RightingWrite by Fadran - Fantasy

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

So a lot of people have been asking me “how do you write so well?” *cough*@DramaQueen*cough* and I was like “the arts do not belong to any one nation or people!” (Is that how that quote goes?). Therefore, I created a thread! Right here! You just read it!

What I’m going to be doing is just talking about how I write and my own understanding of Worldbuilding, plot, characters, etcetera. A couple things to clarify: the things I’m posting are not the “right” way to write (despite how contrary that is to the title), and anything I say is from my own experience and understanding. A lot of people will tell you to do “whatever works for you,” and those people are correct. Also, feel free to post your own methods here as well! Getting feedback is part of the process, and I’d love to know the methods of other people.

So without further ado, welcome to Fantasy 101.

Edited October 5, 2021 by Channelknight Fadran

[Enter a username Artifabrian]

I can come up with good ideas, but I have trouble actually getting those ideas onto paper into words.

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

34 minutes ago, Enter a username said:

I can come up with good ideas, but I have trouble actually getting those ideas onto paper into words.

I’ll be covering that

[Enter a username Artifabrian]

Yay!

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When can we start

Edited July 24, 2020 by Enter a username

[Enter a username Artifabrian]

hey everybody!! how are ya'll

[Enter a username Artifabrian]

That was my little sister. I would like her to stop posting on my account. (She even stole my 200th post)

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

Little siblings can be annoying, I admit. I also understand that nothing I’ve posted yet has been useful; Hopefully I’ll have something substantial posted tomorrow. If not... well, it’ll take me awhile anyways, because posting on a phone is ANNOYING.

[Enter a username Artifabrian]

I cann't wait!

All typos are not typos

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

3 hours ago, Enter a username said:

All typos are not typos

Mini lesson 1: Spell things right or people will laugh at you. We have two whole threads on the Shard dedicated to Sanderson’s typos.

Lesson 1–hm, actually, I’ma start with a quick introduction.

Hello, everyone! Welcome to class! *Roleplaying kicks in*. You are here because you want to know how the one and only Fadran writes his stuff. Well, you’ve come to the right place, because I’m the one and only Fadran, and I’ma tell you how I writes my stuff!

I’m going to start big, and then go smaller. Because what I’m doing is fantasy-focused, I’ll start with worldbuilding, work down to plot, tie in characters, then get to the actual writing itself. Therefore, without further ado, let us begin... pause for effect...

LESSON NUMBER ONE!!! (Not a Mulan 2 reference; I didn’t like that movie).

Lesson 1: Building your World.

First thing to note about Worldbuilding is that there’s Worldbuilding, and then there’s Building a World. Building a World is step one to Worldbuilding; it’s your first ideas, the first prospects of a new land. The barest of basics. Perhaps you simply want a world where you can show off your elvish (thank you, Tolkien, for existing); maybe you want a place where wizards shoot beams of light from sticks called “wands” (thank you too, Rowling, for also existing). The first steps you take here are crucial to your world. Brandon Sanderson’s first idea for having a world shrouded in mist was literally him driving through some fog and watching cool light effects through the aforementioned fog (in other words, one of our favorite book series’ could’ve been called Fogborn). He then created a world where mist plagued the land every night. That first step was Building a World.

From there, you need to get Worldbuilding. This is the part where you flesh out details, and invent awesome ideas. Half of it is simply coming up with whatever you can to write the book you would want to read, but the other half is detailing and consistencizing (that is not a word but I don’t care). In my experience, there are five things you should map out for your world: Geography, Society, Economy, History, and Religion, not necessarily in that order. I’ll go into each of these in detail later on (I’ll also probably throw up a poll to see which one we should do first), but sufficeth to say for now that they are very important.

In any case, when you’re first creating your awesome fantasy world, you need to start with step one: Building. Come up with the barest and plainest ideas; whatever it is that interests you.

Should I make this an interactive class? I should totally make this an interactive class.

Aight, y’all! Throw up the most random ideas you have for a fantasy world you can think of, and we’ll use those as an example as we continue this thread.

Frick, I don’t know how to close this lesson. Uh... see y’all? Happy writing? Don’t die?

Don’t die. I like that one.

Don’t die, everyone, and see you next time!

[Mist Svrakiss]

8 elements of magic, 4 nature-related and 4 energy-related.

[DramaQueen Mistborn]

This is awesome, thanks Fadran! I will definitely be participating in this!!!

I have an idea for, not really a different world, but still fantasy, and I'd like some help fleshing it out.

Basically, there's a girl and also a boy who is similar to an Animagus from Harry Potter. I hate feeling like I'm stealing ideas, so any advice on how to make it obviously a different idea than Animagi? Then I can steal your ideas with permission!

I feel like I would have come up with this without the existence of the idea of Animagi, but since they do exist, I think people might assume I got it from HP. I might make it be like hereditary or a curse or something? Like, his great-great-great grandpa offended a witch/fairy/enchantress/wizard/warlock/elf and he/she cursed him and all his future kin? But I don't know how I'd make it more like a curse, because it seems pretty fun to me.

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

On 7/25/2020 at 9:06 PM, Mist said:

8 elements of magic, 4 nature-related and 4 energy-related.

Ooh, this'll be fun to work with.

3 minutes ago, DramaQueen said:

This is awesome, thanks Fadran! I will definitely be participating in this!!!

I was hoping so. I like it when you participate in my things.

4 minutes ago, DramaQueen said:

I have an idea for, not really a different world, but still fantasy, and I'd like some help fleshing it out.

Basically, there's a girl and also a boy who is similar to an Animagus from Harry Potter. I hate feeling like I'm stealing ideas, so any advice on how to make it obviously a different idea than Animagi? Then I can steal your ideas with permission!

I feel like I would have come up with this without the existence of the idea of Animagi, but since they do exist, I think people might assume I got it from HP. I might make it be like hereditary or a curse or something? Like, his great-great-great grandpa offended a witch/fairy/enchantress/wizard/warlock/elf and he/she cursed him and all his future kin? But I don't know how I'd make it more like a curse, because it seems pretty fun to me.

Transforming into animals is hardly an idea invented by J.K. Rowling, but I can understand your reservation. I'll add a mini lesson in the next actual lesson that talks about not plaigarising things.

Speaking of the next real lesson... I should probably get onto that.

[DramaQueen Mistborn]

2 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Transforming into animals is hardly an idea invented by J.K. Rowling, but I can understand your reservation. I'll add a mini lesson in the next actual lesson that talks about not plaigarising things.

Speaking of the next real lesson... I should probably get onto that.

I think my main worry is that it is such a common fantasy theme or idea, and I don't want to write any generic fantasies.

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

Just now, DramaQueen said:

I think my main worry is that it is such a common fantasy theme or idea, and I don't want to write any generic fantasies.

In my opinion, there aren't enough generic fantasies out there. All of them are super well-developed and original, and there's nothing wrong with that, but let's face it, good 'ol fashioned adventure and fireball stories are the best.

[Negative_Null Silent Gatherer]

I made a story about a world where everyone had magic, rather than just a few "chosen ones". Wasn't too good. Maybe I should work on it again?

[BreezeCauthon Misting]

On 7/25/2020 at 7:55 PM, Channelknight Fadran said:

Aight, y’all! Throw up the most random ideas you have for a fantasy world you can think of, and we’ll use those as an example as we continue this thread.

Arthurian Britain, but kinda goofy.

[Negative_Null Silent Gatherer]

2 minutes ago, BreezeCauthon said:

Arthurian Britain, but kinda goofy.

Monty Python?

[BreezeCauthon Misting]

Just now, Negative_Null said:

Monty Python?

Ha. I totally forgot Monty Python had that idea first (I've never seen any of their stuff). So, no, but from what little I know of Monty Python, actually yes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[theTruthshaper Forger]

17 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

In my opinion, there aren't enough generic fantasies out there. All of them are super well-developed and original, and there's nothing wrong with that, but let's face it, good 'ol fashioned adventure and fireball stories are the best.

I would say that Eragon is one of these. It plays everything straight and also manages to have a coherent magic system.

[DramaQueen Mistborn]

2 minutes ago, The_Truthwatcher said:

I would say that Eragon is one of these. It plays everything straight and also manages to have a coherent magic system.

I never really enjoyed the Eragon series. The first book, the one by that title, was pretty good if I'm remembering correctly, but I don't think I liked any of the others.

[theTruthshaper Forger]

2 minutes ago, DramaQueen said:

I never really enjoyed the Eragon series. The first book, the one by that title, was pretty good if I'm remembering correctly, but I don't think I liked any of the others.

The main problem, I think, is that Eragon is very Gary Stu-ish. Nevertheless, I am impressed by the fact that the author chose a single magic system and actually thought about its consequences for more than two seconds.

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

Lesson 2:  WAIT, INTRODUCTION FIRST!!!!

*Takes deep breath* Today, we Worldbuild. It is not easy. It requires every ounce of logic, reasoning, thematic recognition, and common sense of you person! Furthermore, if you do it wrong, people will laugh at you... unless you intentionally do it wrong, in which place people will just laugh at no one in particular.

No stress, though, and without further ado...

LESSON NUMBER TWO!!!!!! *applause*

Lesson 2: Worldbuilding.

So my lovely students/shardbuddies/randompeopleIknowfromtheFellowshipoftheThingthread have given me no shortage of stuff to work with. We'll be using these as examples for this lesson, and if you want your world to be used throughout the entirety of the... what do we call this, seminar?... then let me know. Maybe I should've put that in the introduction? Eh, I'm a teacher; I'm not allowed to take stuff back.

So, as I mentioned in the previous lesson, there are five things you want to focus on in worldbuilding: Geography, History, Society, Economy, and Religion. However, because we're doing fantasy, you also have to incorporate Magic into it; or, at least, whatever you have that makes your world "Fantastical." Again, I won't get to all of these in detail right now, but we can scratch the surface.

Worldbuilding serves three purposes: The "cool" factor, plot and character development, and realism. What I've been given from all of you is that first thing: The "cool." The thing that makes your world super unique and awesome. The second purpose Worldbuilding serves is for character and plot development; you either sculpt your world to fill in plot holes, or sculpt your plot to fill in the world. I find it easier to do the first one, because no one is going to look at your world as it is on paper and be like "they only have this worldbuilding thing so that this character can do that thing." That's another important thing to note; people can't miss what they never had. No one's going to know that the Iconar Collective once only had five Channelknights, or such a complicated series of magic systems that I couldn't keep track of them all--no one except you guys, at least.

The last purpose Worldbuilding serves is realism. You look at how things work and what people do to make a world that make sense given the parameters you've set. You've no doubt heard of people that tell you that an unrealistic world is "dumb" or something, but that's completely untrue. A world that doesn't make sense can be fun and engaging; you just have to be careful. If you create an incredibly hard and rule-set world, then having an unrealistic setting for your characters will make your book seem immature and... well, "bad." However, if you don't set a ton of rules or develop anything, then a world that makes no sense actually does make sense. This is called Soft Worldbuilding and I am terrible at it so... maybe I'll do a mini lesson later on.

So, I'm making this a four-part lesson; the basics of worldbuilding. You may have noticed that I told you what worldbuilding does but not how to do it. Therefore, I'm going to throw up a poll about which thing we do first: Developing the Cool Factor, Sculpting around Plot and Character Development, or making your world realistic.

Aight. Don't die.

-Fadran.

 

Mini Lesson 2: Plaigarism versus Inspiration

So you've got a great idea and you really want to write something about it, and then suddenly you realize that it's already been done. I have a magical portal called the Parallarity, and then suddenly I read Cosmere and I'm like, "frick, Perpendicularities are a thing?" I also have an order of knights that swear oaths to get their powers... geez, nobody's ever used that one before. You're worried that you'll write something, and some other author is going to sue you for stealing their ideas.

Well, get this, everyone; that's not how it works!

If we're talking on a legal scale, then it is possible to sue somebody, but I doubt anyone would go out of their way to do it unless you were obviously stealing. If you wrote a story about a boy named Parry Hotter who goes to Wartsgog School of Witchcraft and Warlockary, who has to fight off the evil no-nosed Dark Warlock "Holdocart," then... well, first expect no one to publish it, and then expect Warner Bros to start breathing down your neck. However, you can't trademark the contents of a book; well, maybe you could, but that would be really difficult. Rather, art things that people made are automatically copywrited; not trademarked, copywrited. Copywrited means that you created the painting, or the book, and if someone copies it down in a very obvious fashion, then you could probably sue them. However, when you copywrite something, you unconsciously make the agreement that people are allowed to be inspired by your works.

@DramaQueen wants animagus-things; so as long as she doesn't steal the term "animagus" from J.K. Rowling and allows other people to also write books about people who can transform into animals, then she's good. By creating something, you have formed a circle of inspiration; you drew inspiration from somewhere, and people are going to draw inspiration from you.

Did that make any sense? I don't know if that made any sense. Ah... what's a simpler way to put it... "Most people are nice and will let you write a book that has ideas that vaguely imitate their own."

One more thing to note before I close off this not-so-mini lesson: It's better to be paranoid about something you wrote than oblivious. Oblivious people are more likely to run into something that someone could actually sue you over, while a paranoid person is more likely to be better-studied about what they're drawing inspiration from.

[DramaQueen Mistborn]

Neato burrito, thanks!

[Channelknight Fadran Stormfather]

9 minutes ago, DramaQueen said:

Neato burrito, thanks!

That's an expression I haven't heard for awhile...

[Negative_Null Silent Gatherer]

What's wrong with hot-o taco?