So you want to write Sword and Sorcery Fantasy
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Do you want to write Sword and Sorcery? Or maybe you just want to know what makes this fantasy sub-genre unique? I will share my experiences and understanding of the genre, share some common misconceptions, what I love about it, and a slew of helpful resources!
This video is part of a larger collaboration with Nicole Wilbur and some other authortubers where we're sharing what we've learned about the genres we love to write. Please watch the rest of the playlist!
Collaboration - So you want to write a book in 2024 - • So you want to write a...
Nicole's channel: @NicoleWilbur
Resources Mentioned in this Video:
Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot by Jane Cleland
Action by Robert McKee
Story by Robert McKee
Medieval Swordsmanship by John Clements
Writing Fight Scenes by Rayne Hall
Story Genius by Lisa Cron
Character by Robert McKee
Morally Gray characters with Fonda Lee • Morally Gray Character...
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer
Everyday Life in the Middle Ages by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary
The Secret History of Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford
On Writing and Worldbuilding by Timothy Hickson @HelloFutureMe
00:00 Intro
00:30 What is Sword and Sorcery
03:39 Why I love Sword and Sorcery
04:56 Resources
13:11 Misconceptions
14:59 Advice for new Sword and Sorcery Writers
16:09 Outro
----- LINKS -----
Website: www.madelinejameswrites.com/
Instagram: / author_mjames
Twitter: / author_mjames - Zábava
Another good example of sword and sorcery is the Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock: an anti-conan that was almost revolutionary to the genre and inspired many more modern stories
I also write Sword and Sorcery. It is good to see it getting some love, and I am even more happy to see women getting on board with it.
I hope that sword and sorcery can make a comeback just like in the 1980s 💪 aga9
No it isn't. If anything, women are absolutely ruining it.
Here to spread some sword & sorcery love. Great video ❤❤❤
This was awesome!! a) I clearly need to read sword & sorcery - love all the morally grey characters and b) I just added like 5 books to my tbr 😂 Thank youuu!
Thank you!!! I hope you like them!
*clicks subscribe* This is a great play list! Love your breakdown on what makes a Sword and Sorcery story.
Thank you!
Fantasy is just so cool!
I love fantasy, but I had no idea that one of the subgenres I love is Sword and Sorcery! I really enjoyed listening to you talking about the genre and thank you for sharing your resources ☺
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed 😊
This was great, Madeline! Those sword fighting books look amazing.
They're a blast, honestly!
I loooove Hello Future Me!!!
This is an incredibly informative video! Your thorough breakdown of the sword and sorcery subgenre really displays the distinct nuances, and the resources you shared will certainly aid aspiring writers. I appreciate your emphasis on character depth and development (as I feel like that is important with fantasy stories especially). Great video!! :) I also love your background!! You fit it so perfectly :)
Aww thank you so much!
Great video. Always nice to see someone appreciate S&S. I’m also a fan of Robert McKee. I’ve been to a couple of his seminars and got my copy of Story autographed. I’m going to check out those fencing books. I find that Thibault cancels out Capoferro. Don’t you? :)
Thank you! And I don't think I'm familiar enough yet to say haha
One thing I absolutely enjoy about sword and sorcery fantasy is the story is heavily character-focused which is what I enjoy. I truly enjoy character interaction in just about any media. Whether it’s in books, movies, tv shows, and in my favorite case, video games. In fact many of my inspirations for character building come from the video games I play but I’ll get back to this later.
I myself am writing a book but it’s not Sword and Sorcery fantasy. It’s actually a Post-Apocalypse Action Thriller which deals with justice and revenge. The story is about a young Army Ranger (Not U.S. Army) war veteran who leaves military service after six years of fighting. Only to watch his mother die weeks later who was a witness to a crime. He doesn’t take revenge right away but after his lady friend in the FBI (who may or may not be a possible love interest) fails to launch an investigation on his behalf despite her best efforts, this is the point when he decides to go on a killing spree of criminals. So yeah expect a lot of gun action in this story. This story is inspired by The Punisher and Fallout: New Vegas.
My friend who loves fantasy way more than I do encouraged me to write a fantasy story. Although the idea intrigued me, I wasn’t sure where to start until I came across sword and sorcery like Conan The Barbarian. Combine that with my time playing Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, I feel I now have an idea of where to start from character building and a goal to give my main characters. The characters being a barbarian and a sorceress being forced to work together. Think of it like… A medieval fantasy buddy cop story. Lol
Eventually however, I do intend to combine both of these stories to form a five-man band. The Army Ranger as the leader, the FBI lady as the lancer, the Computer Hacker kid as the heart, the Barbarian as the big guy, and the Sorceress as the smart lady. (Note: Keep in mind that the sorceress and the hacker both share the smart person role but under different contexts.) Like imagine the Hacker kid asking questions on how magic works and the Sorceress asking questions how hi-tech stuff like computers and cars work. Or the Barbarian asking the Army Ranger and FBI chick how guns work and often mistakes them for staffs and wands from his world. So much fun interactions could occur with this kind of team.
But yeah back to the video games thing I mentioned in the beginning, I actually like to play open-world action-based video games of both sci-fi and fantasy that have custom character creation. I’m a sucker for this type of feature in games because I can actually create the character in how I want them to look like and as I play the game with those characters, I can loot whatever gear necessary to properly represent how I envision them to be. Bonus points if these games have mod support which I also have for the games I play like Fallout 4 and Skyrim.
If there’s one thing both of these stories will have, it’s probably going to be a subtle romantic subplot. For example with my post-apocalypse characters of the Army Ranger guy and the FBI chick, the guy is immediately awestruck meeting her for the first time and even goes out of his way to give her flowers at one point. But their budding romantic relationship becomes a bit more complicated once the guy undertakes his vigilante justice killing spree and even when she eventually sides with him, the two contrast one another on their ideas of justice. Similarly the Barbarian and the Sorceress don’t take kindly on one another’s approaches in combat. What with one viewing magic as a coward’s thing and the other seeing him as nothing more than a dumb mindless brute. Which of course both eventually realize they’re wrong about one another but that’s something else entirely.
But yeah I do enjoy these types of character-based and action-focused stories. It really keeps me turning the pages just dying to know what will happen to these characters each time I continue to follow them. One time I read a story like this and I swear I could not put the book down and before I knew it, it was almost nighttime. And I started reading it in the morning! 😂😂
Edit: One more take I have about the sword and sorcery genre - Despite the name, I do not believe the main hero has to be armed with a sword in the story. I mean they can be, but I don’t think it should be treated as necessary. My Barbarian character is not armed with a sword but instead prefers to use axes. Both one-handed and two-handed most especially. This is due to his past of cutting trees for a living before he became a bloodthirsty adventurer. I firmly believe the “sword” in sword and sorcery is the combat aspect scattered throughout the story.
Also one thing to know about my post-apocalyptic characters particularly: Unlike my Barbarian and Sorceress, the Army Ranger and the FBI chick are not Caucasian. The soldier is actually ethnically Filipino (just like me lol) and the cop chick is ethnically Mexican although she does have European-like features like a fair complexion. The reason for these choices for these characters has to do with the history of both Filipinos and Mexicans being bros for centuries. That and their homeland is called “Calivada” which is literally the U.S. states California and Nevada forming into one country after an apocalyptic event that took place centuries prior. Just a side note about my first two characters. Lol
Definitely agree about the sword not having to be a sword necessarily! And that's a really fun story idea, I like those kinds of stories too. I haven't read many apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic stories, but I love the video games!
@@madelinejameswrites Yep! Same here! In fact the Fallout franchise alone was what got me so attracted and fascinated with the post-apocalypse genre. Why I like it so much is because it really explores the human element of the absence of law and order. If law and order ceased to exist, would you continue to be a good person? Or will you cause evil?
@@nicholascauton9648 yeah, absolutely. Love that game.
0:52 but despite those life and death stakes the first take made it in
Nooooooo
So if I wanted to read some of your S&S, where would I find it?
I don't have anything published yet! But thank you 😊
For someone that is researching S&S you definitely hit a lot of the key elements. Another can be having an aspect of cosmic horror. Are you studying HEMA, fencing or some other sword s hool?
HEMA mainly and I do some C&T with SCA as well
With movies like highlander reboot red sonja reboot as well as deathstalker remake in development hopefully the sword and Sorcery genre of movies and TV Series can make a comeback just like in the 1980s
The witcher is high fantasy not sword and sorcery.
You don't think it fits both genres?
I’m pretty sure it’s inspired by Elric of melbibone. S&S
Witcher is most certainly S&S
@@potatopower2144 dude . It's not .
@@guillermocaliz2488 If by inspiration you mean plagiarized.