Tag Archives: fantasy

Fitting the Planks

Posted on February 16, 2023 by midiguru

Just a quick note about world-building, and I’m pretty sure it applies equally well to science fiction and fantasy. (Not surprising, since science fiction is actually a subgenre within the fantasy genre.) Whenever you introduce an element into your story … Continue reading →

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The Epic

Posted on February 2, 2023 by midiguru

Being, at the moment, too distracted by some health issues to tackle any creative work of my own, I thought to fill the idle hours (which is most of them) by reading Tad Williams’s massive series called Memory, Sorrow, and … Continue reading →

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The Dreaded Info-Dump

Posted on January 16, 2023 by midiguru

The opening pages of novels written in the 19th century and before were often quite leisurely. The village where the action takes place might be introduced. The life history of the lead character’s grandfather might be briefly described. This kind … Continue reading →

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From the Ground Up

Posted on May 2, 2022 by midiguru

For any type of fiction that’s not based in our own world in the present day, world-building is both essential and deeply challenging. If you’re writing historical fiction based in our own world you can rely to a great extent … Continue reading →

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Superstructure

Posted on October 21, 2020 by midiguru

If you’re writing fantasy, and especially fantasy novels, you’ll want to devote some serious attention to world-building. If you google “fantasy novel world-building,” as I did this evening, you’ll find any number of blog posts that will offer suggestions. Some … Continue reading →

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The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Posted on April 20, 2020 by midiguru

In fantasy fiction, that things happen that could not happen in the real world. That’s the essence of fantasy, and it’s obvious. There could be dragons, ghosts, zombies, unicorns, you name it. What’s perhaps less obvious is that in fantasy, … Continue reading →

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Construction Projects

Posted on November 16, 2019 by midiguru

If your novel is not set on Earth, you need to devote some effort to world-building. Probably a lot of effort. The stock world of fantasy is, of course, Medieval Europe, but these days stories that use that setting feel … Continue reading →

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The Stuff of Legend

Posted on October 19, 2019 by midiguru

World-building is not easy, but when you get down to brass tacks, world-building in fantasy and science fiction looks like this: If you’re writing fantasy, some stuff happens that could never really happen. If you’re writing science fiction, some stuff … Continue reading →

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How Much Fantasy?

Posted on September 3, 2019 by midiguru

Science fiction authors tend to try to get the science right — or at least, we’d like to hope they will. There are many exceptions. We know a lot more about physics and biology today than was known even 50 … Continue reading →

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Today We Have Naming of Parts

Posted on June 17, 2019 by midiguru

I’m trying a new author, Sam Hawke. Her City of Lies is pretty good so far, and after 145 pages (of 550) I plan to keep reading. But already I’ve spotted a few elements that just don’t quite fit together. … Continue reading →

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