Are Good And Evil Outdated?
Aaron Miles
The fantasy genre is constantly evolving, new trends spring up, new ideas are explored, and old ones are laid to rest in cliché rich ground. With the recent breed of…
characters
On Character Construction
When writing in the fantasy genre, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the wonder of the world: the magic, the monsters, the bleak dungeons and shining cites…
Writing Fantasy Gender Stereotypes – Part One: Your Heroine is Too Beautiful
Faith M. Boughan
I’m not trying to open a can of worms here—I’ll say that right off the bat. I acknowledge that this topic is enormous, complex, and encompasses both a dearth of…
Why Are Our Heroes Getting Darker?
Tegan Beechey
I know this is a terrible request in my first article, but I am going to ask you to close your eyes. Go ahead! After putting in a few hours…
Ten Fantasy Clichés That Should Be Put To Rest
Eric Christensen
Anyone who follows celebrity gossip knows there is a downside to fame. Addictions, bankruptcy, and sex scandals threaten to tarnish a star’s image. Perhaps the biggest downside of fame is…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Nine: Order and Chaos
Nyki Blatchley
I’ve spent most of this series discussing how the figure of the Chaotic Champion works in story. My contention is that he’s* a universal concept in human story, whether the…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Eight: Which Kind of Hero Are You?
So far in this series, I’ve been concentrating on describing, in the most straightforward way, the various categories of Chaotic Champion and how each works. As I said in the…
Believable Fantasy Character Design
Ben Galley
Enter a man. He is tall, ruggedly handsome, a pinch over six foot, with eyes of swirling green and blue. His arms were toned and muscular, and there was a…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Seven: The King Hero
For nearly a thousand years, great authors and poets have written virtually uncountable quantities of words about King Arthur. Each has tried to sum up what was special about that…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Six: The Protector Hero
The town of Tombstone is in turmoil. The countryside around is ruled by bandits, and ranchers who are little better, and the small group of men who stand between the…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Five: The Outlaw Hero
In a scene early in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, when the duo have barely started on their criminal career, they come across a family sitting by the roadside…
The Fantasy Assassin
Victoria Hooper
Assassins seem to have been steadily rising in popularity, wrapped in dark hooded cloaks and lurking in the pages of sword and sorcery, epic and urban fantasy, and YA, as…