Browsing all articles by Adrian Faulkner.
Exploring Rural Landscape
The quest is a hallmark of great fantasy fiction and some of the best quests see our heroes traverse a variety of locations before reaching their goal. When done well, the environment can become a character in its own right. But all too often in writing fantasy, the environment can be bland, the landscape uniform. [...]
The Truth About Tropes
Every genre has its own tropes, those signature metaphors seen time and time again across multiple unconnected books by multiple authors. Fantasy, however, has more than its fair share. So much so, there have been books written about them (such as The Tough Guide To Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones). They mean that dwarves are [...]
Consider Worldbuilding
One of the great joys of fantasy are the worlds those stories inhabit. In many of our beloved classics, the worlds are as important as the characters themselves. But the task of creating them for our own stories is a daunting prospect that involves much more than just drawing a map. It involves close study [...]
An Inspirational New Year
If you’re an aspiring writer you are almost certainly not alone in approaching a new year with renewed determination; determined to be inspired, find your muse and crank out that bestseller you know you have within you. But perhaps all too often you feel yourself agreeing with Neil Gaiman when he says that “being a [...]
The Craft – Part Five: Criticism
This is the last in a series of articles talking with fantasy authors about the craft. You can read the previous posts here: Part One: Breaking In Part Two: The Business Part Three: Careers Part Four: Revision Criticism is always hard. People can put on stoic faces and even welcome criticism but the first time [...]
The Craft – Part Four: Revision
This is the forth in a series of articles talking with fantasy authors about the craft. You can read the previous posts here: Part One: Breaking In Part Two: The Business Part Three: Careers Revision is a part of writing. Writers who can write perfect prose on their first draft are few and far between. [...]
