Howdy!

Fantasy is something near and dear to my heart, so I decided to actually talk about fantasy and writing stuff today. I’m pretty much in the re-writing/editing stage for most of my current projects, so I decided to compile a list of things to make sure I included. And yes, this is a very serious post. *cough*

1. Every character needs to have at least one apostrophe in their name.

(But seriously. This is one of my pet peeves. Just give characters a normal name. It doesn’t have to be the most creative of all creative names. We need more heroes named Jill or Fred.)

2. Make sure to include some vague astronomical references, up to but not including, stories about the moon/planets/constellations that the hero can remember in times of great tribulation, or when reminiscing about his/her dead parents.

(Astronomy is cool. Plus worldbuilding, yo. So actually do part of this. :P)

3. Speaking of parents – who needs them? Mentors are the way to go.

(Yeah, we all can laugh at this one. But really. #fantasyparentslivesmatter.)

4. Sheltered and isolated teens make the best heroes.

(Yeah, I totally want the fate of my world resting in the hands of the teen who’s never been very far down the dirt road out of town.)

5. Make sure the bad guy has a scary sigil, preferably with monsters or fire, and employs the ugly guys so we definitely know he/she’s the villain.

(Why can’t orcs/goblins fight for the good guys? Or why can’t Hottie McHotFace actually be the bad guy instead of just brooding and handsome?)

6. Make sure there’s plenty of cookies and dessert consumed. Quests need ice cream breaks.

(No, I’m not eating oreos as I’m writing this. That would be ridiculous…)

I need to do 6 more often. In one of my WIPs I’m almost 60K in and I’m pretty sure the characters have only eaten once. They could use some ice cream…

But all tropes aside, what are some things you love to see in Fantasy novels?