 Gray-ass-tushy makes my wizard game fleek, hurr! Well shakin, my name's Cam, welcome back to another video. Welcome back to Writing Tips I Love, a bit of a mini-series that I'm doing on the channel at the moment where I talk about various writing tips and advice that I feel has helped me over time, particularly in very specific genres. Now I'm not in the business anymore of coming on here and trying to educate people on how to write good, I've learned by now that there are professionals on here that can and do do that, but as a writer and as someone who does want a future career in writing someday hopefully. I do still want to make videos sharing information that I feel has helped me, just in case it helps you too. Now in the last video we talked about horror, but today we're sharpening our swords and diving headfirst into the wild world of fantasy. Heroes, wizards, dragons, the whole greasy, delicious enchilada. And I want to make it clear, when I say fantasy I am not talking about stories that make you randy. Tip number one that helped me, write, write goodly, write, good, write good. Like there's bad, uh, bad writing, you want to write, uh, good. Now the phrase take it easy isn't just an absolute slapperoony by the eagles, it's also really great advice when it comes to writing, especially when it comes to writing fantasy. The thing is in most cases we are going to be writing about an epic and expansive adventure set in an enormous and insanely diverse world. That's literally one of the most challenging things that a writer can ever face. It is hard as hell that's what she said. The problem a lot of people have and a problem that I sure as hell ran into was trying to get as much information out to the reader as quickly as I could so that they could understand who these characters are, what they are, where they are. But like everything in life, too much of a good thing can kill you, or at the very least completely bore the tits off of your body. You might have a great story filled with really rich lore, but if you dump it all on the reader chapter after chapter, they can get confused or overwhelmed or even worse, frustrated. The advice that I was given that I didn't take on board until way too late was to weave the world building into the actual story slowly. For example, rather than just starting the book with a prologue where you give an exposition giving information about the world or the gods or whatever, alternatively you would actually have your characters learn about those things during the adventure or during the story. The characters would learn about the world and in turn so would the reader. You know, there seems to be this misconception that when it comes to fantasy in order for it to be considered literary fiction, it needs to be complex or challenging. And while in some cases that can absolutely be a good thing and it even can be an attribute towards something being considered literary fiction, despite that it's not a requirement, it's been proven not to be a million times. Most of the criticisms you'll actually face writing within the fantasy genre is overwhelming world building. For example, if there's like 20 major characters within the first two chapters. When I first heard this writing tip I had to actually really think about it pretty hard. I had to think about it for quite a while before I really understood and in the end I thought of it like this. People are going to pick up your book for a story that takes place in a fantasy world, not for a fantasy world where a story just happens to occur. More so than any other genre in my opinion when it comes to fantasy outlining is extremely important. Something I was told a really long time ago is that when you're crafting an entirely fictional world or universe or creature or race or magic system, you need to set very clear parameters for how those things operate. You have to remember fantasy fans are nerds bro. Nerds. If there is an inconsistency you can bet you're juicy but that they will spot it. I've always been a pretty thorough planner when it comes to writing luckily so this actually wasn't too difficult for me to start taking on board. I know there's a lot of people out there though where that's not really the case. Panthers. Otherwise known as the wild cards of the writing world. Wild card bitches! Yes! Oh my god! Oh my god! Absolute mad lads who will write by the seat of their pants but I think even panthers can benefit from at the very least taking notes as they go to ensure that they aren't contradicting anything else that they write. Character profiles help to keep your characters consistent believable and compelling. Having a bit of a map of the fantasy world that you created helps to keep the adventure or the storyline on track. A breakdown of your magic system helps with staying within the rules that you set for the magic. Assuming that it's a hard magic system. Hard and soft magic by the way isn't an innuendo that's what she said. It refers to your magic either having strict rules and requirements or on the flip side being pretty malleable. Flaccid. Something I do with outlining that I know wouldn't be for everyone is I actually plan where in the story the conflicts are going to be. Pacing has always been pretty tricky for me. I usually tend to write the story at too quick of a pace on the first draft at least but I do find that it's helpful to give myself an outline of exactly where the tension rises That's really all there is to it. Outlining or taking notes is in my opinion pretty vital to writing within the fantasy genre. Like 1994's Uncle of the Year said, be prepared. Go your own way. I missed an opportunity to name all the sections of this video after classic rock songs didn't I? Go your own way is a slap-tacular tuna rune by Fleetwood Mac, yes, but it's also something that I almost compulsively tell myself when I'm writing. This goes for any genre but fantasy in particular does run the risk of falling into one of the many dreaded cliches. So first of all, not all tropes are cliches and not all cliches are bad. However, there is a laundry list of specific story or plot devices that readers are just straight up sick of seeing. Funnily enough my most viewed video on YouTube ever was about exactly this. Let me tickle your brain for a moment if I may. When I say the phrase The Dark Lord, how many different fantasy books, movies, shows, etc come to mind? Kind of a lot, right? A mysterious faceless evil shrouded in shadow is a bit of a stable within the fantasy genre and unfortunately stands pretty tall in the cliches Hall of Fame. Here's the thing though and wait, wait, wait, hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait. Despite the video I mentioned before being titled writing cliches to avoid, the point here isn't actually to explicitly avoid these things definitively, it's just to identify the fact that you might be writing a cliche then to approach that thing in a more creative and fresh way so that hopefully it ends up not being a cliche. In fact in some cases you can even use a cliche to your advantage. You can make the reader think that they know exactly where the story is going because they've seen this so many times before and then you flip the script. I'm sure you know about this already but it's called subverting expectations and it's actually one of the most satisfying things to come across as a reader. I get that if you boil it down all I've really said in this section of the video is be original and that's pretty generic advice. I get that and that's exactly what I thought when I was first told this as well but to be honest it just doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. I tell myself that if I am going to be using a cliche in my writing there has to be something I'm doing with that cliche that is fresh or that makes it different from the rest. Well I guess I'm quoting Disney songs now. Poor unfortunate souls aka giving the heroes a few L's aka not having your protagonist be as strong as ultra instinct shaggy right from the get go. This isn't actually a writing tip that anyone like gave me but it is something that I have been consciously telling myself since I read The Name of the Wind. Don't get me wrong it's a great book but both is just one of the more notable cases of a protagonist or the story's main hero being literally brilliant at absolutely everything they do. Combat, they're the strongest. Studies, they're the smartest. Music, they shred. Great with animals, doesn't fear death and perhaps most unrealistic of all always amazing at making love. That's not real, that's not realistic. Is it? Is that realistic? I just know that one of my pet hates with fantasy is how common it is for the hero to be perfect in almost every instance. Their morals never falter and they win almost every conflict that they get involved in. It's just boring and you know it makes it harder to forge any kind of real connection between the reader and that character. How are we meant to relate with a character like that? We're all hot garbage right? That's not just me. Giving the character some faults makes sense of course but I'll also try to make sure that there are some fights or conflicts that they lose. That way when they win it feels all the more special. So those are some writing tips and advice that I have been given or learned over time. Advice that I think has been really valuable when it comes to writing fantasy. But what do you think? Like I said I'm not here to try and like educate people. I'm just trying to share some information that I think has been helpful to me. Go ahead and let me know what the most helpful tip you've ever been given when it comes to fantasy is. Well you know what? Hell just comment a single emoji just so I know that you watched this far in the video and if you did a really special thank you to you I really do appreciate it when people watch my videos all the way through. It means a lot. I still have a lot more writing tips that I love videos to come in different genres so stick around if that's your thing otherwise if you're just a fan of reading or writing hey you're welcome here too. BTdubs I'm nearly done with a delto request so I have a big video on this one coming soon too. I'm really excited for that. As always thanks for watching guys big love catch ya