As you might know, I don’t write genre fiction; I write literary fiction. My books – as you can see on the relevant page of the main site – are about “ordinary” people in “ordinary” circumstances (I let you interpret the quotation marks the way you want). However, my academic expertise is on nonrealist fictions: Gothic/horror, science fiction, fantasy. So let’s put this expertise to good use (it doesn’t seem to have its own space in the academic world) and see how to write fantasy fiction, with examples on characters, tropes and plots.
I’ll try to make this post as detailed and useful, but at the same time as accessible as possible. Personally, I’m a great fan of simplicity. I believe that if you can’t explain a concept – no matter how complex – in a way a 10-year-old could understand it, it means you haven’t fully understood it yourself.
With this in mind, here’s a quick outline of what I’ll show you in this post:
- How to write fantasy fiction characters. In particular, what is the role of characters in fantasy fiction
- Examples of tropes. That’s a somewhat fancy way of saying how to write fantasy fiction in a way your intended audience can relate to it. In a sense, it’s a marketing consideration, but also with artistic dimensions.
- What kind of fantasy fiction plots are worth pursuing and what are best left alone. And why.
I don’t have all the answers. Heck, I don’t even have all the questions. But whatever I know and share with you, I genuinely hope it can help you!
