Heir of the Sword

Tips and Tricks

These are just some tips and other things I learned while writing Heir of the Sword and I hope they will be helpful for you.

Research is very Vital.

Believe me, if you are writing a fantasy story you will need to research. When I wrote a teen fiction story, I barely researched any information however for HOTS, I had to research how to fight, to dance, herbs that heal people, what kind of cloths people wear, nobility and rankings, and countless number of other things.

Planning

I'll admit it, I love planning but often in stories whatever you write changes constantly. I mean I planned the first four chapters and the completely did the opposite of what I wrote on the third chapter. I didn't start planning properly until the Heres Galadii tournament where I needed to know who was competing in what and who would verse who in the dueling portion. After that, I planned out the rest of the story as well because it was very important to know when the war started, when it ended and what would happen in between.

I never knew this, but it is very difficult to plan a war. I had already drawn a map of Kalvaria so I had to visualize where the forces would be coming from and what would happen when they did in each scenario.

In addition, I kept a character chart that listed information about the characters such as their full names, height, appearance, strong characteristics and make them the way they are, stuff like that. So if you ever forget, you can use the chart for reference.

Editing/Grammar

I despise editing. I never used to proof-read my work but I have gotten better at it this time around. I try to read the chapter at least once before posting just so I can catch any typos or glaring errors. Believe me, it saves you time later. As much as you might hate it, it makes your story more professional and appealing for the reader. Have good spelling and grammar as well!

Point of Views

A POV can make or break the story. If you are starting out, use first person it is much easier. Second person and third person are much more difficult. In third person, you have to explain and paint a scene in much more detail so if you are not comfortable doing that, stay away. Also, start with one POV instead of switching being narrators. Often times when writing this story, I would find myself subconsciously switching narratives so be careful of that when writing.

These are all the tips I have, hope they helped and happy writing!