Are There Any Lies That Your OC Has Told That They Didnt Want To Tell? If So, Did They Ever Reveal The

Are there any lies that your OC has told that they didn’t want to tell? If so, did they ever reveal the truth?

How open is your OC about themselves and their past? Are they more likely to volunteer information, or to wait until asked?

20 Mistakes To Avoid In Fantasy Stories

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– This is the second installment of an ongoing “20 Mistakes to Avoid in…(insert genre here)” series, which started with 20 Mistakes To Avoid in YA Romance. I’ve decided to continue this series, but written in a more concise fashion so that it’s a lighter read for you guys with all of the same main ideas and key points. I hope you enjoy this as much as the first, and if you have any requests for more articles in this series, leave them in the comments below!

Being Impatient

Develop your story at a steady pace that makes sense for your plot and your characters. Don’t base the pacing of your story on other fantasy novels. This happens a lot in Fantasy, typically with political turmoil and development of relationships, with political systems being explained very slowly to a point where you forget important details, and romance being forced to develop too quickly, which makes it feel unrealistic and disingenuous.

Not Thinking Outside The Box

Your story doesn’t have to mirror the typical characteristics of fantasy. Explore ways to diversify your cast that aren’t just mimicking whatever series you just read. Create unique political systems that your characters struggle with. Make your characters’ traits contradictory, rather than assigning them an archetype.

Having Loose Rules For Your Magic System

Magic systems need hard lines and declared limitations. Magic systems without those things are boring to write and lazy-looking to critical readers. Magic shouldn’t be your characters’ all-powerful saving grace whenever you don’t feel like coming up with an actual method of clever escape from danger.

Unoriginally Using Common Creatures

Having dragons and fairies is completely okay in fantasy, but it will be hard to get away with including those things when you have put no unique spin on them that leaves a specific version of that character in your reader’s mind when they think of your story. 

Unoriginal “Chosen One” Plots

“Chosen One” plots are interesting and they’re inescapable, but like the use of universally popular fairytale creatures, you need to put a unique and stylistic twist on the original idea to make your story stand out in the reader’s memory.

Boring, Overused Settings

Forests are cool. Have a scene in a forest. But make it a forest that is unique to the world in your book, with characteristics specific to your story setting, and with purposeful details that add to the progression of the plot.

Self-Insert Main Characters

Don’t base characters on yourself. Add your quirks and behaviours to characters sparingly and with intention. If you have a quirk that happens to seem like something a character would do, sure, have them adopt it, but otherwise, separate your own image from the story. You’ll be too easy on your characters if you base them on yourself.

Slow Beginnings

Don’t start your story with an embarrassingly slow exposition. In fantasy, it’s valuable to take the advice of “starting in the middle of the action”. This doesn’t mean start in the middle of the plot, but don’t start weeks and weeks ahead of it either. Find a happy medium.

Too Many Characters

It’s great to juggle a bunch of characters in one story, but be realistic. Your reader needs to be able to keep up. The main thing you must do is recognize the difference between a main character, a secondary character, and a supporting character, and then develop them appropriately.

Info Dumping

Reveal information to your readers gradually and at appropriate points in your story, not in several huge paragraphs scattered throughout the story whenever you realize, “oh no, they need to know this, here’s the complete rundown in a massive paragraph, including lore”.

Boring, Underdeveloped Cast

On the other side of the point of too many characters, make sure that your main cast has the majority of your attention. Have a few fully developed characters, then several characters that are somewhat developed, but basically only explained to the point where they need be.

Lacking Plot Full Of Repetitive Action

Don’t include an action scene if it serves no purpose or is a complete retelling of an action scene that has already occurred. Develop your plot rather than include action because you think a fantasy novel needs 12 6-page action scenes that all read the exact same way with the exact same outcome.

Skimping On The Female Characters

Female characters should be developed as people, not “strong female relatable characters”. Don’t make a female character completely indifferent to men simply because you want the reader to know she doesn’t need one. Blandly put, a female character can have a happy relationship, a gentle demeanor, and not know how to hold a gun, and still demonstrate strength, resilience, and badassery. Strength comes in different forms. That’s all.

Not Diversifying The Cast

Make casts diverse. Don’t try to make up excuses for not having people of color or people of different sexualities in fantasy. If your book doesn’t include humans, fine, but otherwise, please do yourself a favor and be inclusive.

Unnecessarily Confusing The Reader

Try to state the details of your story in a way your readers can understand and carry into their reading experience. If you make up a language for your story, explain it simply. If the political system is completely unlike any your reader has seen, explain it. Of course, you should leave some room to connect the dots, but not all readers learn that stuff the same, or understand it fully from small traces of information.

Stupid Antagonists

Make smart, cunning, ambitious, and interesting antagonists with complicated emotions, realistic trauma, understandable points of view, and qualities the reader can empathize with.

Making Fantasy Worlds Paradise

Not every part of any world would be believably fantastical and perfect. Lack of roughness and hardship in your world will disconnect your reader, because nobody has experienced a utopia and they cannot empathize with it.

Not Making Magic Cost Anything

The best magical systems are the ones where magic comes with a price. That creates stakes, stakes create tension, and tension builds suspension and makes your story addictive to your reader. If magic doesn’t cost anything, your characters will use it all the time for everything for no reason and your story will probably be uninteresting.

Overdoing It

Fantasy worlds should be interesting and unique, but understandable to the reader. Don’t make your world or your plot so complex and out of the framework of fantasy or your reader will be confused the entire time. 

Ignoring Implications of World Elements

Everything that occurs will have consequences. Show those consequences. If a castle is blown to bits, the people in and around it will be affected. If one uses magic to kill someone, that someone’s family will be in mourning, people will find out, there will be investigation, etc. Consider the implications of the events in your story, as well as how world-building details will affect your characters’ conflict-resolution.

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Has your OC ever been the subject of a wanted or missing poster?

The problem must be unavoidable. The character must have no choice but to make a decision—no choice but to act. There must be a believable reason why the character can’t just run away or avoid the problem altogether. And there must be a believable reason why the crisis must be faced now, rather than just delayed. If a character faces a problem that can easily be avoided, the situation may strain our disbelief and cause us to feel frustrated. For example, if a family is staying the night at a hotel which turns out to be haunted and blood is dripping from the walls, why can’t they just leave? Make sure it’s a good reason. A lack of gas wouldn’t stop many people from running away from a death motel. Closely related to this is idea of unavoidability is urgency. Urgency is all about lack of time. Why doesn’t the character have time (to avoid the problem/conflict)?

List of Elemental Abilities

Air/Wind

Aerokinesis -manipulate the air, wind, and gas.

Aeroportation - teleport using air/wind currents.

Air Mimicry - transform into a cloud of gas, fog, or mist.

Atmokinesis - manipulate the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Deoxygenation - suck up all the oxygen from a place.

Lung Adaptation - breath anywhere

Wind Generation - create blasts of air.

Divine Winds Manipulation - create and control heavenly winds.

Dark Wind Manipulation - create and control eerie winds.

Earth

Geokinesis - control, manipulate, and reshape the earth at will.

Atmokinesis - control and manipulate the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Crystallokinesis - manipulate minerals and crystals.

Ferrokinesis… manipulate metal at will.

Fraxikinesis - manipulate burnt matter.

Geo-Thermokinesis - manipulate, control, and create lava, magma and volcanoes.

Golem Creation - make golems out of inanimate materials like rocks, wood, plants, magma, etc.

Granulation… can turn things into sand.

Halokinesis - control and manipulate salt.

Hyalokinesis - control and manipulate glass.

Koniokinesis - manipulate and control dust particles.

Plassikinesis - manipulate and control all forms of plastic.

Psammokinesis - can control and manipulate sand.

Terrakinesis - control, manipulate and alter/reshape the surrounding terrain and landscape at will.

Terraportation - teleport via the earth and earth-based materials.

Sacred Earth Manipulation - Create, manipulate, control, reshape divine earth minerals.

Black Earth Manipulation - Create, manipulate and control tainted and evil earth minerals.

Fire

Pyrokinesis - create, control and manipulate fire, flame and heat.

Atmokinesis - control and manipulate the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Fire Breath - breathe out flames.

Geo-Thermokinesis - manipulate lava, magma and volcanoes.

Heliokinesis - manipulate and control the sun and sunlight.

Hell-Fire Manipulation - Generate and control flames of hell.

Holy Fire Manipulation - Generate and control flames of Heaven.

Inflammation - burn things.

Melting - heat molecules to melt things.

Plasmakinesis - can control plasma.

Pyrotechnics - create fireworks.

Self-Detonation - explode self and reform.

Thermokinesis - create, control and manipulate heat.

Water

Hydrokinesis - manipulate and control liquid water and mold it into any desired shape or form.

Aquatic Adaptation - adapted to underwater living.

Aquatic Respiration - breathe underwater.

Atmokinesis- control and manipulate the various aspects of the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Dehydration - absorb water.

Hydroportation - teleport across short or long distances through liquid water.

Water Mimicry - turn into liquid water.

Holy Water Manipulation - create, manipulate and control graceful waters.

Dark Water Manipulation - create, manipulate and control evil and dangerous waters.

Darkness

Umbrakinesis - can manipulate and control darkness or shadows.

Animated Shadow - Animate one’s shadow.

Light Absorption - block out light in an area.

Night Vision - see in the dark.

Sacred Darkness - create holy darkness.

Shadow Camouflage - be unseen in shadows.

Shadow Mimicry - become a shadow.

Umbrageous Teleportation - teleport via the shadows and darkness.

Electricity/Lightning

Quintessence Force -Can generate whitish-blue lightning that also contains pure life energy.

Electrokinesis - control, generate or absorb electric fields and shoot lightning bolts.

Activation & Deactivation - turn stuff on and off.

Positron Manipulation - control positrons, the antimatter counterpart to electrons.

Electrical Absorption - absorb electricity.

Electric Mimicry -transform entire body into a lightning-like being of pure electrical energy

Electrical Transportation - teleport with lightning.

Divine Lightning Manipulation - create and control the brightest lightning.

Black Lightning Manipulation - create and control the darkest lightning.

Energy

Dynamokinesis - manipulate existing energy.

Energy Blast - create blasts of energy.

Energy Emission - release energy.

Quintessence Force - create and manipulate unique form of electrical and life energy.

Mana Manipulation

Chi Manipulation

Electricity Manipulation

Energy Manipulation

Ice

Cryokinesis - control ice, snow and other forms of frozen water.

Freeze Breath - freeze things in solid ice.

Freezing - lower the temperature in kinetic atoms to freezing temperatures.

Frigokinesis - control snow either as precipitation or already on the ground.

Ice Beam - shoot beams of freezing energy.

Ice Generation

Light

Dark Light Manipulation - create the darkest light in existence.

White Light Manipulation- create sacred light from the divine.

Photokinesis - create and manipulate pure light.

Force-Field Generation - create protective shields of solid photons.

Invisibility - be unseen.

Laser Emission - bend light wavelengths to create lasers.

Light Absorption -absorb the light around you.

Light Generation - emit blinding light or glow in the dark.

Light Mimicry - take on the traits of light.

Photoportation - Teleport by using photons.

Projective Invisibility - turn other things invisible.

Evil Banish - Rid and banish all spirits of evil and black magic.

Light Manipulation

Weather

Atmokinesis - manipulate the various aspects of the weather by using water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Atmokinetic Resistance - immunity to all weather-based abilities and effects.

Atmokinetic Sensing - sense the future weather patterns.

Other

Aether Manipulation

Cosmic Manipulation

Gravity Manipulation

Nether Manipulation

Space-Time Manipulation

From Superpower Wikia. See their complete list of superpowers HERE.