Nerdovore

The Common Tongue / Writing & Dungeon Mastery Tip

For fantasy writers and D&D dungeon masters alike having a "common tongue" language is a bit of lazy storytelling just so the person telling the story doesn't have to worry about different languages regularly.

However you may have noticed that when reading books by professional writers they put more thought into how they present languages, possibly even having characters speaking in different languages in order to relay secrets.

For example Tolkien used a common tongue in his works, but he also created multiple languages to fulfill his needs. He also understood that languages evolve and change over time. He created 15 different dialects of elvish, as well as languages for the orcs, ents, hobbits, and more, and his creation of the languages influenced place names, the names of characters, and how he presented languages.

In the real world English is currently the equivalent of the common tongue on the global scale. Depending upon what part of the world a person lived in, and at what point in history, the common tongue would have been something different however. Eg. French, German, or Latin at varying points would have been considered a common tongue in Europe. In the future it is conceivable that English will fade in popularity and a language like Chinese (specifically Putonghua, aka Mandarin) will become popular in the future.

However as you've probably guessed not everyone in Europe spoke Latin, despite the Romans doing their utmost to conquer everyone. If someone was educated or a merchant there was a good chance they also spoke Latin, but the craftsmen or the peasantry would barely speak a word of the language beyond ita vero et minime (yes and no).

Granted, if you're writing fantasy then some readers won't particularly care if you skip such realisms, but if you're writing historical fiction then you're going to want to be as accurate as possible.

It really depends on how much realism you want in your story.

Here's a few questions to think about to improve realism:

1. What is the common tongue called?

Eg. In Korovia then Korovian is the common tongue in that part of my world. But if a person travels to Al-Kazar or the Azagolian Empire then Al-Kazarian or Azageul is the common tongue in those regions.

2. Are there regional languages or older languages which are spoken more often in certain areas?

Eg. In Korovia the region is Slavic themed, but some people still speak Middle Korovian, Old Korovian or even Ancient Korovian. Thus I like to borrow bits from languages like Romanian and Russian.

3. Are the towns or villages based on words from the language, or are they based on words from a different language?

Eg. When naming a number of the towns and villages of Korovia I opened a map of Romania many years ago and then I browsed the names of villages, creating new names which sounded similar to existing places.

4. Does magic use a specific language?

Eg. In Korovia, yes. This is where I like to borrow words from Esperanto. Esperanto is a made up language created by a Polish academic in 1887. It is mostly spoken by language scholars, but for my purposes it makes for a good "language of magic".

Note - J. K. Rowling did something similar for magic in her Harry Potter series. She used Latin for all of the magical words.

5. Do you have a map showing where different languages are spoken?

Something to consider doing. Very useful.

6. Are there any hybrid languages?

Hybrid languages are usually spoken near the borders between major countries, but they can also happen when two cultures are mixed over a long period.

Eg. Yiddish is a hybrid of German and Hebrew. Similarly Alsatian is a language spoken mostly in eastern France that is a mixture of French, German and even Yiddish. Likewise in modern times Denglisch is a mixture of Deutsch and English, the result of so many English speakers living in Germany these days.

Note - If you watch the film Waterworld you will note that the characters refer to one language they encounter as Portugreek, which is apparently a hybrid of Greek and Portuguese.

7. What are the languages actually called in their native tongue?

Eg. Germans don't actually speak "German", they speak Deutsch. Russians speak Russkiy. The Chinese actually speak over 300 languages native to China, Putonghua (Mandarin) is just the official state language, but depending upon the region a person is in there are different dominant languages.

8. Does each language have a traditional greeting or way of saying goodbye?

Useful to use these.

Eg. In Forgotten Realms the common greeting is "Well met", but that wouldn't necessarily be the only way of saying hello and other greetings might be more popular in specific regions.

9. Is there more than one common tongue in your world?

When cultures collide it might make sense to just call the two languages by their names, as opposed to calling both of them "common".

10. Do you have a separate alphabet for one or more languages?

Below... the Dwarven alphabet created by Tolkien.

Final Thoughts

Not all writers (or Dungeon Masters for playing Dungeons & Dragons) are into this level of realism within their writing, but for those that are the extra details and realism helps to immerse the reader (and players) within the fantasy world. Or in the case of historical fiction, within a time and place.

For example if you're writing a book set in the Holy Roman Empire the people there don't speak English obviously, and they don't speak Latin either. They're speaking German (Deutsch). Thus they wouldn't use words like "Hello!" they would say things like "Good day!" instead because "Guten Tag!" is the standard greeting in German. In France you could get away with Hello because the French "Allo" is very similar, but honestly you could just use Allo instead of Hello anyway and the readers will quickly guess the meaning based on context even with zero knowledge of French.

25% Off Fantasy Short Story Editing for December 2020

Are you a fantasy writer and you're trying to polish your work for publication?

You're going to need an editor.

Proofreading and editing your own work is not enough. You need someone who can fix the mistakes you made like:

Spelling & Typos
Grammar
Sentence Structure
Flow & Tone
Reader Friendliness
Redundancies
Inconsistencies
Unbelievable Issues (unless you want it to be unbelievable, of course)

My Introductory Editing Rate is 2 cents per word, or $100 USD for 5000 words.

This allows me to gauge how 'riddled with mistakes' your work is, and determine how much time is required to edit your work. Based upon that I can then charge you an amount consistent with my normal editing rate of $35 USD per hour.

Contact charlesmoffat@charlesmoffat.com to inquire about editing the first 5000 words of your story. Payments are made via PayPal or Interac E-Transfer.

Short Story Discount Rate

During the month of December I am also offering a "Short Story Discount Rate" of 1.5 cents per word, which means you save 25% compared to my regular rates.

Short Stories: 1,500 - 7,500 words = $22.50 to $112.50.

Contact charlesmoffat@charlesmoffat.com to inquire about editing your short story.

Regular Rates*

* Actual rate may vary depending upon how 'riddled with mistakes' your work is. It could be more/less depending on a variety of factors like whether you self-edited and used spellcheck/grammar check before sending it to your editor.

Short Stories: 1,500 - 7,500 words = $30 to $150.
Novelettes: 7,500 - 17,500 = $150 to $350.
Novellas: 17,500 - 40,000 = $350 to $800.
Novels: 40,000+ words = $800+

So for example if you have a 100,000 word novel that you need edited then it will cost you $2000.

Contact charlesmoffat@charlesmoffat.com to inquire about editing the first 5000 words of your short story, novelette, novella or novel.

What About Other Genres?

Yeah, so here's the thing. I have reached the point in my editing career where I want to focus on a single genre.

So yes, I am really do want to focus solely on editing fantasy, but with a few small exceptions:

#1. Historical Fiction. Basically like fantasy, but minus the magic and the monsters.

#2. Historical Fantasy. Technically counts as Fantasy.

#3. Science Fantasy. Not to be confused with Sci Fi.

#4. Time Travel Fiction. I have a soft spot for this.

Contact charlesmoffat@charlesmoffat.com to inquire about editing the first 5000 words of your fantasy story. Payments are made via PayPal or Interac E-Transfer.

Will Wattpad put Fantasy Periodicals out of Business?

Fantasy Periodicals come in a variety of formats:

Fantasy Journals
Fantasy Magazines
Online eZines
Themed Anthologies

And then there are the ones that publish fantasy, horror, sci fi and speculative fiction. So you don't to choose "Just Fantasy" if you want to read short stories, novellas and flash fiction from any of those genres. Steam Punk? Steam Punk Fantasy? There's a journal for that.

Below is a list of publishers just for Flash Fiction... The document is organized by which publishers pay the most for Flash Fiction, down to those publishers who just provide a token copy, or is completely unpaid. For writers there is also the matter of word count limits, the typical response times, and whether they allow simultaneous submissions to other periodicals.

There are other categories too. Fantasy Periodicals that publish mostly short stories, and others which also publish novelettes and novellas. So length is another factor for distinguishing between the different periodicals. Whether they actually pay the writer is a completely different topic.

There is one important factor however... It is very difficult for fantasy periodicals to make a profit and be viable commercially. Most of them have readerships in the low thousands.

And then there is fantasy pulp fiction (40,000 to 60,000) words... A short novel effectively.

Herein lies the issue for writers who write pulp fiction. They want to get PAID, ideally at least semi pro (0.01 per word) or pro rate (0.06 per word) for their writing.

If they're writing a 50,000 words short novel then they are expecting to sell the 1-year publishing rights for that pulp fiction novel for $500 to $3000, or more, and their goal is to sell to a fantasy periodical who buys such stories...

Why just the periodical industry?

Because the regular book publishing industry these days gravitates away from publishing short novels, preferring books to be in the 90,000 to 120,000 range. With the exception of YA (Young Adult) fantasy fiction they don't see any benefit to buying and selling books that fall into the pulp fiction range.

Enter online publisher Wattpad, a website/app where readers can read books for free - or buy access to premium books for a price.

Essentially it works a bit like self publishing via Amazon, which is also an option frequently explored by writers who write short stories and novellas.

Wattpad provides free content to over 85 million readers via amateur writers (and professional writers like Margaret Atwood and others who use Wattpad to help market their writing) and consequently there is a huge readership base. People can grow their popularity on Wattpad, and then spin that into book sales on Amazon and in traditional book stores.

At present however there are a few tricks to this...

#1. In order to sell your books on Wattpad (instead of just free) you need to qualify for Wattpad Star status, which means you need to first write at least two finished novels that are over 50k each.

#2. You need to get popular on Wattpad. Easier said than done, although there are guides on How To Get Popular On Wattpad.

#3. Wattpad hasn't yet figured out how to properly monetize short stories. If it is a novel, sure, you can sell it in the Paid Stories categories. They did at one point try giving writers a share of ad revenue, but this plan apparently didn't work properly and was later scrapped in favour of the Premium/Paid Stories system they currently use.

So should you just skip the periodicals industry completely?

Well, hold on a second, because there might be a solution...

Why not do ALL THREE?

Step One, Submit Your Story To Periodicals

Go the normal route and try to get your story into periodicals. Possibly get published and get paid.

Step Two, Self Publish

Publish and sell your work on Amazon and similar self publishing platforms.

Step Three, Wattpad

Put free samples of your writing - especially your shorter bits of fiction - on Wattpad, plus two works that are over 50k in order to try and get Wattpad Star status.

This three step approach means you get the best of all three systems of revenue. It is more work, but it also means your writing is being exposed to a much larger audience of people - and it means you ultimately get paid more and have a greater chance of becoming successful as a writer.

It is also a system I am putting to the test myself, with my own writing. You can find samples of my writing (both short stories and longer works) on Wattpad at wattpad.com/user/CharlesMoffat. My goal during 2021 is to see how many periodicals I can get my fantasy writing into. I have already been publishing nonfiction in magazines for years, so I am overdue to publish fiction writing too.

Now you can follow the steps in order, or you can do a different order or tweak the steps to suit your needs. There is no rules that you have to do everything in that order. However there is a benefit to that particular order, because some periodicals refuse to publish anything that was published elsewhere first (including Amazon and Wattpad). Thus there is a good argument for trying to publish in periodicals first, before publishing in Amazon and Wattpad.

Maybe someday Wattpad will put Fantasy Periodicals out of Business?

Maybe.

Maybe someday.

If they can figure out how to properly monetize short stories, novelettes and novellas.

It could be that they might monetize them in the same way they already monetize novels on their website, and they might simply lower the word count requirements for Premium/Paid Stories.

Or maybe they will figure out a different way of monetizing short stories, like possibly a tiered payment system similar to semi pro and pro rate.

They could even get into the business of buying stories from professional writers, including reprints which is another important factor.

Usually when a writer sells a short story or novella it is the first year publishing rights that gets sold. Buying a reprint of a story that was previously published elsewhere isn't considered to be as valuable.

However Wattpad could buy reprints of popular stories by famous authors, creating a database of premium stories using a system similar to what Netflix does with movies and TV shows.

And it isn't like the market isn't there. All of Wattpad's money comes from two revenue streams: Ad revenue and premium stories. So they are making money off the stories, one way or the other.

What they need to do is to get professional writers (or even semi pro writers) to switch over to Wattpad simply because it pays better.

And if they do that they will put the fantasy periodicals industry out of business. Every writer who normally writes for periodicals will end up switching.

Alternatively there is another way...

Wattpad could buy/acquire companies that publish periodicals, either online or traditional book versions. In doing so they would acquire the publishing rights to any short stories published in the last year and be able to put them on Wattpad.

They could then transition the readers from those periodicals (which are often online already) over to Wattpad by offering them Premium Wattpad accounts at a discounted rate.

The good news is that many of these publishing companies aren't making much of a profit (or are in the red) and would love someone to buy them out at a pittance of the cost. Many of these "companies" are just a few people who aren't even getting paid to work there. Offer the owner enough money and they would probably take it.

Most fantasy periodicals fail and fold within the first five years of operating.

So it wouldn't really take much to put them out of business.

All Wattpad needs is the right payment program that will bring out the pro and semi pro writers.

Treasure Distribution, The Ranked Picking System

One possible way to do Treasure Distribution for Dungeons and Dragons (or Advanced Dungeons and Dragons)...

The Ranked Picking System

Each time we gain treasure the players should rank in order of significance how much they want certain items.

For example let's say we find the following:

1 wand of Burning Hands
1 staff of Light (cleric or druid only)
1 large shield +1
1 potion of Extra Healing
1 suit of plate mail (non magical, dwarven sized)
1 suit of elvish chainmail +1 (human sized)
1 riding horse, complete with saddle and saddlebags/etc
evil looking dagger +1, possibly cursed (detects of evil)
treasure chest containing over 2000 gold

Each player would then rank how much they want the item: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc... Any time there is an item your PC cannot use you should automatically put NOT INTERESTED when ranking their interest in an item. Ranking an item your character cannot use disqualifies you from getting the item. Everyone is automatically listed for a share of the treasure chest (unless you have a vow of poverty), but this will always be the last thing divided up and is always ranked at the bottom.

So for example Charles (Beldin) would rank the items like so:

shield - 1
dwarf sized plate mail - 2
potion - 3
horse - 4
human sized elvish chainmail - NOT INTERESTED
wand - NOT INTERESTED
staff - NOT INTERESTED
evil looking dagger, possibly cursed - NOT INTERESTED
share of treasure chest - AUTOMATIC

Everyone would rank the items in a similar manner, and starting with the items which have the least number of 1s we then divide up the treasure.

If only 1 person wants the item, they get it automatically. If 2 or more eligible people want it, the players vote to decide who receives it (often with people voting based upon usability).

Before voting each player wanting an item can make a brief argument (30 seconds or less ideally) for why they are deserving of the item.

[Note - Characters do not get a vote. Players do. Effectively each player is in this on behalf of 1 main character.]

Once all the items with ranks of 1 have been divided up then we repeat the process for ranks 2 for any items that have not yet been distributed. Often most of the items will disappear during the distribution of Rank 1 items. However the difference now is that anyone who already received a Rank 1 item is exempted from getting a Rank 2 item - UNLESS there was nobody else interested in the item in the Ranks 2, 3, 4, etc. Thus it is possible for 1 player to receive two items, but only if nobody else actually wants it in the lower rankings. We continue down the ranks, voting and dividing up each item based upon desirability and usability.

The "Share of Treasure Chest" is divided last, but it is also unevenly based upon how many people received a higher ranked item. Anyone who received a Rank 1 item only gets 1/2 share, and anyone who received 2 or more items gets zero share of the treasure chest. Someone who received 0 items during the distribution of other items gets double the share of gold/etc.

Thus:

If someone received an item, they would only receive a 1/2 share of the gold.

If someone received no items, they would receive a double share of the gold (effectively 4 times what someone would receive if they already received an item).

Ranking Strategically - Someone might look at the value of the gold and decide they're not interested in things like the riding horse and then decide to rank strategically, saying NOT INTERESTED in the horse or similar items, just so they can get a double share of the chest full of gold. Others might look at the horse as being useful and decide it is worth not getting a larger share of the gold.

Cursed Items - If nobody actually wants an item believed to be cursed the party should make an effort to either give it away, use it to bribe someone, deliberately lose it somewhere unlikely to be found, or attempt to destroy it.

Party Funds (Optional)

In order to pay taxes, tolls, food, stays at inns, bribes, repairs, Identifying magical items, etc it is recommended setting aside 1 share of party gold for Party Funds, which can be used to pay miscellaneous things that the party needs. Usually this sum would then be carried by various trustworthy members of the party.

While we're at it, let's quickly discuss a few extra topics that will inevitably come up during games...

MATTERS OF OWNERSHIP

Once a person owns an item it is considered theirs and theirs alone, unless they sell the item, trade it, give it away, throw it away, or destroy it. Items cannot be redistributed later if a second treasure is later found.

However if two players agree to trade an item, or one player agrees to sell an item to another for an agreed upon sum of gold and/or items, then this can be done privately (preferably outside of game time).

Players could also decide that they don't need two swords, for example, and then give away an item to another player (or give it to an ally, or henchman/hireling, or even as a bribe to a NPC). What they do with it is their choice and theirs alone.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

PCs should be encouraged to write a last will and testament stating who gets their various items if their character should die. It should never be a situation where the party just automatically loots the dead character. The items could end up going to PCs, to NPCs, to be donated to an orphanage, or they might even insist the items are buried with them.

THIEVERY

Thievery is certainly a real possibility, but would spell consequences for the thief when eventually caught. PCs who discover a thief might decide to attack them, might choose to punish them in some manner, or might simply refuse to aid the thief thence onwards (eg. leaving them to die). Items stolen once discovered would be returned to the proper owner. A severe and non-violent penalty however would be to take all magical items (or anything else considered valuable) from the thief and give them to the person who had been robbed, who can then use them, or sell/give away items at their leisure.

Missing potions and scrolls. Another problem. Harder to prove who took them and used them. Again, consequences should be swift and severe.

Players should make an effort to record where on their persons (or their horses) they are storing various items of value. Eg. Hiding a potion in their boot. Thus if someone is attempting to rob them they must declare where they are looking and the DM can check with the character sheet to determine where a particular item is hidden.

How to Roll Stats the Old School Way, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

Over a decade ago I joined a 1st Edition AD&D game. The game has had its highs and lows, including players moving to other countries, players getting married and having kids (myself included in that category), and we don't play as often as we once did.

The trick about playing 1st Edition AD&D is that it is gritty. It is "Old School". Your characters die frequently. Kind of like watching Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, or similar shows. Characters die. It is just part of the game.

So one workaround for the inevitable character deaths is that DMs will often have players create multiple characters so that in the event that one character dies then they can just immediately play a different one because they have a whole roster of characters to choose from.

In the game I am in what we will do is roll stats for 12 characters all at once.

Like so...

Note - I had some difficulties making the following videos. My camera was running low on hard drive space, so I ended with 4 videos instead of 1 big long video. Also I forgot about the rerolls, so the 4th video is just the rerolls.

So there you go. That is how you roll 12 sets of stats, in order, plus the rerolls.

I admit it takes awhile to do all of those rolls, but you aren't necessarily going to play all 12 characters. You are probably only going to play the characters who can potentially make the characters you WANT to play.

For example, if you're not really into making wizards, then don't play a wizard. Just make all your characters fighters, thieves, clerics, etc, and thus you use the stats which are appropriate for making those characters.

Our DM also allows players to "trade stats" to other players so that they can get stats that make the character they want to play. So even if you failed to roll the necessary stats to play a ranger, maybe you can trade a set of your stats to someone who wants them in exchange for suitable ranger stats.

So far I ended up making a dwarf fighter for the game, but going over the stats I also have ideas for another fighter, a cleric, a wizard and a thief. So I should at least have some backup characters in case my dwarf bites the dust.

I am hoping he doesn't die, obviously, but let's say he falls down and hurts himself (and needs to heal for awhile) then I might need a replacement character while my dwarf rests up.

Cryomancy Spells for 1st/2nd Edition AD&D

Custom Cryomancy Spells

Ice Scimitar (Conjuration)

Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: 4 rounds + 1 round/level
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: None

Also known as Blizzard Scimitar this ancient spell is popular amongst Blizzards (ice wizards) in Korovia and dates back to the early bronze age when the spell was first created, after the First Demon War. The spell conjures a magical scimitar made of para elemental ice (para elemental ice is immune to melting) and imbues the caster temporarily with the proficiency skill to wield it. (And only it. It does not confer the ability to use all scimitars.)

The razor sharp ice scimitar deals 2d4 damage per hit, counts as a magical weapon, and can parry (or be parried) by spells like Flame Blade. It deals a combination of ice and slicing damage, but can also be used to pierce or stab opponents and objects. Creatures composed of fire or mostly of fire take an additional 1d4 cold damage when hit by the ice scimitar.

Someone under the effects of a Resist Cold (or similar protection) suffers 1 point less damage.

If a Blizzard casts this particular spell and has successfully gone through all three transformation rituals to become a full Blizzard then the duration of the spell lasts twice as long.

Unlike many cryomancy spells which often require a bit of ice or snow to cast, this spell does not require any such material components. It is considered by cryomancers and Blizzards to be "a staple spell" which can be useful in a variety of situations.

This particular spell appears in Charles Moffat's March 2020 book: "The Blizzard's Daughter" which is available in paperback and ebook formats.

More Cryomancy Spells

The following spells are from a third party source: Dragon Magazine

Chill (Evocation)
1st level
Range: 30’
Components: V S
Duration: 2-5 rounds
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: One creature
Saving Throw: Negates

This spell creates an area of intense cold around the target, causing it to shiver regardless of how much clothing or fur is worn. For the duration of the spell, the target moves at half-speed and suffers a -2 penalty on attack and damage rolls provided he fails a saving throw vs. magic. An interesting side-effect of the chill spell is that, if it is cast on a target under the effects of a chill metal spell, the target suffers a -2 penalty on Armor Class as well. Note that a resist cold spell (or any other related protective magic) prevents this from working.

Snow Tread (Alteration,   Enchantment)
2nd level
Range: 10’
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 hour per level
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: One creature per level
Saving Throw: None

This rather simple but valuable spell allows those affected to tread through snow without fear of slipping and at their normal movement rate, thus making it possible for the recipients to travel through terrain covered with ice and snow without being bogged down (ignore modifiers for snow when determining the daily movement rate for the party, including the approximate time needed to complete the trip). Another benefit offered by this spell is that it makes it harder for others to follow the party, for it magically brushes snow into the tracks behind them (-3 penalty on top of all other tracking modifiers). Up to five creatures can be affected by the snow tread spell, plus one additional creature per level of the caster over 5th level (a total of 10, maximum). The material component of the spell is the snow or ice that is to be traversed, in which the caster traces the last words of the spell (a sure sign that the spell is in effect is that the traced words are swept away by its magic).

Freezefire (Alteration)
3rd level
Range: 5’ per level
Components: V, S
Duration:   Special
Casting Time: 3
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: Special

Freezefire is an unusual spell that allows the caster to freeze one or more fires within range, whether natural or magical, into inert blue ice, thus allowing it to be touched or handled without harm. Up to one 5’ x 5’ sphere of flame (normal or magical) is transformed into blue ice for every four experience levels, and its duration is permanent with regard to normal fire. As for magical fire,it is affected in the following ways: If it hasn’t manifested yet (e.g., a fireball flying through the air), it stays inert for 3-5 rounds   (the   aforementioned   fireball would fall to the ground as a lifeless lump of ice and sulfur); If the magical fire is already in effect (e.g., a wall of fire),the spell causes it (or a part of it, if it is too large for the caster to affect completely) to turn to blue ice for the space of 1 round per level of the caster. While frozen, it can be physically touched,even broken, without ruining the spell. Thus, part of a wall of fire that has been frozen could be broken down and one could pass through unscathed, while the frozen lump that was a fireball could be picked up and thrown a few rounds later for the usual effects. It doesn’t affect fire-based spells of 5th level or higher, nor does it prevent a dragon or chimera from breathing flame unless it was cast1 round previously. In that case, the creature is allowed a saving throw vs.spell to resist its effects, and, if the save is failed, it is unable to breathe flame for 2-3 rounds.

Ice Claws (Conjuration, Evocation)
3rd level
Range: 0
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 round per level
Casting Time: 3
Area of Effect: The caster
Saving Throw: None

Casting this spell brings into being a disembodied pair of icy, clawed hands,totally under the control of the caster.The caster can attack twice per round with these claws as a fighter half his level, causing 1-3 hp damage each plus an additional 1-4 hp cold damage (those with resistance to cold suffer no additional damage from the cold). They can be used to attack someone up to 30yards away from the caster, and on a natural roll of 20 the claw(s) have secured a hold on the target, causing automatic claw and cold damage every round thereafter. The material component of this spell is a pair of crystal claws connected to a small brass chain, all of which is worth 5 gp.

Word Counts in Sword & Sorcery

How long are Sword & Sorcery stories? (Related Question: How long should a Sword & Sorcery short story be?)

Well, let's look at some historical examples...

Conan by Robert Howard:

The Phoenix on the Sword: 8,823
The Scarlet Citadel: 15,446
The Tower of the Elephant: 9,726
Black Colossus: 14,346
The Slithering Shadow: 12,897
The Pool of the Black One: 11,252
Rogues in the House: 9,676
The Frost Giant’s Daughter: 3,284
Iron Shadows in the Moon: 12,123
Queen of the Black Coast: 11,334
The Devil in Iron: 12,292
The People of the Black Circle: 30,890
A Witch Shall be Born: 16,337
Jewels of Gwahlur: 17,167
Beyond the Black River: 21,799
Shadows in Zamboula: 12,146
The Hour of the Dragon: 72,375
Red Nails: 30,946

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber:

The Jewels in the Forest: 14,215
The Bleak Shore: 4,272
The Howling Tower: 5,855
The Sunken Land: 6,900
Thieves’ House: 12,235
Adept’s Gambit: 31,901
Claws from the Night: 9,410
The Seven Black Priests: 9,523
Lean Times in Lankhmar: 15,400
When the Sea-King’s away: 9,806
The Cloud of Hate: 4,929
Bazaar of the Bizarre: 9,653
Their Mistress, the Sea: 1,316
The Wrong Beach: 2,267
The Circle Curse: 3,596
The Price of Pain-Ease: 4,650

Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock

Elric of Melnibone: 48,000
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate: 24,000
The Weird of the White Wolf: 39,000
The Vanishing Tower: 48,000
The Bane of the Black Sword: 45,000
Stormbringer: 71,000

The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Witcher: 10,213
A Grain of Truth: 10,418
The Lesser Evil: 12,764
A Question of Price: 13,105
The Edge of the World: 14,395
The Last Wish: 18,349
The Voice of Reason: 12,495

Also let's look at some works of H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote in a different subgenre, but also wrote Pulp Fiction short stories, novelettes and novellas:

Dagon: 2,216
The Lurking Fear: 8,164
The Rats in the Walls: 7,974
The Shunned House: 10,742
The Call of Cthulhu: 11,905
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: 51,112
The Colour out of Space: 12,457
The Dunwhich Horror: 17,524
The Whisperer in Darkness: 26,624
At the Mountains of Madness: 40,881
The Shadow over Innsmouth: 27,026
The Thing on the Doorstep: 10,954

How long should a Sword & Sorcery short story be?

Guest Post by G. W. Thomas.

One of the great things about our crazy Amazon-driven book world is that book length matters less than it used to. In the world of the 1790s, books had to be triple decker novels. During the Age of the Storytellers (as Mike Ashley calls it), for A. Conan Doyle and the crowd of story writers that filled the new magazines, 6-9000 words was the target. Pulps, paperbacks, and now online publishing, have all dictated to the length of works. It is only now, when an ebook is a file, no different than any other file, that we seem to be free from these constraints.

Art by John Buscema and Alfred Alcala

I think we can all agree, first off, any story needs to be as long as it needs to be to be told well. As Ben Peek, author of Black Sheep says, “Honestly, I don’t really think there is an ideal length. Depends on the work, on the ideas behind it, and how long and short that all is.” John R. Fultz, author of Seven Princes, agrees: “I’d say there is no ideal length–it’s whatever the story will support–and whatever the author feels comfortable writing. Or David Bain with: “the one that tells the story.” The nature of any story should determine its length.” Despite this, I still think there is a sweet spot for Sword & Sorcery. It might not be the same as Space Opera or a Western or even a novel of manners.

Perhaps the father of Sword & Sorcery can help. Robert E. Howard is the acknowledged creator of all-things Conan and Kull. His Fantasy fiction ranged from shorter pieces to one full-length novel, Hour of the Dragon (1935) at 73,000 words. All the original Weird Tales Conan stories are either novelettes (7500 to 17500) or novellas (17500-40,000). The original Conan saga averages out at 18,500 words a story.

In 1973, Lin Carter edited the first of five volumes in the Flashing Swords (1973-1981) series. These anthologies of original novellas featured (usually) four stories of 15,000 words each. As Carter put it: “A charming editrix, Gail Morrison of Dell Books, liked the idea and requested an original 15,000 worder from each of us, that being, in the opinion of many writers, just about the best length for a good story.”

I had very much in mind Carter’s format when I created the Swords of Fire anthology, which features four 15,000-ish tales from David A. Hardy, C. J. Burch, Jack Mackenzie and myself. One of these days, there will be a Swords of Fire 2, and hopefully 3 and 4…. because I have such a love for Sword & Sorcery novellas. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I need to think differently about this for the next one.

I’ve asked a host of writers of heroic fantasy writers (I think “host’ is the right term here, you know, like a murder of crows) what they prefer.

The Really Short Story

Marcie Tentchoff: I’ll always have a fondness for flash fiction, even in heroic fantasy. And heroic fantasy novels often end up becoming a series, which makes word count less important.

Short Story

Robin Wayne Bailey, author of the Frost trilogy and Swords Against the Shadowland: “For novels or stories, the complexity of the story always dictates the length. I don’t think you can declare a specific word-limit “ideal.” For marketing purposes, most anthologies require around 6,000 words or less. Much more than that should probably be discussed with the editor. I’ve written s&s stories as short as (roughly) 4,000 word and as long as 10,000 words.”

Lillian Csernica: I like 8k. Depends on the story, of course.

Michael Ehart, author of The Servant of the Manythcore: “I have always enjoyed reading and writing in the 5000 word range for short stories. The pulp flavor is lost in a longer piece. There are important exceptions, of course.”

Howard Andrew Jones: At least 5 or 6k. I think it CAN be done at shorter length, but I think many of my faves come in at 8k or longer. Of course, as editor 8k is about my max, so I therefore like to say 5 to 8k.

Warren Lapine, most recently editor of Fantastic Stories says: “3k on the Internet. At Fantastic Stories we found that far fewer people read the longer stories and articles. That said, if it takes more it takes more, and year end stuff can be different.”

James Lecky, frequent contributor to Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Black Gate, says: “To use an old fallback, I’d say it depends on the story in question. But, on a more personal level, I like a short that runs to 4 or 5 thousand, which gives scope for both character and action. When it comes to novels I prefer the ‘classic’ model – most of Moorcock’s novels were fairly short by modern standards (about 50,000 words at a guess) and I reckon that’s about right when the primary purpose is colorful adventure rather than soul-searching drama.”

Darrell Schweitzer, Fantasy author and editor: “There are very few short-shorts, but it can be anything from a short story to a multi-volume epic. I certainly have written sword & sorcery stories under 3000 words. Robert Jordan represents the other end of the spectrum. There is no one answer. Any story should be as long as it needs to be.”

Jason M. Waltz, author of Writing Fantasy Heroes: “Good question to which I don’t have a straight answer. I don’t think it lends itself to novel length – I think S&S can be in novels, can even infuse a novel, but I don’t think it can be effectively sustained through the novel length. I think great S&S can be carried through the novella and novelette and I would not be adverse to reading such works by anyone claiming to have done so. So that leaves the short story; I’ve read great S&S at 2,000 words and at 9,000, but I’m going to say I personally prefer the 5-7k range. Does that make it the ideal? How about for me, yes.”

Novella

Seth Lindberg, author of the Dyscrasia series: “Short story to novella (5 to 20k words) I really like the novella or short novel length for sword and sorcery. Generally a novel should be no longer than 65,000 to 70,000 words. For novella’s, 20,000 to 35,000. I like S&S short stories a lot too. Great lengths are 6,000 to 10,000.”

John O’Neil, editor of Black Gate: “Well, I love novellas. I’d have to say 10,000-20,000 words.”

Joshua Reynolds, Warhammer novelist: “I think anywhere from 5 – 10,000 is a good solid length, that allows for character development, atmosphere and action. Most of my S&S fiction tends to fall into the 6,000 range, which is the sweet spot for me.”

Best-selling author, Michael A. Stackpole: “Don’t want to sound flip, but whatever length the story demands. For me, right now, I like working in the novella range 7K+ words. Give me room for character development and a strong plot.”

C. L. Werner, another Warhammer novelist: “I think for a short story, you should be shooting for between 5,000 words and 10,000. That said, Howard himself used to make longer-form pieces that moved just as fast as any shorter narrative.”

Davidy Hardy: I am partial to the 10K novella. It’s a pretty neglected form these days, though electronic publishing gives you more freedom. Back to my point, novellas give you room to develop the setting, while maintaining focus on the action. It was an optimum for Howard, Leiber, Moorcock and others who helped create Heroic Fantasy. They worked in the pulps where tight restrictions on length were common. REH, Leiber & Moorcock were also strong enough to swing headline spots with a more generous word count. Clark Ashton Smith created some real gems with fewer words, and of course Tolkein famously wrote a trilogy. But I find very few who can match their unique talents in those forms.

Short Novel

Valerie Frankel: “I love big 600 pagers.”

Scottish Horror and Fantasy author, Willie Meikle: “Around the 50-60K mark for me, like all those Moorcock ones.”

Peter Welmerink, co-author of Bedlam Unleashed: “For “lengthy” piece I’d say anywhere from 45 to 90k words. That’s just me. I like reading shorter pieces, but writing…I can’t do Robert Jordan-sized scrawls…plus I’d lose interest, I think, if reading such a volume. I have always been a fan of short fantasy tales. They have to hit on all cylinders throughout the entire piece to be good.”

E. P. Berglund: The ideal length for heroic fantasy . . . hm. As a writer I would have to say it depends on the plot; as a reader I would say between short story and novelette length. Some of the Conan in the 60s and 70s were kind of hard to get through. I don’t really read heroic fantasy much anymore.

Jack Mackenzie, author of “The Green Beast” says: “Sword and Sorcery tales need to move fast. They’re lean tales that don’t have a lot of space for interpersonal transactions or political minutiae. Something like Game of Thrones ( if you want to consider it Sword and Sorcery) is obviously an outlier. For me I go by Robert E. Howard. His longest Conan tales are around 75,000 words. That’s about the longest I would go, personally. Any more and you risk boring your reader, which is something that S&S should never do.”

Full Novel

CJ Cherryh: I’d say a ‘direct’ plot, few subplots, and no more than 100,000 words. Readers want to get to the un-tangle with little baggage and have a main character who’s a rogue with a sense of honor, or at least honest determination.

David Farland: “I kind of like longish books in fantasy–225,000 words feels good to me Any shorter, and I want more.”

James A. Moore, Fantasy and Horror novelist: “That’s a tough call. I normally average right at 100,000 words per novel, but mostly I write series, so, you know, 400,000 and 300,000 respectively if you add the series together, But mostly I aim at 100,00 because much longer gets unwieldy.”

Robert E. Vardeman, author of many excellent heroic fantasy novels in the 1990s, and more recently the novelization of God of War: “The 75k length works for me. Long enough to get things done without getting boring and destroying yet another forest.”

Angeline Hawkes: I think it’s hard to have an extremely short story in the heroic fiction genre — because most plots are quest-driven. Unless the story is entirely earth-based, there also has to be some world building or at least character development so the story doesn’t seem cookie-cutter. So, I would say a good length for a short story would be 6-10k, and a novel would be a minimum of 80k. I know “back in the day” a lot of writers cranked out 40k “novels”, but I think the 20-40k range now falls mostly into novella lengths. I also think that most heroic fantasy works tend to be action-driven so the work (if written well) reads fast, if you know what I mean. So what might seem longish and, perhaps, more tedious to read in a longer length in another genre, seems over much too soon in heroic fantasy.

Charles Gramlich, author of the Talera Cycle and editor of The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E, Howard Studies: “I really like the novella or short novel length for sword and sorcery. Generally a novel should be no longer that 65,000 to 70,000 words. For novellas, 20,000 to 35,000. I like S & S short stories a lot too. Great lengths are 6,000 to 10,000.”

Perhaps we are all like Angeline and Charles. We like them all, as long as they are awesome tales of heroes and monsters and fantastic worlds. Whatever your favorite length is, remember to support your favorite authors.

Fantasy Maps of Nyumbani (World of Imaro)

I recently purchased two books of the Imaro book series by Charles Saunders and have decided to investigate and make a blog about the maps created for the fantasy world of Nyumbani in which the Imaro books take place in. The Imaro series is an AfroFantasy / Sword and Sorcery series similar to Conan the Barbarian.

But first...

Check out the Imaro Unboxing Video I made...

And now... the maps of Nyumbani!

There has been talk of an Imaro TV show, possibly animated. If so I would love to see it someday.

Wattpad is Totally Worth Joining, even for Professional Writers

As a part-time writer (and part time archery instructor) I have been balancing my two modes of working for years, trying to find the best ways to market my writing and get more sales when I am not busy writing or teaching archery.

Back in May at the prompting of a fellow fantasy writer here in Toronto I ended up joining Wattpad.

And wow.

It was really worth it.

Wattpad allows professional writers (and amateurs) to reach an audience of readers that you wouldn't otherwise be reaching. A very large audience of 80 million monthly active users, and I have good news if your target audience is female: 70% of Wattpad's users are women.

Worried that people might try to steal my writing off the website when I first joined I put a lot of my Fables, Short Stories and Poetry on Wattpad, stories that I didn't really worry about people potentially trying to copy.

(This was before I found out that the website has disabled copy/paste, and that most users on the website access it via an app which also has copy/paste disabled.)

So here's some of the fables, short stories and poetry I uploaded to Wattpad:

Fables

Fables of Korovia (A collection of fables set in Korovia)

The Fable of the Boring Dwarf (A greedy dwarf who owns a hole boring company)

The Princess and the Foxalope (A children's story set in Korovia)

The Turkey Vulture's Tale (Two cursed lovers get their just rewards)

The Fable of the Incubus of Izhamet (A fable for adults about teamwork)

Short Stories

The Bogatyr's Adventures (Anthology Series of Short Stories)

The Hab and the Witch (A cross between John Wick and The Hobbit)

A Hound Named Hunter (A time paradox concerning a wolfhound)

Wulfric the Wanderer (Sword and Sorcery Anthology Series)

The Imp's Arrow (A greedy conjuror gets more than he bargained for)

Brawl at the Broken Blade (A prelude to a novel currently available on Amazon)

The Legend of Dark Maya (How Maya became the goddess of magic and dark magic)

Poetry

(Most of my poetry these days is based on mythology)

Rama and Sita

The Sumerian Legend of Lilith

Atalanta and the Prophecy of Orpheus

The Voyages of Orion

After realizing the marketing potential of Wattpad, and determining that it was extremely difficult for anyone to potentially copy/paste my stories on there due to copy/paste being disabled (people would have to literally type it out or some equally time consuming method), I eventually decided to put two of my novels on there.

The Girl in the Red Hoodie (A cross between Die Hard, Rocky and the Hunger Games)

The Demon's Pawn (Second Edition, a fantasy novel concerning a young woman who is being watched by demon's with a dire purpose)

I decided to put those put novels on Wattpad for several reasons.

#1. I was still writing "The Girl in the Red Hoodie" and I considered it to be a fun side project outside of my regular routine of writing fantasy novels and short stories. I didn't really take that particular novel seriously, and yet it is currently my most popular piece on Wattpad.

#2. "The Demon's Pawn" was previously on Amazon Kindle, but it never sold well. I decided to edit it and make a Second Edition version that would have significant changes to it. I started writing The Demon's Pawn in 1999 (it was my first story set in Korovia) and it has gone through numerous revisions during the past 21 years. It was published under my pseudonym "Frederic King" at one point and I later determined that the pseudonym was a bad idea and that I was better off using my own name.

#3. You can also sell books on Wattpad, but to do so you need to get "Wattpad Star" status, and to do that you need to write at least two novels that are 50,000 words or more. So I had decided to put two of my less important works on Wattpad, with the hopes that if I gain Wattpad Star status that they will then become more important and get more 'fan traction'.

#4. Because "The Demon's Pawn" and "The Girl in the Red Hoodie" both have female protagonists it should appeal to the 70% of Wattpad users who are female, and because they are both action-adventure stories they won't alienate male readers either.

I have also started putting Excerpts from my other books on Amazon on Wattpad too. If a person reads an excerpt and likes it they will have to buy the book on Amazon if they want to keep reading.

After analyzing how Wattpad works I even wrote a nonfiction piece on How to Become Popular on Wattpad... Following my own advice in the piece I am currently on track to reach 1000 followers sometime in early or mid October 2020.

What is bizarre is that I see writers who have been on Wattpad for 5 years or more, but they still have zero followers. They must be doing the exact opposite things I am doing. I quickly learned that Wattpad is essentially a bit like Twitter and Instagram. Popularity on there is determined in much the same way that social media websites work - follow other writers and they will typically followback. Likewise getting readers is simply a matter of writing good quality writing, lots of it, and sometimes talking to the other writers by giving feedback/comments on their work.

I have also determined that Wattpad is invaluable for getting feedback, even if the work is still technically a work in progress and you are editing it. Other writers (and readers) will give editing notes in the comments in an effort to help you make changes. Some of the comments you can just ignore because some readers just have different expectations of what they consider to be "good".

I have had free samples of my poetry, fables and short stories on my website for years and never once received comments/feedback from readers on whether they liked something or felt it could be improved. I know people were reading them, because I could see the monthly stats and even how much time the average user stayed on individual pages, but people were certainly not feeling obligated to send commentary. On Wattpad it is very different. Because it works like a social media website people often leave comments.

Usually I only get feedback on my books when someone writes an actual book review and puts it on Amazon or GoodReads, but this is comparatively rare. On Wattpad people will leave comments on individual sentences or paragraphs. Detailed comments. Questions. Anecdotes. LOLs.

All of those comments also add to Wattpad's algorithms for determining popularity. The more stars and comments a person gets the more popular they must be.

My Goals on Wattpad

Build a collection of free samples of my writing, including poetry, fables, short stories and even a few sample novels - tempting people to go buy my other writing.

To build an audience of 1000s of followers. (At the time I am writing this I already have 736 followers and I've only been on Wattpad for 4 months.)

Get Wattpad Star status so I can also sell my novels on Wattpad.

Grow and expand my fan base, both on Wattpad and also on my social media accounts like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Growing a fan base and getting 'fan traction' really relies on people becoming die hard fans of your work and they are anxiously awaiting your next chapter/next book/next short story that you release. The really die hard fans will buy all your books and even write reviews.

Get more sales for my Amazon Kindle books and paperbacks available via https://www.amazon.com/author/moffat. Some of them I may eventually make available on Wattpad.

Why Wattpad Matters to Professional Writers

Margaret Atwood is on Wattpad.

She recognized that Wattpad was a great way to reach readers who wouldn't otherwise know about an individual writer's writing. She even wrote an opinion piece about it for The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/06/margaret-atwood-wattpad-online-writing

What matters about Wattpad is that your writing is made instantly available to a very large of mostly young readers. Mostly millennials and centennials in their teens, 20s and 30s. 80 million monthly users. Roughly 56 million women and 24 million men.

Even if they don't go out and buy your books you are also increasing you name recognition and branding. They might see your name on Wattpad and if you later have physical books in a bookstore those same people are more likely to see your name, recognize it, and then buy your physical books.

Hence why for professional writers Wattpad makes a lot of sense.

Doesn't Wattpad have a lot of Fanfiction and Smut?

Yes, yes it does. And smutty fanfiction too. Wattpad is a huge platform and every genre or subgenre you can think of is on there. Very few things are too outrageous for Wattpad. Werewolf Erotica? Okay. Harry Potter Fanfiction? Tonnes of that on there. People cannot sell fanfiction on there, but it is still there and available.

But lets pretend that your book is similar to Harry Potter... Or you are writing a romance involving werewolves... Then Wattpad would be a great place to promote your writing.

Writing short flash fiction? Wattpad has that too. It has practically everything except a lot of nonfiction... There is a section for nonfiction, but it is full of fiction because apparently a lot of people don't understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction and Wattpad needs to do a better job of monitoring stories that are in the wrong section.

Just because there is a lot of fanfiction and smut doesn't mean that it isn't a good place to find readers. If anything it proves it is a good place to get readers, because FANS write fanfiction. If you want to get more fans then you need to go where the potential fans are.

And to illustrate my point Margaret Atwood currently has 112,000+ fans on Wattpad, and a chunk of the stuff she has on there is advice for other writers. Eg. How to Write a Story Plot, How to Outline your Novel in 5 Steps. She also organizes contests and has samples of her writing on there.

https://www.wattpad.com/user/MargaretAtwood

Want to see what else I have on Wattpad?

Just visit my Wattpad page and browse: https://www.wattpad.com/user/CharlesMoffat

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