Writing fantasy novels without magic might sound like an outlandish thing to do. But it’s becoming more and more common. Having written many fantasy stories with an absence of magic, I’ve learned a thing or two about the benefits and the downsides, both from the writer’s perspective and the reader’s. In this guide, we’ll take …
The Lord of the Rings is one of the most famous fantasy books of all time. It has inspired many fantasy books and movies, including Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. Tolkien created numerous fantasy races in his book, including elves, dwarves, hobbits and orcs. Below, we’ll take a look at these races in more …
What Fantasy Races Did JRR Tolkien Come Up With? Read More »
There’s always a horse in a fantasy book. So I decided to do a bit of research on the trusty steeds that carry us fearlessly into battle, and this is what I found.
Welcome to another instalment of Fantasy Fridays. Today we’re looking at the lives of the medieval peasantry, a class of people somewhat shrouded in mystery—peasants weren’t good note-takers. In exploring the lives of the peasantry we’ll uncover what it was like to be one of them, the kinds of houses and towns they lived in, and what their day to day lives involved. There’s plenty of nuggets of information for you to pick up along the way which you can use to enrich your fantasy stories.
The medieval setting has become almost synonymous with the fantasy genre (to the dismay of some), and there are no greater features on a medieval landscape than that of castles and keeps, walled cities and impregnable fortresses. When writing about such things it’s crucial to understand them and how they work so as to avoid …
Siege warfare played a massive role in history. Some of the most iconic battles in our past have involved sieges. This has crept into the fantasy genre too, and over the years, many an author has included epic siege battles in their stories. Below, we’ll take a look at examples of sieges in writing. We’ll …
We’ve lost more than we know, but what we have retained has inspired some, if not all, of the greatest fantasy stories in one way or another. Taking the time to do a bit of research on what you’re writing about will empower your storytelling and, hopefully, enthral your readers. Today we’re besieging the fortifications which dominated the Middle Ages, and of course which feature in our beloved fantasy genre.
For Fantasy Friday this week, I thought we’d return to medieval warfare and to something I don’t come across all too often in the fantasy stories I read: the cannon. This article covers the development of European cannons, how they were made, the gunpowder used, and how they fared in battle. Hopefully, it’ll give you a few ideas for your own tales!
This two-part article looks at the nature of things and how they’re formed. Part one will examine oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and deserts. Part two will look at forests, mountains, hills, swamps, snow, ice, and volcanoes.
Diseases ravaged the lives of millions of people throughout the Middle Ages. A combination of bad diet, poor hygiene, inadequate sanitation and an ill-informed understanding of medicine left many people vulnerable to fatal infections.
Given many fantasy stories have a medieval setting, similar circumstances would give rise to diseases in a secondary world. As we’ll see, this presents interesting opportunities for the fantasy writer.
