Urban fantasy is seemingly an oxymoron; how could magic, often depicted to be the thing of old fictional myths and legends, exist in a world as advanced and modern as the one we have right now? Yet that is exactly the premise of this widely popular fantasy subgenre: what if they were all real? What if the sphinx statue in your national park comes alive at the dead of night? Urban fantasy mixes in...
Gone are the days when fantasy novels were niche and only really appealed to specific cult followings, as fantasy series now take on mainstream media, with Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Maze Runner, and many other titles gaining household fame. There’s no better time to write a fantasy series than today! Like J.K. Rowling’s dragons, fantasy series writing is a great beast to tame. Fantasy...
Villains bear as much importance as your protagonists. For many stories, the protagonist going against the villain drives the plot forward, and their interactions often define the climax of a story. It’s not ill-advised to even write the villain first before the protagonist — they are the ones who will make your protagonist heroic, after all. Writing fantasy villains can be as simple...
Writing a fantasy novel with a lame setting is like shooting yourself in the foot. All outstanding fantasy stories have a rich setting. Think Brandon Sanderson or Name of the Wind. The characters are great, but the setting is what really sets them apart. It’s what gets readers invested in the story, the world, and what the characters have the ability to do in that world. A strong setting adds...