Fantasy

This is a genre I don't know much about, so if you like it, feedback would be appreciated here.

First I tried to analyse common elements. To do this I watched cartoons with my grand kids all morning, and played army video games with my hubby all evening. Finally I had to read something. I chose The Hobbit, pretty much because I already had it in the house, and I'm cheap. Ain't research rough?

This is what I learned. Structure: Even with the cartoons, your are facing a series of tests, challenges or levels. Each test, or battle will give you a clue or item to help you solve the main purpose of a quest(the journey). The quests are seldom on earth, or if they are on earth, the characters are from somewhere else. They will either be looking for some type of power, or they are defeating someone with power in order to maintain the staus quo.

This means your protagonist will always be the 'good guy'. A bad guy will not be facing the same obstacles ie, no one is trying to stop him because he's doing everything in secret. While he certainly has challenges, writing them out will read like a smooth rise to power and make for a boring book.

So you have exotic landscaping and altruistic protagonists on a journey to save the world, or some variation. But you know that, that's the research you don't need to do because you've read lots of them, and are ready to attempt your own story. Now you need to put the fantasy down for a bit.

Things you need to do. First, have fun. Don't get bogged down with the perfect exotic sounding name just yet. It will come. Remember this is a journey. You will need a map. Take some graph paper and put several sheets on a wall so you'll have space for a large map. Don't write on it yet. You'll be working on this at the same time as your outline.

Your first task is to decide a goal. Why do you have to leave leave The Shire anyway?
Now go to your graph paper and design your own homebase. Don't make it large and put it off to the side because you won't be staying there.