How I Write Fantasy...

I'm going to be writing up some posts in the next several weeks in regards to my views of writing fantasy and more importantly how I write fantasy. Things I have worked on, things that took me a long freakin' time to create. Now, this may or may not help you if you are a fantasy writer, time will only tell. Most fantasy writers take so long in writing their work because of all the world building they have to do. Others just wing it.

So what, first of all, does world building include? Well, that depends on how far you want to get into it. Here is what my world building included:

* Magic

*Kingdoms

*Laws

*Creatures

*Characters

*Money

*Gods and Goddesses

These are just the main things. In each of those categories, there are numerous sub-categories. I had to make lots of decisions regarding the list above.

In making decisions on my world, in general, I had to start out with some pretty mundane stuff regarding the sun, moon, stars and so on.

Might sound silly to you, but in writing fantasy, you're here to think outside of the box. I literally came up with several choices on those basic things and rolled the dice. Not kidding! I used to play Dungeons and Dragons, so I pulled out all my dice. Six sided, four sided, twenty sided and I rolled, baby!

My world has two suns. If you think this might be a hot climate, it isn't really. The second sun is really, really tiny when you look at it up in the sky of my world.

I have one moon in my night sky and of course, my stars make up their own constellations which had to be written down in folklore and the like. I even have a story about the moon. I'm still working on the constellations and the stories associated with them.

So, over the next several weeks, I'll be posting things about my world and choosing from those categories above. Bear with me, as I worked on this world for well over ten years and it still isn't done or is it perfect. I'm constantly adding to it and changing things, but most of what I have is set in stone and is here to stay. So I hope you enjoy what I have to share!

Creatures of my World...

I have a portfolio on Writing.com under the user name Caledonia Lass. I subscribe to a few newsletters there and the Fantasy one asked about creatures, world creation and things like that. So I am going to share my creatures here. Since I have several different types of creatures, I'll just pick one per post.

I have some of the usual ones. You know, like Dwarves and Elves. Things like that. Hey, it is Fantasy you know. While I have several odd creatures I've created, it proved to be a task not unlike character development. You need to create a background for some of them as to how they were created or what happened to create them. Others are just there and undiscovered like the creatures of our world. Folklore is often used to point people in the direction of the creatures, but sometimes folklore isn't always accurate.

Let's begin with my Dargorians. These came about through a brainstorming session with my husband. In my world of Eir du'Brusai, there is a "shattered continent". (I have yet to draw it out on my map) It is named due to the meteor that crashed into it causing islands to form in the ocean in a somewhat perfect circle surrounding the crater. On these islands there were dragons and over the years, they developed into humanoids called Dargorians. Dragons still exist in their original form in other areas of the world as well. While Dargorians follow the traditional dragon types, i.e. Crystal, Amethyst, etc., they have "human" qualities. Qualities such as speech in their own language as well as common languages. Their snouts have shortened so they can manage this speech. Their talons extend out like fingers, some of their scales are softer and more malleable enough to be braided like hair. When they take a mate, they mate for life and usually die directly after their mate. The bond they share is akin to "soul mates" as they feel what the other feels, share thoughts. They stand over nine feet tall and walk on two legs rather than four, they can fly and are very philosophical in nature. They're often very curious creatures and pour over tomes and scrolls to learn as much as they can. Typical dragon behavior. Sort of.

One in particular is my favorite. Her name is Aun. When she stands before people, she will fold her wings around her like a cloak. The two claws at the outer edge of her wings will hook together to form a clasp. She has a mane of softer scales and are usually braided and adorned with jewelry. Aun cannot belch fire, but she can emit a sonic scream that rips the flesh from her adversaries. Because of her scream, she does not speak like some of the others. Instead, she uses telepathy to communicate. Even a chuckle from her would hurt those around her, so she has to be very careful. She's shy, she's quiet. She doesn't like to be around people, so she'll hide out in shadows, on rooftops and keep to herself. Her best friend is Onetta, who happens to be a Kefferling. Which will lead me to those creatures next time. :D

Have any favorite creatures you've either read about or created yourself?