Let's Talk About The Fantastical

Hello everyone, glad you could make it back. 

So today we're going to talk about the Fantasy Genre and how big it really is. So we all know that one fantasy book that we all really like. Or pretend to like. Or pretend to know. Or so on and so forth. Well here's the thing, the Fantasy Genre is a lot bigger than what I first thought it was and maybe it will be bigger than what you originally thought too. Today I'm going to dive into Fantasy Genre and the Sub-Genres.

Fantasy (The Big Name)

Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting.

Science Fantasy

Science fantasy is a mixed genre within the umbrella of speculative fiction which simultaneously draws upon and/or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. It also sometimes incorporates elements of horror fiction.

Historical Fantasy

Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements into the narrative.

High (Epic) Fantasy

High fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, defined either by its setting in a fictional universe or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, and plot.

Urban Fantasy

Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Urban fantasy exists on one side of a spectrum, opposite high fantasy, which is set in an entirely fictitious world.

Low Fantasy

Low fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction involving "nonrational happenings that are without causality or rationality because they occur in the rational world where such things are not supposed to occur."

Heroic Fantasy

Heroic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy which chronicles the tales of heroes in fantasy settings.

Dark Fantasy

Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy which can refer to literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate darker and frightening themes of fantasy. It also often combines fantasy with elements of horror.

Gaslamp Fantasy

Gaslamp fantasy is a subgenre of both fantasy and historical fiction. Generally speaking, this particular realm of fantasy employs either a Victorian or Edwardian setting.

Now there are more sub-genres of Fantasy, but I'm sure you get the idea now. If you want to start writing in the Fantasy genre you can work in any of the above or even start combining them if you so desire. That's the great thing about Fantasy, you can really do anything you want. Just make it fantastical.

Hopefully, this has helped you and, as always, just keep writing,
Dakota

I Want To Write, But I Don't Know What To Write

Hey everyone, glad you can make it back.

So how many of you have ever got that urge to write, to create something, and when you sit down to start you just don't know what to write. Maybe you've been working on a mansucript, a story, a poem, or your main peice of work, but you feel you want to take a break from it and work on something new? Yet nothing is coming to mind, all you have is that urge to write something new. Well, today I'm going to tell you of my five favortie writing prompts and, maybe, they'll work for you.

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

I know you've had to hear this at least once in your life. And it works as a great writing prompt. Find yourself a picture, hit up deviant art, tumblr, Facebook even and find a picture that captures your eye. Or have a friend do it for you. Here's the thing, you get no contex about the picture. You just get to see it and go for there. Now you can set the word limit, you don't need to have a thousand words, but it works for the name.

Dialogue Prompt

This prompt is a really easy one to get going or it can be really hard. Honestly, it depends on how you see the world. If you hit up Pinterest there are hundreds of dialogue prompts there and you can pick any of them to start with. Let your creativity go for it. But let's say you don't want to do that? Well what you can do is go out in public, take a seat somewhere there is a lot of people and just listen to what they are saying. Yup, I'm saying you should eavesdrop on people. Listen for the oddest few sentences you can find, then write the story to go with them. You'll be surpised on what you can come up with.

Lyric to Prose

So everyone has that one song they really, really like to jam to. That's great, but I bet you didn't think of it as a place for a story. Take any song and listen to it once, maybe twice if you need too, and then write the story that it inspires. Some people go with the story behind the song others take what they feel about the song and write it there. Its fun. Now you want to make it a little more random? Go to Pandora or Iheartradio and pick a station, listen to a few songs and pick from them. Or, if you're the social type, go up to a stranger or a friend and ask them what the last song they listened to was and you listen to it, then write the story. I've seen this prompt produce some really great stories and I hope it works for you as well.

It's All In the First Line

For those of you who can just write without any planning (who I envy very much) this is the perfect start for you. Go to your local library, bookstore, friend who has a bunch of book' house, any place where there are plenty of books. Grab a book, and just let it open, don't think about it, just let the book open and when you have a page, close your eyes and pick a line. There you go, you have the first line of your story and just keep writing. This is a little difficult to do, especially if you're like me and like to plan everything out, but if you can jsut write, go for it. See what you can come up with.

Order from Randomness

So this prompt is probably one of the most frustrating, but amazing, prompts I have ever dealt with. I was introduced to this by my creative writing professor who was a man of literary fiction. Darell Spencer was professor and where he did not deal with genre fiction, he taught me alot about the craft and his method. Okay, so here's how it works. You go out into the world with a note book and just start writing down things you notice. Things that catch your attention, details about something that are cool, interesting or random dialogue you here; just write down everything. Make sure to number them as well. 1, 2, 3, 4, so on and so on. Once you've got a bunch of details, ask a friend to pick six random numbers from 1 to however many you have. Then you take those five sentences/details you've collected and put them into a paragraph. Yes, it will make no sense at first. But you just keep repeating the process. Always collect more detials and just keep putting them in. Keep making paragraphs in the same way, then go back and put in new sentences in random places (have a freind or significant other picking the numbers) and slowly the story will build. If you do this you'll write something you'd never think you would have wrote. It worked for me. I didn't think I would end up writing gay sex for a class assignment, but I did.  This can be a frustrating task though, just a heads up. It takes time and patience.


Well everyone, those are my top five writing prompts. What do you think? Some you want to try? Do you have a writing prompt that you really, really like? Let me know. I'd love to see what you come up with.

And always remeber, just keep writing.
Dakota

It's Your World

Hello everyone, glad you could make it back.

I've heard that writers are often called egoistical maniacs with god complexes and I kind of have to agree. Sort of. We essentially are the gods of the worlds we create. Think about it. Our stories begin as nothing more than a blank piece of paper or a blank word document and then, boom, there's life. We create. We are gods. We rule over the worlds we create. Awesome? Intimidating? Both? Well its something we're not going to escape, which brings me to the topic of today's post. World Building.

What is World Building?

World Building is what it sounds like. You're building a world. Your story takes place somewhere, be it modern day New York City or a medieval fantasy world or maybe even the outer planetary ring in a sci-fi future. You have to set the world that your story is taking place and this is often pushed to the back burner. We all know characters are the most important, right? Or was it the plot? Maybe it was the sentence structure? Actually all of them are important, but World Building is one of the most important ones. Without your world, you don't have a place to place your story.

Your World is a Character

People give me a weird look when I say that the world is a character and like any other character that you'd create, there is a lot of questions that you need to ask yourself while creating this character. How big is world? What type of world are you going for? Why are things the way they are? If you think making your main character is a lot of work, then you're going to be blown away by how much you need to do with world building. Here's a great starter list for you if you need some starting points. Click Me

How Much World Building is Needed?

Alright, this is a tough question to answer. In all honesty, you'll probably never be done world building. There will always be something that'll come up and you'll realize that you didn't address. For me, I recently realized that my world didn't have any holidays. Okay, you're probably thinking "holidays" really? Yeah, it makes total sense that my world would have holidays, they're part of culture. So I had to make sure to create theses. Here's the the thing, you'll work and work and work and work on your world building but only like 10 to 15 percent will make it into your writing. But you're going to need it.

But What If My World Isn't A Made Up One?

So you're basing your story in the real world? You still have to world build. You're basing your story in New York City? You'll have to build up New York as the world. What's the culture, the sounds, the feel, how does the city interact with your character, how does your character interact with the city; not everyone knows New York so you'll have to create this place for the reader. Details are everything.  Take a look at any of the popular Young Adult novels out there. If they're based in the real world, the authors have created the world again inside their novels. I hate to talk about her, but Stephenie Meyer did a great job with her Twilight Series. Everyone knows about Forks and its a real place.

Great Novels and Great Worlds

With every great story, there is a great world that it is based in. Some are created so well we don't even notice them, but then are those who we have fallen in love with the world. J. R.R. Tolkien created one of the most influential fantasy worlds out there with his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is an amazing dystopian novel that, arguably, predicted many events that have come to pass. Then you have J. K. Rowling's wizarding world that is more than just a craze for thousands, if not millions, of people. When your world is great, it'll help make your story great.

There are so many things that go into world building and some people may hate it. It can be incredibly tedious, but at the same time, I find it to be incredibly fun. Making a world come to life will be a challenge, but you'll love it.

Just remember to keep writing,
Dakota

Taking the Critique

Hello everyone, glad you made it back.

So I'm part of a writing group and we meet every week and I've been a part of this group for a while now. Well, I've started noticing a few things about some of our newest members and it got me thinking about how they are responding to the critiques we were giving of their work. Thus the topic for this post. Taking the critique is an important part of being a writer, but some people just don't know how to do this.

Everyone's a Critic...

Yes, We Are Tearing Apart Your Baby

Your work is like your child. You've spent hours working on it, filling a blank page with words, bringing characters to life, and so forth. You love what you've done. Then someone comes along and tears it apart. Soon you pages are covered in ink, things are crossed out, there are comments all along the margins, and editing marks are pointing out every flaw that you missed in your own editing. Okay, I'm going to say it now. Yes, this does hurt. It sucks when you see your work covered in marks. But here's the thing, every writer has gone through it. When you get serious about being a writer, an author, you have to learn how to accept the pain and power through it so you can get better.

Should You Listen To Everyone Who Critiques Your Work?

Oh, god no. Please don't listen to every person who critiques your work. There'll be plenty of people who will read your work and put in their two cents about it. Some people are going to love it as is, some people will have things to tell you how you could make it better, and some people are going to hate it no matter what you do. You're going to need to recognize who are going to be those who want to help and who are just there to bash on you. Sometimes the closest people to you will be the worst people to have read your work, friends and family tend to be the ones who love everything that you do no matter what.

Find Those Who Will Be The Right Balance

This might be one of the hardest things that I have seen my fellow writers go through. Finding that right person to look over your work, finding that one person who will give you their honest opinion regardless of your relation with them, finding that one person whose feedback will be helpful to you; this person or people will be invaluable. This will take some time, but you'll be happy when you find this person. It'll help put you further along than those who stay on their own.


This is something that I know many starting writers struggle with. We get brave enough to show someone our work and then we get that first bad critique and it hurts. Then we have to figure out what we are going to do next. Do we trust anyone else to read our work? Yes, yes do. We have to. I'm lucky enough to have a whole group of people who I trust to give me honest opinions of my work. Everyone needs to find that person or those people who will help push them to be the best they can be.

Just remember to keep writing,
Dakota

Mary Sue? Gary Stu? People We Love to Hate.

Hello everyone, glad you could make it back.

Some say that our characters are merely an extension of who we are. Well I'm not sure about that, but I do know that interesting characters are what drives a story. But have you ever stumbled onto a character that is just perfect. Everything is perfect for them, they are the best at everything, nothing bad happens to them... yeah, the writing world hates these type of characters. They are called the Mary Sue or the Gary Stu characters and they are the worst.

What Makes a Character a Mary Sue of Gary Stu?

If your character is falling into these categories it means they are perfect, in the bad way. These type of characters have no flaws, nothing is bad about them. Oh, they're clumsy in an adorable way? That doesn't count as a flaw. They're broody? Okay, that might work as a flaw if it makes things harder on them. Remember, flaws are things that hinder a character. No one is perfect. If they were we would hate them. So when trying to fight against writing a Mary Sue character, just remember to put in some quirks that'll actually be something. They need to be a part of the character and not be a glamorous thing. Needs some ideas? Here's a list of 500 different quirks.

Who are some Mary Sue/Gary Stu Characters?

So this generally comes down to a person's opinion of the character and, like all characters, there will be people who will defend them to the death. But I'm just going to show a few who the world seems to acknowledged as these "perfect" characters.

Double O Seven

Okay, I know what you're thinking. James Bond? Mr. Double O Seven? No way, he can't be a Gary Stu. Well, actually he can. He's a perfect Casanova mixed with a ruthless killing machine. He clever, refined, always gets the girl, and he's always cool headed. Yeah, he's kind of perfect. Yes, we love him. The Bond movies are always a treat to watch, but if you really look at him, I mean really look at him, he is a "perfect" character. 

The Girl who fell in love with a vampire...

Oh Twilight, how you have a way of always showing up. Let's be real here, Bella Swan is a type of character I wouldn't first think to be a Mary Sue character. Yet after having a very long and almost ranty conversation with the Creative Writing Department of my college I realized, yup, she's a Mary Sue. Let's look at her. She willingly moves to the dismal, boring, rainy, and cold town of Forks in the middle of nowhere Washington, so her mother can travel with her baseball playing boyfriend. Great... Then she finds herself the object of attraction for many boys of her new school. But her greatest feat is that she captures the eye of the vampire Edward. Through the series she saves Edward from the Volturi, gives birth to a perfect vampire/human, makes it possible for vampire and werewolves to live together, and she becomes a shield for an entire of army of vampires... yeah, she's a Mary Sue.

We're not in Kansas anymore

I just like picking on the classic characters, don't I? Well, this one really through me for a loop, but after thinking about it, Dorothy is a Mary Sue. Let's think about it. She survives a tornado, above ground that is, kills the wicked witch of the east, helped three new friends overcome their own personal challenges, kills the wicked with of the west, made it to O.Z. and makes it back to Kansas all without getting her sparkly shoes dirty. Sounds kind of "perfect" right?

Now everyone will have their own ideas of what makes a "perfect" character. People claim Superman is perfect and others claim he is not. Everyone on this list have those who can claim they're not the Mary Sue/Gray Stus that the world thinks they are. If anything you can look at them and see what you shouldn't do with your own characters.

If you're still confused on what make a Mary Sue a Mary Sue, there are plenty of other blogs that have talked about this very thing. Try here, or here, or here, or here, or here... you get the idea, right?

Just remember to keep writing,

Dakota

POV

Hello everyone, welcome back.

As writers, we all have to make a crucial decision that changes everything about our stories. After we've developed the characters, after we've decided what type of story we're going to write, after all the world building, outlining, and everything else we decide to put into our story we have to figure out what Point of View (POV) we are going to actually write in. Now I know some beginning writers really struggle with this, sometimes blending the POV together or trying to write one and end up writing another. But I hope I'll be able to give some clarity on POV to make it easier for those who are new and give a better understanding for those who have been working on it forever.

First Person

First person POV is a very popular choice for many writers who really want the reader to get into their character's head and see the world through their character's eyes as they are experiencing it. This relies on the use of "I" in the narrative. The "I" is the narrator. Make sense? Many popular novels have been written in this style and people really do love to eat it up. For instance, The Hunger Games and the Divergent series are both wrote in a first person narrative and we can see how popular they both were. Need an example? Here's an excerpt from the Hunger Games and Divergent for you to look at. 

 Second Person

Second person POV is something of an experimental writing in my opinion. Often I have found it used in dramatic pieces that are trying to push some boundaries that we wouldn't normally see in writing. But that's just me. Essentially, when a person writes in Second Person they are making "You" the narrator. You are the brain of the character and are experiencing the narrative through the character. Example? "You are not a person like this, you're not some type of guy who would be in a place like this." or "You have a knife in your hand, you are a trained professional. You are standing over your father's corpse." Now this type of narrative often provokes the reader whose general responses are "No, I'm not" or "Don't tell me who I am." So if you as a writer choose to write this path, you're really going to have to work for it. 

Third Person

Third person POV actually comes with two types. Omniscient and Limited. Both have their pro and cons, but essentially these styles of narrative focus on using "He" and "She". Now the differences between these two are what draws a writer to them. For Omniscient Third Person, the writer is godlike. The narrator isn't a character essentially but has a perfect knowledge of the setting and the characters. There are no secrets kept without leaving the readers feeling cheated. Though this type of narrator knows everything, they tend to be more distant from their characters. Limited Third Person is when the narrator follows a single individual. The narrator shows us what the character is perceiving and is experiencing. These types of POVs are very popular when it comes to genre fiction, often in rivalry with First Person POVs.

Those are the three, well four, types of POVs that writers use. Everyone finds the one they love or the one that'll work for their story the best and stick with it. It takes practice to see which one is the best choice for you. I perfer a Limited Third Person POV. But that's just me. How about you? Which is your favorite? Let me know in the comments and as always if there is something you want me to talk about, give me a shout out.

Just remember to always keep writing,

Dakota

Authors? What Type Do You Inspire to Be?

Just like the books they publish, authors come in all shorts of flavors. From those who crank out a new book every year to those who changed the way we look at the writing world. Every successful author has something about them that makes them remarkable. As writers who are working towards authorship, it is a good idea to look at the authors that we love, the ones we hate, the ones that are outside of our genre and see what makes them so influential, remember-able, or overall successful. Here are my five authors that I look to for inspiration on what I want my future path to be like.

J. K. Rowling 

J. K. Rowling is the author that people want to be. Love her, hate her, indifferent? That's alright, but the fact of the matter is that she is the first person to become a billionaire, you read that right, billionaire from writing. When it comes to success, no one has topped her. Thousands, if not millions of people have become engrossed into the Magical World. From her seven books, to the nine movies, to the Pottermore site, her success with Harry Potter has grown into a world wide phenomenon.

"You were my childhood" have been some of the most honoring words Ms. Rowling has claimed has been said to her and I can say that she was a part of mine as well. She is the author of a generation and has been an inspiration for her fans. Those who grew up reading her books have even been found to be more accepting of other people (members of the LGBT community, immigrants, Muslim, disabled, and more). She has created a place where people can be themselves and find those who will accept them for being themselves. Thousands of fans look to her as a beckon of hope and fantasize about the day they'll receive their own Hogwarts letter. And in all honest, many of her fans show more pride for the Hogwarts house they were sorted in than they do for the high-school they went to. Myself included. Proud Slytherin here.

From her twitter account, her website, her Facebook page, and more, there are plenty of ways to keep up on what she is doing and where she is going with her own career. She is a very active person who interacts with her fans on a regular basis. For me, she is the ultimate goal any writer can set. She has changed the world and who wouldn't want their writing to do that? 

And if you ever need some inspiration, in anything you do, you should check out her speech on the Benefits of Failure here. You'll be glad you did.

Stephen King 

 

When it comes to Horror, no name is more well known as Stephen King. Another author of a generation, this man has been titled as the King of Horror. His career has been one of the longest running careers in the writing world. With 54 novels, including seven under the pen names Richard Bachman, and six nonfiction novels, and nearly 200 short stories, this man is a workaholic with a fiction addiction. The man pushes out books like its nothing and I wish I could write as fast as he does. He's also won plenty of awards and for older and newer generations the name Stephen King incredibly well known.

For me, he is an inspiration because not only with how his career has went but also with the advice he has given out to those who want to be better at the craft. I know I've mentioned it before, but his book On Writing has been an invaluable asset to me for improving my craft. If you don't have it, I recommend picking up a copy.

Now, if you're not a horror fan, that's fine. Following him on his Facebook and Twitter is surprisingly hilarious. The King of Horror is a joker and always is posting pictures of The Thing Of Evil, A.K.A Molly his pet corgi. He is a self proclaimed smart ass and the man takes no shift from anyone. But hell, the man is six-nine. He doesn't have time to put up with anyone's petty crap.

 Luke Romyn

Luke Romyn is an author from the land down-under who started his career as a self-published author. Of all the authors I have encountered, he has been one of the most interesting. Also known as the Paperback Bouncer, Luke also maintains a career as a bouncer in Australia's most dangerous bars. A self-proclaimed smart ass, a social media joker, and over-all tough, animal loving Aussie; Luke has displayed a more playful side that not many authors are happy to show.

Starting his career back in 2011 when he released his first novel, The Dark Path, Luke has now released 12 novels in the fantasy/action genre. With his experience in dealing with the underworld of society in Australia he has been able to write from a perspective that not many people can say they can. Now he has over 400,000 twitter followers and an ever-growing Facebook page, he maintains a very causal relationship with his fans and interacts with them on a regular basis.

Now after gain over 500,000 readers, he has shown that taking a self publishing path does pay off. In early February Luke announced that he has been picked up  by Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo, Helin, Foundation Literary Management. Now he is being re-branded (I believe) under their company and his reach will grow. He has also announced that they are already talking about making a few of his books into movies, which is really exciting for any author.

 Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo is one of the newest authors that I have had the pleasure to stumble upon. She is a relatively new author with her first book, Shadow and Bone being released in 2012. Five years and twelve books later, she has made a name for herself. Publishing into the world of fantasy, she has been changing how people are looking at the genre with her in-depth worlds and interesting characters.

The thing I admire about her is the way she writes. I finished her novel Six of Crows recently and I found it incredibly entertaining. The thing she does is each chapter is done through the eyes of a different character. With Six of Crows it was a rotating narrative between five characters. I've seen this done before, but it failed horribly. She accepted the challenge and did it right. Each chapter, each character, are completely different. Though they are part of the same story, their own narratives are so unique that at times I wanted to have the whole book done just through one character's point of view.

For any authors who are looking into using multiple character narratives, Ms. Bardugo is an author that should be looked at. She has perfected her craft and is growing in popularity. Her work is one that I'm going to be keeping an eye on.

Stephenie Meyer

Now this is an author that has probably had the biggest split in popularity that I have ever seen. Oh the Twilight series, how you plague the literary world. Stephenie Meyer is the author that entranced the world with the story of Bella and her vampire lover Edward, selling thousands if not millions of books that had everyone from adolescent girls to soccer moms going crazy over this love story. Well, the story is shit and any proud author will take it as an insult if you compare their works to hers.

Now the reason why I'm writing about her isn't because of her writing craft. No, this woman has the best marketing skill on the planet. She has the innate ability on how to sell her story and hook a reader regardless of how good the books really are. Just recently she released the gender-swapped version of Twilight and she made a killing. I couldn't get passed the first page of the book, it hurt me, but she still was able to get the thing sold. People loved it. I don't know if she made a deal with the devil or something, but I do admire how well she is able to market and sell her work to the world. She is still a relevant author and is still making plenty of money from her work. I hope that I'll be able to do the same. Catch the reader and have them keep coming back no matter what I publish.


Well these are the five authors that I am looking to as inspiration for my own path. I have the greatest of the great and then I have one who English majors hate. Every author has something to be admired and you have to follow the great to be great. Or that's what I think.

Who are the authors you're following? Any you think I need to follow? Let me know,
Dakota