they take care
of themselves, not just how they look. And at times this does translate well to
their personality. For characters who are lot
more rough around the edges, they might appear, but more
rough around the edges. There have a scruffy
beard or may see hey, ragged clothes,
things like that. Whereas more refined characters take better care of themselves. It shows in the way they dress
and in the way they look. Not just the
mannerisms and speech, but of course the
looks can't really tell you much about a character. Sometimes the refund
character is a good person, sometimes they're a bad person, same with the rough
looking character. The next element we
need to talk about is the protagonists
moral compass. When creating a protagonist, you must decide to what limits they are bad before
you make them. So e.g. they might be an anti-hero desktop character without doing bad things
for good reasons. But if you push that too far, you might end up with something that's more of an antagonist and a protagonist that
has to be something about a protagonist
that makes them good. They are never really any truly neutral
characters in books. So keep that advice and mind
when writing a character. Finally, it comes down to the purpose of the protagonists. Will they help the
main character or characters on a journey will be used simply as a tool for world-building and
character development. And while side
characters don't need to have so much depth to them, the interactions that they do. Can they become golden
moments in your story? Sad characters can help
develop main characters, create interesting scenes,
challenge different values. You could even have a
really special moment in your story that's purely
between side characters. And I'd like to cap
this lesson off with a very important lesson that Ireland and my writing journey. And that's that conflict is the best tool for character and plot development when
a character's values are challenged when
arguments arise, the most change tends to happen. If you want your character
to go down a certain path, you need to challenge them on certain aspects of their lives. Not just physically, but emotionally and
spiritually as well. There are so many
interactions you can create between characters that can help develop a character in a better direction
or this direction. And that all comes down to
understanding how conflict works and how you can
use it to advantage. Conflict can easily turn
a hero into a villain. Villain into a hero. Because conflict allows
for lessons to be learned. And sometimes the lessons have a lasting impact on
that personality. And of course, a scene
with conflict is a lot more fun to write
and read than one without your project for this
lesson is simply to take your protagonists and list them out and decide on
those three traits. Their face value trait, they're bad trait, and
their governing trade. Their governing trade
obviously being the one that makes them make the decisions
they do in the story. In the next lesson, we'll be talking about the antagonists. I'll see you then. Bye for now.
5. Fantasy Antagonists | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome to your
fantasy story writing course. In this lesson, I'm going
to be talking about the antagonists that appear
in most fantasy novels. Like the previous lesson where I discussed the protagonists. I'll be going through the cerebral elements
that can make up a, an antagonist and your story, as well as some popular tops which are used in
fantasy novels today. Now the antagonist is a crucial element in
any fantasy novel. Especially if you plan to write a fantasy novel that reaches a young adult audience as well. Like most fantasy writers do, the most common type of antagonist used in
fantasy stories today is a character or
creature that is pure evil. Because that underlines
this whole balance between good versus evil. You want to have a protagonist that is captivating
and interesting. But at the end of the day, you want them to be on a moral high ground as
opposed to the antagonist. So that's typical
phone antagonist to be this truly evil character. They look unlikeable,
they act unlikeable. It could be that they are
even some force of evil rather than a tangible
human being or creature. And all of this underlines
that good versus evil balanced that often
occurs in stories. It's a lot easier to side with the protagonist when
they facing off against something that's purely evil rather than something
that's morally gray. That's typically in the realm of adult fantasy fiction
because those are more complex stories with
more complex characters. Popular antagonists
you might already be familiar with include
Sauron, Voldemort. Any dark lord always makes
for an amazing antagonist. But you need and goes
so far as to create a villain that is
super powerful. Many fantasy novels
written today approached the world a
lot more realistically. And as such, the villainous,
typically a person. Since these villains
are more human, it gives the router
space to give them more human aspects and evoke empathy and then
protagonists and the reader. And the reason that the purely
evil antagonist is used so often is because it's a lot more easy to write as well. Was a complex character. You have to look at
their human aspects. Not just the reasons
they're doing bad things, but also explore their
emotional depths through different
scenes and conflicts. However, when you just got
to purely evil antagonist, they are just
fulfilling that role in the story of having
something to battle against. And with the complex
antagonists, you do have to be a bit
more in depth when you explaining their emotional
or psychological trauma. That causes them to
act the way they do. Writing a villain like
that is very difficult, which is why it is common
for writers to only really dabble with that near
the end of the novel. The best way to create a more
realistic human antagonist is to have the reader like them before they even found out
they are the antagonist. You can introduce them with
lockable quantities as a human and then pull the rug out from
beneath the reader. There are a lot of
writers you'd like to do this by displaying their antagonist in a good
light in certain scenes. That is because
not everybody has inherently bad values on every topic or in
every encounter. Some people do have good values. You can have an
antagonist who is truly horrible person that
wants to take over the world. But at the same time they're
a family person as well. By introducing a more likable
element to antagonist, you make them a lot more interesting and a lot
more fun to read. If you think about
all the antagonists you have seen in movies, TV series, and novels. You'll find that the
most memorable and enjoyable antagonists
are the ones that one so completely evil that had this personality quirk to them that made
them entertaining. Either you synthesized if
their position on some points, you respected some
of their values. Or quite simply that a personality that
was amusing to read, even though their personality
was a little twisted, Nothing makes an ending more
generic than a villain you barely know being defeated by the protagonist and the end, you can create some conflict between the reader
and the villain, not just the hero
and the villain. That being said, if you
are new to writing, I do recommend writing
your first novel, or at least dabbling
with a short story. We write a common
villain example. One that is purely evil, one that is two-dimensional. Before we delve into the deeper aspects of
what a villain can be. It goes without saying
that if you do want to create a more
likable, memorable, or impactful antagonist,
you have to give them qualities that do counter
the negative traits. But of course that
does depend on the kind of story that
you want to tell, which brings us to the project. For this lesson, it's
simply to decide what kind of antagonist
you want for your novel. Once you have decided
upon that grocery list of traits that you want to
consider for your antagonist. It can be anything from
their likable qualities to the unlikeable quantities. And that brings us to
the end of this lesson. The next video, we'll be discussing the emotional
impact that often occurs in fantasy novels and how to evoke it
in your reading. I'll see you then. Bye for now.
6. Emotion In Fantasy | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello writers and
welcome back to another lecture in your
fantasy story writing course. In this lesson, we're
gonna be talking about the emotional impacts you can create in your fantasy novel. I'll be talking about
some writing methods and examples and how to get the reader
more attached to the story and its characters. Now, if you want to
create an emotionally impactful seen in your
novel of the calf. It takes a lot of practice. In my experience,
one or two novels worth of emulating emotions in writing would help you get the general idea of how to
convey emotion effectively. The first thing though, you
must be in mind when writing emotions is that
there is no rushing. Emotions require patients in order to reach the full thing. If you are writing
a horror scene, you need to lead up to the scale with proper suspense or shock. You need to allow your
reader into a false sense of security or have them
on the edge of the seat. But how does one create
emotion in a fantasy novel? Well, the most common
method and most effective, in my opinion, is to simply place yourself in the
character's shoes. Because by getting a deeper perspective
on your character, you'll be able to better
convey their feelings and also how to better convey other character's
feelings towards them. A lot of writers like to do this because when they speak
through the character, they speak as that character. They think of the emotions
that they would be feeling as that character with
that personality. The more stoic tabs in a story will be a lot
more quiet and conserved, but that leads to a lot of raging waters
beneath the surface. However, was the more open
and emotional characters, their reactions are a bit
more impactful but more loud. They'll speak more,
they will act out more. Things like that. Another great method is
to place yourself in like a therapists and let the
character speak to you. The way that they narrate
an emotion is how you need to narrate
it in your story. One of the biggest benefits
you have on your side is that the reader wants to feel the emotions that
you want to convey. That means if you
take your time to write a paragraph Tool three, to better convey the emotions
that character is feeling. A reader will begin to
sympathize and attach themselves a lot easier
to that character. A lot of beginner
writers believed that what they tried
to do when they evoke emotion is convince the reader of that
character's emotion. But the reader understands
the emotions that characters feel when you have logical steps that
lead up to now. E.g. if one of your characters loses someone
who is special to them, a reader can understand the emotions that are going through that character's mind. You don't need to hammer
home the reasons. You need only emphasize the fact that they
feeling that emotion. It could be in the way
they move in the woods. They say the thoughts that
are running through them and you need only
express them simply. The reader can easily find themselves captivated
by that much. And the painting on
the buildup you have towards these impactful,
emotional scenes. You can have an impactful emotional reaction
from the reader. And there are many
elements in a scene that you can talk about
that can help. Hence, this feeling.
In a darker scene, it could be about the
negative elements that only add to their
negative emotion. From the silence to the
terrifying scene itself, to the idea of trait anxiety that's building
up things like that. In the more positive
scenes you're talking about the more
positive elements in order to better convey those emotions from the
sides to this smells, to the emotional state
that the characters in this is something
that is done in writing. It is done movies it
has done and TV series. To emphasize the
emotional impact, you do sometimes
have to sacrifice some other elements in your story in order to
stay with that emotion. I think I could talk about
one great example of this being the scene that occurs in the first Lord
of the Rings movie. Because those who
haven't seen it, this is a sort of
a spoiler moment, but at the same time,
let me get through it so you can understand exactly
what I'm talking about. An erotic scenes in a
scene and the first movie, Frodo gets injured, P S bar, sort of an evil entity. The longer the
wound is untreated, the moist slips into
death and darkness to become like the evil
entity that stabbed him. The next pages in the novel of intense agony in
suspense as the Allies are, Frodo rush him to a safe place in order
to have them treated. The sequence is suspenseful
and painful to read as Frodo suffers constantly pursued
by more antagonists as well, the emotions in this
scene are at a high because you are following
with the suspense. You're constantly being
reminded of a threat. You're told that
time is running out. All these elements really
add to that feeling. And you can do this with every
peak seen in your novel. And the reader will
feel these emotions because they're not
coming out of nowhere. These are emotions that last
for a long period of time. It's not something that you only express in a few paragraphs. It's something that can carry
over into several scenes. Yes, the pacing of
the emotions in your scene is very important. And that's really in
scenes where there's a lot going on and there's a lot
of suspense and dread. You can add a lot
of fast moments. You will paste it a lot faster. You'll get the words out
a lot faster because you want the reader to understand
that sense of urgency. Whereas in the happier scenes, the scenes, you will take your time to convey the
message to the reader. The emotions of the
characters are feeling. And the reader can
feel as if they are in a break from all
of the darker scenes. The emotional impact of that
scene is already greater because there isn't a sense of urgency that's
breaking the emotion. There's a sense of safety, of happiness and calm. And to conclude this lesson, I want to give you
a writing project. You are to write two scenes. The first scene is your
character entering the forest that you're going to paint in a positive light. And two to three
paragraphs talk about this character walking through a forest in a positive light. Your second scene is to
talk about the character walking through the forest
and a negative lab. You can talk about the
sounds, the smells, and how they affect the
emotions of the character. In a more positive story, you're talking about the
more positive elements. Now one of the tips I have for writing it is to take your time. You'll be surprised by
the emotional impact. You can create those two
to three paragraphs. If you really consider the
emotions of the character, the elements that can help
emphasize those emotions. In the next lesson, we'll
be talking about law in fantasy stories.
I'll see you then. Bye for now.
7. Lore | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello writers and welcome to your fantasy story
writing course. In this lesson, I'm going
to be talking about the law that is often established
in fantasy novels. Now, I've previously
talked about worldbuilding and
briefly mentioned low. But low is something that is so important to the world
bullying process, especially if you
plan on creating a fantasy will
build from scratch. Without a month. Law is the history by
hand, a world space. This includes many elements. It refers to the traditions, the beliefs, the history
behind the world space. There are so many
things that can make a world that much more
realistic and investing. Now as I said, this is a lesson that will really apply to you if you plan on creating a fantasy
world space from scratch. That means if you plan to have a hidden society and
a real-world space, if you plan to have an
alternative reality. If you plan to create an
entire world from scratch, much like Middle
Earth and Lord of the Rings and so
many other examples. Then having low by hand your world space will help
set the limits and rules that make the world a bit more realistic and thus a lot more
interesting to the reader. Now, I usually like to
take a deal to create an in-depth law behind my world before I start
writing actual novel. Doing so allows me to have characters reference
past events or follow certain rules I have sent for my imaginary universe. Of course, there have to be limitations or rules that
destroying needs to follow. The world needs to be one dress, but not so unbelievable that it reads as a child's
dream journal. And there are many examples of fantasy worlds spaces
that have rules sent. Examples such as the
Harry Potter series, The Lord of the
Rings, once the Game of Thrones, mortal instrument, His Dark Materials, pneumonia, they all have limits and histories behind
their world spaces. If you want to create a captivating and vibrant
world for your reader, you need to include
these elements. You need to think about how
the world is structured and lower help you do
that because it helps you establish
the politics, the creatures, the walls, the societal traditions
that are often referenced and employed
throughout your story. As I said in that
world-building lesson, you don't have to refer to all of these details in your novel. But it certainly helps establish the picture of your world
space in your own mind. And thus it helps you
better write your novel when you're talking about
certain places and things. And the reason I
take two days to figure out the law
behind my world space is because I don't
want some areas of my novels to be more
fleshed out than others. This can lead to problems
where some areas of your novel lack the
quality of other areas, or worse, still, you
contradict yourself. The last thing you want to
do is find out that there is some element in your story that actually
doesn't make sense, that doesn't work with everything else
you've established. And that's something you
don't want to encounter, especially late in the
writing process as you grow a fanbase who will enjoy
reading your next novel. They will also
love to learn more about the world
and how it works. Nothing will destroy
it faster than some contradictions
on your part. On top of that, know your limits when it comes to
low because you can have way too much information the reader couldn't
care less about, especially if it's not
integral to your plant. So yes, having a lot of history behind your
characters and the elements in your world space will make it that much
more interesting. It'll feel like the
world is lifting, that the reader will
feel more immersed in the story as you
introduce these elements. And that is a great feeling
to have in any fantasy novel. And I'm sure you can think
of a few fantasy novels you read that have
created this feeling. By the same token, when you are creating
law for your story, you shouldn't take it too far. Which is why I say
you're only really talk about the elements that are
integral to your plant. But if you do take
it further than that and you create
poorly written law that can lead to boring the retail or creating contradictions
further down the line. It's better than to
have no law at all than have one that confuses
or noise the reader. The project for this lesson is purely optional as I
do understand that some writers don't
wish to create low for the world space and they already have an established setting. However, if you do want to
partake in this project, it is to create a two to
three paragraphs segment of writing describing the world
space and its history. Now, if your ad
short paragraphs, 2 to three paragraphs
is not much at all. Which is why this project
is also about focusing on a particular element in your world space and
the law behind it, rather than the law by hand, the entire world
space as a whole. And that brings us to
the end of this lesson. In the next video,
we'll be talking about subplots and story development. I'll see you then. Bye for now.
8. Subplots And Story Development | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome to your
fantasy story writing course. In this lesson, I'll
be talking about subplots and story
development. To begin. Subplots, in essence, are small stories told in the
background of the main story. These subplots are
usually related to other characters
or every character if your novel doesn't have
a specific main character, these shorter stories or
subplots are meant to give a deeper perspective into a character that the
reader has encountered. Typically, a sad character. Subplots can range in size depending on how important
the main plot is. Often in most stories there
is little to no subplots, instead following
the main character and their overall plot. Sometimes the novel
is made up of subplots and the main plot
is kind of a backdrop. If the main plot is the
focus of the novel, and that is where the
reader's attention is centered inside
characters and the readers are much in the
same boat as in they are tagging along and they kind of watching from the sidelines. But when it comes to stories
that includes subplots, the side characters have a more prevalent
role in the story. There's subplots are
also interesting. It could be about them
pursuing a personal goal, about exploring their
own emotional depths, are encountering
another character that's truly important to them. Subplots make for very interesting stories
and some readers can attest that some subplots are better than the
main story itself. At the end of the day, though, it is not as important
to the novel as a whole, as the main plot. As for story development, it is much like
character development. With character
development, we create interactions and events
that grow a character, change them, and define them
as the story progresses. Steroid development is the same, but in the context of progressing
towards the end goal. Usually these steps to take the story further
are the events and interactions that
push the characters towards the end of their story. And usually a writer has
a focus on one or the other when it comes to
character development and Android development, a reader might notice that a character develops better and their own growth as a
lot more interesting than the main plot
and other stories, the character
development is lacking, but the main plot
is interesting. Of course, you want to apply as much attention to
one as to the other. Because you want to feel
that the characters make for an interesting element
that grows with the story. And at the same time,
you want the story to be captivating in
its own way as well. Which is why this lesson
is all about including both subplots and story
development into the process. Subplots can help develop your main character
and your main plot, making both very interesting. But subplots of course, require some certain level of attention to sad
characters as well, not just the main characters
that make up the story. And this can be
incredibly overwhelming, especially if you're
a beginner writer. Because now you not only have to manage your main characters, but other characters as well, and tell a convincing
and investing story in addition to the main
plot you are focusing on? Yes, what is a Paint balance
giving you a sad characters, ambitions and then
later tying them into the main story is a great way to get the reader more
invested into a character. Like in real life. Everyone is the main character
in their own story. And much like a play, it can benefit the
story if there isn't one character
in the spotlight. And this is something that a lot of fantasy writers understand, which is why a lot of fantasy novels, especially the grant, the ones today that
are being released, tend to focus on many
different characters, switching perspectives
to these characters, even though they are
in different places with their own stories. Because later on they
are all tying together. In this world space. This way you can
create a variety of interactions and characters
all working together to, towards an end goal that you
have devised or your novel. And when you look
at it like that, what you're essentially
doing is taking a full novel and
breaking it down into smaller short stories
that all work together towards the final short story where all the elements
come together. My goal for this lesson is to help beginners
realize that you don't need to focus purely on the main plot and the
central character. You can easily create
a book that gives the reader a break from
the overall story, peaking their interest
in another character. The only challenge is making
subplots interesting. Adults subplot is simply
padding if it adds nothing to the story or
value to a side character. So for this beginner writers who feel that they've reached a point in a novel way they
stuck and unsure where to go. Perhaps switching perspective
and giving yourself a bigger picture will help you better explain certain
aspects of your story. At the same time, creating interesting
chapters and scenes for your reader to enjoy. This also helps with
some writers who find their attention to
the novel dwindling. They're losing interest by switching perspective
to another character, by introducing a smallest story that they find interesting, they can re-ignite their
passion for the normal and the base story one can tell
in fantasy is one way. Every character's important. They have their time to shine. So when the story
comes to its end, there are many emotions
for the reader to feel that this lesson
has come to an end of hope of expressed how
important story development is in a novel and how subplots
can be a very useful tool. It creates interests
inside characters. It helps you introduce more
elements to your world space. It helps you tell smaller, interesting stories to help
give the world a bigger, more diverse feeling
than it initially has when you only focus
on the main characters. I feel that way
too many beginner writers find the idea of managing subplots to be too
complex, too difficult. But really it can be a useful
tool that helps you tell your main story was that this
lesson has come to an end. In the final lesson, I'm going to be talking about whether you should
turn your novel into a series or have it
remained a standalone. Because they are pros and
cons to each and after that, I'll be giving you your final
project as well as what comes next and how to take
full advantage of this course. Once you have completed
it. I'll see you then. Bye for now.
9. Series Of Not? | Writing Fantasy for Beginners: Hello and welcome to your
fantasy story writing course. In this lesson, I'm
going to be talking you through the pros and cons of creating a series from your fantasy novel or sticking
with a standalone novel. In addition to that,
I'll be giving you your final project and
wait to go from yet. Now there's often a debate about whether one should
turn their novel into a series of novels or have it remained
a stand alone? And this is because it
calls into question the amount of dedication
required to that story, erotic, and dedicate
themselves to creating a marvelous
standalone novel. But the fact still remains that the most successful
fantasy novels out there or part of an entire series rather
than a single book. I've personally noticed
that in the writing Market that a series of novels will sell better than a stand alone. Now this is not because
a standalone is a single novel as opposed to
several novels being sold. Because I have found as
well that the fanbase behind a series dwindles drastically over
a period of time. This means that with each
novel release in a series, there's a lot less people
reading those novels. A series does well because it gains more reader attention. So the first novel in
a series would tend to do a lot better than
a standalone novel. But at the same time, the amount of people supporting a standalone novel will
be greater than that in a subsequent novels that follow the initial
Navona series. Now this does depend of course, on the series and the
standalone novel. But you get the idea. Interest dwindles over a series. And yes, you will gain more
sales and more attention. But at the same time, you will have to do a
lot more work and you'll lose more of your fan base
as the series goes on. Another reason that series
seem to do very well is because readers enjoy
the world space the writer might grade. So if you are truly proud of the world
space that you have built or the characters that you've included
in your story. You might be in a
good place to start a series instead of
sticking with a standalone. Another reason writers like to create a series is they have the same feeling or reader feels once that
novel is finished, that they wish the
story could continue. If you are truly
proud of your work, that is a feeling that
is very powerful. And I would recommend
that you see if you can write a second
novel or even a third, if that energy is so strong. Another great reason to start a series than leave
it as a standalone, is to consider the
feeling that you feel when you finish
writing your novel. If you feel that you want
to continue the story, then it's obvious
that you would like to start writing a series. And if a reader really
enjoys your novel, they would like to
read more of it. Most readers do. In fact, when it comes to a lot
of standalone novels, one of the things that is
reported by readers once finishing is that they would
like the story to continue. They'd like to see more
of the characters, see more of the world space. And this is especially
prevalent in shorter novels. As opposed to thicken novels were a lot of story
is being told. The reader often feels
that they have been satisfied with the story and
they can leave it as is. But it was short and novels, they feel that there's
a lot more that can be told if only the writer were
to create a second novel. Now of course, there are
drawbacks to creating a series. You as a writer will be working
with the same characters, again, with the same world space for another period of time. Creating several
books is not easy, especially if you are trying to maintain
the same quality, not jeopardizing what
you have created. It is also creatively stifling to only work
in the same arc. I know I don't speak
only for myself when I say there are plenty
of writers out there, we have more than one idea. And as I said earlier, this tends to be prevalent
in shorter novels. So another factor to consider is the length of the novel
that you plan to write. So if you plan to
create a novel that is hundreds of thousands
of words long, you'll be in for a lot of writing if you plan to
turn it into a series, the next thing you
need to consider is the kind of writer
you want to be. It is very easy for a
writer who has Tom variety. But a majority of
writers will most likely have a job and other
responsibilities. In which case, it may
be a good decision to create shorter
books and develop them into series rather than create a standalone
novels that is larger. It also depends on your
tastes as a writer. Some writers preferred to have standalone novels and be a
standalone novel writer. And to create a series
or read a series. And the final question
is if you can actually turn your stand-alone novel
into a series or not. There are two ways that
you can check this. The first way is to consider
the finality of your ending. If the Indian was
truly funnel and there is no room for the
story to progress than it does become a bit more difficult if you
story leaves a lot in the air and introduces a lot of elements that can be
further explored. The possibility of view
creating a sequel is very high because there's a lot of room for you to
create something new. But if you create
something that is truly in depth and you
cover all the elements, it does become very
difficult to create a second story because you have to explore something
new in a sequel. You don't want to stick with the same characters only to have them do the
exact same things. You want them to
do something new. You want to introduce
new characters. You want to explore a new story. Otherwise, what you're
creating is something that is a lot more hollow than
your initial creation. My final note to
this subject is more of a personal recommendation. But that is when you
start writing your novel. Writer with the
intention that you might create a SQL after that. If you do feel that you
enjoy writing your novel, it's an experience that you
long for the end of the day. That it's something that
you can see yourself doing for long periods of time, then it might be wise to consider exploring
different avenues, different stories that your
characters might partaken, in which case, leaves some
questions unanswered. Introduce characters
that you can explore further in
the next novel. It doesn't hurt to lay down
this foundation because you never know how you feel
at the end of your novel. Whether it is to keep it as a
standalone or to explore it in a series that brings us to your final project
for this lesson. And it's simply to plan an
outline for your novel, as I've said earlier, and just start writing. If there's one piece of
advice that I'd like to leave you with when it comes
to that final project, is to use your inspiration to push forward with your story. Don't waste to energy going over your novel again and
again and again. When you could be finishing it. A lot of writers tend to abandon their projects because
they lose interest, because they keep going
over the same pieces of writing rather
than something new. Which is why I say that let the first draft be
that ugly draft. Let it be rough around
the edges of spelling, errors and contradictions
and problems. Some things that you can
fix in a second draft, should you have the energy to do so or through the
editing process? And now auto select
your module how to take full advantage of this course as I am an active instructor. Which means if you
have any questions or you want to submit
any of your work, please feel free to do so. As an active instructor, you will receive an
answer from me very soon. If you want to take your
writing to the next level, I recommend checking out my writer's workshop on
Massey do author.com. In the workshop,
you'll get access to every single one of
my writing courses, past, present, and future. With one single payment, you'll have lifetime access to a wealth of rotting knowledge. And I talk about all sorts of aspects when it
comes to writing. Not just the different genres from science fiction
to thriller, but also how to write
dialogue descriptive writing improved your main characters
or plan effectively. And if you are a writer
who feels that they need some coaching and
help with their work. I recommend the coaching program where you and I worked together over a three-month period to write a novel you
can be proud of. You will be able to
submit your writing to me to be professionally
reviewed. I'll give you feedback
and guidance. And once a month, you and I have a video chat
discussing your novel. So if that sounds like
something you're interested in, I recommend checking
out the workshop. And with that, I do look
forward to reading some of your writing in
the project section. I do hope you enjoyed this
course and as always, good day, good and
happy writing.