So you want to write a Fantasy Novel in 2024...

[@exquize1660]

Let’s say that Tolkien was easily inspired by Nordic mythology and religions… I mean even in Tolkien er, what he wrote was already common… tales, legends, creatures existed before him etc etc, so people who compare everything to Tolkien are just limited and uncultured. And even if someone is inspired by it, it’s not a problem, should be not.

[@WritingQuest]

I think what Tolkien was able to do was take ideas from all of those inspirations and put them into a package that could resonate with the masses. He’s also often quoted as saying he wanted to create an English mythology similar to Nordic, Egyptian, etc, because they didn’t have anything really like that at the time. According to him anyway

[@shardator]

Everything is derivative. The uniqueness of something comes from how boldly you recombine ideas. And remember: the concept of cultural appropriation is excrement.

[@skullknight2008]

Man this was great. I have taken college classes, watched all of Sanderson's lectures, and have been reading things Dragonlance, every Sanderson book, and that genre... and this impressed me. I will actually be trying out your templates after I shovel this snow. 2k subs? Won't be for long if you make all your stuff this good.

[@WritingQuest]

Thank you! I really appreciate that. The Sanderson lectures are really the best thing out there write now for fantasy writers i feel like. Just a wealth of free information. I appreciate you checking out the channel and If you want you should jump onto our Discord server we just started. discord.gg/hthFqNQy

[@SelfPubWithAndy]

Can't go wrong with magic imo! 😅 Great video! Subscribed!

[@WritingQuest]

Thanks! And I agree....magic is the best!

[@laoaganlester1728]

I belong to the one of the major indigenous group of the Philippines in the mountainous region of the Cordillera, the Igorot tribe. I observed that the majority of fantasy books and films or stories are based on the western culture (Knights, Pirates, warlock, vampires, witches, ware wolf etc.) that led me to write a fantasy story based in our culture. My problem is we are not advance in our ways of living like limited God and Goddesses, we had no writing system, we didn't have currency only barter system many stories have many versions depending of which part of the Cordillera were the story originated from. I incorporated some made up Gods and Goddesses and names of heroes or main characters plus adapting fantasy cliche's and tropes replacing it with Igorot characters. Hope to finish my manuscript and later my book be published.

[@WritingQuest]

Wow! Thats sounds incredible. Would love to read it someday. Thanks for watching and happy writing!

[@nonono9194]

That's because the fantasy genre IS western, it's European/white contemporary mythology. Each race/ethnicity/culture has it's own and it will be almost entirely focused on their own culture and themselves, as they should.

[@timewithnicole]

The fantasy genre is so widespread I've never really considered all the intricacies of it as a genre, but have always enjoyed them! Thank you for breaking it down for all of us in a way that's easy to understand and approach ☺

[@WritingQuest]

It really is full of so many different aspects it's hard to keep track of! Thanks for watching!

[@NicoleWilbur]

Love this video!! Really interesting to hear your take on how the genre has evolved from Tolkein as well - I didn't know that!!

[@WritingQuest]

Thanks! And thanks for inviting me to this collab! Really great idea!

[@t-helen-price]

Fantastic video and useful advice, Brenan and what a pleasure to meet you! I'm happy I was able to be a part of this collaboration with you and other cool authortubers! You highlighted the importance of understanding the roots of the fantasy genre and learning from existing works to create something new and that is something I 10000% agree with. I need to really sit and watch Sanderson's lecture series! I keep procrastinating but I've been wanting to watch and take notes on it. Thanks for sharing the valuable resources and tips! Subscribed!!

[@WritingQuest]

Thanks and yes it's nice to meet you too! Great idea from @nicolewilbur! And you really should watch Sandersons lectures. Even if you don't really care for his writing, the information in them is really invaulable and also...it's free, which is one of it's best features lol. Thanks for watching!

[@Valkrill]

I'm currently about 98-99K words into my first draft of my first book ever. It's a unique blend of scifi/high fantasy with all new species made in a new world etc and I've never been more excited in my life nor as terrified for the future query process 😅

[@WritingQuest]

Love it! Would love to read it someday. I really love the idea of blending sci-fi space stuff with high fantasy elves, dwarves, wizards...could be so cool

[@charlesfloden2331]

Hey! I am also currently working on my first draft of my first novel ever. Its also sci fi fantasy particularly focusing on the creature worldbuilding!! I would love to read your story someday!

[@robertagriffin28]

Please stop with the constant hand waving. Very distracting

[@julesdecember4164]

Good morning! Thank you for doing this.❤

[@WritingQuest]

Of course! Thanks for watching!

[@isaacriggs4656]

Here's your taco, mister.

[@matthewgraham8561]

I think lord of the rings is good for seeing the origin to a lot of modern day fantasy. It’s main issue is that it’s a bit dated when compared to today’s fantasy. I wouldn’t personally use it as a guide to writing a current day fantasy book but it is an interesting read for seeing what a majority of modern day fantasy originated from.

[@dovekie3437]

It's not so much dated as it is untouchable. If anyone made something new with a similar level of quality and charm, even in that slower, more dense ('dated') format, it would do well. The thing is, chances are you are not a philologist / professor / ex-military / creator-of-languages / scholar / story teller / historian / mythology-expert, etc. The truth is even 99% of authors wouldn't be able to build a world of the same calibre he could, and if they could, would they spend the time doing so?

[@skullknight2008]

If you guys are serious about wanting to write ANY genre, then you will be crazy not to check out Sanderson's lectures. It's like an associates degree for FREE. I honestly don't think I've ever seen so since that huge(famous) does something like that for free. Most would charge $15 a lecture or more. Cheers, guys!

[@WritingQuest]

Huzzah!

[@EmmaBennetAuthor]

Great breakdown of this awesome genre!

[@WritingQuest]

Thanks! It’s my favorite if you couldn’t tell haha

[@NocturneDX]

great video

[@alananimus9145]

Before you crucify me hear me out. If you actually want to learn to write fantasy the best place to start is stealing. You can start either with a work that is out of copyright or a bad book (either will do for our purposes). The first thing you do is outline just like you would for your own original story. The second thing you do is plot. If you are using an out of copyright book from something like Gutenberg or the like rip all the dialogue. You should have a text document that is only the books dialogue. You may need to tag the speaker of the dialogue and that is fine. Now rewrite the dialogue. You do this by inventing a character and having them express the same idea's. Work on one character at a time. Once you have done this for each character go back to the original text and rewrite the scene with the new dialogue. Write the scene from each characters perspective. When you are done you should have somewhere between 3-15 books. For an extra twist write each character's perspective in a different genre. Like with any craft the object is not to reinvent the wheel but to practice the same thing over and over again until you master it. As you begin to master the craft you will find yourself inserting new dialogue into a scene. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about making each version of the books dialogue match exactly (outside of the core dialogue). If you are taking a book that is not out of copyright but instead rewriting a bad book (yes I don't care what anyone says bad books exist and they are a more valuable teaching tool than a good book) once you have plotted chapters and plotted the scenes then it's time to start writing. Break down the characters in the scene, break down what the scene is doing, and most importantly identify what is wrong with the scene. Then write it better. The goal is not to write a great scene or even a good scene. The goal is to write the same scene only better. If the book you are rewriting is a fantasy or science fiction book strip out as much of the fantasy and science fiction elements as you can. This step is an important part of the process and I cannot state how important it is. Once you have gotten to the point where you are adding fantasy elements to the story ask yourself how would X effect the world. In short practice, practice, practice. Develop tools, develop tools, develop tools.

[@WritingQuest]

I absolutely agree! When it comes to practing I think books that already exist are a great place to start. I've also heard of people taking a book they love and just hand copying it down as a way to learn how to get the feel of that kind of writing into your hands and mind. As long as you are simply practicing and learning and never publishing, there's lots to be learned there. Thanks for watching!

[@alananimus9145]

@@WritingQuest Depending I may or may not agree with publishing. I've never published because that doesn't interest me, but some of the novels that I have rewritten are distinctive enough that if I changed the name of the characters and locations they would be "original". It comes down to a question of plagiarism. If you write the exact same book but do so originally I don't see a problem with publishing it.

[@BON3RLLXrblx]

iv wanted to write a fantasy novel for a while now, thankyou for the video!!

[@WritingQuest]

Awesome! You definitely should! I might be biased but I think it is the best genre…😎

[@Saruman_Ring-Maker]

This video has inspired me to created a short story called The Fellking about how a benevolent ruler clings on desperately to life and how this slowly turns him inhuman

[@WritingQuest]

That’s awesome and sounds really cool! Happy writing!

[@Saruman_Ring-Maker]

@@WritingQuest thank you

[@jamessolow8591]

I think that the king of elfland's daughter by Lord Dunsany is the first fantasy novel.

[@jamessolow8591]

I was wrong. For some reason I thought Dunsany was before McDonald. I have to read some of the other things that people claim are fantasy before them.

[@WritingQuest]

Sounds like something I will be looking into for sure!

[@Controvi]

I have started writing a novel from scratch without any writing knowledge and without really ever having read any fantasy books. the only books I really read and finished were the Assessins Creed books of the dark crusades with Altair and ACC2 with Ezio. I did listen to multiple audio books though like Game of Thrones and a bunch of game related books. (also ACC). You talked about the magic system and everything having been done but I made a magic system for my fantasy world because I never heard of it before. Sure enough you can say that it's because I didn't read a lot of fantasy, but I did see MANY fantasy movies, tv shows, anime and played loads of Fantasy games. My novel has 7 worlds that were created as a copy from a now destroyed original univers. Everything that lives emits Aether and Aether is use for magic. But not like the usual stuff is explained as mine works based on String Theory where Aether is a conduit to manipulate the properties of molecules around the user. There is a whole affinity system where people are more attuned to certain frequencies, making them able to easily use fire magic but not water. they CAN use water but they have to know the frequency but it will still be hard to make it powerful. Weakness is also not based in a way of taking more damage from the stronger element but when using a fire spell against a water spell makes fire lose most of the times. But sorry for going on a info dump here XD I'm just happy with the way designed the system. I'm doing it for fun btw, so I am not aiming to be published or be the best writer out there. I do put some time and effort into it as I release the chapters. I have my master plot moments thought out, I have my characters generally in the locations I want them to appear in the story, Their backstories are written and I set the worldbuilding to limit myself and stay consistent. Keeping a timeline for every character and for world events and just wing it from there. I thought about taking examples from other works but it felt like I would just be copying them so just started writing the events that will happen in a organic way. That way I would also introduce everything from a 'show don't tell' perspective. Exploring a world together with the characters is something I always loved in fantasy. And that's what I am doing now. Might be all bad decisions XD Story might be a mess, but it will be my mess haha

[@WritingQuest]

That sounds like a really cool system! Magic systems are always the hardest thing for me to put together. Not sure why it's just hard for me for some reason lol. Glad you are finding your way with your story and to be honest, it may play to your advantage to not have read as much fantasy. Might free up your creativity a lot. Happy writing and good luck!

[@roymurillo6058]

Thank you for those tips, Tolkien and Martin are 2 good examples for me, I like my fantasy simple not so magical. I think the ability to create a whole world or universe is truly a privilege. Still havent started writing but Im building a list of all the elements and characteristics of the world I want to create.

[@WritingQuest]

Agree 100%! Also I think thats a great way to start. Just start building a world and slowly find the story within