Helping you write better fantasy books!
On this channel, I share the best fantasy writing advice that I've learned from publishing four novels and a bestselling video game.
My published books include Kingdom of Dragons, The Thunder Heist, Across the Broken Stars, Fires of the Dead. I also wrote Siege of Treboulain - an epic fantasy video game.
I've also edited dozens of fantasy novels for other writers, and done over 100 Story Coaching calls to help writers improve their books.
For business enquiries, please contact me using the email below.
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Great video! This will help me a lot! Love your channel!
If a character has a few arcs wouldn't be possible that they could have some positive, negative or flat arcs. Ie in our book my sister and I are writing two of the charcters definetly go from a more postive view of the world to a much more negative view of the enemy and distrust of their enemies when they are exposed to just how evil some of their deeds are- when the the charcters were a bit niave due to lack of experience beforehand. However, they do improve in other areas. Could age also deter some from changing as much ie say you have a being that his been around for thousands of years they may not change as much as someone who is much younger.
I was 12 or 13 when Pong came out. I never saw or felt the draw of video games (though I would occasionally play asteroids & defender), preferring hiking, camping, sailing. Also, even to this day, my first draft of everything I write is in longhand script. I feel that the movement of my hand & arm while writing gives me a better connection to the words than the staccato of typing. (Plus, when you finish there is an actual manuscript sitting on the desk.) Still, analog entries on my calendar does sound like a good idea, though I would probably go with Seinfeld's Xs. Another good video. Keep it up.
I tried to get through Sovereign of the Seven Isles by David A Wells, and I just couldn't take it any longer. I am not sure how his stuff got rated well on Amazon. That story had some things that really made me sigh. The biggest issue was between Alexander and Isabel (protagonist and stranger turned lover turned wife). It felt like they met on the weekend and got married before Monday. No authentic relationship development at all. Then Mr. Wells decided to overuse the "damsel in distress" trope 5 million times on Isabel. There are other issues with the book like the antagonist, Prince Phane, barely having a presence outside a few meager chapters. It's written where Prince Phane just sets up one proxy war after another, so it makes the antagonist boring and uninteresting. Then there are other problems: Alexander, despite being a "farm hand" his whole life, magically knows how to act like a military general (as well as his sister). Getting a few "lessons" during their formative years, as the book tries to justify, doesn't make one a legendary general. Just makes me wonder how some authors even make it past their first book.
So sadly I can't remember my childhood I literally have amnesia but smells something trigger something that then drives me nuts because I can't remember what I'm remembering. 😅😅😅
22:03 I’m sorry…what? Vulnerability can actually be a form of strength? How? Give me one example.
My problem with sensory thing, I don't associate smell with nostalgia... Like when you asked me to think of a smell from my childhood... I couldn't think of any...
I once heard the antagonist is the hero of his own story. It was said more to flesh out the antagonist to say that character is all bad or all good.
It's Neil Gaiman, for gosh sakes we don't need the trumpet and drums!
Disappointing.
Change the type font and size to help you unlink from your text
Keep your language and props in your story in context to the time period or setting perspective. If it takes place in the 1990s, having an iPhone or text speak doesn’t make much sense. If it’s a natural story or xenofiction from the eyes of a non-human animal, don’t use “human” names for technology unless the character hears a human say it at some point. I read a book as a child from the perspective of a dog, and my favorite part was the narrator talking about the “light up box” the humans would look at that showed pictures in weird ways-which actually made sense at the time of writing because dogs couldn’t see full motion of the frame rate of a television until we hit 30-60fps. Dogs see things faster than people do, so it looked similar to a tv being played in the background of an 80s or 90s movie, just flickering pictures.
Someone needs to teach #17 to the people who write textbooks for students.
Jed teaching me more than most English teachers in a half hour video.
I have a whole lotta good idea but I have no idea how to make good names and tbh I don’t even know the name of my own franchise 😭
Please note that he titled this antagonist, not villain. They’re not always the same character. Arrow featured Detective Lance as an antagonist to the Arrow in season 1, but he was not a villain.
To attest to the third point, as a kid I always confused the characters of Sauron and Saruman in Lord of The Rings. It still baffles me to this day why Tolkien would choose such similair names for two pivotal characters.
My magic system... I used the Gacha way. So basically, its like instant mastery but in the same time, enough knowledge in proper way of wielding it. So it doesn't enhance any more than that but the character's job to wield it in more ways to be useful which makes it powerful. I guess for the sloppy buffet part, the Gacha magic system so yeah, it's really really wide ranged in terms of magic powers. Which is one of the reasons why I able to make my villain so overpowered compared to the protagonist. (Note: Gacha is a game genre and vending machine in Japan which gives randomized items)
hmmm... nr 1 lets say Harry Potter... dunno... kinda worked 😂
Three cheers to Jed for saving me time and error
Gilbert the herald of doom does go kinda hard
"The ship has a secret..." Buoyancy?
4:23 I do believe Material adjectives come after Origin adjectives. There may be exceptions I'm not aware of but it should be "Dwarven, silver healing ring." Please someone let me know If I'm wrong.
Jed youre such a gift 🙏🏻 thoughtful analysis and a nice conversational tone all in one, just what I needed to get the creativity unjammed
2:59 This reminds me of the antagonist i the hey arnold jungle movie that plays into the archtype but adds a twist ... Where it wasnt edwardo betraying arnold in the end,but actually wasnst edwardo at all, lesonbra pretending to be him.
1,022
When I hit a long complicated name, I don't bother with it "Xyrovquilzion" instantly becomes read as "Mr. Xy" or "X-town" for the remainder of the book or series.
I'm a new author and I'm finding it interesting to look through these videos and see if I made these mistakes or how I can improve for the next novel. Though I'll say, these videos are all focused on "fantasy" but these are just good for novel-writing in general. I've heard a different way of determining character dimensions: 1 - what they present. This is the facade they try to show the world, their habits and mannerisms, their personality, their basic desires, etc. Think of it as their "ego." 2 - what they want to be/how they react. This is usually where backstory comes in. It will show their fears, their goals, their rivalries, their obsessions, etc. A lot of these are things that developed in their past. It's where a impulses come from. Think of this as their "id." 3 - their core beliefs. This is the code of morality they live by, formed by their upbringing, society, religious beliefs, etc. It is where guilt comes from. Think of this as their "superego." background characters are fine with just 1 dimension (a stereotype in every way, not depth and little personality) minor characters are fine with 2 dimensions (representing one of the archetypes, usually devoid of superego) main characters should all be 3-dimensional. Everyone is the hero in their own story, after all. What do you think of it, @Jed_Herne?
This is a great advice! Keep up your good work! 😁
Am i the only one that thinks the card magic system is just yugioh?
Instant mastery! We're looking at you, Rey and Kirito!
18:45 can we download this axis of desire?
En mi novela La semi/pseudo magia (Lux) es algo muy comun en su planeta y cada especie viviente de ese planeta puede usarlo Debido a que no tiene restricciones y solo un limite imperceptible vuelve al Lux muy peligroso Esta presente en su sangre Mientras uno conjura un hechizo estos usuarios del Lux ya te dispararon como 10 veces
You should watch Mushoku Tensei
For the miscommunication as conflict part. There are some conflicts between certain characters in my books that probably could have been solved by the characters simply talking to each other but there's always something else going on that stops them from being able to talk to each other
I think that the 3 chapters of a guy dueling could work quite well. 1st ch. a guy is challenged & wins, but he has never been in a fight before. His first killing marks him & he understands what his uncle has been telling him for years--sparring is one thing, killing is another. The relative of victim #1 finds out about the first duel & goes hunting for our MC. He wins again, but this time, it was easier (he didn't vomit after seeing a corpse lying at his feet). Victim #2 was a well-known sell-sword, so a 3d challenger comes forward, just wanting to see who it was that dispatched #2. At the death of victim #3, the MC experiences a vital rush. & he wants more of that. Addiction is like that. You could chart the MC's slide into homicidal ecstasy at each new duel, until he is the one going out looking for new victims. Of course, this would not be high fantasy, but even that might work if the culture of the people involved see might as right. Soon the MC has assumed a leadership role, perhaps. Something to think about.Thanks for the idea. I'll add it to my list of possible stories, which is currently about 30. But that's just in the Fantasy camp. Write on!
As allways it depends. These advices are generally true but I have seena many good fantasy novels tha were written with these mistakes ad were extremally good in spite of them. For example one writter killed the main protagonist every chapter and start subsequent chapter with a new protagonist. In course os new chapter made readers to love new protagonist and then killed hero in some nesessary or necessary way (sometimes due to the plot, sometimes by accident). Just to make readers to understand that the live is a chaos and even the best plans were nothing. True problem is - do you make these mistakes because you do not know about writion or oppostir you do them by purpose.
George Martin once ask Stephen how the fuck he writes so many books so fast. King just shrugged and said he writes 6 pages a day. George asked him if he ever gets writers block and Stephen King seemed like he didn't know what George was talking about. It's almost like writing is a stream of consciousness for Stephen King. He just goes and doesn't think about it too hard.
I think your archetypes are wrong. 1. Force of Nature By definition a force of nature is not a character and there for isn't really a villain. It's a threat that would be a natural event like an Earthquake. The ring could be a force of nature because it's a magical object not a character. 2. False Ally That one you actually got right... until you didn't. 3. Dark Mirror Non of the examples you gave are Dark Mirrors. Better examples would include Bizzaro, Reverse Flash, The Master, Nemesis Prime, Negaduck, Tyrant/Emperor Cole. They're villains who are of equal power to the hero. Some times they literally are just alternate universe or clones of the main protagonist. 4. Anti-Villain That's not a thing. What you're describing are just villains. The mistake would be NOT making your villain that way because a villain who is evil just for the sake of being evil is unrealistic and uninteresting. Everyone sees themselves as the hero of their own story. So what your describing is just a better written villain with more clearly defined realistic motives. 5. The Shapeshifter Remember earlier when I mentioned you got the false ally wrong, well this isn't a 5th archetype you're literally just talking about the false ally again. An actual shapeshifter would be a character like Mystique but they aren't always villains. Shapeshifters are often heroes. Any alternative name for what you're describing would be the faction switcher. Transformers has a few of these such as Dinobot who starts as a predacon, switches sides to join the Maximals, later rejoins the Predacons, rejoins the Maximals again, dies, gets resurected as a brainwashed Predacon, gets his memories back becomes a Maximal again for like 2 minutes, then promply dies again. I'm over simplifying things for a joke but honestly Dinobot's character arc is perfectly written and all the turns make sense within the narrative.
Does the template work on excel office online? I don’t have regular excel as I didn’t wanna pay like $350 for something I can get for free…
LotR? Or is that too obvious to even bother mentioning?
I had not written properly for my main project in years, just constantly starting up side projects and abandoning them. But in the last month I have written over thirteen thousand words for my main project and 100% I wouldn't have if I hadn't found this video and the tracker. Thank god for you.
Thanks for no background music. I will be able to watch this many times. Dyslexia interferes with so many things.
I think one of the best ways to learn writing is to study the 3 act story structure and then trying to make sense of all the storyaspects like character, tension, plot and how they effect each other
This has inspired me to come up with a magic system. Perhaps one where lies and false beliefs are powerful, and the protagonist needs to reach out to the truth. Yes, that was an intentional choice of words in that last sentence.
Can't really take your advice seriously when you use Harry Potter of all things as a good example.