Over the years of my own fantasy novel writing, I've come across a few ideas that have helped me in my writing. I've tweaked those ideas which have helped me to become a published author. I'm going to show you a few points that will help you with your fantasy novel writing as well.
1. World Building- This is a big one. Many people do not take the time to work on their world building. This is a crucial step to fantasy novel writing as the verisimilitude of the characters and the history of your world need to be there. Even if much of the history of certain places or people never actually make it into the writing, you will know why people are acting and behaving in a certain fashion. You have the history to back up what they do. This will come through in the quality of the writing and can also lead to more plot points throughout the fantasy novel.
2. Magic System- I've seen many writers who are voracious readers of other fantasy novels, but when they start to do their own fantasy novel writing, they ignore this step. The magic system of your world needs to be almost as detailed as your setting. Limitations need to be set for those that can cast spells and then your spell casters have to live by the consequences of those limitations. This helps to avoid creating super powerful wizards who achieve the same goals your main characters are trying to achieve without having to do the work.
3. Read- If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that they are in the process of writing their own fantasy novel, but didn't have the time to read, I would be a lot wealthier. Excellent fantasy novel writing starts with reading the classics. Read Tolkien, Robert Jordan, The Dragon Lance books. This is just a few examples, but the point is that if you know the development of the fantasy genre you are less likely to have cliched fantasy novel writing. Then go out and read some more. In fact, read everything you can get your hands on. Good writing stems for voracious reading.
4. Names- Every now and then, I will come across a fantasy novel that has names that I couldn't pronounce let alone spell. This is a problem for the reading and pulls them out of the story to deal with the odd name given. You don't want this. When devising names try to think of something that sounds related to the person. Use names that are almost real names but with a fantasy twist. This way you will have names that sound like they should be there, but aren't distracting to the reader.
5. Draw Maps- One thing I've found over the years of fantasy novel writing, is that when I'm stuck on a plot point and don't know where to go with the story, I will draw a map. Maybe it is a map of an inn, or a city. Possibly it is a dungeon or a piece of the larger world map. Whatever I draw, it often helps ideas burble up to the surface when I feel stuck. For those who suffer from writer's block, this is a great trick to get past it.
I hope this has helped in making your fantasy novel writing a little easier. To learn more tips on writing and the writing life visit my blog at http://www.creativewritingfortherestofus.blogspot.com.
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