Let me help plan your castle onslaught. Fantasy as a genre continues to broaden in scope and popularity. Romantasy, grimdark, fable, and s-f top both on best seller lists and streaming services. From cozy novellas and epics spanning multiple volumes to movies and television, speculative fiction provides us with an increasingly necessary escapism and cultural critique. Writing these words have their own unique challenges, the primary challenge, the struggle between the comfort of a recognizable set of tropes and the thrilling novelty of a fresh approach. I believe structure helps a writer avoid the pitfalls of hackneyed devices while also acting as a prompt when feeling uninspired or just bogged down. Join this class and discover the tools to help you write your fantasy book with ease.

Part 1: I will provide a rundown of various frameworks and tropes used in fantasy storytelling. Three-acts, hero’s journeys, and all the most popular arcs will be covered, as will the various linear and non-linear styles of presentation.

Part 2: You will provide a synopsis, even an elevator pitch is enough, for a piece you are considering or are currently writing, be it a story, novel or script. We will workshop a tentative structure for that piece.

Part 3: We will discuss the ways in which we can use our structural notions to inspire creativity and engage in a productive process.