Effectively Writing Fantasy

Hunter CzarapataPecha Kucha Assignment

11/19/2015

Brief Overview (I promise)

Storyline Characters Character

building Plot Twists Realism Different Angles

EnvironmentFluidityLanguageCreaturesAudienceEditingProofreadingPublishingFundingMarketing

Storyline

Who wants to read a boring book? Not me, that is for sure. I want something that grabs my attention and keeps me hooked through every left and right turn thrown at me.

Keeping on point, and not wondering around is key. If it is a medieval book, keep it that way. Have a catching beginning, a riveting middle, and a mind blowing end to your book.

Characters

Almost every book in existence has Characters. You would be hard pressed to find one that does not.

You want your audience to be able to relate to your characters, to feel happy when the character feels happy and sad when they are sad.

Beside the main character, you want to have secondary characters that the main character loves, hates, despises, and can build relationships with, whether good or bad.

Character Building.

Describe your characters Tell life events What makes them happy/sad If your audience is not effected emotionally

with your characters, the book will not grab their attention.

Plot Twists

HUGE for catching your audiences attention. Give them that “Woah… Did not see that

coming” reaction. Keeps the book “spicy” when they can no

always guess what is coming next.

Realism

Sure the book might have imaginary beings in it, but that doesn’t mean to go crazy with unrealistic occurrences.

Examples: having a horse travel an unfathomable distance, not having arrows shoot two miles, characters lifting realistic amounts (unless otherwise explained)

Different Angles

One of my favorites! When I say different angles, what I mean by this

is writing from different characters points of view. Example: The main character may be out going

and vibrant, so when writing through them, the chapter would have the affect on the reader. Now, you write a chapter through the eyes of his friend or comrade who may be more withdrawn, so correctly portraying that would be ideal.

Environment

Where does your story take place?

What is the era? Weather? Location?

http://7-themes.com/data_images/out/7/6789831-fantasy-world.jpg

Fluidity

How well does your story flow? No bouncing around, leaving the reader

saying, “How in the world did we end up here?”

What I do: Put myself into the characters shoes, look through their eyes. Explain it how you feel it would be occurring. If something does not sound right to you, it is not going to sound right to your audience.

Language

Does your book swear? Do they talk in a southern or British accent? Are your characters educated, or do they

have a difficult time with pronouncing words. This is important and ties in with character

building. If your character is from an uneducated background, they most likely not be using “big words” (This ties in with realism)

Creatures

Now, not every fantasy book has to have creatures.

IF your book does though, are the creatures: Your creation? Pulled from

somewhere else, (Ex: Vampires)

Effectively portrayed so your audience can easily picture them in their minds?

http://www.hexapolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Biggest_Fictional_Monsters-700x437.jpg

Audience

Who are you aiming this book towards? (Who do you want to read this? Younger? Older? People interested in:

Magic? Medieval? Aliens?

Editing

Editing can be something that does not receive enough of the authors attention.

The worst thing you could possibly do is write out a book in a “one-time-through” fashion and then try and get it published.

Read through each chapter MULTIPLE times and polish up the piece (Ex: word choice, spelling errors, grammatical errors, etc.)

Proofreading

One of the most effective things you can do for your book is have someone else read it through. Multiple people would be preferred.

Each of us has a different outlook on the world and we perceive everything differently. Someone WILL catch something that you missed, and another person will catch something that you missed that the first person missed as well. You can never have too many people read it through before being published!

Publishing

Where do you want your book found? Book shelves? Amazon? Barnes and Noble (online)?

There are many different places you can have your book ready for your readers. Finding the best one that suits your needs and the needs of your audience is ideal.

Funding

How will you pay for your book to be out there in the world?

Do you want to use Amazon Publishing, where you do not have to pay anything to have it published?

Do you want to show different Publishers in hopes that they will pay for X number of copies to be printed?

Do you want to pay for X number of copies to be published and then hope that it becomes popular and a Publishing house contacts you?

Marketing

So you wrote your book, and it is now published, in whichever way you saw fit. Is your journey over? NOPE!

Marketing your book so readers find it is half the battle! Do you use Advertisements? Kindle Direct Publishing

programs? Post about it on Facebook? There are many different options, each of them with

their pro’s and con’s! Knowing which ones to choose can make or break your book!

Why did I choose this topic?

Well you have already figured it out I am sure, you little detective you!

I wanted to do this presentation on this topic because I am currently in the process of writing my book. It has a lot of work still to be done to it, and I will be going through ALL of these topics that I just covered.

Won’t give anything away yet, but you will one day see my name on the cover of a book. (I will effectively Market it!)

Work Cited

Environment Picture:http://7-themes.com/data_images/out/7/6789831-fantasy-world.jpg

Creature Picture:http://www.hexapolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10 Biggest_Fictional_Monsters-700x437.jpg