Weaving A Narrative
Aaron Miles
A story is more than its central plot tenants. It is more than the broad strokes of its grand events and dramatic moments. It is a woven tapestry of differing…
writing advice
Temporal Anomalies: Timekeeping in Fantasy
A. M. Justice
Humans are OCD about time. We obsess over birthdays and anniversaries and are ruled by the work week. We live for the weekend and look forward to holidays with either…
Crafting A Fall: Turning Heroes to the Dark Side
Who doesn’t love to see a character go bad? A man pushed too far pushing back? A loyal but ambitious servant helping themselves for a change? A noble hero broken…
Creating a Magic System
The naming of a thing gives you power over it. Sorcery is the will and the word. Cast fireball now and you won’t be able to again until tomorrow and…
Knocking People Out: Easier In Fiction Than In Real Life
Nicola Alter
It’s a common scenario in many kinds of fiction, including fantasy: a character passes out, either because they’ve been knocked on the head or injured or drugged, and the world…
Blurring The Lines
So I started reading the Dragon Prince trilogy by Melanie Rawn. It’s part of the classical fantasy cannon, and the books have been on my TBR pile for ages. While…
How Ideas Become Stories
One of the most common questions an author will hear is, “Where do you get your ideas from?” As if that was all you needed to write a successful book.…
The A-Zs of Worldbuilding: Building a Fictional World From Scratch by Rebekah Loper
JC Kang
Though I usually don’t confess what I am about to tell you in polite circles, I imagine it will be a badge of honor on Fantasy-Faction: Once upon a time,…
Taming MICE – The MICE Quotient and Storytelling
Fantasy is a genre of strange and diverse stories covering countless themes, concepts and ideas, in order to gain a better understanding of how our stories work and the nature…
Reaching Outside the Genre
The fantasy genre is a curious beast, its wide reach covering a range of topics and themes. It has stories about growing up, stories about overcoming problems, stories about slaying…
The Problem with Abandoning the “Strong Female Character”
Yet another descriptor has been caught in the verboten term net. Recently, several essays have appeared arguing that people should stop using the term “strong female character” (SFC) or “strong…
Creating a Fantasy Race
The fantasy genre is filled with an astonishing array of wildly different races that populate our stories. Some are drawn from older myths and legends like elves and dwarfs while…