13 Kick-Ass Tips for Writing Fantasy Fiction

13 Kick-Ass Tips for Writing Fantasy Fiction 13 Kick-Ass Tips For Writing Fantasy From Professional Fantasy Editors Has there ever been a better time to be writing fantasy? Where once it was a fringe genre, now fantasy is everywhere in pop culture, from Harry Potter to the memes surrounding Jon Snow.There’s also never been a more exciting time to write fantasy. The genre is changing daily, as authors such as Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, and Patrick Rothfuss continue to interpret, subvert, and stretch it to attain new pinnacles. What’s more, the public can't seem to get enough of it, proving that there is a market for fantasy - and it’s a big one.So, if you’re an author, where can you find a place for yourself in today’s talent-rich terrain?In our search for the finest writing tips in the realm, we spoke to seven of the top fantasy editors on our marketplace. They’ve worked with George R.R. Martin, James Dashner, Brandon Sanderson, and many more of the brilliant authors who are re-defining the genre. Here’s what they said.1. Identify your marketIf y ou don’t know your market, you’ve already made a mistake, says Erin Young, an agent for Dystel Goderich Bourret, which represents authors such as James Dashner of Maze Runner fame.â€Å"Oh, my market is fantasy,† you might say, waving your monthly subscription of Imagination And Me. But is your story steampunk, urban, or grimdark fantasy? Is it for children or  young adults? Are there elves or tech? Is it set in the modern world, or is it a re-imagining of an alternate past? Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, for instance, doesn’t target Discworld’s readers, and no-one would instinctively group Harry Potter and Stephen King's The Dark Tower in the same category. Castle Ruins, art by Jeff Brown.â€Å"You’re absorbing ideas. You're absorbing grammar. You're absorbing sentence structure and rhythm and prose,† she says. â€Å"Read books with description or dialogue you admire. Read the books that are classics- they are classics for a reason- and read the books that are bestsellers and read the books that are award winners. Read and read and read, and you'll start to see your own writing improve.†To take specific action, Nieveen suggests picking the 10 books that you most admire. Then, it's just a matter of re-reading them and noting strengths in their plot, dialogue, characters, and scene structure.  Learn from the best - and then go forth and tilt the arena again yourself.What are your tips for writing fantasy? Leave them in the comments below. You can also check out our list of the 100 best fantasy series ever  for inspiration!

5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists

5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists 5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists 5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists By Mark Nichol It’s too bad you can’t eat grammatical errors or use them to fill your gas tank, because they’re a cheap, endlessly renewable resource. Here’s a five-course meal of sentences with troublesome structure, starting with dessert. 1. â€Å"The writer will sit, eat, and interview the subject.† It seems more logical for the writer to interview the subject after being seated but before eating him or her, but whatever. If the intended meaning of the statement is that the writer will dine with the subject rather than cannibalistically consume him or her, however, the sentence should be revised as follows: â€Å"The writer will sit and eat with, and interview, the subject.† Better yet, for a smoother flow to the sentence, introduce a pronoun: â€Å"The writer will sit and eat with the subject and interview him [or her].† 2. â€Å"The committee consists of the executive directors of the Bay Area Toll Authority, California Transportation Commission, and California Department of Transportation.† Normally, items in a list can share an article (â€Å"the birds, bees, flowers, and trees†), or each can have its own (â€Å"the birds, the bees, the flowers, and the trees†), but when the list items are proper nouns, it’s best to assign an article to each one so that it doesn’t appear that the entities after the first one are erroneously referred to without an article: â€Å"The committee consists of the executive directors of the Bay Area Toll Authority, the California Transportation Commission, and the California Department of Transportation.† 3. â€Å"His contribution to the interior design of the home is his impressive antique musical instruments and modern art collection.† The statement implies that the collection consists of antique musical instruments and modern art, but technically, the reference should be to two distinct collections, described in the plural form and with each description preceded by its own plural pronoun: â€Å"His contributions to the interior design of the home are his impressive antique musical instruments and his modern art collection.† Alternatively, the sentence could be revised as follows, with the collections referred to as a single contribution or a pair of contributions: â€Å"His contribution(s) to the interior design of the home is (or are) his impressive collections of antique musical instruments and modern art.† 4. â€Å"The organization promotes sustainable landscaping practices, green building-construction methods and products, and minimizing pesticide use in the home.† The inconsistency of syntax here is that the first two items are modified with adjectives, while the third is described as an action. Change the verb in the final item to an adjective: â€Å"The organization promotes sustainable landscaping practices, green building-construction methods and products, and minimal pesticide use in the home.† Alternatively, introduce verbs into each of the other items: â€Å"The organization promotes employing sustainable landscaping practices, utilizing green building-construction methods and products, and minimizing pesticide use in the home.† 5. â€Å"Here come the summer movies- the usual formulaic action flicks, dumb comedies, and sequels.† This sentence is not wrong, but the rhythm is off because the first two items are preceded by adjectives but the final element is a bare noun. Introduce an adjective before that item for parallel structure: â€Å"Here come the summer movies- the usual formulaic action flicks, dumb comedies, and weak sequels.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†One Fell SwoopApostrophe with Plural Possessive Nouns