Historical Fiction

Historical fiction involves a heavy amount of research into the time period where you’ve chosen to set your novel. What sort of clothes were people wearing during this time period? What were the rich people wearing vs. the poor? What sort of language was being used? What sort of customs were expected? Where would they get a cup of coffee in the morning? What would they do with their free time? Readers of historical fiction are reading in large part for the historical details, so you need to put the work into research and accuracy. It’s one thing to embellish a historical event for the sake of fiction, but the novel should overall be grounded by fact-checked historically accurate details.

Science Fiction

The science fiction genre often involves researching complex scientific concepts. Unlike the fantasy genre, the science fiction genre involves a world with a set of rules that can be explained. This means that the concepts that the world deals with should be able to be explained, oftentimes scientifically. So when you’re writing about high-tech gadgets and the discovery of aliens, make sure that the concepts that exist within your world could be supported scientifically. The last thing you want is to write a virtually impossible event or object into existence into your world, only to have the sci-fi community find out by doing their research (and they will trust us).

Horror/Crime

Horror is a genre most people would be surprised requires research. When we think of horror, we think of a killer walking slowly down the darkened road with a single knife held aloft. Or we think of a serial killer and a detective who is getting a little too close to finding him. That involves a lot of suspense and action… but research?

First, the horror genre may be heavy in suspense, but it should also be heavily researched. One of the most frustrating things for a horror reader is reading a character’s death that is absolutely preposterous in its absurdity. The kind of death that, even without any research, you’re absolutely sure can’t exist in nature. This type of character death can leave the reader both heartbroken and angry, even when it happens to the antagonist if you’ve written them well.

Even though it may leave you with a very questionable search history, you should be making sure that a character being stabbed in a certain area of the body isn’t fatal. You should be researching the states of decomposition of a body over time or how the body would react to being shot in the leg. There are no stakes, and therefore no suspense, in your book if the characters don’t feel real, and part of that involves accuracy.

Additionally, the horror genre often involves creating new and grotesque ways of murder. Doing so involves research in order to both brainstorm ideas (again, sorry about your search history) and make sure that they’d be humanely (or sometimes inhumanely) possible to carry out.

Fantasy

This one probably shocks you, but fantasy novels too require research. The level of research required depends on how removed your fantasy novel is from our world. For example, take the Harry Potter world which involves a magical world that is adjacent to or hidden from our world. This means the story still involves humans in a certain time period, the 90s. Therefore, although the world involves magic, JK Rowling still had to research how the character’s human bodies would react to certain injuries and time-specific details like the technology (or lack thereof) that would be available to the students at the time.

You might instead be writing a high fantasy book, or one that involves another world and oftentimes species other than humans. Research can still be helpful in this case as it can help give the fantasy details a bit more solid ground. For example, let’s say you’re writing about a character who is an elf, researching elf lore from other series and reading up on myths can help you find the details you want to include in your world’s version of elf lore.

The post Researching Your Fiction Book appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Name:

Hometown: Wetumka, OK

Book Title: Darkness

Genre: Fantasy

Dorrance Publishing (DP): Describe your book in 10 words or less.

Crystal Nix (CN): Darkness is a vampire story where Lauren is trying to find love.

DP: What made you want to write your book?

CN: I have always loved writing since I was young. I wrote poetry for a while.

DP: How long did it take you to write your book?

CN: It took about six months.

DP: How do you choose the names of your characters?

CN: They just come to me when I am working on the story.

DP: What do you do when you have writer’s block? 

CN: I work on other stories or works I have or I just start typing anything that comes to mind and go from there.

DP: What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

CN: The ending, I am a sucker for happy endings.

DP: If you were stuck on an island and had to have one person from each category with you, who would they be and why:

a. One character from your book:

CN: Magdalene, being a witch may be handy.

b. One fictional character:

CN: Acheron from Sherrilyn Kenyon books, then we wouldn’t have to be stuck…haha!

c. One famous person (living or dead):

CN: Ian Somerhalder, he just seems so down to earth. It might be an interesting adventure.

DP: Besides writing, what are your other interests?

CN: I love spending time with family and friends or working with my dogs.

DP: Do you keep a journal?

CN: Yes, I have always journaled.

DP: How did you celebrate the publishing of your book?

CN: Pizza dinner with family.

DP: If your book was made into a movie, who would play the main characters?

CN: Not really sure, I’d just hope that they could be good actors with characteristics similar to descriptions of characters.

DP: What did you enjoy most about working with Dorrance Publishing?

CN: The publishers were very forthcoming so I knew what to expect.

DP: Five favorite books of all time?

CN: This is a hard question as I love to read. I love Nora Roberts, especially the series about the Quinn brothers. I am also a huge Sherrilyn Kenyon fan and love all the Dark Hunter novels.

DP: One sentence of advice for other writers:

CN: Never give up!

Are you ready to publish your book? Contact us today!

The post Author Spotlight: Crystal Nix appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

1) Origins (Fact vs. Fiction)

To write a history for your fantasy world, you’ll have to start with the origins of the world. How did the world come to exist? Or, more importantly, how do the people of the world believe that the world came to exist? Similarly to our world, there are likely many different beliefs on how the world began and these beliefs can help shape the way the world grows and changes. Begin by writing a true or legendary origin or origins for the world.

2) Locations

Next, you’ll need a map of your fantasy world. In order for the world to feel as real as possible, the readers needs to be able to understand the boundaries and locations and how they logistically relate to one another. For example, vaguely naming new places as you get to them won’t feel as real as a reader being able to see how far one place is from another through distance and visualization. If your fantasy story, as many often do, begins with the proposition of a quest from one place to another, the weight of the journey the character will be going on can’t sink in if we don’t understand what the world looks like. Work on drawing a map for your world with the different cities included. In addition, consider hiring an artist to draw a map to appear in the front cover of your book as has become common practice for fantasy writers.

3) Parallels

When beginning to think about the current state of your fantasy world, it’s important to remember to draw comparisons and contrasts between our world and this world. People don’t want to read about a world that they can’t relate to at all, inserting human problems into this world will allow readers to gain valuable insights from your manuscript. So, when writing about the current state of the fantasy world, think about issues in our world and how a fantasy world could highlight them. Take the classic Harry Potter novels for example. Author J.K. Rowling used different magical creatures to address different issues. Through the introduction of House Elves she tackled the concept of slavery, through werewolves she addressed stigmatic diseases like AIDS, and through the idea of pure-blood elites, she showed discrimination.

4) Politics

Now that you have all of your different territories drawn up, consider how they relate to one another. Does one city hate another city because of a war that happened centuries ago? Does one city trade goods with another city? Is one city poorer and rougher while the other is rich and elitist? Does one city have a king and another a democratically elected committee of leaders? Creating political structures around each city not only helps make them more realistic, but it will also allow the reader to anticipate what a character may experience as they journey through each city.

5) Traditions & Culture

Similarly to politics, consider how each city in the realm is either similar or different in their traditions and culture. Perhaps one city has a certain religious group ruling it while another simply has some holiday traditions. Maybe there are certain words or sayings that everyone in the realm will understand, but then also cities have some of their own that pertain only to them. Maybe there are some food dishes or decorations that pertain specifically to a certain territory as well.

6) Sociology

Again, when considering building your fantasy world, it’s helpful to compare it to our world. There are certain sociological concepts that are cultural here. While in one area of the world something can be considered polite, in another area of the world it could be incredibly rude. In addition, take idioms. These are the bane of existence for any non-English speaker trying to learn English since their literal meaning and their culturally understood meanings are completely different. Consider these sorts of sociological concepts when building your fantasy world. The more specific detailed things like this that one adds, the richer the world will feel.

7) Characters

Finally, when creating a history for your fantasy world, consider the specific characters one is writing about. What was their upbringing like? Where did it take place? How has their past shaped them to the person that they will be at the start of your book? Write a short backstory for each of the central characters in your story. Knowing the different areas they grew up in and their specific sociological and economic circumstances can help you get to know them in a new way.

The post How to Write a History for Your Fantasy Novel appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Magic

Fantasy readers want some element of magic to be present in their books. This could come in the form of witchcraft or sorcery, it could be similar to Game of Thrones where the main element of magic is otherworldly creatures like dragons, or it could be akin to V.E. Schwab’s Vicious series or X-Men with characters developing supernatural abilities. Regardless of what you choose, it’s important to establish how the magic in your world works as well as its limitations. Though you don’t need to explain in as great of detail as you would in a science fiction novel, fans of this genre crave intricate world-building and that involves thoroughly detailing the world’s magical system.

Maps

As stated previously, readers of this genre crave complex world-building and one of the best ways to show that off is through maps. Maps are present in some of the most renowned fantasy series of our time, including Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Six of Crows, etc. In fact, it’s getting increasingly more difficult to spot a modern fantasy book without this inclusion. Including a map a) shows the readers that you did your homework in terms of world-building and b) makes it easy for your reader to follow the course of your protagonist’s journey. It will also likely lend you a hand in the writing process and allow you to assure continuity throughout your story.

Romance

Though this most certainly shouldn’t be the central focus of a fantasy novel, most fantasy readers want at least one romantic element present in their books. Though fantasy and romance are very different, fantasy as a genre is rather romanticized. It’s all about magic being real, the world being bigger than we think, or us having more power than we realize. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that readers who crave these messages will similarly desire romance. But again, this shouldn’t be the forefront of the story. Depending on your own desires for the trajectory of your story, it could be a driving force behind your plot or as simply a background storyline as it was in the Harry Potter series.

History & Real-World Themes

We’ve talked previously of how important it is to construct a bible for your fantasy book, but this is because fans of this genre crave a rich history in their fantasy worlds. They want this world to feel as real as possible so that they can get lost within it for a while. Similarly to how our world has a long history that informs our choices and who we are in the present, so should your fantasy world. In addition, though readers of this genre definitely want an escape, they want to see small parts of our world reflected in your pages through specific themes and motifs. People are people, regardless of if they’re humans or elves, so your readers will want to see themes that show specific things (good and bad) that are relevant to our human nature.

Foreshadowing & Payoffs

Another major element to the fantasy that is actually similar to the mystery genre is they want to see seeds planted early on and harvested later with a huge payoff. For example, let’s take the Harry Potter series, which is famous in part for its continuity and payoffs (WARNING: SPOILER ALERT AHEAD). In book five, when Harry is hiding the Half-Blood Prince’s potions book, he notices the statue of a wizard with a tiara sitting on top. At the time, he thinks nothing of it so neither do we. It isn’t until a full book later that it’s revealed to us that this tiara was both Rowena Ravenclaw’s and also one of the final Horcruxes. This is exactly what fantasy readers crave: that ah-ha moment showing just how thoroughly an author planned out their series.

The post Writing For Your Audience: Fantasy appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Identify your market

You may think you’ve already done your work as far as identifying your market when you chose your genre, but it’s actually more complicated than that. Will your story be high fantasy? YA or Adult Fantasy? Urban, steampunk, or grimdark fantasy? A common misconception about fantasy writing is that it all fits into a very J.R Tolkien type of world- elves, dragons, trolls, etc. But that’s not always the case. Many experts, for example, would argue that Star Wars would be considered Fantasy as opposed to Science Fiction.

Essentially the difference between the two genres boils down to the details. If we’re receiving detailed explanations on how the technology works, how the world works, etc. in a story, it’s likely considered science fiction. If, however, the details are vague and/or mythical then it would be considered fantasy. Making sure you know what genre you’re going for and which subgenre will help you know better how to write for your specific readership.

Write your novel/series bible

The ‘bible’ for your series or novel is the history of the world or realm you’re writing about. Any legends or lore that are important to your story need to be written out in great detail because these legends and histories will greatly inform the current state of the world you’re writing from. For example, take the highly acclaimed series Game of Thrones. George R.R. Martin creates an incredibly detailed and rich history for the world and for each of the families that play a large role within that world. He details the period of time where the ‘mad king’ brought the downfall of the Targareyan house, the time where the Baratheons fought for the crown, etc. You can even find detailed family trees going back generations for each family. Now, obviously, this whole history isn’t detailed in its entirety in the series so you’ll likely only use bits and pieces of your own ‘bible’. However, having all of these details solidified and relayed through dialogue and action throughout your series will make it feel more like our own world, which also has a rich history.

Plot everything before writing

This is true for essentially every genre but is especially important for fantasy writing. You’ll likely have several character threads going, several species to introduce and explain, and several versions of history at play simultaneously. For the series to read as effectively as possible, you must plot out each thread as you’d like it to unfold as well as the POV and how and when the information will be revealed to the reader.

Use all five senses

Fantasy writing, regardless of the subgenre, should be incredibly detailed. It’s a very romanticized genre, and avid readers want to be fully immersed in the world and completely escape from reality. In order to create this to its fullest extent, all five senses must be utilized. If you’ve done your job right, your readers should be able to see, taste, smell, hear, and feel some aspect of every scene you’ve written. If you have the tendency to miss a few of the senses, make sure you do exercises to practice as you prepare to tackle your book(s).

Give the world internal rules

Although fantasy books shouldn’t have detailed explanations on how certain elements such as magic work, creating rules for the world will allow it to feel more real. For example, how is this world governed? Is there one person ruling on an iron throne or is there a magical government that exists right beneath our noses? How did this power structure originate (something to be answered in your book bible)? How does this power structure effect or dictate how citizens live in this world?

Let’s say your world includes some type of magic or power. While you don’t need to answer how magic works, there are a few questions that you can answer that will help the world feel more realistic- where does the magic or power come from? What are the limitations of the magic or power? Is it different for everyone or the same, but some are just more powerful than others?

It’s important to be organized and careful not to break your own rules throughout the story (unless you do it on purpose). For example, you can establish a rule that people have a certain limitation on their powers, only for us to later realize that our protagonist doesn’t have this limitation in true ‘chosen one’ fashion. However, if you establish early on that someone’s powers will drain if used frequently, you can’t have them using them frequently in an epic battle without them draining and with no explanation whatsoever. Make sure that any breaking of established rules is both acknowledged and explained in your story.

Choose meaningful character names

OK here comes the fun part, guys. One of the most enjoyable aspects of fantasy writing is getting to choose your character names. Keep in mind when you’re doing this that fantasy readers are very astute. They’ll research character names, the prefixes/suffixes, the meanings in different languages, etc. Therefore, knowing this, it’s fun to give them little treats. As one example, J.K. Rowling chose her character names with great care. Each name has a specific meaning that gives the reader a clue into either the personality or nature of the character itself. For example, take the character name Remus Lupin. The name Remus is in reference a mythological character who was raised by wolves, while the last name Lupin comes from the Latin ‘lupus’ which translates to ‘wolf’. The name is very fitting seeing as (spoiler alert) we find out that he’s a werewolf in book three.

Make your characters complex, not archetypal

Although worldbuilding and plot are extremely important in fantasy writing, characters and character development are equally important. You can have the most well-crafted plot in the world, but if your readers don’t care about your characters then they won’t care what happens to them. Therefore, when you’re doing your bible work prior to writing, make sure you create detailed character summaries and create characters with complex personalities, wants, and desires. Don’t rely on cliche archetypes like ‘the loyal best friend’ or ‘the wise old man’…readers have seen simplified versions of these characters in fantasies too many times before. Part of making your series or book stand out is making your characters stand out too.

The post Genre Focus: Fantasy appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Imagine you’re walking around a bookstore looking for something new to read. Usually, you pick up a book when you’re intrigued by a cover that looks like it’s from a genre you’re interested in reading. As an author, that means if you choose a cover that differentiates from the genre of your book, the wrong readers will be picking up (most likely putting back down) your book.

So how do you know what kind of book cover would match your book? Obviously, you should do your own research by looking up other books in your genre and imagine similar covers for your book. But we’ve compiled some suggestions for you as well:

1) Contemporary

Typically, contemporary covers are rather simple. Many have little cartoonish illustrations of one or two of the characters or an object that’s significant or symbolic in the book. Others will have actual photographs, whether stock photo images or perhaps the author hires models to pose as their characters. Another common contemporary cover would be a photo of a landscape. Figure out what is most relevant to your content and highlight it keeping these ideas in mind.

2) Fantasy

This is a more imaginative genre and your cover should reflect that while still remaining relevant to the content of your book. A tell-tale indication that it’s a fantasy book is if the cover has one of the following: a crown, a sword, a helmet, a throne, or a dragon (Oh and don’t just stick with dragons–illustrations of animals like lions or phoenixes are also popular for fantasy books).  Another common choice is to have an artist hand-draw characters or a relevant scene from your book. This choice is very popular, especially for adult fantasy books…just make sure it relates to your content.

3) Science Fiction

The majority of science fiction works are dystopian and many have dark overtones. Typically, the covers reflect this. It’s also common for a science fiction book cover to depict some of the technology that a reader should expect to find within the book. Whether that’s a hand-drawn illustration of a spaceship, a space gun, a spacesuit, or even a circuit board. If your book takes place another planet, it’s common to depict that on the cover. You may even design the entire city landscape on the cover. Just remember that, while contemporary novels may be light and romantic, your city would need a darker overtone and the illustration would need to clearly show a technological difference between this city and one we’d be able to find in our world today. If none of this appeals to you, check out some old science fiction covers like Dune or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and create a cover with a similar vintage feel. This is an especially good design route to take if you think your book would appeal to similar readers.

4) Romance

Obviously, these covers vary, but if you want readers to know right away that they’re picking up a romance novel, the easy solution is having a couple on the cover. There are various ways you can do this, whether it’s with an illustration or a photograph, so do your research and figure out what works best for your book. Another common choice is a girl in a beautiful, flowing dress (often running). Finally, a third good indicator of a romance novel is to have something either stereotypically romantic or relevant to the couple within your book. This could mean a picture of flowers, a butterfly, or (if your book involves letters) perhaps a set of letters. Think about what items are important to the couple in your story to help you draw some inspiration.

5) Nonfiction

When it comes to nonfiction book covers, less is more. A lot of covers depict simply the title and author in a nice font. They may play around with the actual color of the cover and font, but they will often not include an image or, if they do, it is very small. Any image or photograph that you include in the cover should be directly and clearly significant to the content. Whereas with fiction books these items can be elusive, with nonfiction they need to very clearly deal with the content. So, if the book is about the history of a city, having a photograph of the city as the cover would work. Or, if the book is about how to play the guitar, include a small photo or illustration of a guitar. You can play around with how modern or vintage it looks, but make sure the images are relevant. This isn’t the time to be imaginative. Just be simple, clear, and concise. Otherwise, you’ll have fiction readers picking up your book instead.

6) Suspense/Mystery

This genre’s cover is relatively easy. All you need is a bold font choice that takes up almost the entire cover and perhaps a backdrop of an item or place that relates in some way to the plot or title of the book. If your book involves someone drowning in a lake, throw in a photo or drawing of an eerie lake. Or, if your book involves a pocket watch, include one in the center between the title and author name. Keep in mind, though, not to accidentally give away a clue through the item you choose. For example, if the pocket watch is going to end up being the key to the mystery, choose a different item. Whatever is on the cover, astute readers will be on the lookout for it. Make sure you choose an item or location that’s relevant without being the key to solving your mystery.

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