• Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Tahlia Newland

Editor, Author & Artist

  • Editing Services
  • Me & My Creative Life
    • My Books
      • Metaphysical Fiction
    • My Poetry
    • My Masks
    • My Hats
    • Permaculture, Forest & Garden
    • Performing Arts
  • Blog
  • Contact

What makes great fantasy novels great?

August 31, 2016 by Tahlia Newland

 

Dragon Blood
Great fantasy novels

I’ve been reading some great fantasy recently, so good that I read the first in a series then want to read the rest. That’s the kind of book authors want to write and readers want to read. So what makes great fantasy novels great? There are plenty of books out there that don’t have the elements they need to make their stories great, so clearly this is something worth looking at.

Of course writing a great book in any genre is not easy. You never know if what you’re writing will hit that sweet spot with readers or not, but you can know what your story needs to have if it is to have any chance of being popular.

What makes great fantasy novels great?

  • Great plot,
  • Great characters and believable relationships,
  • Great world-building,
  • Believable actions, reactions, dialogue and relationships,
  • Great writing and professional editing.

 

What does ‘great’ mean here?

Great plot

A great plot has a protagonist that readers can root for, plus a clear goal for them to achieve, and a super scary antagonist that tries to stop the protagonist achieving their goal and threatens their life. If you can’t give the basic plot in one or two sentences, and if the protagonist isn’t facing a truly dire situation by the end, it probably isn’t strong enough. Subplots can be woven in around the central plot, of course, and should be unless you’re writing for children.

In addition to this, the element of surprise strengthens a plot. Predictability does not make a great plot. Have the story take at least one unexpected turn. Also make sure that it’s not a copy-cat book, so like all the other fantasy or sci fit novels out there that it’s just more of the same.

Dire situations where the antagonist(s) escape in creative ways are really good too. Generally speaking, the harder you can make life for your characters, the better the story. Make sure they don’t get what they want too easily, but also don’t make it so hard that the story never moves forward.

Great characters and believable relationships

A great character is likeable, complex, well-drawn and realistically flawed. Flawed doesn’t mean they’re nasty or have personal habits people hate. Readers want to like the characters; flawed means that they have weaknesses. They aren’t invincible. They might become invincible by the end of the series, but if they don’t have some weaknesses you have nowhere to take the characters, and readers also want to see the characters develop through the story. The events they experience should change them.

Characters need to also we consistent. If you write someone as intelligent, you can’t have them making stupid mistakes. Yes, they can make mistakes, but ones based on intelligent reasoning as befitting the character you’ve defined.

A sense of humour is a highly endearing trait, so consider having that in at least one of your characters.

No matter who these characters are or what their culture is, their relationships with each other must be believable in terms of human expectations—because your readers are human.

Great world-building

This means that the world is well thought out, well described and consistent. Readers need to be able to see it with their imagination and understand how it works. Cause and effect must function in a logical way in the book’s world, even if the effects are different to what they are in this universe. The magic must be consistent and the physics, politics, and cultures clearly defined. Consistency is vital. Whatever works for the one character must work for the others unless there are clear reasons why it can’t—like the loss of a limb stopping someone from running—and characters must act as they would as a member of the society the author creates.

 

Believable actions, reactions and dialogue

Even if your characters are aliens that don’t look remotely like humans, for the sake of human readers they need to behave in ways that ring true for a human, and that means that they behave essentially as humans do. Anything else will not ring true unless the world building is so exceptional that the reader can understand why a character does something that seems completely wrong.

Readers need to see characters reacting as well as acting, and their speech should sound natural. If they speak in a strange way due to their culture or race, that’s fine, but it should still sound ‘right when you read it aloud, at least right and natural for that character.

Great writing and professional editing

These go hand in hand because the author and their editors are a team. Defining great writing is beyond the scope of this post, but I deal with it in depth in my book The Elements of Active Prose: Writing Tips to Make Your Prose Shine—a book that has been hailed by many reviewers as one that all authors should have. A good editor will do more than correct grammar, punctuation and spelling, they will also pick up any short falls in the author’s prose and improve it.

A few typos won’t bother most readers, but though readers mostly don’t know exactly what makes good writing, most recognise poor writing, and they all respond well to good writing.

I love to hear your comments, so tell me: what great fantasy books have you read?

If you enjoyed this blog post don’t forget to share it. 

And if you’d like to read more of my posts, you can subscribe to new content delivered by email (see the button on the right side bar). 

If you sign up to my author newsletter you’ll get the first book in my young adult fantasy series free. I won’t inundate you with emails; I won’t share your details, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

You can also follow me on all sorts of social media by clicking the buttons at the top of my website.

And please take a look in my bookshop before you go.  If you like stories with a contemplative element mixed with lots of action, you’ll enjoy my books.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Writing tips Tagged With: Fantasy novels, writing good books

« Stunning mask video
Can you help me name an airship? »

Search

Recent Posts

  • Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin
  • Book Genres – What you Need to Know.
  • How to See Edits in Word Documents
  • Finding an Editor You Can Trust
  • Review of ‘The Guild Codex Spellbound Series’ by Annette Marie

View Posts by Category

Writing a novel? Feeling overwhelmed? Get new insight and inspiration with my FREE Novel Revision Checklist. 

DOWNLOAD  NOW

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Free Book Download  
Get Lethal Inheritance free when you sign up to my new release email list.  I won’t share your details and you can unsubscribe at any time.

My Latest Books

  • Fallout: Recovering from Abuse in Tibetan Buddhism
  • The Elements of Active Prose: Writing Tips to Make Your Prose Shine
  • The Locksmith's Secret
    Rated 5.00 out of 5

Alliance of Independent Authors

Alliance of Independent Authors

Click HERE to see all my books.

Books
Reviews, Writing, Cats & Contemplation
Editing

Click HERE to subscribe to my newsletter and get my fantasy novel Lethal Inheritance FREE. 

How to Meditate – the crucial points

See more

Hi I’m Tahlia Newland

I can help you express yourself and share your story with the world.

 

Do you want to write a really good story and have it professionally polished and published?

As an editor, I help you be the best writer you can possibly be. I strengthen your voice, support your vision and can assist you all the way to publication.

On my blog you’ll find book reviews, writer’s tips, contemplative articles on meditation and working with your mind, and occaisonally pictures of my Burmese cats.

If you’re interested mostly in my contemplative articles then  Sign up to the Living in Peace & Clarity Newsletter to get those articles delivered by email. And check out the resources on my Living in Peace and Clarity Page.

I do a lot of community work involving blogging and general support for Buddhist students processing revelations of abuse in their spiritual communities.  Please consider supporting me to continue this work.

Occiasonally, when inspired and not too busy with community work, I make masks.

All my books are

Visit my Mask & Steampunk Accessories Shop

2015-03-19 15.46.12
Blue Burmese
Like cats in stories? Check out my books. And click the photo to read the cat colomn.

Click Here for More Articles in This Series

Book reviews – sci fi, fantasy, literary fiction, Buddhist fiction and related non-fiction

Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin

Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin

The High Priestess: Persephone’s Return is the third book in Val Tobin’s Tales from the Unmasqued World Series, and in it she deepens and expands the stories from the previous two book. The book has two central story arcs based around characters we’ve met before. One arc follows Kelsey (a human) who is with Josh […]

More Posts from this Category

My gorgeous Burmese cats

Renovated Website & Cute Cat Series

Renovated Website & Cute Cat Series

Yesterday I did a photoshoot for my renovated website. Take a look around, particulary at the home page (Click on my name at the top to go there). It’s designed for editing clients with my books secondary because I need to focus on the part of this publishing business that actually earns me more than […]

More Posts from this Category

Seven of my novels have an Awesome Indies Seal of Excellence

Four of my books earned BRAG Medallions

I abide by the ethical author code

I'm an Ethical Author
Alliance of Independent Authors

Copyright

All material on this website is under copyright to Tahlia Newland and cannot be shared without written permission.

  • Editing Services
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • My Masks
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 · Amoré Theme by Oh, Hello Designs on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

FREE Novel Revision Checklist

Written a book? Need some help reviewing and revising it? Download my Novel Revision Checklist for step by step guidance.  

DOWNLOAD NOW

no thanks

{"cookieName":"wBounce","isAggressive":false,"isSitewide":true,"hesitation":"120","openAnimation":false,"exitAnimation":false,"timer":"","sensitivity":"","cookieExpire":"7","cookieDomain":"","autoFire":"","isAnalyticsEnabled":false}

Please note: I am closed for holidays from Christmas day until Jan 30th 2023. Dismiss

 

Loading Comments...