Well, I decided the other day to try and find some good, modern fantasy films to watch. I've got Amazon Prime and Netflix to trawl through – so any recommendations are very welcome! The first I settled upon was one I had seen scroll past a few times. The film, Priest, starred Paul Bettany, who later played the role of Vision in the Marvel movies. It is also, it must be said, a vampire movie in quite possibly the loosest sense. The war has been fought, and both vampires (which

Almost every fantasy book begins with something going wrong.

How you are going to build your story's fantasy world?

You have your story, your plot, your characters, sub-texts and themes. On a piece, or several, of paper you have sketched out a map, worked out the travel distances and know how long it will take the heroes to cover that distance. You’ve spent a bit of time making sure you know the types of weapons and armour appropriate to your setting and buildings the people live in. In fact you’ve gone further; you know how they cooked their food and styled their hair. You’re ready. Get t

We all have those good days and bad days. What we hope for is many more of those good ones! Most books tend to have a central protagonist that is having a succession of bad days, one after another after another. They are being tested after agreeing to take on a quest, make a change in life, or they've just stood up for the first time and spat in the face of adversity. Every "hero" goes through the mill. They are punished, broken at times, and yet, by the end, we hope, they ha