Til Def

Following the immense success of Volume I with over 35,000 copies sold, On Writing and Worldbuilding: Volume II brings a host of new topics to table in even more detail and depth. Writing advice tends to be full of 'rules' and 'tips' which are either too broad to be helpful or outright wrong. Aimed at specific, applicable, and practical discussions, from writing fight scenes to first-person narration to hard and soft worldbuilding, Volume II is a 'must have'. On Writing Fight Scenes Handling Pacing Mentor Characters Positive Arcs and Redemption Arcs Power Escalation in a Magic System Flashbacks and Backstory Civil Wars First-person Narration Dark Lords On Worldbuilding Fantasy and Alien Races World Histories Monarchies Place Names Class, Wealth, and Power How Class Systems are Maintained How Class Systems Collapse Cities and Towns Hard versus Soft Worldbuilding PREFACE ON WRITING WRITING FIGHT SCENES Long versus short sentences Cause and effect Where should you give detail in a fight scene? Making it easy to follow Word choice Playing to the strengths of the novel medium How do you balance internalisation and action? Dialogue Scene structure Keeping it interesting Does the fight scene really matter? Magic systems Realism Summary HANDLING PACING Micro pacing The Sidequest Problem The Big Thing Subtext Summary WRITING MENTOR CHARACTERS Type of Insight Mentors and negative arcs The action-reaction scene The emotional opposition scene The action-lesson scene Humanising mentor characters Killing the mentor Designing the mentor Summary POSITIVE ARCS AND REDEMPTION ARCS How redemption arcs begin Making a convincing change Zuko’s redemption arc Failure makes success meaningful The meaning of redemption Summary POWER ESCALATION IN A MAGIC SYSTEM Character arc-aligned power escalation Escalation and tension Power ceilings Incomparables Character challenges Summary FLASHBACKS AND BACKSTORY Should the flashback be included at all? An exception The two kinds of flashback Making flashbacks work Scene structure Recontextualisation Summary WRITING CIVIL WARS Tension and national identity Three realistic factors in civil war Character arcs The first act The tragedy of the setting Summary WRITING IN FIRST PERSON Psychic Distance Developing a strong character voice Delivering exposition in first person Inference Confiding in the reader The first-person medium Summary WRITING DARK LORDS Good versus evil Character arcs Dark lords are people too Creating an active villain Establishing the dark lord as a threat Reader attachment to the secondary villain Summary ON WORLDBUILDING FANTASY AND ALIEN RACES Realism Where to start Biological pressures Culture The Planet of Hats Universal pressures The dangers of allegory Summary WORLD HISTORIES Where to start The problem with the Great Event The Pillars of History The reliability of history and its records How historical records change Historical narratives and personal identity Summary MONARCHIES Types of Monarchy Constitutionalism De jure and de factor power Communication, control, and commerce The Royal Court How monarchies collapse A good king a good kingdom maketh not Summary PLACE NAMES How they start How names change Power A practical example Summary CLASS, WEALTH, AND POWER Wealth, power, and status Social mobility Magic and technology Caste systems Class culture Summary HOW CLASS SYSTEMS ARE MAINTAINED Maintaining a class structure The rich and powerful Class systems are not static things The origins of class Summary HOW CLASS SYSTEMS COLLAPSE Peaceful change Violent changes After class? Plague War Summary CITIES AND TOWNS The Ancient Era The pre-industrial era City states Political centralisation The Industrial Era Beyond the industrial era Why cities change and adapt Summary HARD WORLDBUILDING VERSUS SOFT WORLDBUILDING