Fantasy is a prevalent genre because it appeals to a wide audience who enjoys immersing themselves in a world of magic and magical creatures. Real life may be tedious and monotonous, which is why fantasy novels, films, and television series are popular forms of escapism.
If you’re going to try your hand at this larger-than-life genre, you’ll have to do it well. If you don’t want your first fantasy novel or film to be a disaster, avoid these blunders at all costs.
So, in this blog, we will discuss the flaws and mistakes to avoid when writing fantasy adventure books with romance.
Poor or Unstructured Writing Kills the Vibe
Stiff or poorly written writing will hurt a novel in any genre, but there are a few flaws in epic high fantasy:
- Bad use of archaisms — when used incorrectly or excessively, archaisms can make a fantasy seem dry, disconnected, or even humorous.
- Verbosity — paragraphs that are long, indulgent, flowery, and full of adjectives and dull descriptions will often fail to hold the reader’s attention.
- In an ancient Greek theatre, stilted or grandiose language – where characters speak less like humans and more like gods. A little of this is to be expected in fantasy. For example, if an ancient prophesy is being retold). But if the main characters discourse in melodramatic clichés or cryptic word puzzles throughout the entire story, readers will quickly put it down.
Not Making It a Page Turner
The trick is to maintain the suspense so that the reader cannot put the book down. From the earliest to the last chapter, you must gradually create your fantasy kingdom.
If you reveal the majority of the details on the same page towards the beginning, the reader may lose interest and abandon the project.
Your reader will yawn if you don’t focus on the scene and only reveal information that is important to that chronology of the story.
Don’t Write on A Sporadic Basis
Sitting down to write for the first time can be the most difficult step for a new writer. The best piece of writing advice is to just get started. You only need to scribble a single word to get started.
Set a daily word quota if it helps. Many authors set aside time each day to write in order to improve their time management abilities.
Using an Overabundance of Characters at Once
To tell your story, you’ll need about a dozen characters, which is acceptable provided you introduce them with purpose and in a timely manner.
The reader will become confused and frustrated if you begin detailing all of the characters at once. They’re likely to mix up the characters’ names and personalities, ruining the plot for them.
This leads to our next point…
Make Sure Your Character’s Name Isn’t Difficult to Pronounce
Readers really looking forward to embarking on this great voyage with your protagonist. So, for the love of God, give him or her a name that they can pronounce.
Give them as many strange middle names, last names, clan names, and titles as you wish. You can even have someone utter all of them at once if you tell me your main character’s name is “Saylor.”
Don’t Overlook the Framework of Your Story
Keep your primary story arc in mind at all times. Even while writing ambitiously creatively, it’s vital to think about the technical aspects of narrative, such as timing out character development and building toward the story’s conclusion.
There’s Too Much Action and Not Enough Story
Stories with a lot of action – wars, swords, fights, assassinations – but none of them are really compelling. It’s difficult for me to invest if there isn’t a clear end goal in sight or a reason for what they’re doing.
It’s like going to see a kung-fu movie and discovering that it’s two hours of various unknown people fighting each other nonstop. You might be entertained if you’re a die-hard kung-fu fan, but the majority of moviegoers will be disappointed.
Don’t Put Your Process in A Box
When it comes to creating fantasy adventure books with romance, there are plotters (those who methodically plan) and pantsers (those who write on the spur of the moment) (who fly by the seat of their pants).
Be open-minded and experiment with different styles to determine what works best for you. A plotter plots out the story and begins the novel-writing process with an outline, which is useful if you’re afraid of the blank page.
A pantser sits down at their computer with a more laid-back attitude to creating fiction, following the tale wherever it leads them.
The Bottom Line
So those are a few main “flaws” that can cause me to abandon a book or reduce my star rating by several notches.
Some may be more specialized to my reading preferences, but many would appeal to other fantasy fans. Of course, there are likely more, but these are the top common mistakes. So, must avoid them when writing fantasy adventure books with romance.
