Lesson One- The Basics

A Lesson by Namikai

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Without knowing the basics, your writing can't be writing at all. Basics exist everywhere and in everything we do. From drawing a picture, to reading or writing.

First, one important factor is understanding what you want your writing to be about. I don't always plan, but I always have a general idea of where I want my stories to go. You should know about your characters, your setting, and most importantly, which kind of fantasy and/or mythology you want to use. Or if you want, you can create your own, but that's a later lesson.

Let's start with an idea. Say you want to write a story about some street kids who end up changing the world. Well, how do they meet and what are their backgrounds? What does each person specialize in? I believe that examples are the best to learn from, so read the following example and see what comes to mind:

Our characters name is going to be Evan Blake. He's around nineteen and has chin length, choppy, black hair. His eyes are an unusual shade of red. Most people try to avoid him, which he doesn't really mind. Let's say his family is rich, but they kicked him out because they couldn't stand his ideas on how things in the family should be. He left when he was little and when he returned, his entire family was murdered, driving him over the edge. He was born a vampire but doesn't like the thought of drinking human blood. From then, he moves to all sorts of countries, including Europe where he meets the queen, Ireland, where he parties, and eventually to America where he meets a beautiful girl. He tries not to give his secret away, but she finds out. From then, the story can take off more.

I got a little out of hand there, sorry. But you get what I'm saying. That's the basic outline of a character that is a creature and is in reality. You can use real places and real times. You can even use real people if you would like (being careful not to upset whoever you are using). From there, you create your other main characters. You also need to add lesser characters that don't really have a whole lot to do with the main story line (without them you wouldn't have a story).

After your character work is done, you should create the basic outline of your fantasy world. If you want to use a different dimension or Realm, then feel free to and name it if you would like. But, just as with the characters, you need to add detail and bio's for each dimension or Realm that you use. Everything has to be thought out thoroughly. Without knowing the details yourself, your readers may become confused and lose interest in your writing. DETAILS ARE IMPORTANT!!!