Fantasy Genre

Five Ways to Stay Safe Around Dragons Breathing Fire

Fantasy books and movies, and imaginations around the world, are filled with dragons breathing fire at innocent villagers and stalwart knights. Whether you are a writer, role-playing gamer or simply a creative day-dreamer you need to find a way for someone to stay safe around these pyrotechnic beasts. With these five ways to stay safe around dragons breathing fire, you should be able to save yourself or any game or story characters you need to save from peril.

Dragons Breathing Fire Safety Tip – Avoidance

The number one method of staying safe around dragons breathing fire is to not go near them to begin with. If you do find yourself near one, you should get out of the area immediately. Amazingly enough, in many movies and books, simply running from a great gout of dragon-fueled flame is enough to keep you safe. While the blast of fire shoots at you out of the fifty foot beast, turn tail and run as fast as you can. Chances are the fire will not reach you, even if the buxum wench you are with should stumble while glancing back at the horror behind.

Dragons Breathing Fire Safety Tip – Armor

If you can’t run from a fire-spewing dragon, you may find that standard issue armor is enough to maintain safety. This is a good thing, since it can be difficult to run in a full suit of armor. Never mind that most armor is made from metal, a substand that can conduct heat very efficiently. You will not bake like a sausage in a skillet if a dragon breathes fire on you when you are wearing appropriate armor. Magical armor works wonders as well.

Dragons Breathing Fire Safety Tip – Magic

Besides magical armor, other types of magic can protect you from the firey breath of sky drakes and dragons. Amulets, charms and active spells that repel fire or have anything to do with water may counteract th flames. Having a wizard nearby is usually a good idea if you intend to roam in dragon-infested areas.

Dragons Breathing Fire Safety Tip – Environment

Many fantasy movies, books and games cast dragons as proficient snipers who shoot gouts of flame at the adventurers from high places with considerable accuracy. Amazingly enough, the fire also acts much like a small barage of bullets. It can be stopped by thick walls, large boulders and sometimes even trees.

Dragons Breathing Fire Safety Tip – Psychology

There are multiple psychological tricks you can try on dragons breathing fire to make them calm down or go away. A popular one is the old sacrifical virgin trick. Dragons, for some reason, find virgins especially tasty and will most likely stop breathing fire and fly off if you offer it one.

Dragons are also quite greedy and enjoy gold and treasure. Always with a mind to increas their horde, a dragon can often be convinced to leave by paying it off or making it believe that someone is stealing from it. Complicated schemes that involve trickery of muddle-headed townsfolk also play upon their avarice. When it comes to staying safe around dragons breathing fire, your best bet is to somehow make it stop.

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Writing Tips for Creating a Fictional World

Creating fictional worlds can be one of the most enjoyable parts of writing. Done most often in fantasy and science fiction genres, it is also necessary in mainstream fiction. Many writers create believable, a realistic worlds based on areas they know that without using actual place names. No matter if you are writing speculative or commercial fiction, these writing tips for creating a fictional world will help transport the reader into your story.

Creating a Fictional World – Necessary Ingredients

Any fictional world you create for your short story or novel needs the basic building blocks of culture and society. Of course the depth you go into these things will depend largely on your plot and storyline

Writing Tips for Creating a Fictional World – Read more here.

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Three Things to Avoid When Creating Fantasy Worlds

Lots of writers and readers think that, in the fantasy genre, anything goes.  "Outside the box," is a phrase that gets tossed around quite a lot, but it only skates the very edge of truth for quality fantasy.  There are still rules when creating fantasy worlds.  Things still have to make sense.

Creating Fantasy Worlds – Funky Physics

Humans read fantasy fiction, and humans are used to gravity, and the basic laws of motion: momentum, friction, and all that.  Messing with physics in a fantasy world might seem like an excellent, creative idea, but it might mess with the reader’s mind just a bit too much.

If you are going to change physics of the world you are writing in, it still has to make sense.  WHY is there fluctuating gravitational pulls?  Why has friction been negated and things pushed just roll on forever?  Change too many of the familiar laws humans are used to, and they won’t be able to connect to your world anymore.

Creating Fantasy Worlds – False Normality

There are a lot of normal, everyday things in fantasy fiction.  Pseudo-medieval fantasy is rife with them: horses, wagons, huts, crops, weapons and armor.  Even non-medieval fantasy uses common earthly things.  And this is good. crusader

One problem that arises when the untutored start creating fantasy worlds of their own is that they take everyday things and call them something else.  "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are, its a duck." 

Creating Fantasy Worlds – Anachronisms and OOPA

Unless you are writing alternative reality or fantastic historical fiction, cut out the anachronisms and OOPA (out of place artifacts) when creating fantasy worlds.  Be creative.  Stop stealing from reality.

Fantasy Quests: Writing Believable Adventure

legends Fantasy quests writing is a cornerstone of the fantasy genre of fiction.  When you think about it, most books in all genres contain some sort of quest. Whether it be for happiness or fulfillment or a magic amulet, the important thing is that the character wants it really badly, and he or she gets it in the end.

Even in the crazy made-up worlds of fantasy quests, writing them to be believable is essential to a quality story.

Fantasy Quests: Writing the Character

In order for your fantasy quest to be believable and entertaining, the character must desperately want something and be willing to undertake difficult things in order to get it.  The character, ideally, should have some core value that makes them crave the item or qualities that the quest brings about.

Fantasy Quests: Writing the Goal

The goal of a fantasy quest can be either physical or intangible.  While the tried and true more of a quest for a magical item, weapon, or artifact always works, the fantasy quests writing can also lean more toward experience or emotion.

Fantasy Quests: Writing the Ending

Even in dark fantasy and horror, the quest must be satisfied by the end of the book.  Not writing an acceptable and logical conclusion to your fantasy quests will leave the reader upset and unfulfilled.

Create Stand Alone Story Arcs for a Fantasy Fiction Trilogy

The fantasy fiction trilogy is becoming more and more popular in the genre. Series of three or more books dominate the marketplace and succeed in brining fantasy fiction to fans. While a vast multi-book story arc is expected in these fantasy fiction trilogies, it is important to create stand alone novels within the trilogy. Not only do readers expect a satisfying conclusion at the end of each fantasy fiction book, publishers are more apt to take a chance on one book than an entire trilogy.

Read More About Story Arcs in Fantasy Trilogies Here

Stand Alone Fantasy Stories – Create Sub Plot Conflict

The story arc that covers the entire trilogy must wend through each book in the series. This is usually the quest that the main characters undertake to destroy evil or save the world. A fantasy fiction writer might say that each individual book has a sub-plot of the entire epic.

Horror vs. Paranormal vs. Urban Fantasy

I call myself a fantasy and horror writer, and that is true, but what I write stretches far beyond that.

If expanded to cover all the possible sub-genres, I would have to include:

1) Fantasy
— epic fantasy
— sword & sorcery
— high fantasy
— dark fantasy
2) Urban Fantasy
3) Paranormal
4) Horror

But what in the heck is the difference between them all? Some people use some of the terms interchangeably. For example, epic fantasy is often akin to high fantasy. Urban fantasy can skate the edges of both paranormal and horror.

What is a vampire tale? Depends really. Are the vampires slaughtering people and flinging blood hither and yon? Horror. Are they brooding melancholy and just want to be loved? Paranormal. Are they sexy, goth-style metro-sexuals part of some ancient curse/war/spiritual movement? Urban fantasy.

It’s tough sometimes to narrow down what I write. When asked, I may just have to start to answer, “good stories.” At least I think so.

Pop Fiction Genres

A recent issue of “Writer’s Digest” magazine has in it a fabulous graphic showing the many genres and sub-genres of what they call ‘pop fiction.’ Basically, it is what I have come to understand as ‘genre fiction’ as opposed to commercial or literary fiction.

Mystery/Crime
Romance
Sci Fi /Fantasy
Horror
Thriller/Suspense

You know… the good stuff. I have to admit that I do not read mystery/crime at all. I get that on the news.

An interesting thing to note about the graphic tree they have in the magazine, is that a lot of the sub-genres seem to fit on multiple tree branches. It is often quite difficult to figure out what genre I am writing in.

Now Available

Elements of Time

Available from Twin Trinity Media.

Elements of Dimension

Elements of Dimension continues the Twin Trinity short story anthology series with more top-quality stories and poems. This book explores the themes of science fiction, fantasy and reality. I have one short story, "Death Obeyed," and one poem, "Tale of the Suburban Dungeon" in this book.

Elements of Time

"Elements of Time" short story anthology is available now. It features winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Inescapable" and "No Time Like Now," are included.


Elements of Soul

"Elements of Soul" short story anthology is available now. It features fifteen winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Summer Heat" and "Flood of Tears," are included.