I am writing a fantasy book (part of a series) as my first book. it's just a hobby but I am willing to publish eventually. Any tips for me?
Posted Aug 24, 2022, 6:52 PM UTC
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Save your work automatically every ten or fifteen minutes
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Thnxs, that's a necessity :)
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Learnt that the hard way
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- The 1st book has to work on it's own. LotR doesn't work without the Hobbit coming out first and building interest. The first Star Wars works as a movie itself, same with Indiana Jones. So don't lose the first story by setting up the 3rd and the 5th. I never read GoT, but I watched the 1st season, it tells a complete story and works.
- Make the names of people and places distinguishable, when you read them aloud in your head can you mostly pronounce them, and are they different enough.
- Avoid racist stereotypes with your races. If humans are nuanced, but the other races are one dimensional, especially in unflattering ways, it plays badly in today's world.
- Make the story work first, and then the world work around it. People love to promote world building and it can be great and really add depth and consistency to your world, but the world should be flexible enough for your story, and your story should not be a slave to your world. STORY BEFORE WORLD.
- Build good characters, that have arcs and movement. Despite what I said above, the WORLD IS A CHARACTER (Matt Damon used to say this about Boston in Good Will Hunting), so just like your characters it should have arcs and movement. And just like a character you don't have to know 100% about it in the first book, just like your love interest can have a crazy Ex that you didn't hear about until the story need them, the world can have things you didn't talk about in the 1st book when you need them. See the video below on how to do an arc-less character, and your world could be arc-less as well (with it being unchanging and changing the characters in it), but I think it's more fun if the characters change the world.
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Thank you, I'm in a situation similar to the op and I was also wondering about the order in which I would write. Your first point clarified it for me. Thanks!
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Thanks, this really helps <3
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Play dnd, its been helping me with my first book. Doesn't have to be 1:1. But the brewing dnd causes has helped reignite a story that got shelved
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if you can, post about your work in progress on social medias. no matter how many followers you have, it will slowly reach people. i found out about a very interesting book through tiktok and it arrives tomorrow. you want to make people excited to purchase and read the book. the only way to do that is to make sure people know about it
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I'll try!! Thanks
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I would recommend "How to Fix Your Novel" by Steve Alcorn. Read as many how-to books as possible, and take a writing class. Keep yourself in motion. Go to writers's conventions and meet other writers and get their opinions and experiences. A lot of it is imagination, and a lot of it is rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.
One more thing: Don't kill everyone off like JK Rowling.
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Finish it
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I had a really cool English teacher that would send back my papers and make me remove 50 words, 100 words whatever. I think it actually was a direct result of all the shitty fantasy I read. I was overly verbose. Really had all those 10 cent words itching to get out of my pockets. But in the end it seemed everything became better as a result. Who knows, im a cook. Good luck!
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Start looking for an editor
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And until you can get a focus group of people who you trust to be harsh if neccessary
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I will, thank you! Any tips on where to find a good editor?
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That’s harder, as it’s very individual. Reedsy.com is good, but it can also be pricy. There was also a sub, maybe someone can recall it here, something like r/editorsforhire. Let me see if I’m subbed
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It isn't about YOU being willing to publish, it's about publishing companies being willing to publish YOU.
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Uh yeah this is a bit humbling. Didn't really think about that. Thank you for popping my bubble, better now than later
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Hey, it's how you take the advice, not how the advice hits you (or at what tender part of your anatomy or ego).
All I'm saying is they have to want it. Your main job as a writer is to MAKE them (& your readers) want it.
Let this serve as motivation to be hyper critical of your own work, specifically to make every pass BETTER. And while self-criticism is a valuable tool, don't let it bury you.
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Appreciate it, bro, thanks! I will try my damn best :)
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You can self-publish but I hear it's a BEAR.
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don't give up.
also, don't stop reading. If you don't read, you don't have any source material to call yourself an author. a WRITER, maybe...but not an author.
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I had to look up the difference but yes, want to be an author so will do :)
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Don't take criticism to harshly
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It’s all about the characters. Every story is just a story about characters. Everything else is secondary
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Be carefull about the world the you are creating. I think world building is the most important thing in fantasy series.
Thanks, I've created a whole file with a map and all before writing. I definitely hope I'm doing this right😅 Thnxs!!
I don’t believe they were talking about the physical world ahah.
The species, the lore, little things like what food is called and what clothing people wear, whether or not technology is a thing, etc… these are all parts of world building. Do they have religions? If so what religions? Do they have gods, or do they not believe in that? What kind of an education do they receive? Etc etc.
Think about all of this stuff. Your document for just this stuff might end up being a hundred or so pages long of just figuring out the nuances of the world you’ve created
Ah right, thanks :D