Writing Advice

Accepting the Existence of Magic

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 15 Comments
Photo by Andrei Oprinca (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

If you’re a paranormal fantasy reader you might find this scenario familiar:

The main character, Mary Sue, has finally cottoned on to the fact that things around her aren’t quite what they seem. In fact, things are getting downright weird. The various laws that govern time and space and normality in her world are breaking to pieces around her. In short, she’s encountering the supernatural… either that or she’s just mad. This is a fantasy novel, however, so you can be 99% sure it’s not madness.

The trouble is, Mary Sue continues to insist that she is mad. Continue reading →

5 Ways to Keep Your Dragons Fresh

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 7 Comments
Photo by Baltasar Vischi (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Dragons are popular creatures, particularly in epic high fantasy. If you pick up a fantasy book at random, I’d say the chance of you encountering a dragon at some point during that book are high. In fact, doing a brief and highly unscientific survey of my fantasy shelf, I’d say about 15% of them involve dragons in some way (and i’m sure if I read exclusively epic fantasy that percentage would be higher). Personally, I’m not someone that actively seeks out dragons, but I always enjoy a well-wrought dragon when I encounter one.

The question is, when there are so many dragons out there, how do fantasy authors make their dragons feel fresh and interesting? Continue reading →

History in the Potterverse and Other Magical Worlds

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 3 Comments
Photo by Jeff Kays (CC BY 2.0)

If you’ve read the Harry Potter series, the name Bathilda Bagshot might be familiar to you. You may even recognise her as the author of Hogwarts, a History, a book to which Harry’s friend Hermione regularly refers in the series. Whenever the characters need to know something about the ancient castle they go to school in, Hermione is there, spouting “historical” facts from Bagshot’s work to help them solve their problems.

Continue reading →

Sex Scenes in Fantasy Novels: When Do They Work?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 8 Comments
Orchid at the Pittsburgh Botanic Gardens, 2011. Photo by Nicola Alter (CC BY SA 4.0)

Growing up, most of the fantasy novels I read didn’t have sex scenes. Perhaps they had a little romance, maybe some kissing, but nothing I would classify as a proper sex scene, or even an illusion to a sex scene. A few, of course, did have scenes that were a little raunchy… but I remember finding those awkward and out of place. Continue reading →

The Power of “What If?” Premises in Science Fiction and Fantasy

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 2 Comments

Image: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

There’s no doubt that a really good “what if?” scenario – a fascinating premise that envisions a society or world with a pivotal difference to our own – is a big hook for a speculative fiction book or film. An intriguing premise will almost always entice me to go see the film at the cinema, particularly a science fiction film.

On the whole, science fiction does these “what if” scenarios really well (especially dystopian sci-fi), and the concepts are memorable. I’m sure many people could guess which popular science fiction films the below scenarios refer to: Continue reading →

The ‘Ye Olde’ in Epic Fantasy: 6 More Archaisms and Why Authors Use Them

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 6 Comments
First Lines of Beowulf. Photo from Wikimedia – Public Domain

Last week I listed some English archaic forms often seen in epic fantasy novels: things like “here be dragons” and “unsavoury louts they were” and “prithee”. This week I’m continuing with a few more ‘ye olde’ words fantasy authors like to throw into the mix, as well as having a look at why they do it.

So without further ado, and again with the help of Susan Mandala’s Language in Science Fiction and Fantasy: The Question of Style, here are the remaining 6: Continue reading →

The ‘Ye Olde’ in Epic Fantasy: 5 Archaisms Explained

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 3 Comments

Here Be Dragons Map

The other day I found myself explaining the word ‘wont’ to someone. Not the contraction ‘won’t’, but rather its apostrophe-less unrelated twin:

Wont
adjective: accustomed, used, given, inclined. e.g. “As he was wont to do”
— New Oxford American Dictionary

In other words, the one almost no-one uses. I believe I was attempting to add a vaguely historical flourish to a comment I was making. Unfortunately the person I was speaking to was German, and wont turned out to be a word they hadn’t yet added to their English vocabulary (can’t blame them really).

Continue reading →

Please, No More Love Triangles

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 8 Comments

I’ll be honest, it has to be a brilliant, addictive, or particularly unique paranormal romance to tempt me to read beyond the first book. Even then, I’m hesitant. And it’s not because I don’t enjoy the genre. I love a well-crafted supernatural romance. I’m not even turned off by the copious vampires and werewolves. Sure, I’ve seen a lot of them, but if they’re done well, they’re still enthralling.

The reason for my hesitance is that I’m thoroughly sick of love triangles. Continue reading →

Difference for Difference’s Sake

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 1 Comment
Photo by Nicola Alter (CC BY SA 4.0)

I spent half of the final year of my film degree working as a producer on one short film. For most of this time, I was convinced it was going to be great.

I first heard the story idea in the class pitching session, where a panel of tutors were deciding which six student films would get made that year. The soon-to-be writer-director of this particular film pitched his premise. It really grabbed me. And not just me—the panel were convinced too.  Continue reading →