New answers tagged fiction
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Lord of the Rings is as definitive an example of Fantasy as they come. It might even be the benchmark others are measured against. The ideas of elves, dwarves, etc. predate JRRT, but he was the one that most later writers based their races upon.
At the same time, Lord of the Rings includes very few uses of magic. They're very impactful, and magic is ...
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In writing you have fiction and non-fiction. Under fiction, you have fantasy and reality. Reality is a story that could conceivably happen in our world/reality. Fantasy is anything that couldn't or hasn't happened. Within fantasy, you have SciFi, Magical, Alternate reality, etc. Within reality, you have mysteries, westerns, romance, etc. To me, the ...
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You could say that something is fantasy because laws of science are ignored, like the conservation of momentum, without being seemingly science based, like sci-fi. You could avoid explaining these aspects as magic.
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One might characterize most fiction in which people find true love or amazing success and live happily ever after as "fantasy" without the plot having "magic."
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Fantasy isn't defined only by magic.
I was a fan of fantasy literature for many years before coming across anyone trying to define "fantasy" as "stuff involving magic", which I've never really understood. For me, being set in an alternate world (including a fictional world-within-a-world like Harry Potter or Artemis Fowl) was always a bigger fantasy ...
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Perhaps if you need a term, try "magical realism"?
98% like our world, but that little difference is what makes it fantasy...
whether it's if subways will sometimes take you sideways to a different realm or unexpected country,
or the Byzantine Empire stayed pagan,
or if whenever Bob reads a book, all other copies of it are forever deleted, but he ...
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Low vs High Fantasy: A sliding definition
Humans love to makeup labels and group things, but some [many? Most?] subjects don't actually play as nice as we might like the deeper we dive into them.
When it comes to grouping and classifying in literature we have some rather awkward issues in drawing lines in the sand and settling on what goes where. If you ...
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There is also a genre called "Science Fantasy", also "Hard Fantasy" (borrowing from "Hard Science Fiction", which doesn't break any laws of physics) and of course just plain "Science Fiction".
The genres with "Fantasy" in the name, even without magic, may have for example Dragons, not as magical creatures but just creatures. They may have other species ...
answered Nov 13 at 18:16
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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Firstly, it's certainly not going to be a 'waste of time' to write the story you want to tell, regardless of which genre it might end up being described as.
Fantasy is a very broad genre; any story recognizably set in a world other than our own can easily be described as fantasy if it doesn't focus strongly on themes that would suggest another (the effects ...
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I believe low fantasy can encompass stories which have no magic.
In some examples I've seen of low fantasy there is no magic but the setting in which it takes place is an entirely fictional world complete with fictional religious and belief systems. For example one of my favorite authors David Gemmell in his book Legend, the book takes place in an ...
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Here is how I dealt with Lissien, the language in my dragon book.
Pick a few root words and use them a lot. This gives readers an idea of what you mean, through repetition and similarity. Thus the dragons are Lissai, their language Lissien, an adolescent dragon is a glissond, an adult female an olissair, a clan leader is a hlissak, the king is hlissosak, ...
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There are several problems here. I need to
narrow down the time frame
find out what events were available
details about these events (if available)
Step 1: Check Wikipedia to get a rough overview of the recent history of a) the country and b) (if available) the city. Often, major events are listed by year. Knowing the political (e.g. elections), social (e....
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So, you want to create a fictional order in a fictional settings that uses the name of the Templars as well as other historical organisations?
So, kinda like the Templar Order in the Dragon Age video game?
If nothing happened to Bioware for that decision (and nothing did), then you're safe.
It's not like this is the first time a historical person or group ...
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Nailing down the type of event you're looking for may help, just by defining what role you need it to play in the narrative. Do the characters need to be able to have a long conversation? Rock concert probably not an option, but a museum, art show, gallery or restaurant opening may be good. Larger cities also often have yearly events like film festivals that ...
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I don't know if it exists in your country, but as a graduate student in the USA, I once researched 3 years worth of newspaper headlines in four "national" papers (e.g. The New York Times), and I found those all in free online archives. My goal was different (looking for major news stories headlined in all four on the same day), but the idea is just to see if ...
answered Nov 10 at 14:38
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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Your question seems to be a style issue. Personally I cannot recall ever using a scene break within a novel.
More often than not the end of a scene is also the end of a chapter. Where the end of a scene is not the end of a chapter I simply insert a blank line between paragraphs.
I use a blank line where the next scene involves a change in time or location. ...
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As I remember, the Templars were accused of heresy and disbanded 700 years ago, so the Templar organization will not sue you for libel.
As I remember, in Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1819) one OF the main villains who plot with Prince John against King Richard, and who attack and kidnap innocent travelers, is a Templar knight, Sir Brian de Bois-...
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It is permissible, as long as it is obvious to the reader that is what happened.
That said, personally, I put in a scene break, which I can be certain is obvious to the reader. Just three asterisks (or dashes, your preference) centered on a line. I can't understand why any writer would be averse to using them.
answered Nov 9 at 16:30
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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Since your book is about a young girl coming to understand the world they way it is (which sounds much like a coming-of-age story for a teen or pre-teen, or perhaps a coming-to-adulthood story for an MC in their 20's); I suggest you focus on a metaphor for learning or transition. The Twilight series is for a character metaphorically transitioning (from girl ...
answered Nov 9 at 11:10
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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It's not particularly difficult. Tense is a tool feared by too many aspiring writers.
What you appear to be asking can be seen in Forrest Gump (film).
I am sitting on a bench waiting for a bus (present). Whilst I'm waiting I will relay to anybody who wishes to listen events that led me to this point in my life (still present).
My momma was . . . (past).
...
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Empathy
Your MC might not want to play the authors games, and there is a limit what you can do to them, but you can certainly ruin his friends/family/love interest.
After a Groundhog day-esque period of time where the MC feels he can do anything, see the consequences stick to the people he cares about. In the above example, you could have the gun go off as ...
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What I like to do is replace an adverb with an action. Not all the time, but a lot of the time.
"Listen to me!" John said, his voice beginning to rise in excitement. "We can sell all these coins now and get rich today." He lowered his voice, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. "Let me take care of it for you, okay? I can make you rich, ...
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You're using too many beats, especially in your second example. You don't need to describe every minute change of tone while a character is speaking. It breaks up the flow too much. There's absolutely nothing wrong with:
"Listen to me!", said John. "We can sell all these coins now and get rich today. Let me take care of it for you, okay? I can make you ...
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You are trying to describe two talking heads. Or One talking head.
Do not replace "said" with anything else that means basically the same thing.
Use adverbs extremely sparingly, it is far better to show some action that implies excitement, than to say "excitedly". This is somewhat an opinion, but an opinion shared by the majority of best selling authors. ...
answered Nov 4 at 18:16
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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Yes, writing a new language for you story is quite challenging. In working on fictional languages in the past, I started by determining what sounds the nationality uses (there are hundreds of basics sounds used in English, but most people stick with the Phoenician alphabet for simplicity's sake), then deciding on a subject phrase syntax (subject-adjective-...
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Whatever language your readers speak, they expect your book to be "translated" into that language.
I write in English for English speakers, I have written stories set in the ancient past where the characters, at best, would be speaking in Old English, but that might as well be a different language. I was careful to not use "modern" words and stick with ...
answered Nov 1 at 19:01
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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So, there are several ways to do this: First, translate into English everything except proper nouns (specific names of people, places, or things) or culturally unique concepts, and insulting words or expressive comments (Mein Gott! for a German who is fluent in English) and anything with counting or math that does not need to be done in communications (even ...
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Is it a copyright violation to have the character share some characteristics with a known character?
Can my protagonist have a nickname like "Harry Potter" or "the muggle Harry Potter"? (again assuming he's not a wizard etc.)
Under "common law", which is the basis for most laws in English speaking countries, the concept of the reasonable man determines many things.
For plagiarism you have to ask whether a reasonable man would believe that it was copied?
...
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Is it a copyright violation to have the character share some characteristics with a known character?
I am not a lawyer. Copyright violation is often up to human interpretation (not yours) by a judge or jury.
They get to decide whether you are stealing a character or not. Chances are, they will decide a lightning bolt scar, round glasses, etc is so unique it can't be anything BUT plagiarism, so they will find you guilty of copyright violation, perhaps ...
answered Oct 31 at 11:21
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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Is it a copyright violation to have the character share some characteristics with a known character?
Copyright law varies by country, so there is no simple answer.
But if the first thing readers think of after reading the character description is someone else's character... then you are in dangerous territory, and could absolutely be sued for infringement or get a Cease and Desist court order levied against you, among other things.
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If everyone had one of these powers, you would imagine human development to have taken a very different path.
Example: The Air people would have mastered flight before written history began. The Fire people would definitely have been cooking from the beginning. They would have fire hardened spears right from the get go as well.
The Water guys would ...
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It's Historical Fiction. Off the top of my head . . . it keeps company with Shakespeare in Love, Titanic, Murder in the First, The Other Boleyn Girl, and a host of others.
I must give a shout out to "Krakatoa, East of Java" - who cares about accuracy!
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