Research for The Fourth Wall
While I hadn't started The Fourth Wall at the time I read the Shades of Magic Series, I consider that series as the first time I could see clearly how to set up a plot. It was just suddenly so simple. This realization set up the perfect soil for The Fourth Wall to grow.
I’d dabbled in Conlang before but reading Elantris really showed me how to use Conlang to support storytelling. I've worked hard in The Fourth to use Conlang as a device to further the power of the narrative and deepen my characters.
One of the issues I’ve had with The Fourth Wall has been making my characters sympathetic. I studied several different stories to get a better idea of how to introduce characters and how to keep them sympathetic.
Magic is a hot topic in the fantasy genre and I knew I’d need to up my game if I wanted a space in the genre. Sanderson’s first Law of Magics, helped my magic-related plot and mystery elements find focus and structure.
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Sanderson’s second Law of Magics helped me hone the magic elements in Holissa transforming them away from "anything can happen" to what they’ve become now.
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​My manuscripts used to turn into sandbox worlds. I’d put any and every idea into the story until I couldn’t see the world or the story anymore. But thanks to Sanderson's third Law of Magics, I started with a minimalist approach and built Holissa as I went which worked much better for me.
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I have been writing novels since 6th grade and though I improved over time, some twenty years later I still couldn't figure out how to put a plot together. My stories were notoriously lacking zing and meandered endlessly. I could see the problem existed, but no study on story structure could fix the problem. Character Roles and Functions did. Thanks to the Calliope Submission Possible Series for this amazing tool!
Prophecy is one of my least favorite fantasy tropes…and I have one in The Fourth Wall. I want to make sure it doesn’t induce the same eye-rolls other prophecies induce in me, so I studied one of my favorite renditions of prophecy in Harry Potter.
The first two Witcher novels have the most random timelines I've ever seen of anything purporting to be a novel. In fact, these "novels" feel more like a compilation of short stories. But when I think of other short story compilations like Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson or Side Jobs by Jim Butcher, The first two Witcher novels just don't compare. They really ARE novels. What sets the Witcher books apart is that there is very obviously a greater story being told, tying the different short stories together. Sword of Destiny takes this one step further and treats its theme Destiny like the protagonist.
I will forever remember reading the scene in the first Hunger Games where Katniss wakes up to the forest ablaze. I remember her running and thinking, "Wow, this is such a thrilling adventure. This is the kind of feeling I want people to have when they read my books." The Fourth Wall is slowly getting to a place where I can publish it but one of the things I feel I lack as a writer is the ability to write well-paced, gripping action. So I went back to the Hunger Games to see what Suzanne Collins did to create such unforgettable action.
​I read (at least) 100 first pages of popular fantasy novels. For some of these novels, I gave them only a one-chapter chance to wow me. Some were studs, others were duds. Let's dive deeper and discover the winning ways to start a novel.
It feels like every new fantasy show that has come out in the last 10ish years has aspired to be "the next Game of Thrones". These wishful claims have led me to ask: What's the secret ingredient? What do stories like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Infinity Saga, Game of Thrones, or The Hunger Games all have in common that set them apart as cultural phenomena and God-tier storytelling?
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