Where Your Dreamland Meets Mine5/9/2021 The moon which shackles waves liberates tides — who do we label as the assailant? World-building in fantasy is a similar manner; in the complete absence of restrictions, the only confinement is the reader’s mind, but the iron bars are thicker and denser than you would think. If it were any other genre — say, romance — a part of the world is already built into the readers’ mind as they hear the word romance. When their thoughts already linger around sunsets on bridges and kissing in the rain, it’s not that difficult to be, you know, romantic. But in fantasy, there are no rose-colored lenses, and the reader dives into the story with no knowledge of what to expect. The word fantasy itself means a thousand different things; hence, when you write, you not only get to start from scratch, but you have to.
This is part 1 in a series on worldbuilding in fantasy poetry — on setting.
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Fantasy Subgenres, Explained5/8/2021 If you’ve ever walked down the aisles of your local library, staring up at the colossal section labelled fantasy, unsure of where to begin, you’re not alone. Fantasy is expansive, containing a huge amount of subgenres within it. Someone looking for a vampire romance might not be interested in a heroic quest fighting dragons. Fantasy as a genre is as wide as the universe within it. Despite the vast differences, fantasy novels are bonded by uses of magic and escapism. Here is a guide to five of the most popular fantasy subgenres.
Bracketing for Ensemble Casts5/8/2021 In addition to vast worldbuilding and epic plots, SF/F is often known for its friendliness towards ensemble casts: main casts that feature a large number of characters. Ensemble casts often allow us to experience the story from multiple sets of eyes on every side and tiny knot of the conflict. On occasion, ensemble cast-led stories will make it difficult for the reader to pinpoint who exactly the protagonist is. And sometimes, there isn't a protagonist. Not in any reader-experienced sense, anyway.
Maybe Game of Thrones came to mind with this, maybe epic sci-fi like Dune, or fantasy, like Stormlight Archive. They're all masterpieces in their own way, featuring broad casts of distinctive characters navigating their arcs through a plot they're hopelessly entangled in. Everything someone does affects someone else, and each person has, on (mostly) rotation, their own moments to shine where their arcs peak or plunge. Fun for readers-- You've decided you want to write a court system with princesses, emperors, dukes and kings. But how to structure it? Look no further than the courts of history. Here are five global monarchial systems to inspire your fantastical court. Move over, England.
Each example will feature questions to ask your world so you, the writer, can breathe life into it. Elements: Avatar Style5/6/2021 With the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix services last summer, streams of fans both new and old appeared together to appreciate the arguably best animated show. With its memorable characters, awesome fighting scenes, and lifelong themes, it’s no wonder it took the internet by storm. The Avatar world is incredibly thorough, and it carries deep connections to the classical elements system into nations, people, and magic. Today, Avatar acts as my model for magical world building and elements.
Writing Fantasy for Different Ages5/5/2021 Genres exist to not only give your writing direction, but to also make it easier for publishers to give readers a sense of the story they’ll be reading. Along with bestselling genres like romance, mystery/thriller, and fantasy, there are meta-classifications that are based on the age of the reader. From children’s, to middle grade, to young adult, to new adult, and adult, the elements you include in your fantasy story will vary depending on who your audience is.
A lot of traits can shift your writing up or down age groups. The vocabulary you use can make your young adult story an adult one, and mature themes can take your middle grade novel to young adult territory, for instance. In addition to the content, there are also logistical considerations to make when writing with an audience in mind, such as word count. Although you can and should let your imagination run wild when writing fantasy, there are some choices you should make regarding the ages of your readers. Themes in Space Odysseys5/4/2021 Poetry possesses the potential to fit into almost any genre. Perhaps the most obvious genre of poetry is romantic poems, such as Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. Other genres include horror (The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe), slice-of-life (Mending Wall, Robert Frost), fantasy (Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll), and coming-of-age (Adolescence, Claude McKay).
Worldbuilding, Politics, and You5/3/2021 No matter what genre is being written, a world is being built. Anywhere from downtown Chicago to galaxies light years away, an author crafts a setting—and out of that atmosphere, a set of circumstances unique to it. Never is this more present as in sci-fi and fantasy due to the absurd amount of work that goes into building those worlds and taking them apart to build space for conflict.
A huge part of that world is often politics—from godly rivalries in Percy Jackson to hasty survival-born groups in Lord of the Flies to the clear lines in Shadow and Bone. Politics is defined by a quick Google search simply as “the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area,” which gives any author a mighty broad category, and today, I’m going to present you with a brief breakdown on the links between aspects of worldbuilding to consider when developing politics. Tropes are popular for a reason. The reluctant hero character has been used countless times, and somehow it always works. Tropes can give us a sense of familiarity, a comfort in knowing that a character’s interactions can mimic our own life. With that being said, some tropes aren’t planned out or don’t have a substantial base. Without proper motivation and worldbuilding, tropes can come off as lazy writing or fill unsavoury stereotypes. Here are five common tropes in the sci-fi genre and how you as a creator can use them while still creating a memorable story
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