Table of Contents
Preface 12
On Writing 15
Writing Fight Scenes 16
Long versus short sentences 17
Cause and effect 20
Where should you give detail in a fight scene? 22
Making it easy to follow 27
Word choice 30
Playing to the strengths of the novel medium 32
How do you balance internalisation and action? 34
Dialogue 36
Scene structure 37
Keeping it interesting 41
Does the fight scene really matter? 42
Magic systems 43
Realism 45
Summary 46
Handling Pacing 48
Micro pacing 49
The Sidequest Problem 53
The Big Thing 56
Subtext 56
Summary 61
Writing Mentor Characters 63
Type of Insight 64
Mentors and negative arcs 67
The action-reaction scene 68
The emotional opposition scene 70
The action-lesson scene 72
Humanising mentor characters 73
Killing the mentor 76
Designing the mentor 77
Summary 77
Positive Arcs and Redemption Arcs 79
How redemption arcs begin 80
Making a convincing change 82
Zuko's redemption arc 83
Failure makes success meaningful 85
The meaning of redemption 88
Summary 91
Power Escalation in a Magic System 93
Character arc-aligned power escalation 93
Escalation and tension 96
Power ceilings 98
Incomparables 99
Character challenges 101
Summary 102
Flashbacks and Backstory 103
Should the flashback be included at all? 104
An exception 107
The two kinds of flashback 107
Making flashbacks work 109
Scene structure 110
Recontextualisation 113
Summary 115
Writing Civil Wars 117
Tension and national identity 117
Three realistic factors in civil war 119
Character arcs 122
The first act 123
The tragedy of the setting 124
Summary 125
Writing in First Person 126
Psychic Distance 127
Developing a strong character voice 129
Delivering exposition in first person 132
Inference 133
Confiding in the reader 135
The first-person medium 136
Summary 137
Writing Dark Lords 138
Good versus evil 139
Character arcs 142
Dark lords are people too 143
Creating an active villain 145
Establishing the dark lord as a threat 146
Reader attachment to the secondary villain 147
Summary 148
On Worldbuilding 150
Fantasy and Alien Races 151
Realism 152
Where to start 154
Biological pressures 155
Culture 157
The Planet of Hats 158
Universal pressures 160
The dangers of allegory 161
Summary 163
World Histories 164
Where to start 164
The problem with the Great Event 166
The Pillars of History 169
The reliability of history and its records 170
How historical records change 172
Historical narratives and personal identity 173
Summary 175
Monarchies 177
Types of Monarchy 177
Constitutionalism 181
De jure and de factor power 182
Communication, control, and commerce 185
The Royal Court 188
How monarchies collapse 189
A good king a good kingdom maketh not 191
Summary 193
Place Names 195
How they start 195
How names change 198
Power 200
A practical example 202
Summary 203
Class, Wealth, and Power 205
Wealth, power, and status 205
Social mobility 208
Magic and technology 211
Caste systems 211
Class culture 214
Summary 216
How Class Systems are Maintained 217
Maintaining a class structure 217
The rich and powerful 220
Class systems are not static things 224
The origins of class 225
Summary 228
How Class Systems Collapse 230
Peaceful change 230
Violent changes 233
After class? 235
Plague 236
War 237
Summary 238
Cities and Towns 240
The Ancient Era 240
The pre-industrial era 243
City states 245
Political centralisation 245
The Industrial Era 246
Beyond the industrial era 248
Why cities change and adapt 249
Summary 249
Hard Worldbuilding Versus Soft Worldbuilding 251
