If you're on your own writing or worldbuilding journey, make sure to sign up for my free weekly newsletter which is packed with practical advice and strategies on key elements, from character development and plot structuring to creating immersive fantasy worlds: thetaletinkerer.com/newsletter
Or, people could simply collaborate both strategically and effectively. 💪😎✌️ 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind's journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul's fate revealed. In time, all points converge; hope's strength, resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe's endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)
You’re forgetting type 6! Unmedicated ADHD: the ability to synergize and rapidly develop the skills of all 5 categories but the physical inability to see any story through lol
I think you can further generalize these things in just writers in general outside of Fantasy. Setting (What you call Worldbuilding) - Focused on the particulars within the setting. Characters - Focuses on Fleshing out the Actors Plot - Focuses on the structure of the Narrative Themes (What you call Myths) - Focuses on symbols and iconography Mechanics (What you call Magic Systems) - Focuses on the minuate details of a process, hobby, study etc can also apply to technology, whodunnit mysteries, or politics. I'd add a 6th category. Aesthetics - Focuses more on the "vibe" or the feel of the work, the atmosphere etc
@@TheTaleTinkerer Flattering but I'm still struggling through my first draft so I'm not sure if I'm excelling at anything at the moment lol But I have at least been writing and thinking about writing craft for most of my life so there's that.
I’m kind of feeling the same, like I am a bit of each. Maybe bit more of Plot, at least when it comes to fanfics. When it comes to my own, I don’t know. Been sitting on a story for a year, yet haven’t written much because struggling how to start it. I know I’m weakest in descriptions/worldbuilding.
This really helped me settle on a direction for a story I’ve been tinkering with for months. I can leverage my world building and love of myths to create an anthology of shorter fantasy tales that eventually may (or may not) tie together. Thank you!!
I'm glad to hear that the video inspired / helped you move forward with your own story - thanks for leaving the feedback, that is always one of the greatest things to read underneath a video :-)
You treat us writers with so much kindness! 😂 very positive approach. I'm definitely a type 4 symbolist-mythological type, trying to get everything not so tight as not to make it boring while having plot twists and progression well planned, so a bit of type 3 too.
There’s a sixth option: the prose demon. Patrick Rothfuss is a way better example of this than he is of a character-driven author. Also, you can point to folks like Guy Gavriel Kay or Susana Clarke. There’s fantasy authors out there that spend weeks and weeks fixating on every word, trying to make it sound perfect. They don’t write “fantasy,” they write proper literature, just with fantasy elements. At some point, it seems more likely that they’re writing narrative poetry, than a fantasy novel. The big issue with them is that they’re perfectionists and don’t finish projects because they get too deep in the weeds. See Patrick Rothfuss’s Doors of Stone or that Susana Clarke has only ever published two books. That said, when they do finish something, it’s beautiful. It might be a bit strange, content-wise, and the worldbuilding might be a bit shallow, but the words are magnetic.
Ehhh, Rothfuss is hardly an example of good prose. The appeal to his books is very much about the characters and plot. The writing is rather basic. I can guarantee there are tons of better ways to describe "I earned the favor of a faerie of love so that she wouldn't kill me because my dick is just that good"
Please never stop creating! Your series is so eye-opening that for the first time in 5 years, I've finally picked up my novel again. I started writing it 15 years ago! 😅
This means a lot, thank you. Hearing that people pick up their writing again, or make some other kind of "breakthrough" due to something valuable in my content is always incredibly encouraging to hear :-)
I’m a lot more character focused. The way I’ve gotten myself to world build is to write something about the world as if written by a character of the world. For me the world serves the characters
Me too, I m also a character driven writer, I m so invested in their journey to care about the whole thing together, my stories are that's why not driven by too much excessive world building YET, I love adding perspectives of even the side characters
Me too...I just get really lost in writing the emotions, internal conflict, interpersonal relationships, and dialogue that I sometimes become inconsistent with the world building 😢
@@anjanimanda4972 write it so the narrator is often unreliable on purpose. Unless the narrator is omnipresent, no character inside the narrative could know everything, much less accurately
I am very much 1 and 4, but am trying to learn more about 2 and 3. I have put developing my skills at 5 on a backburner by focussing on low fantasy for the time being.
You're welcome - I had this one in mind for a while but wasn't sure if it provided enough real value for people. But then I started to find enough angles where I felt it could be helpful 🙂
Watching this I realized that I'm basically a little of everything except #4. Worldbuilding is my strong suit, but I also have a deep-seated love for exciting plots and a more recently discovered fascination for magic-like systems (since I write sci-fi or science fantasy more than pure fantasy). I've also learned the value of strong characters and character-driven plots, so I've been trying to weave all four elements into my latest project, with great success. Nice to hear someone codify all this and put the various struggles and weaknesses in perspective.
Glad to hear there was something useful for you in the video - appreciate the time you took to share your feedback. And being "a bit of everything" is not a bad spot to be in if you ask me 🙂
This video breaks the types down really well. I’m a mash up of 2 and 4. Love writing complex characters and philosophical/symbolic myths. It’s coming up with a complex plot that can be difficult for me.
I'm a bit of a world-builder. I find putting my info-dumps in a set of appendixes which the reader can enjoy or ignore, separate to the main story helps get it out of my system enough to get on with the story.
I feel more like I overwhelm myself sometimes with all the things that are happening and get lost in details. I have a hard time to take a step back and look from the distance. I'm basically all of the types, but in every aspect my problem is always the same.
I'm definitely #2 with a dash of #5 and a pinch of #3 lol I highly value structual integrity in narrative and can be a bit of a stickler for logic and internal consistency with my stories, but more than anything, my stories are driven by my character.
I’m 1 and 3. Started with worldbuilding, went architect mode to make a plot then refined the world some more to fit. I tweaked the plot a bit to match the character’s decisions so they don’t feel too passive
What is more interesting to me than finding how I fit into this is how you are constructing your perceived limitations of fantasy as a genre within a set of archetypes. A person who is fascinated by narrative themes can be working from mythology, or they can work from philosophy, personal experience, or even just a sense of curiosity and experimentation. A person who is interested in magic can do so through systematization and explanation, or they can do so through expression of emotion, cultural history, spirituality and belief, or just as an analogy for experiences and practices that have defined their life. To me, this demonstrates the way that fantasy as a genre has been reified by a fandom who unreasonably elevate the work of a few authors seen as foundational to its identity.
Mix of #2 and #4 for me. Love telling sagas about epic, complex characters, with tons of references to old myths, eastern ideas, and classic western literature.
I am World Builder and Myth Weaver and it makes sooooo much fun creating worlds, continents, myths etc, and it is always so hard to start actually with the story
At this point, I think I'm all of these! My oldest writing was extremely character driven, but then I added the deep worldbuilding to my skillset, and then the focus on mythology, and then carefully constructed magic systems... The story I'm writing now is my first attempt to add introcate plotting to the mix instead of just sticking to surface level events. Each of these skill types were added my repertoire when I started a new project that called for them.
I'm Tzeentch, the everchanging. I'm sometimes like this, sometimes like that. I get lost in small details which I get facinated with in the heat of the moment. Sometimes it is a quircky dialogue between my weird characters, sometimes a certian aspect of the world, sometimes some unexpected plot twist, or it is just some fun fact which I learn about the daily life of the medieval people trough my writing journey. I'm prone to get lost in one aspect of the writing and I tend to forget about the others. So I need to revisit what I wrote regurarly to fill the missing details. I'm slowly getting better at it though.
That’s uncanny! I was literally thinking yesterday about storytelling and my exact thoughts were: Storytelling is a vessel for the human experience. Like your mom’s cooking. She uses all the same ingredients and methods as everyone else, but when you eat it, it’s more than just food. It’s a shared experience of love and connection with the woman who gave you life. It’s not just fuel for your body, but for your soul too. Books are the same thing. The words are just the ingredients and the book is just the vehicle that facilitates that shared experience between the author and the audience. The story is not just for your brain but for your heart and mind too. So, I guess I’m a Myth Weaver. Lol. It sounds pretty cool. I also really like character writing. I definitely have a better idea of what I need to work on in order to incorporate the other aspects of writing. Thank you for sharing.
Love the delivery of your ideas in this video, using the hypothetical fellowship in their quest. Really made my discovery of my writer "class" much more engaging.
I'm a mix of #5 and #2 with a dash of #1. I love to come up with fun characters that can showcase different aspects of my magic systems, while also having complex relationships with each other (that are often heavily affected by the magic system as well). I often have trouble with coming up with actual plot events and pacing within the broader story arcs though. Also I spend way too much time on politics.
That definitely is ideal, yes, and having that is for sure very helpful, as I tried to convey in the video. But I did find it interesting to break it down because it really does make a difference knowing where your personal focus lies, and what strengths and challenges that brings - at least for me it was helpful 🙂
Take the Magic System Enthusiast and apply it to science fiction instead of fantasy, and you get Greg Egan, who makes the science the star of his stories. Probably the best example of this among his works is his Orthogonal trilogy. It's set in a universe with rather different physics, created by changing a minus sign to a plus sign in the equations of general relativity, and half the story is about the alien scientists figuring out how their universe works. He's also got an extensive series of articles on his web site exploring the fictional physics, with copious amounts of equations. They pretty-much constitute a textbook on the subject.
100% I'm a character driven writer. My first drafts are always centered around the characters in the scene. Afterwards I have to flesh out everything else to add sensory information and create a sense of place. I get complimented a lot on my characters feeling real and engaging. Conversations and arguments? I've got a knack for those. It's the things that no one comments on that I know are my weaknesses. I'm realizing I need to pull back and think of the world, its magic, and its political structures as their own characters that interact with and profoundly shape the people I'm writing about. I have to think about the specific arcs I need characters to experience and how they will intertwine with each other. If I don't, it's all too easy for me to get sidetracked and let a subset of characters go off and bond with one another. Often, they end up finding connection and resolving emotional issues in interesting ways. But, they don't advance the plot at all. Planning the story beats ahead is turning out to be of paramount importance so I can carefully choose moments for this emotional bonding and growth so that it coincides with key moments in the bigger story. I need to choose who learns what and when ahead of time so that all the secondary characters can grow alongside the main characters without constantly splitting the narrative in opposing directions.
Somehow, I'm all of these types either by force or by choice. I became a dialog/character driven author out of necessity since it seemed like the best way to engage the reader, I absolutely love worldbuilding, developing both complex magic systems, settings, myths, etc, and of course the plot cannot be forgotten either, so I know I cannot neglect it. In short, I'm somehow a balance of all 5 writer types.
Thank you for the amazing feedback - I really appreciate it. This was a bit of a test, especially weaving in this much "story", so I'm glad to see that the initial reception seems to be quite well 🙂
I actually thought this was true for me as well, but the more I refined the script for the video based on research, the more I started to notice that I actually have a hard time to put myself into one category. Hopefully, this means I'm starting to be more well-rounded rather than just bad at everything 🙂
@@TheTaleTinkerer Epic. It’s always nice to look back and see how you’ve improved. Like when you read some old thing that’s been sat in the back of your drive and say, “Wow, this is awful. I can’t believe I was actually proud of this.” Then you realize your standards and skills have improved like CrAzY! I’m getting better at characters and pacing, and right now I think I’ve master them, but I’m certain I’ll look back on it in a month and facepalm. Wish I could speed up the process, but oh well! 🤷♂️
His advice about setting a time limit for world building truly works. I did this with my current WIP. I gave myself two weeks to build enough to get started and then I had to either zero draft or plot sketch. After a few weeks I could give myself a weekend of connecting the dots of all the random things I'd made up along the way and all of a sudden I had a growing, deepening world along with a plot. I actually had to give up on the world bible thing. I was spending all my effort on making it as complete as possible, and was using it to avoid the hard part, which for me is plotting and drafting.
@@jojobookish9529 I prefer realistic intrigue between competing characters and am content with a sentence like: They rode through an endless forest for days before reaching a mountain range. Does every stick and stone in the geography need a name? Good genre names are few and far between, many of them sound made up or bloody silly. Maybe we should co-write something, you make up the world and my characters will trash it out (not a joke); I think you get the idea.
I think I’m a combination of world builder, myth builder, and magic system enthusiast. And my biggest weakness is probbaly info dumping. I have a pretty good understanding of plot and character development (not enough to be categorized as a master in the other categories) but I struggle with giving too much information at once, or spoiling plot twists. I just feel like everything I make on my world is important. (And it usually is because I’m compelled for everything to be connected to the plot somehow) I just need to figure out WHEN to introduce them. My first story draft basically had everything important introduced in the first few pages/season so I’m trying to spread things out but it’s so HARD to stay silent on certain things.
The steady realization that I was doing all those points and falling into all the pitfalls. Painful but comical as I can call myself type 6: the ADHD. But if I were to explain it: I have a love for world building and that definitely slows me down as I am continuously developing it every time I think of it. The characters I feel are deep as every one of them could be a protagonist of their own story from how much backstory and/or how much every named character's family has a personal connection or event tied to another families. The plots are as intricately designed, often comparing them to the intricacy of a spider web as every plot has characters with their own motivations bringing about the cause and effect for the creation and resolution of events. The more I love a story I'm writing, the more Folklore/mythology that exists. In the main story I'm working on, the folklore is often tied to the families of characters who had been given a last name by a god of that region. And many of the monsters that come up are evolutions, bringing about much greater despair from the new strengths and less weaknesses the monster gains in the process of acquiring its new name and new form, and the gods of that world need to ensure the humans can fight against such creatures. I do have a magic system but this would have to be the one that I only explain the intricacies of when relevant. The world I made has magic and its laws are created and dictated by the Authority of the Goddess of Magic. If the goddess died, someone else could take her place to develop a new system (for that region) but the fundamental core remains the same.
I would call myself and anti-world builder because I feel that my style focuses equally heavily on both character motivations, and plot mechanics like pacings, and foreshadowing, that I invest almost no time on the world itself. I do understand that a setting is a character on it's own, but often when I figured out exactly that during the argument that the twist was someone had placed a bomb under the table, I have to go back into the story proper. Then let the reader know that they had at some point the main characters sat down at a table to have their conversation.
I feel like I’m a mix of all these but I would lean towards world building and character development. I also do artwork for my stories so sketching characters is a big thing for me!
When you started the second type with talking trees, I was like… yes, that’s me! I even surprised myself at how many dialogues I have. But they usually have a purpose in my story, because I love to keep everyone in a suspense and write plot twists. I’m also a type 4
Number 6: the guys who WERE so masterful at their craft that when they died/quit halfway, leaving the audience to suffer eternally with the characters without closure. Yes, Miura and Inoue, I'm looking at your direction!
My first fantasy writing journey starts being as Mina.. then, after a while I turned to Zoe.. my 2nd draft is all about plotting.. its turns too dry, and flat. then, in 3rd draft, I turned to Luke and later to Liz and Kai. I tot my way of writing is somewhat weird and unheard of but now after watching this, I'm sure doing it right. (I don't have any edu of writing skills). thanks for the enlightenment video🙏🙏
I do a little of all 5, but mostly magic systems and characters...I actually struggle to write main plots for my stories because I'm too busy crafting the individual magic elements and character backstories, and imagining all the cool things someone can do with my universe's magic. I'm a lifelong superhero & fantasy fan, so cool characters doing dope stuff is my bread and butter. Political intrigue? Never met him. But in truth I'm the ADHD writer who never gets out of the outline phase.
I'm totally a worldbuilder, with a minor in plot architect. I love coming up with wild, grand and sweeping world concepts, and then obsessing over the political interplay between factions. My dialogue suffers as a result (unless I REALLY dig a character). Also I don't sweat the smaller details (someone at work asked me what the exact military chain of command was for a major faction, and looked at me like I was an alien when I told him I hadn't made that).
Man, its actually pretty tough to fit me on here. I'm basically an inverse of the magic system guy, with logical details swapped out for a churning mass of animism and metaphor. It probably doesn't help that my setting IS its magic system, with no mundane ground under it at all. The worldbuilding equivalent of a lava lamp. Regardless, I some found good advice in every perspective here, so thanks for the video. Cheers!
I am somewhere between Type two and three. Love character writing, dialogue, pacing and thematic narrative. But I'm kinda lost in the worldbuilding and myths, mostly thinking It just superficially.
Im definitely a world builder and a plot architect and I suffer from not really knowing who my characters are until the story reveals them and this tends to slow me down when it comes to character development because I feel like if they are a meaningful character than they should have a compelling arch that contributes to the overall story without being contrived, it can be difficult especially when I have been developing my magic system for a while now so that it makes sense and is believable while also maintaining that atmosphere of mystery.
Truly feeling like a worldbuilder and plot architect means there is a lot of structure in you - that is a good thing! Lean in to that and make it the solution to your character problems. As suggested in the video (at least I hope I did actually mention it in there ^^) one of the ways for plot architects to craft more engaging characters is to create a character arc alongside the plotting - ensuring that the evolution of the character makes sense and supports whatever direction the character takes 🙂
I love writing magic systems or building history for some tales, while others have literally wrote themselves because of the characters. I have some knowledge of mythology both Norse and Greco-Roman (I personally prefer the Greek names; why call them Mars, Diana, or Vulcan when Ares, Artemis and Hephestus are available? Zeus is much more interesting than Jupiter.) The stories where I have the world and/or the magic system often feature a rough plot outline as well, with minute details still to be explored. I guess I am more towards worldbuilding, characters, and magic with a bit of lore and a dabble of plot. I tell myself the skeletal storyline before writing to test out the idea. Any revisions can be made there before I get too invested in one aspect.
Hi. New to channel. I LOVE a well built world, but I am scant on worldbuilding in my own writing (with the exception of, history, timelines and government) unless I see a direct connection to develop the plot. Maybe because I am currently writing speculative fiction and magical realism. I think worldbuilding would be third if I ever decided to tackle an epic magical tale. This is currently me in order of priority: Plot, Character, myth weaver, magic system enthusiast, & world building.
@@TheTaleTinkerer I love mythology, but I'm really into tarot, and it's something that I want to incorporate more into my stories and worlds. Plus, I just love lore and the idea of creating worlds with lots of deep lore and a mythic feeling that gives readers something to explore even beyond the story.
@@akwashingtontarot card can go many places besides future telling they can be used to explain a character I know it's a kids movie but princess and the frog did that. The reader used his cards to read the characters past and present. Also sort of shown their flaws. You can use it that way especially for a mystic type.
I really love your videos Tale Tinkerer, they're so well thought out and articulate. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. You said you've been writing for 25 years, have you published anything? I assume you have. Just curious. 😊👋🏻
Thank you for the kind feedback - it is really appreciated 🙂 I will self-publish my first novel next year. While having completed novels before, I was never interested in traditional publishing. Never even sent something in anywhere because the traditional publishing world just didn't resonate with me. By which I mean no offense, criticism or anything towards those working there or authors taking that route - it just isn't for me. Since self-publishing means a lot of additional work though that you have to do yourself (besides writing), I never felt it was the right time (especially given 80+ hours per week in gaming/tech for years). A few months ago though, I've decided to pursue my creative ideas full-time going forward, and that also means to finally publish something fully 🙂
I’m struggling with my stories. The hard part is I get the idea’s, but it’s how to get them down on paper. Dialogue is a big roadblock. Communication is something I have a very hard time with.
I am definitely character driven but also a magic aystem enthusiast. I am writing about a wizard eho starts a magical school, because I wanted a book that doesnt just take place in a magical school, but explains how and why one gets founded in the first place. And it always bugged me that the older wizards are always exposition fairy mentors who usually die predictably. So I wanted to write a story with one as a protagonist. But obviously, him being a magic user, highly knowledgeable about magic, and the founder of a school, the magic system is understandably somewhat the focus. But I'm also interesred in the politics world-building, because of my interest in history. But my real problems are, like you said, with being too character and conversation driven so im trying to get more external challege involved.
My writing style does have aspect of character developing, because all of my characters move off page. No NPCs in my world, sorry Twitter users. While I also do have mythological weaving, especially when I’ll publish my next book. The Strongest element in my writing style is subtlety because I can hide foreshadow within character dialogues, character, actions, descriptions, one of the jokes, names of characters, and even within spells.
These are writer types in general, not just fantasy. Some of these writer types are actually better suited to other genres. I noticed also that in your discussion of the character-driven writer, worldbuilding can be handled in terms of what the character sees and cares about, rather than what might actually be there. No need for a complete description of a room if the hero is just going to race through it, or doesn't know what half the things in it are. No need to describe the local environment if the guy is so used to everything he doesn't notice any of it anymore.
im the world builder my logic is i need to build the intricate world first so i know what the characters can an cant do every chapter i start off with a intricate paragraph of the surroundings..bro what the hell i go into depth with the politics an the story of the empire
I’m almost certain that I’m the second type of writer, since all I ever do is focus on my characters, and then try to build a story or universe around them, which is actually meant to be space opera like Star Wars.
I'm 2 in mix with romantasy, but I like myth weaving, worldbuilding and magic building as well to some extent. Although I neither like Game of Thrones nor The Kingkiller Chronicles. They are so... male fantasy.
You are forgetting the 6th type Me who is the chosen one, master of all types and the one who'll never agree with anything lesser than the 5 because of my larger than life ego
My now-defunct writing blog was cartography themed. My one in-world avatar is a cartgropher who went mad after being shipwrecked on a magical mystery continent. Guess that's sorted...😂
I wrote a myth once for a short story project in school. Gave a little history to my fictional world in which my current book is set. It was very fun :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer Sorry for the late reply. Yes, my subject matter is pretty specific with much established mythology/folklore. But rather than implementing these things as they are, I implement them with a twist, or at times have myths dismissed entirely through my characters. I'm hoping that by doing this, it introduces an element of terror to the reader, as much of my fantasy story deals with well known and supernational lore. Since my story also connects to a time where there was not a lot of recorded/history, I've had to create things such as rituals out of my own imagination. Luckily, I'm a trained actor, and have learned to take inspiration from things around me. I actually was inspired to create a ritual based on watching the winning jockey celebrate after winning the Kentucky Derby. hahaha
My sensei once told me, we do not always win our fights because of our strengths, but we always lose them because of our weaknesses... celebrate your strength and lean on it, but do not neglect your weaknesses, as a writer, it will be a great waste of your talent that one weakness in your capabilities ruin all the wonderful work you've accomplished via your strengths...
My strongest points are #2 and #5, and my weakest by far is #3. My head is constantly full of colorful characters brimming with fun and interesting magic, but when the time comes to decide what they're actually doing with all that magic, I immediately panic and scrap it all, thinking it's stupid and it makes no sense. Yay for low self-esteem...
The strong characters need to be there or there's nothing to ground you. The plot has to be thought through or things will just "happen". The world building dictates what sort of characters can exist and what things they can interact with so a plot can happen.
I m very much a world builder. However to get the reader to experience the alien world of my sci fi story I created nyra a character who’s development shows the world and forces the aliens to explain what they do. In the process of writing nyra character focus took center stage until she gets thrown into difficult situations. Another alien character I call sokea has crashed on a planet inhabited by humans with mechs. I intent on going into political intrigue with that arc.
I think worldbuilding is a great foundational skill to have, and I do love it myself as well. The biggest risk - at least in my experience - is just that it never ends and you really need to get yourself to focus on writing the story as well. If that is what you want of course 🙂
I'm a worldbuilder through and through. And if I try to skimp on my worldbuilding to start writing sooner, I do stupid things like try to write a story where a necromancer tries to conquer an *entire country of dragon riders* in a setting where the dragon riders exist *specifically because this country bonded with dragons as a solution to their problem with evil necromancers hundreds of years ago.* I have side characters specifically comment on the stupidity of this and how undead aren't a proper threat to them in-story, because I can't help leaning on the Fourth Wall a bit. Of course, the solution to this is for me to write parallel journeys for the hero and villain as the villain learns various ways to make his undead minions into an actual credible threat while the hero learns the self-confidence and leadership skills to combat them.
I'm a worldbuilder, though the way my world is developing story comes first. That's because the main setting of the first book is a magical school, and the world itself won't become important until later. I also have my four main characters planned out. Elkar is the main main. He starts out a sweet and timid little boy (they are 11-13/14 in the first book) that is easily frightened. He's also awful with a sword. But he's smart. Really, really smart. At the school there's a saying that he eats books for breakfast. He also has a flute passed down from his mother (he's an orphan, by the way) that he likes to play. As he grows older he's going to have to face his drawbacks head-on, as well as his recently emergent gay feelings for his friend, Rikter.🏳🌈 I should also mention that Elkar is the only non-human of the four. Rikter is a prince, the third son of the local ruler's younger brother. He was sent to the school when he was 8 because he's so far down the line of succession he's unlikely to inherit anything. He saved Elkar from the school bully a few weeks after he arrived and they've been friends ever since. He's the popular kid, who's tall, athletic and by far the best with the sword out of anyone in their year-group. He's also extremely kind towards (almost) everyone he meets. Which is a strength, but it will become a major weakness later on. Emisia is Elkar's childhood friend. Like Elkar she's an orphan. She's a tomboy and a feminist. They've grown up in a place that's far more progressive than the rest of the world (the school belongs to an ancient order that dates back to a lost civilization that was far more advanced than the primitive world in which the story takes place). They don't care if you prefer different pronouns than your birth gender, and they allow same-sex marriage. Girls and boys also wear the same stuff. This has allowed Emisia to develop some rather... radical views. This will likely get her into trouble later on. She's also very protective of Elkar. Though they are the same age their relationship has a strong big sister-little brother vibe. Zak is Rikter's best friend. He came to the school at 8, around the same time Rikter arrived and they've been friends since day one. He doesn't have a very high opinion of Elkar, whom he sees as a craven and a weakling. He only hangs out with him because of Rikter. They are, however, going to bond later on. He's from a fallen noble house that's squandered its wealth. One of the reasons I decided to make Elkar gay (besides being a part of the rainbow community myself) is that scene in Game of Thrones where Jon Snow and Sam talks about girls and Sam asks him if he doesn't like girls and Jon goes, "Of course I like girls!" And that made me think. Why is the "Aragorn archetype" never gay? And yes, I realise the descriptions makes it seem like Rikter is the "Aragorn archetype" (he's gay too, you know), but remember this is them as children. Elkar is definitely the "Aragorn archetype" of my story.
If you're on your own writing or worldbuilding journey, make sure to sign up for my free weekly newsletter which is packed with practical advice and strategies on key elements, from character development and plot structuring to creating immersive fantasy worlds: thetaletinkerer.com/newsletter
Or, people could simply collaborate both strategically and effectively. 💪😎✌️
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
"Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind's journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul's fate revealed. In time, all points converge; hope's strength, resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe's endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again."
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
--Diamond Dragons (series)
You’re forgetting type 6!
Unmedicated ADHD: the ability to synergize and rapidly develop the skills of all 5 categories but the physical inability to see any story through lol
Me fr
Amen brother
YUP
Concept artist is a profession. Keep track of those notebooks; even decorate them appropriately .
My people!
I think you can further generalize these things in just writers in general outside of Fantasy.
Setting (What you call Worldbuilding) - Focused on the particulars within the setting.
Characters - Focuses on Fleshing out the Actors
Plot - Focuses on the structure of the Narrative
Themes (What you call Myths) - Focuses on symbols and iconography
Mechanics (What you call Magic Systems) - Focuses on the minuate details of a process, hobby, study etc can also apply to technology, whodunnit mysteries, or politics.
I'd add a 6th category.
Aesthetics - Focuses more on the "vibe" or the feel of the work, the atmosphere etc
Could you name/list some examples of that 6th category?
@mayalynch Keep In mind most works can fall into multiple categories.
I'd put Earthsea Cycle, Studio Ghibli Films, and Monogatari in that category.
Anyone else watch this and feel like they should be part of a team of five authors to write their next epic?
lol fr 😂
I guess we should just create the fellowship of the pen! 😂
Me!!;)
I'm Jack, the trader who never got his master's degree
Or you are the humble veteran who excels in all five roles?! 🙂
@@TheTaleTinkerer Flattering but I'm still struggling through my first draft so I'm not sure if I'm excelling at anything at the moment lol
But I have at least been writing and thinking about writing craft for most of my life so there's that.
"Discipline. Consistency. Deadlines. Creativity. Reflection. Repeat." --an award-winning author
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
I’m kind of feeling the same, like I am a bit of each. Maybe bit more of Plot, at least when it comes to fanfics. When it comes to my own, I don’t know. Been sitting on a story for a year, yet haven’t written much because struggling how to start it. I know I’m weakest in descriptions/worldbuilding.
This really helped me settle on a direction for a story I’ve been tinkering with for months. I can leverage my world building and love of myths to create an anthology of shorter fantasy tales that eventually may (or may not) tie together. Thank you!!
I'm glad to hear that the video inspired / helped you move forward with your own story - thanks for leaving the feedback, that is always one of the greatest things to read underneath a video :-)
This is literally how Tolkien originally got the idea of the Silmarillion, and by extension Middle-Earth as a whole.
You treat us writers with so much kindness! 😂 very positive approach.
I'm definitely a type 4 symbolist-mythological type, trying to get everything not so tight as not to make it boring while having plot twists and progression well planned, so a bit of type 3 too.
fantastic explanations - i love your use of the 5 characters you created to make the abstract information land easier. thank you!! subscribed!
Thank you for the feedback - I'm really glad to hear the "experiment" by using the characters seems to be well understood and received 🙂
There’s a sixth option: the prose demon. Patrick Rothfuss is a way better example of this than he is of a character-driven author. Also, you can point to folks like Guy Gavriel Kay or Susana Clarke.
There’s fantasy authors out there that spend weeks and weeks fixating on every word, trying to make it sound perfect. They don’t write “fantasy,” they write proper literature, just with fantasy elements. At some point, it seems more likely that they’re writing narrative poetry, than a fantasy novel.
The big issue with them is that they’re perfectionists and don’t finish projects because they get too deep in the weeds. See Patrick Rothfuss’s Doors of Stone or that Susana Clarke has only ever published two books.
That said, when they do finish something, it’s beautiful. It might be a bit strange, content-wise, and the worldbuilding might be a bit shallow, but the words are magnetic.
Beethovens of fantasy writing. (Douglas Adams would qualify, only for science fiction.)
Ehhh, Rothfuss is hardly an example of good prose. The appeal to his books is very much about the characters and plot. The writing is rather basic. I can guarantee there are tons of better ways to describe "I earned the favor of a faerie of love so that she wouldn't kill me because my dick is just that good"
Please never stop creating! Your series is so eye-opening that for the first time in 5 years, I've finally picked up my novel again. I started writing it 15 years ago! 😅
This means a lot, thank you. Hearing that people pick up their writing again, or make some other kind of "breakthrough" due to something valuable in my content is always incredibly encouraging to hear :-)
I’m a lot more character focused. The way I’ve gotten myself to world build is to write something about the world as if written by a character of the world. For me the world serves the characters
Me too, I m also a character driven writer, I m so invested in their journey to care about the whole thing together, my stories are that's why not driven by too much excessive world building YET, I love adding perspectives of even the side characters
Me too...I just get really lost in writing the emotions, internal conflict, interpersonal relationships, and dialogue that I sometimes become inconsistent with the world building 😢
@@anjanimanda4972 write it so the narrator is often unreliable on purpose. Unless the narrator is omnipresent, no character inside the narrative could know everything, much less accurately
I'm definitely a world builder, I do like creating stories of key events in the world's history though.
I am very much 1 and 4, but am trying to learn more about 2 and 3. I have put developing my skills at 5 on a backburner by focussing on low fantasy for the time being.
Definitely number three, the plotter. Really appreciate this breakdown.😁
You're welcome - I had this one in mind for a while but wasn't sure if it provided enough real value for people. But then I started to find enough angles where I felt it could be helpful 🙂
Watching this I realized that I'm basically a little of everything except #4. Worldbuilding is my strong suit, but I also have a deep-seated love for exciting plots and a more recently discovered fascination for magic-like systems (since I write sci-fi or science fantasy more than pure fantasy). I've also learned the value of strong characters and character-driven plots, so I've been trying to weave all four elements into my latest project, with great success. Nice to hear someone codify all this and put the various struggles and weaknesses in perspective.
Glad to hear there was something useful for you in the video - appreciate the time you took to share your feedback.
And being "a bit of everything" is not a bad spot to be in if you ask me 🙂
This video breaks the types down really well. I’m a mash up of 2 and 4. Love writing complex characters and philosophical/symbolic myths. It’s coming up with a complex plot that can be difficult for me.
I'm a bit of a world-builder. I find putting my info-dumps in a set of appendixes which the reader can enjoy or ignore, separate to the main story helps get it out of my system enough to get on with the story.
That can be a way to do it if you absolutely want to share those details with the readers (at least those interesting in looking through it), yes :-)
I feel more like I overwhelm myself sometimes with all the things that are happening and get lost in details. I have a hard time to take a step back and look from the distance. I'm basically all of the types, but in every aspect my problem is always the same.
I'm definitely #2 with a dash of #5 and a pinch of #3 lol
I highly value structual integrity in narrative and can be a bit of a stickler for logic and internal consistency with my stories, but more than anything, my stories are driven by my character.
I’m 1 and 3. Started with worldbuilding, went architect mode to make a plot then refined the world some more to fit. I tweaked the plot a bit to match the character’s decisions so they don’t feel too passive
What is more interesting to me than finding how I fit into this is how you are constructing your perceived limitations of fantasy as a genre within a set of archetypes.
A person who is fascinated by narrative themes can be working from mythology, or they can work from philosophy, personal experience, or even just a sense of curiosity and experimentation. A person who is interested in magic can do so through systematization and explanation, or they can do so through expression of emotion, cultural history, spirituality and belief, or just as an analogy for experiences and practices that have defined their life.
To me, this demonstrates the way that fantasy as a genre has been reified by a fandom who unreasonably elevate the work of a few authors seen as foundational to its identity.
Mix of #2 and #4 for me. Love telling sagas about epic, complex characters, with tons of references to old myths, eastern ideas, and classic western literature.
I am World Builder and Myth Weaver and it makes sooooo much fun creating worlds, continents, myths etc, and it is always so hard to start actually with the story
At this point, I think I'm all of these! My oldest writing was extremely character driven, but then I added the deep worldbuilding to my skillset, and then the focus on mythology, and then carefully constructed magic systems... The story I'm writing now is my first attempt to add introcate plotting to the mix instead of just sticking to surface level events. Each of these skill types were added my repertoire when I started a new project that called for them.
Very useful guide 🙂
I'm Tzeentch, the everchanging. I'm sometimes like this, sometimes like that. I get lost in small details which I get facinated with in the heat of the moment. Sometimes it is a quircky dialogue between my weird characters, sometimes a certian aspect of the world, sometimes some unexpected plot twist, or it is just some fun fact which I learn about the daily life of the medieval people trough my writing journey.
I'm prone to get lost in one aspect of the writing and I tend to forget about the others. So I need to revisit what I wrote regurarly to fill the missing details. I'm slowly getting better at it though.
I do the same thing. I find myself dragging out each arc because I add new things and obsess on details lol
That’s uncanny! I was literally thinking yesterday about storytelling and my exact thoughts were: Storytelling is a vessel for the human experience. Like your mom’s cooking. She uses all the same ingredients and methods as everyone else, but when you eat it, it’s more than just food. It’s a shared experience of love and connection with the woman who gave you life. It’s not just fuel for your body, but for your soul too.
Books are the same thing. The words are just the ingredients and the book is just the vehicle that facilitates that shared experience between the author and the audience. The story is not just for your brain but for your heart and mind too.
So, I guess I’m a Myth Weaver. Lol. It sounds pretty cool. I also really like character writing. I definitely have a better idea of what I need to work on in order to incorporate the other aspects of writing.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing your insights / experiences - much appreciated 🙂
Love the delivery of your ideas in this video, using the hypothetical fellowship in their quest. Really made my discovery of my writer "class" much more engaging.
Thank you for taking the time to leave that feedback. This was meant as a test and really glad to hear that so many seemed to have liked it 🙂
Worldbuilding with a dash of myth. That's me. Probably explains why I'm having so much trouble writing a magic system, haha.
I'm a mix of #5 and #2 with a dash of #1. I love to come up with fun characters that can showcase different aspects of my magic systems, while also having complex relationships with each other (that are often heavily affected by the magic system as well). I often have trouble with coming up with actual plot events and pacing within the broader story arcs though. Also I spend way too much time on politics.
I think that everyone have a bit of all but at different levels
That definitely is ideal, yes, and having that is for sure very helpful, as I tried to convey in the video.
But I did find it interesting to break it down because it really does make a difference knowing where your personal focus lies, and what strengths and challenges that brings - at least for me it was helpful 🙂
Take the Magic System Enthusiast and apply it to science fiction instead of fantasy, and you get Greg Egan, who makes the science the star of his stories.
Probably the best example of this among his works is his Orthogonal trilogy. It's set in a universe with rather different physics, created by changing a minus sign to a plus sign in the equations of general relativity, and half the story is about the alien scientists figuring out how their universe works. He's also got an extensive series of articles on his web site exploring the fictional physics, with copious amounts of equations. They pretty-much constitute a textbook on the subject.
100% I'm a character driven writer. My first drafts are always centered around the characters in the scene. Afterwards I have to flesh out everything else to add sensory information and create a sense of place. I get complimented a lot on my characters feeling real and engaging. Conversations and arguments? I've got a knack for those. It's the things that no one comments on that I know are my weaknesses.
I'm realizing I need to pull back and think of the world, its magic, and its political structures as their own characters that interact with and profoundly shape the people I'm writing about. I have to think about the specific arcs I need characters to experience and how they will intertwine with each other.
If I don't, it's all too easy for me to get sidetracked and let a subset of characters go off and bond with one another. Often, they end up finding connection and resolving emotional issues in interesting ways. But, they don't advance the plot at all. Planning the story beats ahead is turning out to be of paramount importance so I can carefully choose moments for this emotional bonding and growth so that it coincides with key moments in the bigger story. I need to choose who learns what and when ahead of time so that all the secondary characters can grow alongside the main characters without constantly splitting the narrative in opposing directions.
I think Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time might be all 5 at once. Including some of the pitfalls, I must say, but he really does all of them.
Somehow, I'm all of these types either by force or by choice. I became a dialog/character driven author out of necessity since it seemed like the best way to engage the reader, I absolutely love worldbuilding, developing both complex magic systems, settings, myths, etc, and of course the plot cannot be forgotten either, so I know I cannot neglect it. In short, I'm somehow a balance of all 5 writer types.
This was beautifully done, Sascha. You put a lot of work into this video and it shows! :) Thank you.
Thank you for the amazing feedback - I really appreciate it. This was a bit of a test, especially weaving in this much "story", so I'm glad to see that the initial reception seems to be quite well 🙂
Number one all the way 😅 Characters and pacing have always been my bane.
I actually thought this was true for me as well, but the more I refined the script for the video based on research, the more I started to notice that I actually have a hard time to put myself into one category. Hopefully, this means I'm starting to be more well-rounded rather than just bad at everything 🙂
@@TheTaleTinkerer Epic. It’s always nice to look back and see how you’ve improved. Like when you read some old thing that’s been sat in the back of your drive and say, “Wow, this is awful. I can’t believe I was actually proud of this.” Then you realize your standards and skills have improved like CrAzY! I’m getting better at characters and pacing, and right now I think I’ve master them, but I’m certain I’ll look back on it in a month and facepalm. Wish I could speed up the process, but oh well! 🤷♂️
I am definitely very focused on world building to the point that it’s hard to write! I’m trying to have balance and write a good story.
His advice about setting a time limit for world building truly works. I did this with my current WIP. I gave myself two weeks to build enough to get started and then I had to either zero draft or plot sketch. After a few weeks I could give myself a weekend of connecting the dots of all the random things I'd made up along the way and all of a sudden I had a growing, deepening world along with a plot.
I actually had to give up on the world bible thing. I was spending all my effort on making it as complete as possible, and was using it to avoid the hard part, which for me is plotting and drafting.
@@jojobookish9529 I prefer realistic intrigue between competing characters and am content with a sentence like:
They rode through an endless forest for days before reaching a mountain range. Does every stick and stone in the
geography need a name? Good genre names are few and far between, many of them sound made up or bloody silly.
Maybe we should co-write something, you make up the world and my characters will trash it out (not a joke); I think
you get the idea.
I think I’m a combination of world builder, myth builder, and magic system enthusiast. And my biggest weakness is probbaly info dumping. I have a pretty good understanding of plot and character development (not enough to be categorized as a master in the other categories) but I struggle with giving too much information at once, or spoiling plot twists. I just feel like everything I make on my world is important. (And it usually is because I’m compelled for everything to be connected to the plot somehow) I just need to figure out WHEN to introduce them. My first story draft basically had everything important introduced in the first few pages/season so I’m trying to spread things out but it’s so HARD to stay silent on certain things.
The steady realization that I was doing all those points and falling into all the pitfalls. Painful but comical as I can call myself type 6: the ADHD.
But if I were to explain it:
I have a love for world building and that definitely slows me down as I am continuously developing it every time I think of it.
The characters I feel are deep as every one of them could be a protagonist of their own story from how much backstory and/or how much every named character's family has a personal connection or event tied to another families.
The plots are as intricately designed, often comparing them to the intricacy of a spider web as every plot has characters with their own motivations bringing about the cause and effect for the creation and resolution of events.
The more I love a story I'm writing, the more Folklore/mythology that exists. In the main story I'm working on, the folklore is often tied to the families of characters who had been given a last name by a god of that region. And many of the monsters that come up are evolutions, bringing about much greater despair from the new strengths and less weaknesses the monster gains in the process of acquiring its new name and new form, and the gods of that world need to ensure the humans can fight against such creatures.
I do have a magic system but this would have to be the one that I only explain the intricacies of when relevant. The world I made has magic and its laws are created and dictated by the Authority of the Goddess of Magic. If the goddess died, someone else could take her place to develop a new system (for that region) but the fundamental core remains the same.
I would call myself and anti-world builder because I feel that my style focuses equally heavily on both character motivations, and plot mechanics like pacings, and foreshadowing, that I invest almost no time on the world itself.
I do understand that a setting is a character on it's own, but often when I figured out exactly that during the argument that the twist was someone had placed a bomb under the table, I have to go back into the story proper. Then let the reader know that they had at some point the main characters sat down at a table to have their conversation.
I feel like I’m a mix of all these but I would lean towards world building and character development. I also do artwork for my stories so sketching characters is a big thing for me!
When you started the second type with talking trees, I was like… yes, that’s me! I even surprised myself at how many dialogues I have. But they usually have a purpose in my story, because I love to keep everyone in a suspense and write plot twists. I’m also a type 4
Glad to hear that you could recognize yourself :-)
Number 6: the guys who WERE so masterful at their craft that when they died/quit halfway, leaving the audience to suffer eternally with the characters without closure.
Yes, Miura and Inoue, I'm looking at your direction!
You said to leave a like, two seconds after I left a like. xD
This was an incredible and extremely helpful video. Thank you very much.
Glad to hear my request was well timed then ^^ And obviously even more happy that the video was useful for you 🙂
I'm Liz for sure. I'm a sucker for a good hero's journey.
I am the avatar 😂 I take from all of these.
That's not a bad spot to be in, if you ask me 🙂
@@TheTaleTinkerer yeah! It just takes time to get in each mindset.
My first fantasy writing journey starts being as Mina.. then, after a while I turned to Zoe.. my 2nd draft is all about plotting.. its turns too dry, and flat. then, in 3rd draft, I turned to Luke and later to Liz and Kai.
I tot my way of writing is somewhat weird and unheard of but now after watching this, I'm sure doing it right. (I don't have any edu of writing skills).
thanks for the enlightenment video🙏🙏
I do a little of all 5, but mostly magic systems and characters...I actually struggle to write main plots for my stories because I'm too busy crafting the individual magic elements and character backstories, and imagining all the cool things someone can do with my universe's magic. I'm a lifelong superhero & fantasy fan, so cool characters doing dope stuff is my bread and butter. Political intrigue? Never met him.
But in truth I'm the ADHD writer who never gets out of the outline phase.
I'm totally a worldbuilder, with a minor in plot architect.
I love coming up with wild, grand and sweeping world concepts, and then obsessing over the political interplay between factions. My dialogue suffers as a result (unless I REALLY dig a character). Also I don't sweat the smaller details (someone at work asked me what the exact military chain of command was for a major faction, and looked at me like I was an alien when I told him I hadn't made that).
Type 2 with a lot of type 1 and 4 combined i guess, thanks for the insight!
I'm an action writer. I like to push my characters to reach their goals and overcome their villains. Pulp style.
Plot architect. My weakness is character building and their relations. Nevertheless I realized that this creates great ideas for the plot. 😅
Any great ideas you want to share? 🙂
Personally my style is a blend if Worldbuilding and Folklore. My goal is to create a new fictional mythology for animals. 🐦🔥
Man, its actually pretty tough to fit me on here. I'm basically an inverse of the magic system guy, with logical details swapped out for a churning mass of animism and metaphor.
It probably doesn't help that my setting IS its magic system, with no mundane ground under it at all. The worldbuilding equivalent of a lava lamp.
Regardless, I some found good advice in every perspective here, so thanks for the video. Cheers!
My struggle( like there's one) is when I have to alter the world to make the story work.
Based off this video, seems I am only really weak at plotting/outlining but I can learn that and I will.
I am somewhere between Type two and three. Love character writing, dialogue, pacing and thematic narrative. But I'm kinda lost in the worldbuilding and myths, mostly thinking It just superficially.
Seeing yourself as a blend of different types is not a bad thing - if you ask me. It certainly means there is some versatility present already 🙂
@@TheTaleTinkerer That's a really encouraging thing to hear! Thanks a lot! Love the channel and your nuanced insights helps lot for my writing!
I like to think I'm a mix of all these types, personally
Im definitely a world builder and a plot architect and I suffer from not really knowing who my characters are until the story reveals them and this tends to slow me down when it comes to character development because I feel like if they are a meaningful character than they should have a compelling arch that contributes to the overall story without being contrived, it can be difficult especially when I have been developing my magic system for a while now so that it makes sense and is believable while also maintaining that atmosphere of mystery.
Truly feeling like a worldbuilder and plot architect means there is a lot of structure in you - that is a good thing! Lean in to that and make it the solution to your character problems.
As suggested in the video (at least I hope I did actually mention it in there ^^) one of the ways for plot architects to craft more engaging characters is to create a character arc alongside the plotting - ensuring that the evolution of the character makes sense and supports whatever direction the character takes 🙂
I love writing magic systems or building history for some tales, while others have literally wrote themselves because of the characters. I have some knowledge of mythology both Norse and Greco-Roman (I personally prefer the Greek names; why call them Mars, Diana, or Vulcan when Ares, Artemis and Hephestus are available? Zeus is much more interesting than Jupiter.) The stories where I have the world and/or the magic system often feature a rough plot outline as well, with minute details still to be explored.
I guess I am more towards worldbuilding, characters, and magic with a bit of lore and a dabble of plot.
I tell myself the skeletal storyline before writing to test out the idea. Any revisions can be made there before I get too invested in one aspect.
Hi. New to channel. I LOVE a well built world, but I am scant on worldbuilding in my own writing (with the exception of, history, timelines and government) unless I see a direct connection to develop the plot. Maybe because I am currently writing speculative fiction and magical realism. I think worldbuilding would be third if I ever decided to tackle an epic magical tale. This is currently me in order of priority: Plot, Character, myth weaver, magic system enthusiast, & world building.
Welcome to the channel, I hope you like what you find 🙂
nice video really interesting
I'm a mix between Worldbuilder and Plot Architect, but I would like to be more of a Myth Weaver. Really love this breakdown!
Thank you for the feedback - glad to hear you liked the video. What exactly makes you want to be more of a myth weaver in particular? 🙂
@@TheTaleTinkerer I love mythology, but I'm really into tarot, and it's something that I want to incorporate more into my stories and worlds. Plus, I just love lore and the idea of creating worlds with lots of deep lore and a mythic feeling that gives readers something to explore even beyond the story.
@@akwashingtontarot card can go many places besides future telling they can be used to explain a character I know it's a kids movie but princess and the frog did that. The reader used his cards to read the characters past and present. Also sort of shown their flaws. You can use it that way especially for a mystic type.
I really love your videos Tale Tinkerer, they're so well thought out and articulate. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
You said you've been writing for 25 years, have you published anything? I assume you have. Just curious. 😊👋🏻
Thank you for the kind feedback - it is really appreciated 🙂
I will self-publish my first novel next year. While having completed novels before, I was never interested in traditional publishing. Never even sent something in anywhere because the traditional publishing world just didn't resonate with me.
By which I mean no offense, criticism or anything towards those working there or authors taking that route - it just isn't for me.
Since self-publishing means a lot of additional work though that you have to do yourself (besides writing), I never felt it was the right time (especially given 80+ hours per week in gaming/tech for years).
A few months ago though, I've decided to pursue my creative ideas full-time going forward, and that also means to finally publish something fully 🙂
I’m struggling with my stories. The hard part is I get the idea’s, but it’s how to get them down on paper. Dialogue is a big roadblock. Communication is something I have a very hard time with.
I think I'm mostly type 2, but have some shade of type 1 and 3
I am definitely character driven but also a magic aystem enthusiast. I am writing about a wizard eho starts a magical school, because I wanted a book that doesnt just take place in a magical school, but explains how and why one gets founded in the first place. And it always bugged me that the older wizards are always exposition fairy mentors who usually die predictably. So I wanted to write a story with one as a protagonist.
But obviously, him being a magic user, highly knowledgeable about magic, and the founder of a school, the magic system is understandably somewhat the focus. But I'm also interesred in the politics world-building, because of my interest in history. But my real problems are, like you said, with being too character and conversation driven so im trying to get more external challege involved.
My writing style does have aspect of character developing, because all of my characters move off page. No NPCs in my world, sorry Twitter users. While I also do have mythological weaving, especially when I’ll publish my next book. The Strongest element in my writing style is subtlety because I can hide foreshadow within character dialogues, character, actions, descriptions, one of the jokes, names of characters, and even within spells.
that's cool!
I fit many of these
That is a very good spot to be in - if you ask me 🙂
How would you classify Terry Pratchett? I'm thinking magic system (as it resembles particle physics) but also character driven.
Those of us who have already developed strength in more than one of these areas MAY have foreseen where this video was destined to go in the end.
These are writer types in general, not just fantasy. Some of these writer types are actually better suited to other genres. I noticed also that in your discussion of the character-driven writer, worldbuilding can be handled in terms of what the character sees and cares about, rather than what might actually be there. No need for a complete description of a room if the hero is just going to race through it, or doesn't know what half the things in it are. No need to describe the local environment if the guy is so used to everything he doesn't notice any of it anymore.
I'm the mix of all the flaws mentioned 😂😂
Sorry - but that one really made me laugh, thank you for that 😀
@@TheTaleTinkerer hahaha it's ok. I'm actually writing my first novel, so I'm trying to improve
im the world builder my logic is i need to build the intricate world first so i know what the characters can an cant do every chapter i start off with a intricate paragraph of the surroundings..bro what the hell i go into depth with the politics an the story of the empire
I’m almost certain that I’m the second type of writer, since all I ever do is focus on my characters, and then try to build a story or universe around them, which is actually meant to be space opera like Star Wars.
Very interesting. I appear to have the flaws of all five.
We are fantasy writer with those traits yet we all struggle with writing good prose
I love a good cold reading. I know someone who's name starts with a 'C'!!!
I am the phantom writer because I only ever think about what to write but never actually write it
I'm a mix between the 1st and second type, in other words- I get stuck writing history books (lmao)
I am all 4 except the character-driven one cuz I have everything lined up but I still don't know who is who or who is doing what.
First I build a world filled with empires and conflicts then I forget about it for 5 years
I'm 2 in mix with romantasy, but I like myth weaving, worldbuilding and magic building as well to some extent.
Although I neither like Game of Thrones nor The Kingkiller Chronicles. They are so... male fantasy.
What exactly do you find pushing "male fantasy" in the Kingkiller Chronicles? 🙂
You are forgetting the 6th type
Me who is the chosen one, master of all types and the one who'll never agree with anything lesser than the 5 because of my larger than life ego
Pleased to meet another hack other than myself
just do what rowling did, and make a hard-soft system with the rules needed for the story and let the rest as a mystery
My now-defunct writing blog was cartography themed. My one in-world avatar is a cartgropher who went mad after being shipwrecked on a magical mystery continent.
Guess that's sorted...😂
It might be, yeah... 😀
Type 2 all the way.
What's your favorite fantasy novel character? 🙂
Not sure if it in here but im the dice set and paper statistics kind
I combine character-drivenness and myth-weaving.
I'm definitely of the myth weaver group.
Great to hear, that there are people out there who identify with this. Any myths in particular that you keep coming back to? 🙂
I wrote a myth once for a short story project in school. Gave a little history to my fictional world in which my current book is set. It was very fun :)
@@TheTaleTinkerer Sorry for the late reply. Yes, my subject matter is pretty specific with much established mythology/folklore. But rather than implementing these things as they are, I implement them with a twist, or at times have myths dismissed entirely through my characters. I'm hoping that by doing this, it introduces an element of terror to the reader, as much of my fantasy story deals with well known and supernational lore. Since my story also connects to a time where there was not a lot of recorded/history, I've had to create things such as rituals out of my own imagination. Luckily, I'm a trained actor, and have learned to take inspiration from things around me. I actually was inspired to create a ritual based on watching the winning jockey celebrate after winning the Kentucky Derby. hahaha
My sensei once told me, we do not always win our fights because of our strengths, but we always lose them because of our weaknesses... celebrate your strength and lean on it, but do not neglect your weaknesses, as a writer, it will be a great waste of your talent that one weakness in your capabilities ruin all the wonderful work you've accomplished via your strengths...
My strongest points are #2 and #5, and my weakest by far is #3. My head is constantly full of colorful characters brimming with fun and interesting magic, but when the time comes to decide what they're actually doing with all that magic, I immediately panic and scrap it all, thinking it's stupid and it makes no sense. Yay for low self-esteem...
You got this! Create whatever complex magical system you want, if some people don't like it they can something else.
I think I'm all types of fantasy writer
This one is many characters multiple connected plots but ultimately connected to a common threat...which one?
I'm curious if others really feel they're mostly one of these.
I'm equal parts 1-3 with hints of the 4 and 5.
The strong characters need to be there or there's nothing to ground you.
The plot has to be thought through or things will just "happen".
The world building dictates what sort of characters can exist and what things they can interact with so a plot can happen.
I m very much a world builder. However to get the reader to experience the alien world of my sci fi story I created nyra a character who’s development shows the world and forces the aliens to explain what they do. In the process of writing nyra character focus took center stage until she gets thrown into difficult situations. Another alien character I call sokea has crashed on a planet inhabited by humans with mechs. I intent on going into political intrigue with that arc.
I think worldbuilding is a great foundational skill to have, and I do love it myself as well. The biggest risk - at least in my experience - is just that it never ends and you really need to get yourself to focus on writing the story as well. If that is what you want of course 🙂
I am a symbolist-myth weaver (type 4)
I'm a worldbuilder through and through. And if I try to skimp on my worldbuilding to start writing sooner, I do stupid things like try to write a story where a necromancer tries to conquer an *entire country of dragon riders* in a setting where the dragon riders exist *specifically because this country bonded with dragons as a solution to their problem with evil necromancers hundreds of years ago.* I have side characters specifically comment on the stupidity of this and how undead aren't a proper threat to them in-story, because I can't help leaning on the Fourth Wall a bit.
Of course, the solution to this is for me to write parallel journeys for the hero and villain as the villain learns various ways to make his undead minions into an actual credible threat while the hero learns the self-confidence and leadership skills to combat them.
I'm a worldbuilder, though the way my world is developing story comes first. That's because the main setting of the first book is a magical school, and the world itself won't become important until later. I also have my four main characters planned out.
Elkar is the main main. He starts out a sweet and timid little boy (they are 11-13/14 in the first book) that is easily frightened. He's also awful with a sword. But he's smart. Really, really smart. At the school there's a saying that he eats books for breakfast. He also has a flute passed down from his mother (he's an orphan, by the way) that he likes to play. As he grows older he's going to have to face his drawbacks head-on, as well as his recently emergent gay feelings for his friend, Rikter.🏳🌈 I should also mention that Elkar is the only non-human of the four.
Rikter is a prince, the third son of the local ruler's younger brother. He was sent to the school when he was 8 because he's so far down the line of succession he's unlikely to inherit anything. He saved Elkar from the school bully a few weeks after he arrived and they've been friends ever since. He's the popular kid, who's tall, athletic and by far the best with the sword out of anyone in their year-group. He's also extremely kind towards (almost) everyone he meets. Which is a strength, but it will become a major weakness later on.
Emisia is Elkar's childhood friend. Like Elkar she's an orphan. She's a tomboy and a feminist. They've grown up in a place that's far more progressive than the rest of the world (the school belongs to an ancient order that dates back to a lost civilization that was far more advanced than the primitive world in which the story takes place). They don't care if you prefer different pronouns than your birth gender, and they allow same-sex marriage. Girls and boys also wear the same stuff. This has allowed Emisia to develop some rather... radical views. This will likely get her into trouble later on. She's also very protective of Elkar. Though they are the same age their relationship has a strong big sister-little brother vibe.
Zak is Rikter's best friend. He came to the school at 8, around the same time Rikter arrived and they've been friends since day one. He doesn't have a very high opinion of Elkar, whom he sees as a craven and a weakling. He only hangs out with him because of Rikter. They are, however, going to bond later on. He's from a fallen noble house that's squandered its wealth.
One of the reasons I decided to make Elkar gay (besides being a part of the rainbow community myself) is that scene in Game of Thrones where Jon Snow and Sam talks about girls and Sam asks him if he doesn't like girls and Jon goes, "Of course I like girls!" And that made me think. Why is the "Aragorn archetype" never gay? And yes, I realise the descriptions makes it seem like Rikter is the "Aragorn archetype" (he's gay too, you know), but remember this is them as children. Elkar is definitely the "Aragorn archetype" of my story.