Magic is a mainstay–some might even argue a defining characteristic–of fantasy fiction. A writer determines whether magic follows a system of rules or leaves it mysterious and unexplained when building the world the story is set in. That is only the first step of using magic in fantasy fiction, however. The writer then needs to [...]
Using magic in fantasy fiction
Filed under Tips & Tools on April 14, 2009
Tagged: fantasy fiction, magic, world-building
Breaking the rules of magic
Filed under Trends & Tropes on November 11, 2008
Tagged: fantasy fiction, magic
Top ten lists provide good fodder for blog posts. I came across a “top ten” rules of using magic in fantasy fiction article last week. While I’m all for magic-related rules that fantasy fiction writers should follow, a good writer learns how and when it’s appropriate to break the rules. I’ve broken several of the [...]
Building a fantasy fiction world: magic
Filed under Tips & Tools on May 30, 2008
Tagged: Chronicles of Jord, fantasy fiction, Janner Kohl, magic, world-building
If you haven’t read my previous posts on building a fantasy fiction world, you’ve missed out on discussions about using geography to support your story, integrating the history of your fantasy world without resorting to large information dumps, and creating dynamic inter-character relationships by developing cultural factors like race, religion, government and social mores. Of [...]
Writing sword-and-sorcery fiction
Filed under Tips & Tools on May 23, 2008
Tagged: Conan, magic, sword-and-sorcery
A close second to epic fantasy in popularity would be the sword-and-sorcery sub-genre. The term was originally coined by author Fritz Leiber in response to Michael Moorcock’s demand to classify the fantasy adventure stories written by Robert E. Howard. As such, Conan and Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser came to typify sword-and-sorcery. The genre suffered [...]
