Barefoot Books Folk and Fairy Tale Collection

4 Tips To Writing Fantasy Stories

Do you feel overwhelmed because you never know how to come up with an opening line to your fantasy book?
Most people feel a writer’s block when they start writing their story because they do not know how to start or where to begin.

Here are four step-by-step approaches or categories to get you started and focused on your writing.

1. Create A Character
2. Create The Setting
3. Create A Conflict
4. Create A Solution-Ending

I just finished reviewing a fantastic juvenile fiction series called The Kelmar Trilogy by Laura Sepesi.
Master of Kelmar and Secrets of Kelmar, plus Guardian of Kelmar. As you probably already know, Fantasy is highly imaginative writing, just spinning an adventure that just isn't real or true. For example, one can read about animals talking with one another, expressing emotions and wearing real clothes. Fantasy can be set in medieval times with castles and dragons, wizards and knights. Or the story can be set in the future, which is why the Star Wars series was so popular.

Knight

So, when you begin to write your fantasy story, you will need to come up with a name for your character. Keep in mind that you will want to choose an exciting name and not just “dragon” but rather, “dragon-lord.” This is what we call a compound word, taking two separate words joined together to form a new word, like “candlestick.”

Maiden

At this point, you will want to create details of your character from his or her size, characteristics, color, appearance, and descriptive titles to your character. For example, Dubious the dark-knight or Phoebe, the good-fairy of Seaguard Cove have soft or hard sounds to their name.
Once you’ve established the main characters and sub-characters of your story and have included a variety of dragons, dwarfs, ladies and lords, it’s time to move on to the setting.

Castle

Will you start with the Great Fortress of Camden, surrounded in an enchanting forest? Perhaps the wise queen of Goshen lives in the High Tower of Gadzar. Whatever setting you choose, you will have lots of scene changes to create from barren deserts and empty plains to evil fortresses and radiant cities. I love visualizing worlds beyond.

Dragon

The next hearty step of your story outline will be the meat-and-potatoes part. Will the dark forces pose traps, plots and schemes to force their opponent in battle? Will monsters arise, sorcerers cast spells and a witch uses an invisibility cloak to lead a surprise attack to defeat their enemies? Yes, more descriptive writing occurs here to develop a real page-turner story. Success is when you just can't put the book down!

Fairy

My favorite and final point in writing a fantasy story is to provide an ending that hopefully pleases everyone but after all, it is your story and you probably will choose a predictable ending, like good triumphs over evil, but then, maybe not.

I personally like to read about the Good Lady Diana being rescued by her favorite, Great Knight Nicholas, from the treacherous and barbarous William Zardk, along with his companion, the dangerous Dragon Dunzabar. To be taken to Nicholas’ enchanted castle to meet his father, the Kindly King, and to begin a new life atop a pinnacle of rock, overlooking a lush valley would be a great ending, and indeed another sequel to a marvelous, new beginning.

One special note to share, if you're interested in winning an iPad or Kindle Fire, Rafflecopter is hosting a giveaway and their services are now being offered for free. You can enter the give away on my other blog, LadyD Books at Rafflecopter-launch-party-giveaway-win

Good luck to all and best wishes,

“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis

I have read Laura Sepesi’s first book, The Guardian of Kelmar and posted my review of this brilliant author at http://goo.gl/fb/1DC6

Now, I just finished reading the second book in the Kelmar Trilogy-YA fantasy Trilogy, The Secrets of Kelmar. Oh my gosh, this one is over the top!

Book Details and Description:

Price: $28.95

Book Size: 5.5'' x 8.5'' , 688 pages

Category/Subject: FICTION / Fantasy / Epic

With the defeat of her enemies, Carmen Fox thought she had brought peace to the magical realm of Kelmar. But when fresh bloodshed and destructive storms threaten Kelmar’s stability, Carmen is called upon to restore harmony in worlds beyond.

Abstract:

Carmen Fox and her friends have just defeated the merciless Dark Master, Desorkhan, and his army of Magicon followers, and saved the magical world of Kelmar from ruin. But only months after their victory, darkness has once again fallen upon their realm. Raging storms, vicious attacks on innocent creatures, and the threat of Kelmar’s imminent destruction by a most sinister adversary, all ensue from a drastic shift in the balance of power between the two Kelmarian spirit worlds.

As the Guardian of Kelmar, Carmen must now travel to the afterlife to correct the imbalance, even as she furthers her sorcerer training at Thunder Academy.

My Review:

I have heard many say that Fantasy writing is highly imaginative with the fantasy story being set in medieval times and is about castles, chargers, dragons, knights, potions, spells and wizards. Well, The Secrets of Kelmar begins with a great back story, just in case you have forgotten or didn't get a chance to read the first book because at the age of 15, Carmen's world changed dramatically.

This riveting fictional story of good that triumphs over evil, is brilliant in writing from the author's imagination. Laura Sepesi writes about good and evil appearing like two completely different entities but in many ways they're actually the same. The character names, along with unusual places, sets the stage for exciting adventures in the 3 realms, such as Merlin Cloud, the maker of Kelmar and Kelmarsia and Keltan, filled with immoral and corrupt souls.

Carmen's destiny is to discover and decipher the secrets to learn how to balance light and dark, to restore harmony. Seems like a very simple mission but the story moves along at a fast pave, with an incredible adventure of magic tunnels, an amulet of magical protection and the necessary disk for decoding. This 5* book is a real page turner. The messages of finding love from within, caring about how much family matters, strong bond of friendship, and fighting for our land to be protected ring loud and true. Oh yes, and there's an exciting ending, too!

I just couldn't put this one down. And when I did, my hubby picked it up and inhaled this one from cover to cover because it is awesome and so very cool. This book should be a movie and I wouldn't be at all surprised if my grandchildren see the heavenly Trilogy on the screen one day. I am so very proud of Laura and her accomplishments... One of my favorite quotes from the book: "Follow your heart," Kelmari declared to her guests, "and you shall never lose your way."

About the author:

A published author at the age of twenty-one, Laura Sepesi has had a passion for storytelling for as long as she can remember. While still a student in high school, she imagined the story of the Kelmar Trilogy, and soon after she graduated, she began writing Book I: The Guardian of Kelmar. That first novel went on to be published in the months following the completion of her associate's degree in elementary education, allowing her to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming an author.

A year and a half after Guardian's release, Laura published the sequel, The Secrets of Kelmar. The third and final installment in the Kelmar Trilogy, The Master of Kelmar, was published only a few months after Secrets, when Laura was twenty-three years old. For more information about the author and the books visit:
www.LauraSepesi.com

I'm looking forward to reading the next book, The Master of Kelmar and final conclusion of the Kelmar Trilogy. Best wishes and much continued success to a very talented young lady and wonderful author, Laura Sepesi.

How about you... have you read books containing names like, dragon lord, fairy princess, and the good knight? I like books that have a soft language to them, like the Enchanted Village of Larkspur. My grandsons love Darth Vader and the Terrible Troll. But, I especially love bright, happy endings where good triumphs over evil!