Got Questions/Need Help with Fantasy or Supernatural writings?

[kavi ~he-him~]

Ask away

[kavi ~he-him~]

So, I'm writing a fantasy book, I'm only on the 4th chapter rn. But I also got an idea to write another fantasy book, but I'm not really sure what to write about. Well....I'm thinking about writing about an imaginary world. And I've had some other ideas as well but they disappeared :(

[Quantum]

Ƙανу Jαcкѕση Ƒυℓℓвυѕтєя~Only know you've been high when you're feeling low Only hate the road when you're missing home~ wrote: "o, I'm writing a fantasy book, I'm only on the 4th chapter rn. But I also got an idea to write another fantasy book, but I'm not really sure what to write about. Well....I'm thinking about writing about an imaginary world. And I've had some other ideas as well but they disappeared :(

yes, you have to write those ideas down right away--even just a few sentences. i have a whole computer folder of ideas, maybe 10 or 20 and before i had a computer i had written them on index cards--and i still have them after more than 20 years!

what's your world like?

the one fantasy/supernatural story (about 4,500 words now) I started working on a few months ago is about Tengu in the present world.

[Graeme]

Hi Kavy,

I would recommend (like Alex does) that you write down any ideas that you get, and even flesh them out a little.

I would also recommend committing to your main project and completing it.

Getting to the finish line on your first book will teach you an enormous amount about many things, both about your story and yourself, and it is very empowering.

[kavi ~he-him~]

Ok thanks guys

[Quantum]

Ƙανу Jαcкѕση Ƒυℓℓвυѕтєя~Only know you've been high when you're feeling low Only hate the road when you're missing home~ wrote: "Ok thanks guys"

i'd agree w/Graeme's point about completing it. i did actually complete a 70k-word sci-fi novel, but now i'm going back to writing shorter works b/c it's faster. i can already see myself improving much more quickly than writing a longer work. ymmv.

[Quantum]

and there are some other publishing/distribution venues besides amazon too:

* wattpad.com
* patreon.com
* inkitt.com

[kavi ~he-him~]

I have Wattpad.

[Quantum]

Ƙανу Jαcкѕση Ƒυℓℓвυѕтєя ~Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh And you don't have to change a thing~ wrote: "I have Wattpad."

i like wattpad b/c if you delete your work, then they won't display it or distribute it anywhere else (although they will store it on their server), which is good b/c that means you can republish it on amazon or anywhere else w/o it being available for free on wattpad. it's also good for non-adult work b/c once you have to rate it 17+ then you lose all the discoverability features.

[kavi ~he-him~]

the only thing about wattpad, it deleted one of my drafts twice, that was when I was writing my first fanfiction, I hadn't had that much written, because I was just starting to write it. But now it updated, so I don't think it's gonna delete the drafts anymore, but just in case, I decided to write my drafts somewhere else as well, so if it gets deleted I'll still have my drafts. But I haven't been working on the fanfiction in a while, so....I'd been mainly focusing on my own original stories, and also reading other ppl's stories.

[Quantum]

ah, that's a bummer. that never happened to me. it's a good idea to always have a backup. google docs is pretty good.

[Quantum]

One of the themes that I'm going to be exploring in my fantasy short is "What is magic?" Maybe it's science that we can't understand? Although the story largely takes place in contemporary America, I will have some scenes that take place in the secondary world. The tone and style is along the lines of magical realism in Murakami's vein (most exemplified by 1Q84).

1. Does anyone know of any fantasy stories that also discuss this idea?

2. Is magical realism a subgenre of fantasy? Would this magic w/an underlying scientific explanation cause readers to place this story in a genre other than fantasy? Or would it cross boundaries? Or would it depend on other things? For example, how much sword and sorcery is in it?

[[deleted user]]

Aren't paranormal phenomenons a kind of magic from the human mind? We know still too little about the human brain. How would you classify telepathy? Magic or mental waves transmission?

Magic doesn't need to be only the 'sword and sorcery' type of story. You can have also modern magic (incoming movie 'DOCTOR STRANGE' is an example).

In many places and sites, Fantasy is already associated/classified alongside science-fiction, so I would say that no new classification is necessary. For example, how would you classify a story where magic-using extra-terrestrial dragons are present on Earth?

[Cyrille]

All of you may refers to Science-Fantasy, a genre of Fantasy ? See description in goodreads genres :
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/scie...

In this genre there is I.E. the dragon riders of Pern Cycle The Masterharper of Pern or a tale of sorcerer with robot, dragons and scientific, as refer to the child anime Master of the Universe, take place on another world with sword warriors, sorcerer, vehicles, mutants etc.

Or Urban-Fantasy genre :
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/urba...
As of magic in contemporary world, may Tengu in our present word, as want to write Alex G., or werewolf in modern city as Modern Beast Tales like the movie Wolf with Jack Nicholson, or Wolfman... or other creatures etc. also in the named Bit-lit genre.

Urban-fantasy is generally more a mix with our present world ; science-fantasy can take more easily place in another world, planet or another epoch :
In other example, imagine our world long after post-apocalyptic period, and then magic come again, mixed with mutations or evolutions etc. or an ancient technology (but futurist for our era) appears as magical because the knowledge was lost centuries ago...

That is a theme used by many fiction's writers, as Moorcock in Hawkmoon, or the Cornelius (time travel), Dancers of the end of time, and all in his cycle of eternal champion, making regularly a time travel by sending his characters in different epoch, even meet them together in some place as Tanelorn...
Or in Dune by Frank Herbert (spaceship, sandworms, god-emperor), or with the Warrior of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the John Carter movie).

If that may help ?