2:1 Which Personal Skills does a Fantasy Writer Need to Possess?
Not just anyone can write fantasy novels and it's necessary to have the right attitude and skills. Some people can tell amazing true life stories but don't have the vision to create their own. Imagination and creativity are essential for fantasy writers. You need to have the scope to be able to see beyond what is logical and normal. If you are a naturally creative and imaginative person then ideas shouldn't be a problem. However you still need to put a lot of work into these ideas to take them from an idea to a great story. It's easy to say that if you have a good imagination, then you should be able to write great fantasy stories, but it's not quite as simple as this. You need to possess the skills to imagine and intricately plan new worlds. You need to build a coherent magical system that your readers will accept as believable and that you are capable of sticking to throughout the entire book. As a fantasy writer you also need other qualities, some of which should apply to any kind of aspiring writer, such as dedication and commitment, patience, and confidence in your story.
2:2 The Art of World Building
More specifically, fantasy writers' imaginations need to be good at world building. It's all very well being able to picture a fantasy place or location, but you need to be able to know everything that there is to know about your new magical realm or country. You need to be able to write about it in a way that the readers relate to and find believable. Without having been to your mystical location this can be tricky, so you need to be able to draw on your own experiences for inspiration. If your story contains an enchanted forest, take a trip to some woods near where you live and wander through alone, noting down any feelings or adjectives that spring to mind. Many fantasy writers find that drawing pictures or plans of their prospective new worlds helps them to come alive in their own minds and also helps organize exactly where and how everything should fit together.
2:3 Piecing Together Your Supernatural Element
Not only must a fantasy writer be adept at imagining and communicating new worlds, but they must also be able to come up with a logical magic system. This may sound like a contradiction but without any rules, magic is just wishy washy and doesn't make sense. There can be wizards and witches with supernatural powers galore but there has to be some kind of rhyme and reason to these powers. What exactly are they able to do? Were they born with their powers or did they acquire them? Can they lose them or pass them on? Do they weaken over time or with use?
There are many questions you need to ask yourself to narrow down your invented magical system to be as specific as possible. This will help while you're writing as you won't be tempted to make your character perform some unlikely act of magic, to make the plot go in the direction you want it to go in. You need to be strict as your readers will soon see holes in your story if someone suddenly gains extra powers for whatever reason, half way through the text.
2:4 Honing and Improving Your Creative Skills
Maybe you aspire to be a fantasy writer but don't think you have enough imagination and creativity, but don't let this stop you yet. There are many writing exercises you can do on a regular basis which will open your mind up to try to think 'out of the box'. We will come to some of these later in the course but a quick game for now is to ask someone around you to give you three nouns which can be anything they like at all. Your job is to create a short story using these three words as the basis for your plot and linking them so they slot together nicely. Another way to improve your imagination is to expose yourself to new and inspiring things. Take a walk in the mountains and imagine a new world spanning out over the landscape. Try a new sport and think of how you could add a slice of magic to change it and add it to your idea list. Wander around an old building or castle and envisage how it would have been back when it was first built. Everything that anyone has the power to imagine comes from some kind of inspiration gained from personal experience, so enrich the world around you in order to let your imagination grow stronger.
2:5 Other Needed Skills and Qualities
Dedication
Dedication is also a must for a fantasy writer, or indeed any writer. To complete a book takes hours of writing and many more hours of re-writing and editing. Many people only think of the fun part which is coming up with all the crazy ideas. But then you have to build your story. Most writers tend to be perfectionists and will agonize over minute details like the placement of a certain bit of information at a relevant place in the novel, or trying to choose the right adjective to truly get across the required meaning to the readers. To stay true to your story and stay with it until the end product will need time, dedication and commitment on the part of the author.
FACT
It took Zadie Smith almost two years to write the first 20 pages of 'On Beauty.' Source: http://mentalfloss.com - 2015
Patience
Patience is also really important for a new writer. Did you know that writing your book is actually the quickest part of the process and once you've spent time reworking it and rewriting it until you are happy with it, it then has to go to a publisher. You will need patience as you wait to hear from these companies and you will need determination to keep on going when you continue to receive rejection letters. You will also need to have a huge amount of confidence in your story and truly believe that it's worth telling and people will want to read it. On the other hand you need to be humble enough to take on people's criticisms and rework or delete parts of your story that are weak or unnecessary.
2.6:How to Prepare Yourself to Write Fantasy Novels
One of the best ways to be able to come up with a great story yourself is to read, read, read and read some more. You need to have read plenty of fantasy books yourself to be in good stead to start writing one. There are plenty of lists available of the top rated books in the fantasy genre and you should pick up and read as many of these as possible.Read some that were rated terribly too and look at the differences between these and the successful ones and reflect on what the downfalls of the book are and how they could be improved. You need to know your genre and what else is out there before you can bring something new and exciting to the market. If you already know what subgenre of fantasy you wish to write about then read as many books as possible from this sub-genre to see what you're up against.
2.7: How Important Are Spelling and Grammar?
Surely if you have a great story then it doesn't really matter if the spelling and grammar aren't perfect?
Wrong! You might think this is the case but try reading a book or email with mistakes. What do you think about the author? Probably you lose a bit of confidence in their abilities and wonder that if they haven't given much attention to their spelling then maybe their story is inferior too. You want the reader on your side, you want them to enjoy the novel you have written and good grammar is one of the things that will give them confidence in you. The other major reason that you should pay due care to writing well is that when a reader comes across a mistake, they are distracted. It momentarily breaks their focus from the story and detracts from what you are trying to communicate. If this happens multiple times it's likely that the reader will simply lose interest and put the book down. There are plenty of online resources available to clear up any grammar questions so there's really no excuse for it not to be perfect.
Try these for size:
Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com
Spell Check Plus: http://spellcheckplus.com/
Online Correction: http://www.onlinecorrection.com/
Respelt: http://respelt.com/
Don't forget that your word processor will usually have a built-in spelling and grammar checker
2.8: What Tools Should Fantasy Writers Equip Themselves With?
Writing is a hobby and career that doesn't take any money to start. All you need is something to write with and something to write on. It could just mean the purchase of a notebook and pencil. Most writers nowadays write predominantly using their computer; however they will still jot things down by hand too. So equip yourself with a nice new notebook and pen and consider yourself ready to be a writer. Time is a tool that if we use wisely we can do whatever we want with. Between a balance of work and play you will need to assign a chunk of the day or week that you wish to make available for writing. You should also find a suitable place for writing where you won't be interrupted or distracted and where you can escape to your new world being built in your mind.
Module Summary
Lessons learned Writers need to have many skills but for fantasy writers there are a few more specific attributes required such as the ability to imagine whole other worlds in intricate detail and transfer this vision to the reader.
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