solid advice

solid advice in here for an aspirational author. some extraneous stuff too though at the start. also the voice actor got on my nerves at first but he grew on me after I realised he sounds like the voice of a video game tutorial, except he was giving me tips on how to write. some advice like how to organise your workspace is pointless but apart from that it gives good advice for any aspiring author in an easily digestible manner.

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Perfect For Those Interested in Writing Fantasy

I really enjoyed how clear and concise the information was in this book as it delved deep into the heart of how to be better at writing fantasy, making it seem like something that's within my grasp. I've always dreamed of being an author and this book was perfect for laying the groundwork and getting me moving in the right direction. The book also gave some helpful tips on writing in general which are incredibly useful for everyday life.
The voice performance was engaging and I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone.

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Definitely worth reading, especially if you write

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Blaine Hart; His depth of knowledge and insight are on display on every page of this book. Though a lot of the advice is foundational and suitable for beginners, as an intermediate writer I found plenty to learn. Occasionally, it feels like a collection of thoughts around a theme rather than an argument that flows throughout a section, but each portion contains valuable gems.

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Just What I Needed to Start Writing Fantasy Books!

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This book has given me so much information about how to start writing fantasy books that it has inspired me to write one (or maybe a few)! I used to think that fiction writing is hard and impossible as you need to extensively use your imagination in order to come up with something interesting which is something I am not good at. I never knew that this book is all I needed to kickstart my journey to being an author!

This book contains a lot a of tips and strategies to give you a good start such as how to be a successful writer, how to create the basics of a fantasy story, picking your sub-genre, deciding on a theme, the story goal, and many more!

If you are thinking of writing fantasy books, then this book is definitely for you!

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decent

overall good advice but I wish it spent longer on topics and went into more detail

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Writing fantasy - valuable academic book

‘Writing Fantasy’ by Blaine Hart is a very useful guide how for creative writing fantasy. ‘Writing fantasy’ can be used as an academic book, that has a very professional advice for your writing fantasy genre. Hart's book shows you how to organize your writing process, how to manage your time during writing, how to set up scenery, times of action and choose twist plot and surprise ending to attract reader. Also describe how to choose theme, protagonist and antagonist. ‘Writing fantasy’ is full off example of different characters and magical elements like witches, dragons, elves, ghost and spirits, aliens, magical power, swords, dungeons, apocalypse and much more. ‘Writing fantasy’ show how very reach traditions of mythology, Bible and most popular fantasy authors build up the fantasy genre and give all writers clue how to keep this tradition. Hart explains what is the best techniques of writing fantasy like: show don’t tell that focused on emotional, live expressions that create certain atmosphere.

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Write fantasy stories – tips and techniques

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I especially liked the author’s ideas on how to create a plot twist and reflect your theme in the ending. There is great advice to be followed such as the way to grow your protagonist while they become a better person.

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I have enjoyed listening to the Writing Fantasy book by Blaine Hart. Writing fantasy books can be very exciting but challenging as well and this book offers great tips and advice. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to become an author. The book not only offers tips on writing fantasy books but it gives valuable advice on general writing as well. You can find useful tips on how to prepare your book, fantasy elements usually used in this genre and techniques on writing fantasy stories.
''Keep your details consistent and make your story too'' was a great advice!

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Good insight into the fantasy genre

I have always enjoyed writing but fantasy is a genre I’m not particularly familiar with and so I was interested to see what helpful suggestions this guide would have. It is very helpful in giving an overall insight into the genre, how to develop a meaningful plotline, interesting and relatable characters and a killer conclusion. It is particularly useful for beginners like me that know very little about the fantasy world as it talks through a number of common creature types and how us them in your story. Interesting guide!

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Was I listening to a different book?

I'm astonished by some of the reviews of this audio book. I made the mistake of buying this book on the basis of those reviews. I should have looked at the author's fantasy output before deciding whether he/she had the credibility and track record to be providing advice to others. Looking at Hart's books on Amazon, I find the reviews suspect - the mainly 5-star ratings in stark contrast with reviews of the same books on Goodreads (generally 2 star). Frankly, I think an author who doesn't know the difference between "its" and"it's" or whose hero is expect to "bare" pain rather than "bear" it, should focus on his/her own craft before advising others.
This audio book follows a similar vein. The advice is mainly generic, and could easily have been ripped out of any "write a novel" guide. I got bored an hour in and decided I had better things to do with my time than listen to the rest. "The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction" by Philip Athans is much better.
On the other hand, if your ambitions are limited to writing 50 page "epic" fantasies with amateur covers and copious spelling mistakes/word misuses/grammatical errors/cliches etc then be my guest.

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Disappointing

After reading and listening to several writing books, this one falls a long way below average

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1 person found this helpful