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Hi everyone,
So a while back I came up with this crazy idea. I decided was going to write a fantasy book. Don’t ask me how, but I just came to the conclusion that these two story ideas I had in my head belonged in another world.
Problem is, I’m not a big fantasy reader and I need to get more familiar with the genre. So.. I come to you nice people.
Now to be clear, I have some preferences. First of all, I’ll be writing epic fantasy, so that would be my first choice to read. This isn’t portal fantasy, not really gonna have any magic stuff except maybe an item or two with special properties, target audience is much more adults than children as far as style goes though not really in content, I’ll be making up all my own creatures, has ties to Christianity but not strictly allegorical, the “age” will be medieval. Hopefully those things can help you all think of books that might be good compatibles. Since I can’t read a whole truckload of books, I think it’s best to limit my reading to books that are fairly similar, though I’m fine with some differences. Also if it’s any help, my first book will be a quest story. That’s the one I’m most concerned about preparing for at the moment. The one after that will be about the apocalypse of my fantasy world, but I won’t be writing that for a while.
Anyway, so if you could recommend any books that would be somewhat similar and that you think are really well written, I’d be appreciative.
–Daeus
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*Runs in* Pants, pants, pants. Oooo let me see….The two princesses of Barmarre is the one of the bestestist books ever. The author is Gail Carson Levine. She is seriously amazing. She is into fantasy, so I really recommend you checking her books out if you want good fantasy. *dreams*
Ahem, Ahem. Let me see….more books. The Talking Parcel by Gerald Durrell. It is possibly a bit more of a guys book. TTPOB isn’t bad though for men. It is extremely gripping. 🙂
That’s all I can think of now, so yeah, check them out.
@daeus
(Btw I’ve suggested books with the theme for quest.)Hey! @bluejay I was going to recommend The Two Princesses of Bamarre!
@daeus check out The Ranger’s Apprentice if you haven’t already. Easy fun reads and medieval fantasy (Without magic) and contains awesome archers dudes in cool cloaks. 🙂 🙂 🙂Theater kid. Currently depressed because I can't stop listening to sad musicals.
Lord of the Rings tops the list of epic fantasy, of course. And I really enjoy The Dark Sea Annals by Wayne Thomas Batson. They are very high fantasy and allegorical. There is some ‘magical’ stuff in there, but it’s not magic, per say. More like gifts and abilities people have been given, and then there are those who use their gifts for evil instead of good. The sad part? It’s a seven book series and only two books are out. The first book takes place around 30 years before the second book though, and the second book ends at a tolerable place with some of the story wrapped up. I’d recommend them.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Well, since your making your own creatures, I would say the Chronicles of Narnia, but most of us have memorized them. 🙂 I second @hope’s suggestion as Lord of the Rings. However, Lord of the Rings is really long and I don’t know if you have time to do that…the Hobbit is much shorter. Ranger’s Apprentice is fantasy-ish. He makes up his own creatures every now and then as well, especially in the first two books. Those are my suggestions.
To sum up:
1. Chronicles of Narnia (c.s. Lewis)
2. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
3. The Ranger’s Apprentice books 1 and 2 (there are twelve books in all, but if you don’t have time, 1 and 2 have made up creatures every now and then) (By John Flanagan)
Good Luck!! @daeus☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
Oh yes, as for making up creatures, The Dark Sea Annals have plenty of interesting animals and races. The first one is called Sword in the Stars and the second is called The Errant King. *lowers voice* Read them, @daeus.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Thanks everybody. These look like good suggestions. And I have already read the Hobbit and LOTR, but I may read them again.
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Oh yeah, and I’ve read the chronicles of Narnia of course too.
Made up creatures aren’t super important to me, though I think they’re cool.
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Yay! Welcome to the inner circle, @Daeus! *confetti, balloons* Prepare to lose what little sanity you still possess. I don’t know what it is about writing fantasy, but the creativity required is addicting. I haven’t been able to return to historical fiction. *gasp**ominous oboe music* This is the point of no return.
Um… yeah. Books? Let’s see… actually, this is terrible, but the only epic/high fantasy I’ve read is LotR. *hides face* I’ve read the Chronicles of Narnia as well, of course, but other than that… er… Dreamlander, of course, even if you aren’t writing portal fantasy. The world and creatures there are still pretty interesting and will be useful to study. Eh… what else. I’m drawing a blank. Ooh! Oh yes, though this doesn’t have any completely made-up creatures, it’s an awesome trilogy and great example of ‘the quest’ done well— Songkeeper Chronicles, by Gillian Bronte Adams. Only the first two books are out (Orphan’s Song and Songkeeper) but I highly recommend them both to read and analyze. (Which if you’re a writer are one and the same. 😉 )
Best of luck! 😀
@kate-flournoy Yeah, it should be fun. I have a suspicion it will become one of my main genres, though I doubt I will cling to it solely. There’s just too many genres to try out there.
By the way, maybe I should ask for general advice on writing fantasy. Since I still have to write my time travel story, it’s not in my mind much nowadays, but I have drawn a world map and done profiles for the few sentient creatures I have invented so far. I could probably dig a lot deeper with the world building though. I don’t really have much plot yet, only a basic idea. I’m hoping my reading will give me more plot ideas. I’m hesitant to do too much world building until I have my plot basically in place, but I really have no idea what I’m doing. What’s your procedure?
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@Daeus I have two suggestions, both series,though so they could be a bit long. The Ilyon Chronicles my Jaye L Knight are other world, non-magical fantasy with a very strong faith theme. A little violent at times and they’re directed at late teens up. The first book is Resistance.
Another series of the Blades of Aktar by Tricia Mingerink. She takes a a different angle and the setting is our world, based of Dakota, but medieval European. There are Christians. It has an underground church and assassins.
Also the Blood of Kings series by Jill Williamson. I just realized I don’t read many standalones in fantasy. There is one author though. Jessica Greyson. Her books feel rather like historicals though.@Daeus… my procedure? *coughcough* You’re asking me for a procedure. Oookay.
Honestly, I don’t have one. 😛 I have only one world, and though it is insanely complicated and intricate it has become so with four years of thinking and dreaming and wondering. Because I followed no procedure. I just unleashed my imagination and let it run wild. Looking back, I probably would have gotten a lot farther a lot quicker if I had been organized about it, though. So assuming I had to do it again, and wanted to be organized, I would do something like this:
1. Creation story, complete with physical/geographical features and the shape/size/composition of your universe. This includes galaxies, solar systems, planets, etc., assuming these all existed from the beginning in your world, and were not the result of something else later on.
2. Story of the fall & dispersion, complete with any geographical changes (catastrophic floods, for example 😛 ) it brought on the world. Also keep close tabs on the different groups/worldviews as they split and multiply from pure truth, for good or evil, because these are your future nations.
3. Take your geographical information and match it up to the different groups of people— is there a very wild, inhospitable region? Good place for bad guys to congregate. Is there an island somewhere that’s practically invincible to assault? The persecuted seekers of truth can take sanctuary there. Is there a people-group that doesn’t belong anywhere in the world? You have your nomads.
4. Spend some time with each people group and figure out their culture based on the overarching worldview and the color of the physical world where they’ve settled— for instance, polytheistic nomads who worship gods of sun and sand and scorpions. Depending on how harsh or proud their worldview/lifestyle makes them, they may be a warrior people, or they may be a people of thieves. This will also reflect on their forms of government, and on their economy, which includes monetary systems and international trade.
5. Once you have them all settled and have figured out their cultures (and really, their cultures can be anything you want. I literally have a cross between Japanese and Norwegian. Not kidding.), figure out how the separate nations interact with each other on a global scale. Trading routes, different natural resources— who supplies who with what, and what do they get in return, etc. Figure out where the natural resources lie and who wants them most, and you might even be lucky enough to start a war. 😉 Which brings us to the next point…
6. Once you have international interaction established, figure out international relations. Which people group most hates which other people group, and why? Is it religious? Is it material? How do the different cultures bounce off each other? How do the different systems of government interact? This gives you all your international conflict that’s so great plot-wise and provides the basis for so much story.
7. Once you have several border wars, an insurrection, and a coup going on in different corners of your world, it starts reshaping itself into something different. Nations conquer nations. Greedy tyrants start messing up global trade. Cultures impose their ways on other cultures. This is what makes a world deep. Different cultural layers, all smashed together but not really mixing… perhaps one culture/belief system is outlawed, which will add a lot of great conflict as well. Your world begins to mature into an intricate existence.
8. Take all your info and go wild with it. Stick an atheistic unicorn in a forest full of Truth-Seeking elves who are languishing beneath the iron rule of the polytheistic nomadic dwarves— things are bound to get interesting after that. 😉
One word of advice, also. When I began this whole fantasy thing, I didn’t really care that much about the theological/metaphysical aspects of worldbuilding. I was like, okay, sure, but I don’t really need that to make a deep world. After all, a world is only physical.
But as I’ve progressed, I have been so undeceived. Nothing in the world is physical. It all springs from the metaphysical at some point or other. Whether you’re writing an allegory or not, a deep world must— must — have that foundation. The deeper you delve, the more evident this becomes. You can ignore it at first, but eventually you find yourself returning to it again and again. It’s essential in a way almost nothing else is when it comes to building a world.I realize this is a ton of info— don’t stress out over it. It’s really only a matter of asking yourself question by question, and watching the pieces slowly but surely fall into place.
And it’s super fun. 😉
@kate-flournoy Oh yeah. Haha. You and procedures. I didn’t think of that. Sounds like a good system though.
In my world, most countries don’t have a strict religious system. I suppose it’s more no religion or humanism stuff in a lot of freer countries, mixed with a good amount of “true believer” people. That being said, there are exceptions I haven’t thought through much yet and humanism’s a religion too in its own way.
A lot of the things you mentioned weren’t really things I’d been thinking about really, but I guess I should jot down some notes on them.
The one thing I’m probably going to be spending the most time on is what the world looks like. I really love this part. Different plants, the night sky, animals, terrain…
Oh boy, this is going to be fun.
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@Daeus That’s awesome! I’d definitely recommend Lord of the Rings. It’s some of the best fantasy out there. 🙂 Or, if you didn’t want to read the whole series as it’s pretty long, you could read The Hobbit. The Wingfeather Saga is also great fantasy.
@daeus ‘You were wise to seek help from the world most deadly weapon. It’s me.’ Golden star to whoever gets that quote. 🙂 I’m looking at you @bluejay.
A procedure…we-ell.
1. World-building. First thing you’re gonna do is make a map of the world you want. Then, you make a profile on each country including major cities and places that have to do with the story, or at least, what you want to do in the story. I would suggest drawing the map in pencil so you can edit it later on. Never markers or pen. I’ve made that mistake once, never again!
World-building also includes the creatures and the strange plants you are going to find there. You’ve already made profiles of those, so check that off your list.
2. Character-building. Every good story needs good characters. Make the characters.
3. Plot. I’ve read your files, Daeus, you know plenty about plotting…hee hee hee.That’s the gist of it. Have fun with your fantasy!!! (I’ve gotten 24 chapters through one and 16 through another, both of which I should finish eventually. One by Christmas and another by whenever)
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
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