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.
When all you have for counsel is yourself, you can never be sure if a re-write is the right thing to do. What if the original version is better? What if I’ve made it worse? There are, however, some things we can do to help make this crucial and difficult decision a little easier.
Everything in this world of ours changes. Mountains crumble into the sea. Islands disappear. Forests become icecaps. Change is eternal. It is one of life’s only constants. For some of us, we welcome it, embrace it. Others resist.
Why the hostility toward flashbacks? If done well, they work. But done badly, they break the reader’s experience, preventing them from discovering what happens next in the story. To quote editor, Sol Stein, “If we are enthralled, we don’t want to be interrupted.” The trick, therefore, if you feel compelled to use one, is to use the flashback in as little a disruptive way as possible. Here are a few techniques to help you do that.
Merely communicating how something looks or sounds isn’t enough to bring a story to life. Many people experience things through smells, touch, taste. In fact, these oft forgotten senses are some of the most powerful forms of description, things which can enrich a story and give it life.
Today I’m delighted to introduce Savannah Cordova, a talented writer with Reedsy. Savannah has tackled a topic I follow both with interest and despair.
Today I’m thrilled to introduce the immensely creative John Tarrow, a talented author and next-level, real-life builder of fantasy worlds. John has kindly put together
Religion and belief systems feature a great deal in the fantasy genre, and it’s unsurprising why. Religion, faiths and beliefs shape our own lives in a multitude of ways, providing purpose, meaning and structure.
Welcome to this detailed guide on how to write a premise. It’s interesting how attitudes change. When I first began writing I viewed the plot
Two and a half years of writing and editing all at an end, and now it’s free to roam the bookshelves of the world! And
