How to Write an Epic Fantasy Novel – A No Nonsense Guide to getting the job done

The key to writing a real epic fantasy novel lies in the word “epic”. But this doesn’t just mean big in scale, scope, and size. An epic fantasy novel doesn’t have to be a thousand page doorstopper. It has to be epic in its ambitous reach for finding answers to the big questions in life. This is the true and hidden goal of epic fantasy. It is a vehicle for understanding what life is about. And even though the story may have dragons, and take place on an unbelievable world that doesn’t really exist it needs to be applicable to the human condition.

So this is the first thing you have to do when writing an epic fantasy novel. Decide what you want to say about life or what important topic you want to explore. Write this down and keep it in mind throughout your whole novel writing experience. And remember that you don’t have to come right out and explain your theme. It is usually better, and more rewarding for the reader, if you reveal the theme slowly and allow him or her to discover it.

Some common themes in epic fantasy are the examination of the nature of good and evil, the ultimate meaning of life, the quest to understand oneself, or the challenge of making the transition from childhood to adulthood.

The actual writing of the novel can be quite a challenge. Writing a book can be joyous, yet hard work, and you may need some motivation to get you through the whole task and here is all the motivation you will need. Write your theme down on a big piece of paper and pin it to the wall near your computer. Start it out like this: “My novel is all about: ” then put in your theme or themes. Here is an example: “My novel is all about how adversity is the most important thing in life. It is through adversity that we each become a better person. Gold comes out of the ground dirty and ugly. It is by going through the fire that it is purified and made beautiful and I am going to put my main character through the fire!” Whenever writing becomes difficult for you this will be a source of inspiration because you have something to say and your novel is how you are going to say it. The world truly deserves to hear your perspective on the big questions in life.

When doing the actual writing of the prose of the novel I recommend you set yourself a very distinct goal. This is imperative. And the goal I recommend you set is that you will write part of the story every single day until it is done. It is even ok if you just write one sentence or even if you write a whole passage that you know you are going to delete tomorrow. The important thing is that you write every day. I don’t recommend you set goals that are pinned to dates or word counts. Dates can be tricky because a novel is a fluid thing. Your novel could end up being fifty thousand words or two hundred thousand words. This is because you are exploring a theme and as you write more ideas and angles are going to come to you. And I don’t recommend pinning a daily or weekly word count to your writing because writing is a creative process and you could end up with just a lot of filler. Simply set yourself the goal of sitting down and writing every day. At some point in the middle of the novel you are going to look back and see that you are in a routing and everything is flowing quite smoothly.

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