Fantasy Story Advice and Inpit

[JohnSilver77]

Good evening here everyone,

I would like to try out a mythical-Fantasy lit piece and I need a little advice. I have not published yet, but intend to soon. What is a good starting point? What is the best way to tackle the story? Is it more common to give a bit of backstory towards the characters and certain species, or should the focus be more on the act of sex?feel free to leave examples or links to your own works. Thanks in advance!

 

[beautifulzelda]

I can only speak for me, and the way I approach a story.

First, is this a stand-alone or part of a larger/longer/chaptered story?

If so, "world-building," an explanation of scene would be nice. I tried my hand at Fantasy, but more as a alternate time/mythology (no non-human characters.)

Especially, if it is part of a longer story, I think it would help the reader enter your world. A lot of people, including me, haven't read much "Sci-Fi" or "Fantasy," so (at least for me) haven't got much familiarity with the genre, and would like some backstory.

But, you do you.

And sex is nice, of course.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Depending on how different your fantasy world is from the real world, or a well known fictional world, there may be a lot of information to convey. I'm not a fan of big, expository info dumps right at the beginning. I'd rather explore the world through the story and pick up the details as they come up.

Does your story idea have a "perspective character" - the character through who's eyes the reader sees your world? Having a naive, inexperienced PC who asks lots of questions about the world is a fairly easy way to "show them don't tell them". Rather than "telling" the reader that your fantasy metal is stronger than steel, you can "show" the reader your PC's surprise and amazement when the light vest of chain turns aside the orc's heavy blade. Something like that.

The PC does not have to be the hero or the main character. Just someone who has never seen the things your reader has never seen and who can have things explained to them. Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes is the classic example.

 

[yukonnights]

Good evening here everyone,

I would like to try out a mythical-Fantasy lit piece and I need a little advice. I have not published yet, but intend to soon. What is a good starting point? What is the best way to tackle the story? Is it more common to give a bit of backstory towards the characters and certain species, or should the focus be more on the act of sex?feel free to leave examples or links to your own works. Thanks in advance!

Every author would offer a different answer to this. Taking a broader view, the story has to be interesting first and foremost. I wouldn't get too hung up on the "erotica", but realize it is simply one additional element you get to use here on Lit. In short, write a 'can't put it down' good story...the sexy parts should be easy to fit in as a special treat. A good hook in the beginning can be useful if you have some world-building to do. Good luck and best wishes on your story.

PS: It may be helpful if you seek out a 'beta-reader' who is familiar with Si-Fi to give you some feedback prior to submitting the story.

 

[SamScribble]

Good evening here everyone,

I would like to try out a mythical-Fantasy lit piece and I need a little advice. I have not published yet, but intend to soon. What is a good starting point? What is the best way to tackle the story? Is it more common to give a bit of backstory towards the characters and certain species, or should the focus be more on the act of sex?feel free to leave examples or links to your own works. Thanks in advance!

I am not familiar with the term 'impit'. Is this peculiar to fantasy?

Other than that, I'd suggest that you just write what you want to write. Half of your readers will hate it. But there's a good chance that more that a few will like it. Or even love it.

Good luck.

 

[ElectricBlue]

That's too broad a question - every writer here would do it differently.

A fantasy world requires world building, and that takes time and patience. I suggest you look at some of the longer works in Sci-Fi and Fantasy to see how others have done it. My Dark Chronicles, for example, ended up being 103,000 words, of which the first 9,000 had no sexual content at all, but set up two story hooks to reel readers in; the first of which was delivered after 4,000 words, and the second built straight on the back of it, once the mythos was known from the first character.

One other suggestion - do NOT do a world-building data dump up front, there's nothing worse than spelling it all out. Weave the world in as you let the reader discover the characters, bit by bit. That way the reader's curiosity is engaged to find out more. You need to know all about your world, obviously, but you can release the details as and when required.

A final suggestion - start small. Your question is as valid for a short story as it is for a novel - if you don't know the answer to your own question, are you actually ready as a writer to tackle something really big? Taking me again, as an example - I'd been writing for four years, with 65 pieces published, before I thought, "You know what, I reckon I'm ready to start my 'stupid big thing'" - which took over a year to write.

Have you learned your writing chops with a bunch of less ambitious pieces? If not, I'd do the apprenticeship first. Your big thing will be much better for it, I reckon. Good luck though - reaching for the sky is good, just make sure your wings are strong enough to get you there .

 

[GroverLang]

I am not familiar with the term 'impit'. Is this peculiar to fantasy?

Was that a tongue-in-cheek comment, Sam? If not it was a bit below the belt to someone who came on here asking for advice. Apart from that he wrote “inpit.”

 

[Blind_Justice]

Typos happen. I think he was asking for "input".

That said - I can only mirror electricblue's suggestion. Start small. Don't overwhelm the reader with a short history of the human/orc wars, the involvement of the Mages' council and the resulting founding of the Leafsinger Alliance when all you want to tell is a steamy human/elf/dryad threesome tale.

As one of the resident fantasy/sci-fi nerds, I'll invite you to have a look at my stories. For a simple setup, check out "Twin Suns of Atlantis". Both reader and protag don't know anything at the start of the tale, but the world opens up more and more without much in the way of long info dumps. I'm not saying that's the best or only way to world-build, but it's one way to go about it.

In "The Rembrandt Legacy", the main character receives a literal briefing and in my fantasy series starring Leo, Arach and the rest of the gang, I build the world as the story unfolds, introducing new locations and people as they are needed over the course of several stories.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'll mostly echo what others have said. A few main points:

1. Sci Fi/Fantasy stories don't need to emphasize sex as much as stories in some other categories. Readers seem to appreciate world building and fantasy apart from whether it's directly connected to sex.

2. Definitely don't start with pages and pages of exposition and world description. Instead, jump into the story right away, and reveal the world through the story. Think about how it's been done in famous fantasy stories from the past that involved big, complicated fantasy worlds: Dune, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars. Each of the stories jumps right into the action.

3. Consider revealing the world and story background through dialogue rather than through a long narrative exposition. That's how it was done in Lord of the Rings, with Frodo finding out about his ring in a dialogue with Gandalf, and later at the Council of Elrond. Dialogue is a more palatable way for the reader to absorb information than narrative.

Good luck!

 

[gunhilltrain]

A final suggestion - start small. Your question is as valid for a short story as it is for a novel - if you don't know the answer to your own question, are you actually ready as a writer to tackle something really big? Taking me again, as an example - I'd been writing for four years, with 65 pieces published, before I thought, "You know what, I reckon I'm ready to start my "'stupid big thing'" - which took over a year to write.

Have you learned your writing chops with a bunch of less ambitious pieces? If not, I'd do the apprenticeship first. Your big thing will be much better for it, I reckon. Good luck though - reaching for the sky is good, just make sure your wings are strong enough to get you there

I second that. Starting off with a novel is tempting for a writer because it seems like the "real deal" somehow. But for most of us it's a very heavy lift to begin that way.

I suppose there are many well-known writers who only did novels - Dickens perhaps? But then Poe, I think, only wrote short stories, poems and essays. In any case, there is a lot to be learned from reading both novels and short stories.

 

[Polyacrylate]

The advice that was given repeatedly above, "Don't start with a big info dump" is great for almost anything you'll write. You can make it work, but you're going to turn off a lot of your audience.

Having an audience stand-in is also a good strategy, but there are lots of great fantasy stories that don't do this, and still effectively teach the audience the rules of the universe.

As for sex/world building, it depends on what kind story you want to tell. If you want a fantasy setting where, say, a beautiful high priestess fucks a monster, well, set your scene and make it happen - you don't have to build a world unless you want a world to explore.

Beyond that, I seem to recall that Tolkein once said that if you're telling a story in which any of your characters travel, you need to work from a map, otherwise you will end up as lost as them.

Finally, if you want to flesh your world out, I think it shows pretty clearly when decisions or events are thought through a layer or two beyond what is shown on the page. Is the ritual the priestess performs before bedding the bugbear just for show, or does she perform actual magic? If it's magic, how much control does she have over it? Is the source nature, a spirit/god, an unintelligent supernatural force, or something else? What does it 'cost' her to do it? If it's not magic, then what is it? Having rules and a logic to what happens, even if it's not explained explicitly, can allow for an enriched reading experience.

 

[SamScribble]

Was that a tongue-in-cheek comment, Sam? If not it was a bit below the belt to someone who came on here asking for advice. Apart from that he wrote “inpit.”

It was written with a big smile, Grover.

And, oops, my bad.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Start with action and dialog. No info dumps. Work it in a little at a time. If you haven’t written much before, take an author you like and emulate/ channel and yes, start small. A short story, something to use to see how it works out.

 

[SimonDoom]

Finally, if you want to flesh your world out, I think it shows pretty clearly when decisions or events are thought through a layer or two beyond what is shown on the page. Is the ritual the priestess performs before bedding the bugbear just for show, or does she perform actual magic? If it's magic, how much control does she have over it? Is the source nature, a spirit/god, an unintelligent supernatural force, or something else? What does it 'cost' her to do it? If it's not magic, then what is it? Having rules and a logic to what happens, even if it's not explained explicitly, can allow for an enriched reading experience.

I agree with this 100%. You don't have to, and shouldn't, spell out all the rules right from the get-go in an introduction, but you should have rules. Otherwise, you have the "too many kinds of magic" problem. When there are too many kinds of magic, it makes each type of magic less special and the story less dramatic and less coherent.

That's why I think the last Star Wars movie sucked. The new director Rian Johnson trashed JJ Abrams's ideas and just made up a bunch of new shit. There are no apparent rules in the Star Wars universe anymore. People fly through deep space and lift rocks with their minds when it's convenient for that to happen. The force is whatever it has to be to save a character in a bad situation. It's just a deus ex machina.

 

[Polyacrylate]

I agree with this 100%. You don't have to, and shouldn't, spell out all the rules right from the get-go in an introduction, but you should have rules. Otherwise, you have the "too many kinds of magic" problem. When there are too many kinds of magic, it makes each type of magic less special and the story less dramatic and less coherent.

That's why I think the last Star Wars movie sucked. The new director Rian Johnson trashed JJ Abrams's ideas and just made up a bunch of new shit. There are no apparent rules in the Star Wars universe anymore. People fly through deep space and lift rocks with their minds when it's convenient for that to happen. The force is whatever it has to be to save a character in a bad situation. It's just a deus ex machina.

I was specifically thinking of The Last Jedi, and Star Wars in general, when I wrote that. In the OT, the force is a pervasive natural force that can be applied by adepts in subtle or powerful ways. In the prequels, it is... sentient bacteria that can warp reality to the will of those who have a lot of them and have practiced communing with them. Then in The Last Jedi, Leia resurrects herself and flies through space because... the Force? Sigh.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

feel free to leave examples or links to your own works.

Start with action and dialog. No info dumps. Work it in a little at a time.

Since you asked for examples, JohnSilver, I think my story Time to Breathe is probably a very good example of what Chloe is describing. It's hard Sci-Fi, six Lit pages long. The story jumps in to the middle of the action and fills in the backstory throughout the narrative. Here's the URL.

https://literotica.com/s/time-to-breathe

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Why is this posted in two sections?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Why is this posted in two sections?

Because the OP started a thread in Story Ideas, and someone suggested the same question be asked in AH. As you can see, AH is where the writers lurk, and here's where the responses are.

Which indirectly answers a question I just asked in NotWise's thread about story events - writers seem to hang around this forum, not Story Ideas.

 

[Hypoxia]

Good evening here everyone,

I would like to try out a mythical-Fantasy lit piece and I need a little advice. I have not published yet, but intend to soon. What is a good starting point?

Read fantasy tales (popularly successful or not) that you like and mimic them. Learn at the feet of hot writers. (Lick those feet, too.) What works for winners might work for you, hey?

 

[sethp]

Speaking of Fantasy...

I'm writing a Fantasy novel. I find that I need a really good resource for historical items. Names and descriptions -pictures even.

What I mean is ...what did they wear? Cloaks, Breeches, Cravats, Bustles, and what's a Halbeard or a Caltrop?


Almost like a fantasy clothing and accessory and item cheat sheet with name, description, picture.

Is there anything like that out there?

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Almost like a fantasy clothing and accessory and item cheat sheet with name, description, picture.

Is there anything like that out there?

A Dungeons & Dragons equipment supplement, maybe?

 

[LexxRuthless]

There was a Dungeons & Dragons supplement that had illustrations for everything--it was a comprehensive listing of every weapon, armor, clothing and equipment item in the game. I don't have it anymore, so I can't recall now what the title was. Perhaps you can find a PDF version online if the book is no longer available.

 

[sethp]

There was a Dungeons & Dragons supplement that had illustrations for everything--it was a comprehensive listing of every weapon, armor, clothing and equipment item in the game. I don't have it anymore, so I can't recall now what the title was. Perhaps you can find a PDF version online if the book is no longer available.

That's a good idea. I'll search for that! Thanks!

 

[sethp]

A Dungeons & Dragons equipment supplement, maybe?

Great idea!