Hey Jed, I was just wondering. What's your opinion on various cartoon TV and anime magic systems? Like Elemental Bending from _Avatar:The Last Airbender,_ or Curses from _Jujutsu Kaisen?_ Do you think you could make a top ten list, or any video really, discussing your own personal favorite fictional magic systems from TV and anime (if you have any :3)? :3.
Hey Boss man have you/will you make a video on giving tips for being a professional editor not just editing your own work. I'm interested in editing as a career so I want to know what it's like.
Hey. Could you tell me what you think of my magic system? A liquid which are as rare as gold can be consumed by anybody, It raises the ceiling of strength speed and perception for any body to be almost limitless, but they need to train to be stronger. It also allows the use of Ki to make your punches stronger, and even let you cast different attacks using different elements. What do you think and what can I change
Hi there I'm trying to be a pursuing writer, and I been watching videos about writing and writing advice, but I seem to be stuck. I want to ask, if you can make or recommend video about a character leaving, in some fantasy stories I always see a protagonist leaving his home or life to go on a journey but the problem with that is why? Why does the main character leave, I always see in fantasy stories, that the main character just lives a normal life and then something happens, which makes them leave. Usually I see its about there, destiny, learning/education, opportunities, new life, adventure, and mysteries,. But is there other reasons why a main character leaves. Especially in fantasy writing its hard for me to start my protagonist path,
Hey bro will you make another small rating magic system or story please I really wish I could have discovered this earlier I mean a youtuber for writing i am confident I will be selected
my favorite thing is when you build someone up and then actually deliver on the build up. don't subvert it, don't downplay it, don't overshadow it with something else. just build up and delivery.
This is a really interesting one, it seems to happen a lot in stories where characters need to find someone/something powerful, and then when they get there, we're given a plot twist; e.g. heroes need to release Bob Goku out of prison, but when they get there Bob is just some loser, or worse, there is no one in the prison and the hero is told 'the real Bob Goku was inside you all along'. This was fine the first twenty times I saw this twist, but now it's just boring. I'd rather we go there, and the mystical badass actually is a badass like was foreshadowed- that doesn't mean everything will now be smooth sailing, there can still be problems, but I'd like to see the promise delivered upon. Edit: just to be clear, this structure is often quite loose, e.g. in Kung Fu Panda its a case of 'there is a secret to be the dragon warrior on a scroll that will make you super strong', but the plot twist is (spoilers duh) the scroll is blank. I love Kung Fu Panda and they handle this twist excellently, but this kind of twist is done so much I kind of wish we were just given what we were promised in a lot of stories.
@@cheesypoohalo In Half Life Alyx they almost do the opposite of this trope, the whole game promises one thing and then delivers something far more impactful and revealing, giving a stronger emotional response than you were expecting. I won't say it here as it would be spoilers and I highly recommend people play or watch someone play it themselves.
@@joshuanorman2 This is a really good point though, and while we're on the topic of video games this kind of thing is really common, e.g. you think you killed the final boss, but now there's an even bigger boss! Or when you think you beat the game, but then the story continues or has more to discover like in Undertale. It's like making a promise, delivering, and then giving something more; when it's done well it's very satisfying!
Nothing is more satisfying than a character who has suffered through consequences and sacrifices, then seeing them overcome their struggle in an epic moment of triumph.
Don't let this distract you from the fact that Seto Kaiba once resisted being disintegrated by magic through sheer ego. Because, "There are no limits when you're as brilliant as Seto Kaiba."
A few tropes I've enjoyed experimenting with: 1.) Poetic Progression: -Develop a character (or theme) poetically. If you have a character behave in a certain circumstance at the beginning of the story, give them a similar experience near the end to show how they respond to it differently now that they've grown (or faltered). Have a character's revenge plot echo their friend's killer's own downfall. Have a character's compassion display in a way which reflects how a previous person's lack of compassion hurt them. 2.) Trauma Per Character: -Rather than just put your main character through tough circumstances to push them to the breaking point, put all your characters through difficult things that challenge them. Particularly, you want to tailor each person's struggles to their personality. Show how some characters overcame their darkest hour, while others were overcome by it. Show how some grew more compassionate, while others grew more nihilistic. 3.) Sympathize the Radical: -Create a character or political ideology within your world that is radically dangerous and atrocious, then explore why such characters feel this way. Do they have a point? Is there a truth that they're just taking too far? Did their position start out accurately correcting another creed's flaws, yet ended up over-correcting or dramatizing once the original group changed its ways? 4.) Robust Ideologies: -Rather than creating a 2-party system of good guys VS bad guys, it can be fun to explore multiple angles and not shove everybody into one of two stereotypical boxes. Instead, have multiple factions that disagree on multiple different points of interest, while agreeing on other points of interest. Have Group A and Group B have similar views on religion, yet different views on the economy. Group C might agree with Group A on both of these, but disagree with Group A on national security. Perhaps the historical division of Group A and Group C is worse than Group C and Group B, so even though Group C has more in common with Group A, they actually prefer Group B. Now Group D disagrees with A, B, and C on religion, but agrees with B on economy, and C on national security. 5.) Immersive Lingo: -Don't just write generic fantasy language "My lady", but explore the culture of how they would communicate. What world-building features have you established which can affect their slang? If bugs are peaceful, harmless, clean, and smell nice, then don't say, "He was bugging her" as a manner of "He was annoying her", as bugs wouldn't be annoying. If droughts are more dangerous than storms, use storm as an analogy for blessing rather than struggle. If the people are cold blooded, find phrases that literally mean "to move to warmer/cooler locations" as metaphoric language of moving to more comfortable social/emotional circumstances. 6.) World-Building Philosophy: -What philosophical ideas would a culture like this develop? Do they have science? Is science just a sub-category of philosophy? Is religion a subject in philosophy? Is music a philosophy? What's the philosophy on the magic system? What's the philosophy of hunting dragons? How does having nine moons affect the world's philosophy? Is elfin philosophy more prominent than dwarfin philosophy? When your characters go deep enough underground, gravity switches, and eventually they come out the other side to a different world. What's the philosophical understanding of this? "What's down to us is up to them" -they might say about their enemies, showing they're morally inverted. Their planet has two suns: one red, the other blue. The red sun grows bigger in winter, while the blue sun grows bigger in summer. Do they say the Goddess of the Red Sun is winning the war during winter, and the Goddess of the Blue Sun is winning during summer? -They certainly associate red for cold and blue for hot.
I agree, morally black and white characters can be absolutely amazing, tho I and many people prefer morally grey char. it also could be the lack of those ones, haven't seen them in a long time :)
@@Largo01ukr, I feel that "morally grey characters" will soon become cliché and uninteresting in due time because people would start writing them in an uninteresting way. Same thing is happening with villains. People are wanting less sympathetic villains and more straight up evil ones
funny, that thing about main character death is actually in my top 10 things I dislike the mot. Unless your main character death manages to make perfect sense both thematically and personality-wise I think it's a waste of time and will make me close a book more often than not. There are consequences other than main character death damn it. Make them live, but make them lose things they never expected to have to live without! I personally find that SO MUCH MORE impactful than 99% of main character deaths I've read.
@@santadipbiswas9266"can we PLEASE have just ONE filler episode?" "Ehh, I'll think about it.. (goes back to writing) and you're dead, and you're dead, and you're dead..."
One of my favorite things to see in a story is when characters are mirrors of each other with one key difference, like Po and Tai Lung, or Gandalf and Saruman. This is why the focal point of my story is two estranged foster brothers, each with their own deep seated loneliness, one because there’s no one around him who cares and the other because he refuses to open up to anybody. And only when the reunite do their true selves shine through.
I hate with an absolute passion, the Same vs Same fights that have crept into every story. Marvel is the worst right now but I find it tedious to read or watch.
• Platonic Ride or Die Relationships • Warrior Bloodlines (like the TV show Grimm) • The Villain's Romance (evil together, but not evil to each other) • The villain falls in love with the hero (but the hero may not return those feelings) (Can anyone recommend one of these? ) • Individuals with the same powers growing their powers in different ways • Following the character who is taking over the world (as Rand takes over several countries in The Wheel of Time)
Making unique anything is insanely difficult. Whenever I would show my prototypes to my friends turns out I "copied" so much from various animes and games I've never seen or played 😭😭😭
I think morally grey nihilist characters have their place, but it’s overdone now days. I want to see a little more morally good character who inspire readers to be a better human.
I like mixtures of this. It's interesting to see a full-on morally gray character clash with a tried and true morally good guy. They're both good guys but their methods clash. Maybe the antihero is befriended by both the villain and the good guy. and now he feels like he's being pulled more toward one of their influences and it affects his relationships.
@@j.munday7913 Yes! I think if you have a morally grey character you must have a completely morally good character at their side to clash with and to keep them on the path. If everyone is morally grey in a story it just becomes depressing.
I think stories should be filled with good, gray, and evil characters. I don’t like seeing characters who are overly good or evil. I want it to feel like a spectrum, and every character has their own lines they draw. Then I love when the author takes the more “good” character and puts them in situations where they have to do questionable things for their goals/greater good.
What's even more fun then either a hard or soft magic system, is a system that's both. What I mean is: a system with clear rules and limitations implemented, but these being unknown by the characters themselves. It gives the characters (and reader) the awe of endless possibility, while also keeping great internal logic and the creativity that comes from working within limitations. What would be especially fun is a story with different perspectives who each deeply grasp a different aspect of this systems, but the true rules only becoming clear when they meet.
Personally, I prefer soft magic system but with clear rules unknown for the readers. When it’s a hard one, I tend to consider it as science and not magic. I love some of those books too, but don’t want to write them. Magic must give you the “Wow” effect then you ask yourself “Oh, he/ she can do that too!”
@@Cobalt004The fact that it's more like science makes it cooler. It's one thing to make characters do magic its another to make it make sense in an interesting way. It's that little bit of extra work that makes all the difference in my immersion
That last bit of advice about character arcs is something a lot of contemporary writers need to know but unfortunately don't, most especially the writers for streaming services right now.
One of my absolute favourite things is something I call "Scale Shift". When you go through your story having a pretty good idea of where the story is going, what the goals are, who the "bad guys" are and what the stakes are. Then the characters discover something and suddenly the threat is MUCH worse than they ever could have imagined and their WHOLE plan has to go in a completely different direction in order to succeed. It's especially powerful when it's at the end of a book that's part of a series where you were pretty sure it was going to be resolved and the world gets turned upside down! :D Really gets the goosebumps going!!
To add to this, Berserk is an amalgamation of various world myths and religions and their symbols, philosophies, and psychologies. The video games of the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring are all heavily inspired by such integration as well as Berserk itself according to Hidetaka Miyazaki, the president of the studio that made the games, FromSoftware. Highly recommend all these media as well.
I love when stories force characters who are good to make hard decisions that might make them change, or we see a fairly bad character make some relationships that force them to change and be a more “good” character.
Like Lucy from Fallout. Spoilers for Fallout. Her whole life she has been told to do good things. It has become her entire life. Then she is forced to kill a feral Ghoul, and by the end she refuses to release her father and even threatens to kill him.
I get tired of books like game of thrones were characters face random and somewhat predictable deaths for shock value. I get that "character should face challenges", but it must not be too on the nose. "ah, this is the arc where the mentor will die so that the hero grows..." Those bore me. Making a character lovable (or trying to) just for the sake of sacrificing it as been done so many times...
I gotta agree with you...people often copy the game of thrones format where characters need to die for shock value. Little did they consider that these shocking deaths must also have meaning. Ned Stark's death is not just the subversion of the trope where the protagonists survive in the end, it is also the catalyst that set course for his family to be involved in the war. Where each of the characters connected to him will now set course to their own character arcs. Also, does death have to be the only shocking factor? There are other ways to show really shocking sacrifices. Like 1. Have a person lose something important that represents their identity ( Jamie Lannister losing a hand) or 2. Have people prepare and work hard, like really hard towards a goal only to fail ( ATLA, the eclipse episode or Avengers infinity war) or personally, 3. make them lose a part of themselves ( have the smartest character lose their sanity or the kindest soul in the group become cold). I find those more painful because there are changes both in fiction and in real life that will either progress to make things for the worse ( or possibly, for the better).
I disagree, I think morally grey characters are the best, I don't think nihilism goes well with anything but straight up evil characters. A morally grey character for me might rob a bank to help his friend pay for cancer treatment, a good character would simply try to earn the money. I'm not saying this is a riveting plot point, I'm just pointing out that this is morally grey, you can write it as Evil, Heroic or Grey, Heroic, they make sure the bank isn't crowded, they don't hold anyone at gunpoint, it's written as if noone gets traumatized in the process. Morally grey, this is an actual bank robbery, the tellers might have serious trauma after this, the main character might feel bad for his actions but in the end he feels justified in doing what he does. Evil the character shoots a couple of guys to make sure not to leave any witnesses.
@@nox4298seriously. Most deaths in GoT were meaningful and a direct result of actions. It just so happens the world was brutal and conducive towards swift, fatal retribution.
For me, I love some realism in the power levels. I dont like when the characters are insanely powerful. If a guy casually destroys 100 enemies like nothing I roll my eyes. Even the greatest swordsman would be in trouble when facing even two proficient opponents. Numbers matter.
Yeah. I like a slightlu higher power level than what you are proposing. Protagonist in a 1v6 constant underdog in the fight, but somehow manages to come out victorious against the odds surprising even themself
@@GiantProcrastiNation thats fine, but once they hit what I call Goku level, I'm out. I need to feel that every confrontation has danger, and even a peasant with a spear can stick someone a good one and its GG. The Inn at the Crossroads scene in ASoT illustrates this perfectly. Sandor vs three brigands, but he has a buzz on so he's sloppy and they almost kill him. I dont know if youve read that so I wont spoil anything else.
@@alexandermendez4653 and I remember a book I was reading where the protagonist while still considered relatively weak compared to the people he was hanging with destroyed 2 pirate ships alone without really breaking a sweat. Hated that
I love a well-drawn map in my fantasy, it can add so much to the world building and telling the story, you can go and look at the map to see where your characters are. As an Australian though I am sick and tired of seeing stories set in the Northern Hemisphere. I am not a writer but do have a great imagination, but something I could see a well-drawn map that matches the story being told, is it could get you out of a hole where you are stuck for inspiration for a scene.
12:03 For the one who wrote that, I have to say, that is an inspiring quote that could easily be used in a story. (I promise I won't steal it, but it will probably inspire something)
Thank you so much for this video! I've been writing my own hard magic system novel and I 100% agree with each of these responses to help make books more intriguing.
My favorite on this list is diverse and creative creatures. Probably because they are the one thing I'm good at making. I have a list of about 90 of them. Some of them are small and weak, others are continents long. Describing them are less easy
My current 30,000 word novella I am working on features a setting that is a world of eternal night and darkness, and my worldbuilding in my book stems from this, in addition to featuring prominent oceanic and maritime motifs all throughout the book, especially for environmental and character descriptions. How do I make a world of eternal night and darkness make sense? I tried to imagine how Zack Snyder would write a narrative Jed, you should do a video on how to do effective retellings of past works, and how to draw inspiration without completely ripping off the original works
What do you mean by make sense? If this a world building issue and you want the world to make sense, look at if from a few different angles. What is the culture like? How does an eternally dark world affect people's imaginations? What do people eat and how do you make the food? Sounds like they eat fish, but if they want it battered and fried, what's the batter made from I wonder? That's my ¢2 input.
@@marshallbrendstrup281 I feature a moon based religion, where the characters worship gods of death, where bi annual sacrificial rituals take place to appease said deities
If there is eternal darkness, I would guess no one has need for eyes for a start. But maybe that’s too extreme. You should really watch some videos on how the real world evolved. And maybe give people things such as ecolocation or other ways to orient themselves in the dark. The concept is really fun. Like the reason people walk upright is to be able to run for a long time on the Savannah. In your world did we evolve differently? Would there still be a use for fire, fire was essential for the brain development because cooked food is easier to digest and a big brain takes a lot of energy. There’s so much fun to be had with your concept. I am creating a world that is fully dark for periods of time and creatures and plants have evolved a lot of bioluminescence with bacteria to still harness energy without light, yes it is based in magic 😂 they do however have eyes since there are also periods with light.
@@mariespaak4776 I have done some research on the deep abyssal zones of the deep oceans, as well as some marine biology and oceanography in general for the setting of my book, since I use those motifs in my book, which meant to be dark fantasy/grimdark For example, I feature an important location, which is a bioluminescent forest, full of tall trees that glow and pulsate in the darkness, as well as creatures that take cues from real world deep sea animals, except it is all fully terrestrial
Thanks for posting this video, and all the content you produce to help us find our voices. At the very beginning of this post though, I'm sorry to say that you may have implied something unintentionally. You implied that, if we fledgling writers adopt these Things that Fantasy Readers Love into our own writing, then we will produce better works...Okay, when we first begin writing, we are searching for our own voice, something that sets us apart from other writers. If someone tells us to follow readers' opinions, then we are writing for them, not for ourselves. I think Jed would agree that once you begin writing just to satisfy other people's wants, or to sell more books, then you have abandoned your voice.
Your videos are great, well though-out, well edited, and provides really helpful advice in general. You are super underrated and deserve much more views and subscribers. I have to say that what I think is pulling your channel back from growing any further is the fact that your videos are more directed towards people striving to right fantasy books specifically. I think what will help out more is if you broaden your audience by directing it at writers in general (of all genres). I know this will work because a lot of your advice and tips work not only for fantasy but for most other genres. Keep your great work because I wouldn't know what to do without your content!
8:47 One of the problems I have with most morally grey characters is that they’re not really morally grey, in truth they’re mostly morally good it’s just they’re put in morally grey situations. Daemon Targaryen is an example of a morally grey character at least in my eyes, he’s not a good person but he’s a beloved leader to his soldiers, and he’ll fight tooth and nail for his family. Fighting for one’s family is both a virtuous and morally grey trait, as, especially when you have families of power, those families can have different goals and objectives of dubious moral character. Properly morally grey characters in my eyes need that mix of self-interest and morally grey virtue. Is ambition an inherently good trait for example? Is a character guided by his ambition a morally good character? For example, a leader who believes themselves to be the arc of history itself and creates an empire like what I’m writing about. He isn’t a good person, he willingly does terrible things and commits outright atrocities, but the outcome of his goal is an empire that can stand against the tides of evil. It’s a question of moral consequentialism. I also think the want for “morally grey” characters is overblown, the most popular fantasy story, LOTR is one of good and evil, the fellowship are undoubtedly good people and their goal is undoubtedly good, and no-one, unless they’re some kind of pretentious snob who thinks they’re too adult for this book, actually cares. Not to say there aren’t morally grey characters in Middle Earth, just look at Turin.
I like characters who have a code or a guiding star but maybe it’s not clear to those who don’t know them well so their actions seem “gray,” but they are not to the character at all. I like to imagine Daemon’s guiding star is fierce protective love of his brother and later Rhaenerya and later Laena and later his kids by each and later nettles , and the way he expresses that love is through embracing all things traditionally Targaryen, so violence is kinda his love language.
To be fair, morality is subjective so what may seem morally grey to some people may not seem morally grey to other people. I mean, I have a character in one of my books who I see as morally grey but other people might see him as a villain. He's a mafia boss who goes around killing people, except he never kills innocent people and only kills abusers and corrupt people. He treats his mafia members as his family and is willing to do anything to protect them along with his real family.
@@GACHAShadow-cb5kf I like playing with characters that, via their strong-moral code or as a result of it, become angrier and violent. In my story, I’ve got a character inspired by Jaime Lannister and Rorschach, who refuses to let innocents die but for this reason gets in the way of powerful people and powerful movements, who label him a villain and his constant attempts to be the hero backfire on him, one of which in a way that affects an entire continent in a terrible way. This makes him universally reviled, and he’s outcasted by his family wherein he falls into a miserable depression, destroys himself with alcohol and lashes violently out at anyone who he even thinks has insulted him. At one point in the story he repeatedly slams the face of a crippled man into a table because he mumbled under his breath ‘murderer’. But despite this he remains dedicated to his cause and he refuses to vindicate himself in the eyes of society because of an oath he swore, to keep an innocent safe, and quite literally takes it to his grave… Which he survives, climbing out kill-bill style and at that point emotionally shatters and becomes more and more violent and spiteful at the world, hunting down everyone who’s wronged him because he has nothing to live for in this world. But that slice of good still remains in him, and it shows at several points.
I often say The Borrowers is my first ever science fiction. One of the things that's different is that Arietty doesn't go off to have adventures alone or with friends with a comfortable home to come back to but the whole family is forced to go on the run together. Pod, the father is the experienced brains, Arrietty is curious and brave and poor old Homily, the mother is neither clever nor brave but she reminds them that they are "respectable borrowers" not wild animals and advocates for civilisation.
Wow you're still going! I found your videos a while ago and am SO GLAD. I have been sharped immensely by your advice! Thank you for being generous and sharing it!
Meaningful consequences and sacrifices? Oh yea…my book has a whole lot of that. Death around the MC-check PTSD from battles and torture-check Doubt, fear, and hesitation-check So either I’m on the right track to making a somewhat enjoyable novel, or I’m just addicted to causing mental anguish to my characters 😂
I have ocs and the have all the trama, mental trama, mental illness, physical trama, long periods of bed rest, emotionally draining periods of time, overworking, so much 😅
Past tense is more than a form of grammar. I say this because people say they like heroes who can die and all that. (Which I broadly agree with) Tense is a literary choice. If a story is being told in the past tense, (which is very common in fantasy) it means the events have already taken place, and what you're reading is a retelling of that story or those events. It makes sense that the story would be told from the perspective/s of character/s who survived through to the end. Having The/A character die is a subversion of this expectation. Third Omniscient vs Third limited perspectives offer different different opportunities for the writer to tell that story with given characters' lives at stake. I've stated it before as some stories are: "Will they survive?" and other's are "How will they survive?" I like Indiana Jones for the 'How' type of story. Those movies are fun, and entertaining, but you never think Jones is going to die, (same with James Bond) the fun question is "how will he get out of this one!?" For a more recent example, ASOIAF intentionally is a 'will they survive' story. But it's easy to forget that when you first read A Game of Thrones, not a lot of main characters died until the end. (Spoilers for a major story that pretty much everyone is aware of) Eddard Stark is presented as the 'main character' of the first book, then dies at the end. This is a massive subversion, and only at the end of that first, massive novel, does the reader realize that everyone is at risk, and the stakes are real. I say all this in defense of authors accused of writing characters with 'plot armor'. If the story is in past tense. The history already knows who survives. The story is told through their POV because the survive. The don't survive because the story is told through their POV. Sorry, I may be too drunk to be making sense. I hope this is somewhat coherent. (this of course doesn't mean that you can't surprise your readers by killing focal characters in a past-tense story. This just means that killing 'main' characters in a past-tense story is a subversion. Failure to kill characters in a past-tense story is not a failure in storytelling.
The best part of having experience in something is being able to geek out about it. I was a part a stage crew and now whenever I'm at a stage I love to look at all the equipment that they use.
Ah I wish I had the time and money right now to apply for the bootcamp! Maybe next year I'll try, I'm currently working on a fantasy story with its own unique magic system and made up creatures, I have over 20,000 words written in notes so far of scene ideas, world building info, story outlining etc. I'm hoping to at least get the draft of the first book done this year 😂 in the meantime I'll just watch these awesome videos.
I love when the plot twist is so unexpected it makes you question everything in the world. I’ve read one where the main love interest completely betrays the main character unexpectedly playing his hand. Another, it came to light slowly that the narrator was unreliable.
Happy endings aren't unrealistic and it pisses me off when people say they are. MCDs often make me quit a series (Depending on who and how). I get way too attached to characters. I just can't. The world has become too cynical. We need more happy endings. I am an absolute JUNKY for found family.
These are the same people that skip past an inspirational story to look at a negative or aesthetically pleasing one. Dont listen to these fools, they are projecting their flaws. At the end of GET OUT, everyone applauded when Chris survives and escapes almost unscathed, in the sound of Freedom everyone booed when Nat Turner got lynched. People want happy endings, otherwise why do kids and superhero movies do so well? Why do video games end with you winning and why is that generally considered the "good ending"? We NEED more happy endings!
Agreed. I look at it a couple of different ways. Firstly, if we look at a novel like a recounting of events, if everyone dies who is telling the story? Second, if you're writing a book about a war hero you don't write about the guy who dies 5 minutes after storming the beaches. You write about the one that's just too crazy to die, or seems to be blessed by the gods. Thirdly, even when it comes to historical figures we tend to focus on triumphs, or at the very least great failures or catastrophes. No one really focuses on things like how Caesar died slipping around in his own blood, scrambling to get away, or Napoleon died of stomach cancer a sad broken man. Most deaths simply aren't dramatic, which is why I tend to find them unrealistic in fiction.
I think it's the depth of character that I struggle with most (or think that I struggle with most), I overthink whether they're actually deep enough or fake to the point where I lose interest or even feel guilty for procrastinating. Sometimes I wish I didn't know about any of these tropes up front and just, write. It doesn't help that I have few people to turn to, and no one of experience for advice, nor do I have the money to enlist any advice. Ik this is only a comments section, but, at least this gets this off my chest a bit. I'm sure at least a handful of people can empathize.
I feel you so much! What helped me a lot was understanding why I didn't think my characters were deep enough. I realized I had to work more on them and used abbie emmons' templates to figure out more things about them and how they fit into the magic system. In my case, it has helped a lot, but it might not be the case for you. Maybe your characters are already deep and diverse, and all you have to do is believe that and keep writing! I would advise analyzing the characters first and then deciding what's right for you. But don't worry, most writers have felt the same way you do now. Hope you can overcome it and write your amazing story.
@@tragicsimmer Thank you very much! Every time I run into something like this (or most times at least) I'm aware that even the greatest authors have their fair share of doubts and concerns. Some of which apparently still worry if their next work will be any good. Again, thank you!
Few things I like: Coherent, well developed setting - from cultures, through magic to daily lives - I always found Fantasy as a gateway to fantastical places. I always want to feel like I'm somewhere I could never conceivably be. Something more than just "medieval Europe with different names" or "Modern day, but everyone can get a mechanical arm, so we pretend it is future" kind of deal. If I want reality, I can look out the window at any moment. Another thing - creatures, races, species... And most of all... Inhuman characters. It kind of ties with the point above about places. You create all those fantastical worlds, creatures and cultures and you still default to a basic human protagonist? Sure, I understand the position of reliability, but how fascinating is the exploration of inhuman mind. Sometimes a simple change in a mindset can mean a whole new perspective - a species to whom trading is as natural as breathing? A society that became biologically immortal. A shapeshifting creature and how this ability impacts its sense of identity or purpose in life? These are such fascinating concepts that you rarely see explored from the position of a protagonist - it usually stays in the background. Back to something more... mundane... I like seeing... Healthy morals and relationships. Sometimes I get the impression that people mistake a character with an actual moral spine with a flawless goodie two shoes nonsense. But there is a merit in a character that sticks to own rules, and sees these rules challenged by various hardships. A grey character who lacks a solid compass may often end up like a flag, changing directions every time the wind blows. Similarly, the relationships - way too often do we see a toxic cesspool of triangles, misunderstandings and one-sided or lopsided character affection. I really like to see the characters click and work as a proper pair with no drama in a way. I actually find it refreshing. I a world where every ice cream is chocolate, vanilla is not really the 'vanilla', is it?
Funny how Jed mentions architecture is a good precursor to fantasy world building. I've found the same thing with some electives I studied in college. I took Geology, meteorology & Climatology, Economics and Urban Planning classes that all help me in applying real world science into the world, understanding the Earth sciences and how the world was shaped by it's natural processes, such as volcanoes and plate tectonics. Where will the tallest mountains be? Naturally where plates of the world's crust are crashing into each other! Old rolling hills? Those are the site of word down ancient mountains from a bygone era when ancient plates once crashed into each other and then later stopped as landmasses fully absorbed each other and started behaving as a single continent. (Eg the Appalachians in eastern USA). And how the world is shaped will affect local climate and weather patterns, all of which will affect distribution of resources and where populations will naturally gravitate to, and where political borders will naturally resolve to. A vast plains will naturally tend to resolve into a vast empire or nation. Maintaining separate borders along such wide open terrain is nearly impossible and the pressure to merge through alliance, marriage or conquest will drive them into a single, vast nation whose size and military might are sufficient to resist incursion, where their terrain would invite it. In mountainous or rugged terrain with many natural barriers, nations may tend to be smaller as rivers, mountains, forests or swamps form natural barriers that make invasion, conquest and maintaining lines of trade and governance across them difficult. Only the most powerful and advanced of civilizations can make that work (Eg Roman Empire, Persian Empire, British Empire, Russian Federation).
I so love watching your videos, because they are inspirational, educational and entertaining, all at the same time. I try to watch a video of you every day, sometimes it's more, sometimes I can't because I have a friend arround, but I also forward your videos to other friends I know like fantasy writings :D
I think the intricate magic system got way too high ranking. Too bad that is the only thing that stuck with people from everything Brandon Sanderson says. It has to be consistent, but I don't need a new magic system in every book. World building and magic system is important, but not nearly as important as characters and relationships.
Thank you for putting consequences as the first thing you mentioned because again you don't always have to have consequences that are horrible, but I just think of how much more powerful they make a story look at frodo at the end of Lord of the rings and how much more powerful the ending of the first how to train your dragon movie is just because they add in that element of irreversible consequences that someone loses a piece of themselves as a price to save what they love even if it's something that doesn't necessarily even love them back or understand them. You have that moment of clarity where it's like only they could have accomplished the thing that needed to be done, and they could ponder the worth of the sacrifice
Characters Who Grow: Disney writers could really use videos like yours right now. People would rather watch the struggles of the animated Mulan from decades ago than the live-action Mulan that only struggled because she was "held back" and was "perfect all along." Don't even get me started on Star Wars... I'm new to this channel, and I wish I could have submitted my magic system idea to you during the contest, if only to hear your thoughts and critiques (goodness knows it's not quite perfected yet). I feel that it's a bit more practical--I'm sure it's not that original, but it's believable for me that, of course, the ability to imagine your magic working is a factor. Imagination is a factor because one theme I'm working on is dreams--everything that is started as a dream, and I've got several gods that specialize in dreams, in the blissful, hopeful, and frightening aspects. There will be other consequences, too, depending on some spells, which I'm still working out. I'm also working on implementing a skill of "rewiring" curses/blessings, similar to how the fairy godmother saves Sleeping Beauty by changing the wicked fairy's death curse into a 100-year slumber. Imagine the rule implications of being unable to remove the curse, but being able to alter it to make it less lethal, like those action movies where a missile targets a location with a high population only for the hero to change the coordinates to somewhere less dangerous, or even redirect it right back at the terrorist. There will be a lot of diverse magical creatures recognized by my readers, but I also want to implement ones that are not widely known, from the barometz to the hydrus (no, not the hydra). Also, thanks for explaining the "Found Family Trope", I had never heard the term before. I'm trying to explore themes of doing the right thing even when inconvenient, and finding the strength to resist temptations of embracing the darkness within to find peace and healing--and then sharing that with the people around you. I've been trying to write since I was 12, and my story has changed so much over the years. I wish I'd found this channel years ago!
I love the found family trio of my current wip. It is not only fun to read but also such fun to write. My main character is the „grumpy“ guy and he gets to know my „sunshine“ character who he finds so annoying at the beginning, because he is too childish (my protagonist had to grow up fast and so missed a lot of fun in the world which my sunshine character still sees and along their journey the sunshine teaches the grumpy character to have fun again and so the protagonist is able to laugh again, healing his inner child)
Hot take: Moral greyness doesn't exist. Morality doesn't have a shade. Just like an antagonist is the protagonist from their own perspective, morality is divined entirely by the beholder. Rather than shades, I prefer to think of morals as avenues of projecting intent. You can pick a lot of different paths to success, but what to pick defines a lot about you. So rather than shades, what moral _route_ does your character take?
Creature Building: What is their food source, ecologic niche, and what eats them? World Building: Universe's Physics, Ecology, environment, general history, civilization level, laws, MC's & Protagonist's place in it. Relationships: They are always dynamic not static. Romance is NOT sex. Love does not necessarily need to be reciprocated.
There is a difference between moral grayness and complexities. Many things that appear gray are not (most are simply complex and resemble more of a moral checkerboard), and this definitely applies to characters. When you look close enough, you can almost always separate out the patches of white from the black.
Well I loved your post for the 10 things we Fantasy Readers Hate, but once again I needed to come here to find the follow up. I aint one to wanna complain, but like WwW podcast I prefer to listen to your lovely voice over adding the need to look at your wretched mug of a face ;) *teasing.. Really just a dawg in need of using his time to multitask. i.e RU-vid requires I sit down and look at where as Podcast Addict app lets me just listen to your audio feed. Which is why I am here to request if ya wouldn't mind uploading your stuff back to audio based as well? I of course am not aware of how difficult such things are, but you were doing it so consistent for so long that I felt the need to say something. Not trying to tell ya how to do ya job, just letting ya know how some of us fans/students take your work in! Feel free to ignore, but since Patreon is gone with WwW I thought it best to just write a comment over sending a message. Thank you for your content either way . Godspeed and Blessings to you and your efforts, sir Jed! Hope we can meet one day for some inside baseball on behalf of Professor Dyrk ;) Ps. Sent ya FB friend request - no need to accept, but if ya do I can be a little better with just sending a message.
I like coming up with new and original creatures, that's always good, but I find it at least as fun to take existing creatures and toy with them. Make your version of these well-known creatures unique somehow. In my fantasy setting, technology has been lost a long time ago, but the effects of its use remain in creatures like Orcs, who are the descendants of pigs who were 'elevated' through advanced technology. They evolved into humanoid creatures. Minotaurs are the result of the same thing with cows. Lizardfolk are the same as well. But then I have the Medvedi and the Haathiyon, which are bears and elephants. And so on. I've spent quite a lot of time working on the biology and society of the Elves in my setting, distinguishing the subraces and what roles each plays in their society. I write that because it's what I want to read. Also, morally gray characters are overdone and starting to get outright boring. Maybe I want a paragon from time to time. And if a villain thought they were in the wrong, they would rarely keep doing whatever they're doing. I think morally gray characters are the ones that can be good sometimes.
I already implement so many of these! The novel I am currently working on the first draft for has a main character who goes through a lot. He never actually dies, but there are a few instances where the plot armor gets very thin. Two other individuals do die, and it has a profound impact on my protagonist. There is this girl who helps him, but survival is given higher importance, and no romance is shown. I am not saying they do not fall in love later, however, my story ends before that happens. When "push comes to shove" my character does what is right, even when it costs him, which it does frequently. In another tale, I have this prince and his best friend as my main characters. It is the "closer than a brother" relationship. One would quite literally die for the other, and the prince would die for his people. My prince character has some struggles similar to those of Captain Aubrey from Master and Commander, Far Side of the World. His friend just does not understand certain things about what it means to lead, and the prince must walk the line between being the authority and being a friend. He fails occasionally, and second-guesses himself time and again. All in all, this prince is the best leader he can be almost because he is always trying to do better. In my long-term project, the main characters are a family, but have been spending most of the time separate. There are the two older brothers who have private jokes and have traveled together for years; and then there is the younger sister, the heroine, who has wanted to travel with her brothers for the longest time. The result is banter, epic action, campfire stories, and magic-training. The result is ancient weapons wielded again. The result is the defeat of the darkness. The result is the rise of another Great Hero.
it's weird how many of these I already had in my novel but then everything I've done until now was based of the old 'write what you want to read' saying so maybe not lol, still lots of good advice on how to better utilize some of the general ideas.
The main appeal that fantasy, sci-fi, and distant historical fiction all have for me, being a type of reader predominantly character-oriented in terms of engagement, is extreme cultural and behavioral homogeneity among members of a particular region, nation, or race/species. I don't need to be told every time I encounter a new samurai in Feudal Japan that he strictly adheres to the ways of Bushido; I only need to be taught more nuanced differences between him and all other samurai. I don't need it explained to me each time I encounter a Vulcan in Star Trek that he/she prizes logic above all else. In a fantasy world where elves are long-lived woodland creatures, I can assume by default that every new elf we encounter is going to find a sense of harmony in nature and is incredibly wise as a result of their own long life span or the teachings of their elven elders, unless one elf is exceptional in this way (such as a young one raised by short-lived humans in an urban setting). This allows stories told in such fantastical settings to often feature a much, much larger cast of characters without overwhelming audiences (given the reduction in diversity between characters), unlike a story set in modern and cosmopolitan Los Angeles, New York, or Hong Kong where every individual character might vary so wildly from the next with so little culturally in common that they each individually require the maximal amount of time before the reader gets the sense that they intimately understand their values and ways of thinking.
Re: morally gray characters - I wonder if all of us agree what that truly means. I think we can agree that morally conflicted characters fall under "morally gray" however I also find characters who are self ascribed to be good, yet have no qualms resorting to violence to solve all conflicts, and because they are fighting an even "greater evil" this justifies their actions. I argue Anti-hero and morally gray aren't the same thing.
I would love to see what you have to say about a series like Attack on titan, it's the most thematically dense story I've ever seen and will 100% surprise you and not be what it seems to be.
Blue-eyed Samurai ticks nearly all these boxes, and I just finished watching The Gentlemen on Netflix and, while not technically a fantasy, it kind of is and the character writing, world building and plot twists are right up there. Sadly, too many movie and TV people don’t respect or seem to understand good writing.
I'm actually working on a fantasy novel with a fairly negative series of consequences to the use of magic and I don't want to do anything romantic with my female lead ( she is going to be somewhere in between antihero and anti villain) but I wanted her indifferent attitude to change so I came up with the idea of a child side character that she rescued in chapter three who literally was an orphan sold to the very organization that is hunting her and others like her lead by seemingly immortal beings
The dark fantasy romance novel I'm currently working on explores polyamory, and it's something I don't see a lot of, or at least, it's not talked about a lot in the fantasy romance genre :)
I have a ton of writing to do, but the story is finished, it is in generally very sci-fi and it's a story where could put yourself in anyones shoes and understand them why they are doing it, over time
I find it funny that you said it's rare to have female protagonists having true friendships, because the series I'm working on has a female protagonist with no romantic interests and gets quite a group of friends. It's not that I'm against romance or anything, and other characters do engage in it, but it's just that Taylor isn't interested, and I think it really worked for the story. Hopefully it'll make my series seem a little more original.
as I'm reading this, I keep noticing things I'm doing well, and yet I still think there's something I'm missing or not doing right Like, so far I have in my story a fairly good relationship between two characters that's meant to be used to help the two said characters without really needing to do anything (one character is a guy who believes his worth is tied to his usefulness, despite the other giving unconditional love to him, meanwhile the girl believes that she has, and never will, have control over her own situation, despite said guy before encouraging her to do her own thing), which also kinda goes into a lot of the themes, along with other aspects such as how the magic system (which I can explain the current version, but I do think a lot of stuff should be made simpler), in how each form can theoretically be used by anyone in some way, but cannot be used all at once. some of the antagonists are Morally grey, along with some side characters (specifically one villain named Aflynn, who has to work for the main villain group in order to turn his brother human again). the main protagonist group has some elements of the found family, with the relationship I mentioned before even adopting the youngest party member. along with a few others. there are 2 things mentioned here that I'm not fully sure of. 1st, I my world has a LOT of monsters, all of which are from either D&D or Mythology (mostly mythology). to just give you an idea as to how insane of a bestiary I made for this world, I included some fairly obscure creatures that do play a part in the story, such as Pricolli, Argopelters, and Werehyenas . although their mostly from other stories, I did make a few unique ideas involving them that I won't list for times sake. 2nd, I do think the magic system I have is a bit messy. the current version I have is based on which dimension your powers come from determines what powers you have, a bit like Radiation (I.e, hell gives you demon powers, fey realm gives you fairy powers, afterlife gives you death powers, etc.), along with two sources, Planes, as I just mentioned are infinite, but don't give you as much power, and fonts are large, finite collections of energy that usually are specific in their use (a few examples of fonts include Holy/demonic sights, druidic groves, gods, Ki and psionic power, both of which are inside of people, etc.)
One issue I have with so called hard magic systems is that people are almost making them more commonly possessed powers than 'magic.' I mean, it can be hard magic, but still give a lot of flexibility, like an alternative technology.
