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So You Want to Write Fantasy?
Over 100 topics to spark your fantasy creativity. This is a book of concepts and thoughts. It has been created to help strengthen your artistic potential by presenting you with a platform of intriguing fantasy viewpoints. This manual explains how to construct a bildungsroman, enlarge a paracosm, and prepare for the paranormal, while supercharging your protagonist with dynamic potential. Neil is an encouraging teacher, and he goes where others hesitate to tread! Read his guidance on how to create wonders, build monsters, impart grief and terror, and how to establish atmosphere. There are also chapters on animism, divinity, and the paranormal. And lots more! It’s time to discover how to utilise your inventive imagination, and Neil is here to provide you with the tools you’ll need. There are over 350 pages � jam-packed with resources � and organised into chapters that are not only uncomplicated to use but also fun to read. This book is the ideal writing tool for any aspiring fiction author who wishes to launch into a career as fantasy novelist!
464 pages, Paperback
Published September 22, 2020
About the author
Neil Mach
26Ìýbooks15ÌýfollowersNeil is a poetic rock journalist with a passion for frothing hot flushes and fanciful frissons. An old head crammed with silly but wonderful ideas... And lots of idiotic concepts. He lives with blue cat Leo in a small bungalow on an island in the River Thames. He has two grown-up daughters, Tanna and Perdie.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 5, 2020
A Lot and Little
I am a fan of some subgenres of fantasy, and as a freelance editor, I have helped some writers with their books. I had thought, when I saw this book at one of my favorite book review sites, this book could give me some hints and clues that would further help me assist my clients. Unfortunately, I found this book random and disorganized. The sections—some of which were long while others were quite short—didn't flow easily from one to the next. The book seemed disjointed. Much time was spent analyzing other fantasy works and not really talking about writing. That's what I think the biggest problem with this book is: It does not focus on the actual writing of fantasy. Instead, it focuses on some loose writing ideas and aspects that could be a part of a fantasy book. But these aspects would not all apply to every fantasy book. Perhaps the reader would have been better served if the author focused on writing, and on particular subgenres within fantasy—and there are many!—instead of trying to look at all these disparate aspects in a general book that would only be suitable for very niched books within fantasy. The title suggests this book is for beginning fantasy writers, but the author uses a lot of terminology that I doubt the aspiring fantasy writer would know. I read and edit a lot of fantasy, and I've never heard of the word “paracosm.� I would assume some would-be fantasy writers would not know such terms as well. Because of all these issues, I do not feel like I can recommend this book.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
My book blog:
I am a fan of some subgenres of fantasy, and as a freelance editor, I have helped some writers with their books. I had thought, when I saw this book at one of my favorite book review sites, this book could give me some hints and clues that would further help me assist my clients. Unfortunately, I found this book random and disorganized. The sections—some of which were long while others were quite short—didn't flow easily from one to the next. The book seemed disjointed. Much time was spent analyzing other fantasy works and not really talking about writing. That's what I think the biggest problem with this book is: It does not focus on the actual writing of fantasy. Instead, it focuses on some loose writing ideas and aspects that could be a part of a fantasy book. But these aspects would not all apply to every fantasy book. Perhaps the reader would have been better served if the author focused on writing, and on particular subgenres within fantasy—and there are many!—instead of trying to look at all these disparate aspects in a general book that would only be suitable for very niched books within fantasy. The title suggests this book is for beginning fantasy writers, but the author uses a lot of terminology that I doubt the aspiring fantasy writer would know. I read and edit a lot of fantasy, and I've never heard of the word “paracosm.� I would assume some would-be fantasy writers would not know such terms as well. Because of all these issues, I do not feel like I can recommend this book.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
My book blog:
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September 22, 2020Over 100 topics to turbocharge your fantasy imagination. This is a book of ideas and notions, designed to boost your artistic potential with a springboard of exciting fantasy perspectives. This book shows you how to fill your hero with kinetic potential, expand a paracosm, develop a bildungsroman, and plan for the paranormal. I try to be an encouraging teacher and go where others fear to tread. So I provide tips on how to build wonders, produce monsters, impart sadness and horror + how to develop atmosphere. And there are chapters on gloomth, animism, deity, and paranormality. If you don’t use any of these tools now I'll help you'll discover and tap into their limitless potential. So here are 392 resource-rich pages, separated into easy-read chapters, that you’ll come back to again and again. I think this is the ultimate writing resource for any aspiring fantasy fiction writer who is looking to jumpstart their authorship...
September 23, 2020
Fantasy is a large genre. It has a number of subgenres and trying to include everything in one book is a bit of a challenge. This guide tries to cover all subjects and give the wannabe fantasy author ideas and tropes to go on creating the next great novel. Some chapters were really interesting to me and helped me figure out ideas I had and pull them altogether. However, some chapters were long and contained lots of historical information, interesting for my general culture but not something I needed to kwow to write a fantasy novel. When I finished the book I felt like I would have to wanted more about the subjects that were explained shortly and that I learned more than I needed to about some other subjects.
Another reader - maybe interested in those subjects - might find these chapters really useful for their project! This is just one humble reader's opinion. ;-)
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Another reader - maybe interested in those subjects - might find these chapters really useful for their project! This is just one humble reader's opinion. ;-)
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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