...Yep, I'm new to fantasy writing. Can ya tell? *grin* New to the site, too. Nice to meet you!!
I've been writing fantasy for, hm, a couple of years, working around one specific storyline and set of characters (and a couple of other shorts and bits and pieces of stories I've started but never fully developed), but I'm really struggling with it. I'm finding it really hard to develop my characters and make them well rounded (due to my fanfic past my FMC has some Mary Sue-isms I'm trying to improve on)... and keeping the plot moving is a really big challenge.
So, I guess my questions are, what are some of your sources of inspiration, what keeps you drawn to a story as readers and writers, and what do you like to see to keep the plot moving? I'm fresh out of ideas of new challenges to give my characters, and how to develop my characters and expose my world while still keeping the story interesting (the whole show, don't tell bit).
In a nutshell, my story is high fantasy, and though my MCs are human, I've been playing with the possibility of adding elves and dwarves to part of the journey. The world is medieval (low technology, magic, soldiers, swordfighting and a feudal system class structure), my FMC is your stereotypical flaxen-haired peasant farmer, the BEBG (Big Evil Bad Guy) is a necromancer. So, yes, my world's got it all; elves, maybe fairies (haven't decided on them yet), dwarves, magic, an assassin and a looming zombie apocalypse; the trick is that I'm not sure why BEBG is running around burning villages down and the like; at the moment, he's just causing trouble. Any suggestions you might offer (I can go into more detail if anyone wants) would be very welcome. Thank you!!
I've been writing fantasy for, hm, a couple of years, working around one specific storyline and set of characters (and a couple of other shorts and bits and pieces of stories I've started but never fully developed), but I'm really struggling with it. I'm finding it really hard to develop my characters and make them well rounded (due to my fanfic past my FMC has some Mary Sue-isms I'm trying to improve on)... and keeping the plot moving is a really big challenge.
So, I guess my questions are, what are some of your sources of inspiration, what keeps you drawn to a story as readers and writers, and what do you like to see to keep the plot moving? I'm fresh out of ideas of new challenges to give my characters, and how to develop my characters and expose my world while still keeping the story interesting (the whole show, don't tell bit).
In a nutshell, my story is high fantasy, and though my MCs are human, I've been playing with the possibility of adding elves and dwarves to part of the journey. The world is medieval (low technology, magic, soldiers, swordfighting and a feudal system class structure), my FMC is your stereotypical flaxen-haired peasant farmer, the BEBG (Big Evil Bad Guy) is a necromancer. So, yes, my world's got it all; elves, maybe fairies (haven't decided on them yet), dwarves, magic, an assassin and a looming zombie apocalypse; the trick is that I'm not sure why BEBG is running around burning villages down and the like; at the moment, he's just causing trouble. Any suggestions you might offer (I can go into more detail if anyone wants) would be very welcome. Thank you!!