Readers love to be transported to worlds where anything is possible. The skill of the writer is to carefully immerse your reader in your cleverly crafted world without dumping lots of information on them!
Writing a fantasy book
Whatever fantastical elements you decide to include in your fantasy fiction novel, the genre is all about escapism. The usual rules of the world are suspended and the reader is taken to a place where anything is possible.
There are many, many subgenres of fantasy fiction. This post won’t aim to address all the specifics of those but will aim to look at some of the common elements of writing and, more importantly, editing fantasy fiction.
The best way to learn is by reading. Read all the fantasy you can. Absorb it. Learn it. Be nerdy and write down everything about it. Identify what works and what doesn’t. Reading well is going to mean your writing is even better!
One thing to consider is reader expectations or tropes. I love this list from Kindlepreneur with lists of book tropes. Take a look at the fantasy section and see what readers are expecting from their fantasy books. Of course, don’t stray into cliché (a developmental edit will help)!
Background
Stories don’t happen in isolation. They don’t happen in brand new worlds (unless they do, but that’s unlikely!). One of the key things to think about when writing fantasy is to set your story in a world that has history, culture and existing structure. Of course, you’re going to need to set all that up for the reader but you, as the writer, need to have the vision first.
Fantasy fiction often comes with a character hierarchy structure. As we will see below, in rules, having an awareness of this before you start writing can be really beneficial. Likewise with character types, species, peoples, guilds, gangs and households. The better understanding you have of your world, the better your writing will be.
Rules
Having a clear set of “rules” can really help writing fantasy fiction. Even if the reader never gets to see them, your understanding of the rules means that your story will be consistent and will work.
Rules could apply to characters, powers, households. Knowing who can do what, when and where will give your writing a structure and will ensure that nothing surprises the reader or leaves them wondering how that was allowed to happen.
Of course, characters may break the rules, at that could be the story, but you need to know the rules in order to break them!
Character
Once you’ve worked out your world, it’s time to create some characters to put in it. Your main character and supporting cast need to be people that your reader will identify with. Even if your MC isn’t human, they need qualities and flaws that will resonate with your audience.
Story
Got everything ready? Once you’ve set up your world and your characters, it’s time to introduce them to your reader and set off the spark of the inciting incident, the event that begins the story.
How your characters overcome the problem will be down to the world, background and rules you’ve carefully thought about before. Of course, depending on those it may be through shapeshifting, magic spells or time travel that your problem is solved.
Keeping the reader hooked is key. You can do this with a variety of subplots, additional obstacles and twists. This is where reading the genre will really help, as you will see how others in your own subgenre have kept you reading.
Queer fantasy
As an LGBTQ+ specialist editor, I should point out how freeing the fantasy genre is. Given you don’t have to stick to the rules as we know them, there is scope to create characters and scenarios as queer as you like!
Indeed, fantasy books are known for their diverse representation of sexualities and genders and this is something that you should certainly consider as you write your fantasy fiction novel.
Developing a fantasy book
If you come to me in the early stages of the process, a developmental edit will help you to create a manuscript that is structured well and takes your readers on the journey with your characters.
Developmental editing is all about the big picture of the story. Remember when you considered all the rules and the background of your world? This is one of the things that I would look at during a developmental edit of your manuscript.
- Does the world make sense?
- Are there clear rules that are followed?
- Do the characters obey the rules of the world or break them deliberately?
Info dumping
Of course, building this world is tough and then writing about it tougher still. One of the many dangers of writing fantasy is the dreaded “info dump” – where you spend paragraph after paragraph, chapter after chapter building your world, imparting all your knowledge, without any action taking place.
This is going to turn off some readers. (Others like it, so finding a balance and understanding your reader is key – read the genre!)
A developmental edit is going to identify any instances of this and help you to rewrite these sections with some action. It could be that:
- We need more information, as it comes in useful later on in the story
- Some information can be removed as it isn’t needed
- Some information can be moved to a more appropriate section
Developing characters
As part of the bigger picture, I help you to address any issues you may have in characterisation. While characters may not be human, readers are and so they need to see some human traits that help them to connect.
When developing fantasy fiction characters, it’s important to consider everything that makes a good character – motivation, flaws, strengths, voice, etc. – but also what fantasy elements are they bringing and how does this influence the character and the story? A developmental editor, who comes to your manuscript fresh, can help you to identify any potential weaknesses in your characterisation.
While we’re on the subject of character: do you have too many? A developmental edit is the ideal time for working out which of your characters are necessary and which are superfluous!
There are so many other things a developmental edit will look at:
- Your story’s structure
- The pace of the plot
- Your voice as a writer and the voices of the characters
- Point of view and shifting perspectives
- Cliché, metaphor and tropes
- And much, much more!
Getting a developmental edit early in the process allows you to consider all the feedback and advice you get so that your later drafts are the best they could possibly be.
Copyediting a fantasy fiction book
Copyediting is the stage where your writing is polished and made ready for the reader. I take the text of your book and work with it sentence-by-sentence, addressing everything from spelling, punctuation and grammar to overall sense and flow.
I like to break copyediting down into these five C’s:
- Consistency
- Clarity
- Conciseness
- Correctness
- Conscious language
Creating a bespoke style sheet for your book, I will ensure that all style decisions, spelling variations, numbering systems, etc. are consistent across the book.
This is important in fantasy fiction as often novels include words that fit only their book, lands and kingdoms with unique spellings and concepts that are named by the writer. Getting these muddled will only confuse the reader and take them out of the story which is why copyediting is so vital.
Copyediting is also the stage where I ensure that your book is clear for the reader, every sentence makes sense and that your writing is concise and to the point. If the concepts aren’t clear or your world doesn’t make sense, it’s going to put off the reader and they are not going to enjoy your writing.
We mentioned before about queer fantasy fiction. If you are including queer characters and situations, it’s important these are handled well with language that suits. As an LGBTQ+ language specialist, this is something that I can support you with at the copyediting stage.
Finally…
Once copyediting is complete, your text should be almost ready for your readers. After typesetting and formatting your book, a proofread will check for any last typos or errors and then you are good to go!
What fantasy fiction books have I worked on?
Here’s some of the fantasy novels I have worked on and that I can share with you here.
Nick (he/him) is an experienced, professional editor and proofreader, specialising in LGBTQ+ writing. Use this form to get in touch right now!
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