Fantasy from the Ground Up

Building a Magic System

From Merlin to Gandalf and from Harry Potter to Harry Dresden, fantasy worlds often shine or stumble by their magic systems. In this episode, I discuss three ways to link your magical system to your world, building from the ground up in ways that reflect culture and create and enhance the stakes for your characters!

Foreshadowing

In this episode I talk about foreshadowing, the contract a writer makes with the reader's mind and emotions that certain events presented early on will pay off by the end of the story. We'll talk about what it is, why it matters, and how to keep it subtle and powerful.

Dialogue that Sizzles

In this episode, I discuss three ways to take dialogue from bland to bomb by focusing on the moment of tension, keeping it flowing through the emotional subtext, and tailoring it to the character.

Fantasy from the Ground Up

In this episode, I talk about how to build fantasy world without getting overwhelmed. How? Start from the ground up by thinking about the lived experiences and daily life of the people in your world, and then build everything from culture to cosmology up from that as expressions and explanations of their lives. If found this helpful, drop me a follow or a comment. You can always support the show by buying a book!

Small World Building

In this episode, I offer tips to speed up world building for writers of all types: keep it small, build only what you need, but hint at more being just off the page.