Having big stars only increases the financial damages of making a Dungeons and Dragons film. So far the cast for the upcoming 2022 D&D film includes:
Regé-Jean Page
Chris Pine
Michelle Rodriguez
Justice Smith
Now immediately you will realize that Chis and Michelle aren't cheap. Big stars may help to get people to take the film more seriously, but the financial risks are greater because they are also more expensive.
The problem with making a D&D film is that they keep starting with a blank slate in terms of plot.
They never based the films on the books...
Eg. They could very easily make live action films based on the following book series:
The Icewind Dale Trilogy
The Dragonlance Chronicles
Those two book series are very popular. Either one of them, with a decent budget, would make a very good trilogy of films and could lead into a whole franchise of fantasy films similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But instead they're going to repeat what they did in 2000, 2005 and 2012. Movies with very little plot, lackluster characters, and sloppy storytelling.
Now it is possible, I should note, to base a film on a book or book series and then completely ruin it.
Case in point:
John Carter of Mars
Having read the books (and seen the Disney version of the first book) I can tell you several things: The scriptwriters ignored the source material for the most part, only loosely based the film on "A Princess of Mars", and what they presented was a cobbled together mess.
To be fair "A Princess of Mars" is an okay book. Four stars out of five. But books 2 and 3 basically just repeat the plot from book 1. Books 4 and 5? Oh look. Same thing. Rescue the princess. You get the picture.
And this is why it is important to choose a book series that changes over time, but has a larger arc for the characters... And why you pick a book series that has consistently favourable reviews.
And then all you have to do is not muck it up.
Hence why I foresee this new 2022 D&D film be a huge financial flop. Unless they're secretly making the first book adaptation then I foresee they will be going into this with a shoddily put together plot, very expensive actors, and studio/producer interference with the final product.
Remember the original version of Justice League?
That's what you get when you get studio/producer interference and then the director quits and you replace the good director with a subpar director.
Many years ago, 2008 in fact, I decided to give 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons a shot.
I had been playing 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition for many years so why not try something new and different?
How bad could it be after all?
Well...
It can be pretty bad.
And worse, pretty boring.
Roleplaying in 4th edition works pretty much the same as any other edition of Dungeons and Dragons. You just role-play your character and adlib what you want the character to do. Essentially making it up as you go like an interactive storytelling system.
The problem with 4th Edition D&D was the combat system, which, let's be fair, is arguably the most important part because 90% of the books is really stuff related to combat. If there was no combat there would be almost no need for the books at all. People could just roleplay their characters, not do any combat, and most of the books wouldn't be needed.
Unfortunately it is called "Dungeons and Dragons"... Which implies that at some point you are going to want to stab a dragon, so combat is a necessity. Oh and there's dungeons, castles, inns, etc... Often with traps in there, so there's rules for that too, but disabling traps (or getting hit by traps) doesn't take much time.
No...
The combat system for 4E was the biggest issue and the biggest fault.
For 4th Edition players each "normal sized" combat will typically take 4 to 8 hours (or longer) just to complete. If combat is only 3 hours or less that is considered to be extraordinarily quick.
Furthermore when playing through the combat it is so bogged down with rules, powers, movement powers, movement actions, sliding, shifting, reactions, etc... Doing a single round of combat with a group of 4 players usually takes about 24-48 minutes, and you can expect the combat to last about 10 rounds (or longer)...
Furthermore even low level monsters in 4th Edition had abilities that basically allowed them to regenerate lost hit points - even though they technically did NOT have regeneration. They could still heal themselves mid combat for no good reason. (This incidentally is one of the things I don't like about 5th Edition either, the whole thing with Second Wind acting like an extra way for PCs to heal themselves. It really makes having a cleric in the group rather unnecessary.)
Now if you're not a D&D player let me go ahead and explain something...
In previous editions of Dungeons and Dragons it was considered normal to have 1 to 3 combats during a single session of roleplaying, but the combats were often relatively short. This meant more time for actual roleplaying, character development, plot development, storytelling, etc. It also meant that you actually more combat done, but that combat was done quickly and efficiently in a manner that did not distract from the enjoyment of the game.
Likewise healing in previous editions meant the party either rested for the night, or they relied upon the cleric (or druid or paladin) to heal the party.
4th Edition basically ignored all of that and said:
"Hey, let's have really long overly complicated combat that lasts 4 to 8 hours and bores players to death."
Because that is what 4th Edition combat was like. Just super long and boring. It was like watching other people playing Warhammer while you (one of the players) stared off into the distance because the combat was so slow you didn't really need to pay attention.
I suspect a lot of 4E DMs would notice their players staring at their phones, tablets or reading a book during the games back in 2008 when 4th Edition first came out.
Now I wasn't the only player who got very quickly bored of 4th Edition. Many other players did too. Some people boycotted 4th edition D&D after they tried it and realized that the combat was so slow that they became nostalgic for older roleplaying games.
Ah Nostalgia...
That is what happened to me.
In the wake of 3.5 D&D (don't get me started) I opted to ditch 3rd Edition and decided to join a 1st Edition group. I played 1st Edition for years and then later (starting in November 2011) I ran my own 1st Edition game for 6 years.
After that game ended in 2017 I started running a 2nd Edition campaign, which I plan to keep running until 2024 or so.
By 2025 I expect to be playing 3.0 and that should last me until 2030-2031.
Meanwhile some other players I know of similarly skipped 4th Edition and played Pathfinder instead, which was similar to 3.5, but felt more like 3.75. Still technically 3rd Edition.
Look at the chart below and it will give you an idea of just how bad 4th Edition was and how it led to Pathfinder becoming more popular.
4th Edition D&D was so bad that it resulted in 3.5 maintaining its popularity until 2011 when Pathfinder eventually overtook 3.5 in popularity.
The folks / manufacturers at Wizards of the Coast no doubt noticed that Pathfinder was now more popular and realized that they needed a 5th Edition, and they needed the new game to make combat exciting again, faster, and to incorporate elements from previous editions. 5th Edition was very much a reaction to just how much players hated 4th Edition.
However we're not going to talk about 5th Edition today. Save that for a future Nerdovore post...
So what do I remember about 4th Edition?
Before I got bored of playing 4th Edition and decided to boycott it I remember the very long and arduous combat sessions.
I don't remember my characters.
I don't remember their names.
I don't remember the names of other characters.
I vaguely remember the names of several players, mostly because I am still friends with a few on Facebook.
I don't remember the plots or anything to do with the stories.
I suspect it is entirely possible that I have blocked the memory of such things because the boredom and horror of 4th Edition was so bad that my brain decided to delete all associated memories of it and retaining specific memories as a reminder to never play 4th Edition ever again.
I remember going to several "Try 4th Edition" events being held at gaming stores in Toronto. I might have the character sheets from those games tucked away somewhere, but it is equally likely that I threw them out whenever I took the time to sort through old character sheets and saw them and realized: "Oh crud! This is 4th Edition?! That is definitely going in to the recycling!"
And then ripping them up for good measure.
So what about past and future editions?
1st, 2nd, 3.0 and 5th edition are all perfectly good games in my opinion. I had to tweak 5th edition when playing it to give it some house rules to make it better, but I do the same thing when playing 1st and 2nd.
I haven't played 3rd edition in about 13 years. I am starting to get nostalgic for it. However in theory I can just play Dungeons and Dragons Online, which is based on 3rd Edition - but on STEROIDS!!! If I start running 3.0 in 2025 I suspect I will also House Rule a bunch of stuff.
That is the hallmark of what makes a good edition of D&D. If you don't like something you can change it using House Rules to fix the problem. With 4th Edition no amount of House Rules was going to change the fact that it was a long-winded and very boring combat system.
I have also noticed - and this may just be me being superstitious - that prime numbers a good thing for D&D editions. 2, 3 and 5 particularly. 1st Edition is still good, but 2nd Edition was definitely better.
Thus I wouldn't be surprised if 6th Edition D&D ended up being really bad... and 7th Edition Dungeons and Dragons being really good.
Call it a prediction.
I predict that the following editions of D&D will all be really bad:
6th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
8th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
9th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
10th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
But 7th and 11th Edition Dungeons and Dragons will be good or at least "acceptably good".
I also wouldn't be surprised if after the series of debacles of 8th, 9th and 10th being flops that fans might buy the company back from WOTC and restart the old TSR brand.
While I am at it I also predict that any films using "Dungeons and Dragons" in the title will be financial flops. If they want to make films they should base them on the books, like the Icewind Dale Trilogy or the Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy. Basing them on the books guarantees that the films at least have a good plot.
Basing a film on a board game or a video game is very hit and miss.
Want to learn more about why 4th Edition D&D was so bad?
Just watch the video below. In the video you will see new players reacting to playing a 3.5 hour long session of D&D and keep in mind the DM deliberately cut the hit points of all the monsters in HALF because he knew that if he did not then the combat would have lasted twice as long.
And even then... Even then the players discovered just how bad it still is despite the DM tweaking the rules.
This past year (sometime in October 2020) Nerdovore.com surpassed 1 million visitors and this fact went unnoticed until February 2021.
Honestly I have just been so busy during 2020 I didn't notice.
I only noticed today because I was adding a new YouTube button to make it easier for people subscribe to my Charles Moffat YouTube channel and I randomly decided to check the stats for the blog.
I started Nerdovore in July 2011, which means we are nearing the 10 year anniversary 5 months from now. Since then the website has grown in leaps and bounds.
Nerdovore became profitable in February 2015, so I registered the domain name Nerdovore.com at that time. So that is another anniversary of sorts. It has now been 6 years of profitability for this blog.
You will notice that the Google ads take up very little space on the blog itself. This works for me because I prefer advertising to be as minimal as possible. You will however notice that there is considerably more space used for marketing my fantasy books.
As an extra measure of profitability I have also been using Nerdovore.com to advertise both my fantasy books on Amazon and my archery lessons in Toronto business. So "profitability" is really just a matter of how many people purchase my books or how many people sign up for archery lessons in Toronto.
While it hasn't made me super rich, it has afforded me a life of comfort and I get to enjoy being my own boss, setting my own schedule, etc. I get to shoot arrows for a living, watch other people shoot arrows, and then go home and write fantasy books about shooting monsters with arrows. I love it!
What are the most popular posts on Nerdovore.com?
Easily the fantasy maps. 6 of the top 10 most popular posts currently on Nerdovore are about fantasy maps. In general the top 10 most popular posts make up a large healthy percentage of that first 1 million visitors. People come looking for fantasy maps and they generally find what they are looking for.
That said I am still planning on adding more future posts about other fantasy maps and also science fiction maps too.
What are some of my favourite posts?
I really enjoyed doing the interviews with fantasy authors a year ago, but when COVID happened I got distracted and stopped doing the interviews. I would like to do them again sometime.
What would I like to change about Nerdovore.com?
Well... I would like to do more YouTube videos. That is definitely a big thing for me right now. Promoting youtube.com/c/CharlesMoffatToronto is a big part of my marketing plans for my fantasy books during the next decade.
There is also a separate Nerdovore youtube channel, but I am less worried about it. Technically the Nerdovore channel is more popular, but I want to grow youtube.com/c/CharlesMoffatToronto so I can build an audience and post a lot more fantasy book reviews. My goal in 2021 is to be posting at least 1 new fantasy book review per month.
As part of that it means I need to be doing more fantasy book reviews that end up being posted on Nerdovore too.
Thus while I had fun doing the fantasy author interviews last year, my big thing this year is to be writing a lot more fantasy book reviews.
Note - I will not be writing any book reviews about books that I dislike. I am not a fan of writing (or reading) negative book reviews. Part of it is I don't like to be inadvertently advertising a book that I dislike.
I would also like to be posting more food recipes for "Nerd Foods". That is something else I want to do more of. Especially cookie recipes. Who doesn't want more cookies???
So what does the future hold?
Well, I don't expect it to take another 9.5 years to reach the 2 million visitors mark. I do expect the popularity of Nerdovore.com to continue to grow, especially as I post more fantasy maps and book reviews - as well as generic nerd culture stuff. Between posting more maps and book reviews I foresee Nerdovore.com continuing to grow in popularity.
During 2020 Nerdovore.com garnered 157,000+ visitors, with similar numbers in 2018 and 2019. The last three years has seen a huge increase in the website's popularity. With a little extra effort I foresee it could top 200,000 or 250,000 visitors during 2021 or 2022.
Thus I foresee putting more work into growing Nerdovore (and making it more profitable). If it could be getting 300,000+ visitors per year by 2023 - or sooner - then I would be quite pleased with its progress as a blog.
Also keep in mind I have other blogs that I devote my time to, but I do foresee posting on Nerdovore.com more frequently in the future as I continue to build an audience.
There are different kinds of editors out there and depending upon what a writer needs they really should be looking for a specific type of editor to fulfill those needs.
Likewise these different types of editors also frequently charge different rates for their services so it is important that you are only paying for the services you need and aren't wasting your time with an editor who wants to do developmental editing, when in reality all you need is a copy editor and a proofreader.
So what are the differences?
The Copy Editor checks the text for:
Correct spelling
Correct grammar
Punctuation
Story consistency
Redundant text
Proper past tense or present tense
Tone
Flow
Scene transitions
Correct use of words. Eg. Using a word that actually means something else. I noticed this recently when reading one of the books from the Witcher series, and I suspect it was the result of a bad translation.
A copy editor is also expected to provide suggestions or copywrite parts of the text to improve flow or fix problems with the text. Their goal is get rid of confusing parts of the text so the reader has more clarity on what the author meant to say, while still maintaining the author's style and tone.
Copy editors usually only see the book after the second draft has already been self-edited by the author.
The Developmental Editor provides a very different function. They are involved during the actual writing process, often from the beginning to the end. They are there to:
Help organize the book chapters
Help develop the plot and characters
Identify problems with the plot and provide solutions
Try to fix issues surrounding the pacing of the plot
To reject unnecessary content and push for content that fills in plot holes
Correct issues regarding flow and tone.
Developmental editors do not check things like spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. That is the copy editor's job.
When the book is done then the developmental editor's job is complete. The book is then ready to be sent to the copy editor.
Do all authors use a developmental editor? No, they don't. For the vast majority of writers having a developmental editor is completely unnecessary (and even considered to be a nuisance to some writers because the editor will be second guessing every decision the author makes).
How much do editors charge for their services?
It varies on the person. The following was the editor rates that was suggested back in 2008 by the Editorial Freelancers Association at the time. It is safe to say that the rates have gone up since then during the last 13 years.
Basic copy editing: $25 to $40 per hour Pace: 5 to 10 pages an hour Heavy copy editing: $35 to $50 per hour Pace: 2 to 5 pages an hour Substantive or Line editing: $40 to $65 per hour Pace: 1 to 6 pages per hour Developmental editing: $50 to $80 per hour Pace: 2 to 5 pages per hour
Note - I have not found any references to what the Editorial Freelancers Association considers to be 1 page of text. How many words do they consider to be 1 page? Unknown.
How much do I charge?
I am writing about this whole issue of the differences and pay rates because I edit fantasy books, short stories and novellas, but I quietly advertise this service. I only do copy editing. I have zero interest in helping someone who is in the developmental stage of their writing.
I charge $35 USD per hour.
I can do either basic copy editing or heavy copy editing. It doesn't matter which I am doing, it is still $35 per hour.
I accept payments via either PayPal or Interac Email Transfer.
How many words can I edit per hour? Depends on how much is needed. It varies on the author. I can tell you that I normally write 1000 to 1300 words per hour when working on my own writing, and I can edit at a much faster rate depending upon how mistakes I need to fix. The less mistakes that need fixing the faster I can edit. It all depends.
Some authors prefer to pay for a single batch of 5000 words or 1 chapter first to determine the cost vs benefits of hiring me to do more editing. This is totally acceptable and I understand why writers do this because they want to maximize their Return On Investment (ROI). I would do the same thing when hiring an editor.
I prefer to edit things in smaller batches of 5,000 to 20,000 words at a time, with separate payments for each batch. So if you wrote a 100,000 word novel it might take 5 batches for me to edit the whole thing, but this works well for me and my schedule. While it is possible for me to edit whole novels and for writers to pay for the whole thing all at once, my preference is to work in smaller batches of chapters so that I can guarantee faster delivery times of the edited work.
The big thing for me is that I am only interested in editing fantasy
books, and I have a preference towards short stories, novelettes and
novellas. Children's Books and YA are also okay, so long as they're
fantasy books.
I cannot guarantee availability. Sometimes I am busy working on my own writing or other projects. This is one of the reasons why I prefer smaller batches and editing short stories/etc. With the smaller projects I can more easily find the time to do the work and make good on my promise of a faster delivery time.
For each fantasy periodical, magazine, journal, etc they have their own set of rules of what is expected. Read it. Follow the instructions in the submission guidelines.
You will notice below that there are exceptions to the guidelines. Not every periodical is using the same system and they each have their preferences. There is no set standard any more. Their instructions should always override anything you have ever read from any other website, including what you read here.
Many editors won't even read your submission unless you followed their submission guidelines exactly.
Submission must be typewritten.
Use 12 point font. Times New Romans or Courier. These are the most commonly used. Use the same font for everything.
Always use black text on a white background.
If you are submitting a paper copy via snail mail only use paper of good-quality and only print on one side.
If you are submitting a paper copy via snail mail then don’t staple your pages, use paper
clips, etc. Do not fold any papers and avoid
wrinkling it.
Title Page: Put your real first and last name and all contact information (address, e-mail, and phone) at the top left hand corner of the first page.
Title Page: Some magazines also like you to put the word count at the top right corner. Check the individual magazine to see what they prefer.
Title Page: Half-way down the title page, center the title of your story in all caps. Beneath the title add "By 'Author Name'". If you are using a pen name or pseudonym this is where you include your pen name. Remember your real name must be at the top left hand corner of the title page.
Start your story on a new line immediately 1 or 2 lines beneath your name/pen name.
Indent every line of the story.
Some magazines prefer you put your name and title at the top header of every page.
Number every page. Some prefer the numbers to be centered, some prefer the page numbers to be right justified. When in doubt check.
Some magazines like you to include your name, the title and page numbers at the bottom of every page. It really varies on the magazine so check to see what they expect to see.
Left-justify your paragraphs. This will make the right edges look "ragged" or "jagged", but this is what the editors expect to see.
Double space all of the story, but not the contact information on the title page.
Single spacing between sentences is considered normal these days and many editors prefer it that way.
Page margin should always be 1-inch all around, although some editors don't care.
Some editors prefer extra space between paragraphs. Some prefer no extra space. Some don't care. It really varies. There is no standard for this any more.
If there is a scene break use a blank line then put a centered hashtag (#), then another blank line. No indentation for the hashtag.
Never use italics or bold text. There is some argument about this regarding "psychic communication" or people saying "magical words", but if you really want to emphasize a bit of text then use an underline. However doing this is considered unnecessary as you should not have to rely on formatting as a crutch for your writing to stand out.
You don't need to include "The End" at the end, but if you feel you must then center the word ‘End’ or ‘The End’ on its own line. Some people do this to make it clear the story is truly over and hasn't been cut off. Some editors don't like having "The End" there. Some prefer it. If they didn't specify then it doesn't really matter.
Remember to include a short (usually 1 paragraph) biography about the author at the very end of the document.
There aren't a lot of maps of Orïsha available out there. Above is the official map you will find in the books by Tomi Adeyemi: Children of Blood and Bone, and Children of Vengeance and Virtue.
Fan made maps of Orïsha don't really exist, not yet. However there is a map of the largest city: Lagos.
Lagos is the largest city in the fictional kingdom of Orïsha, but it is based on the real life Nigerian city of Lagos, which with a population of 15 million people is the largest city in Africa. Nigeria is also the richest country in Africa, so Lagos is basically the equivalent of New York City.
Except NYC only has a population of 8.4 million... Which means Lagos is almost twice the size of NYC. The entire state of New York only has 19.4 million people, versus Nigeria which has a population 201 million.
So Tomi Adeyemi based her fictional version of Lagos on the real life Lagos, but she isn't the only author doing this. Charles Moffat's "The Quorum of Kaŝe" duology is also set in and near Lagos, with much of the action taking place on the fictional hidden island of Kaŝe which is just off the coast from Lagos.
With more authors writing AfroFantasy these days you can expect many more books being set in Lagos (both real and fictional versions of Lagos) in the future.
Back on topic...
Within the continent of Orïsha there are also ten clans. They are the following:
Reaper- The Maji of Life and Death
This Maji, which hails from the Ikú clan, can access and manipulate the spirits of the living and the dead. Their associated deity is Oya.
Connector - The Maji of Mind, Spirit and Dreams
A Connector - from the Èèmí clan - can read minds and tap into the dreams and consciousness of others. Their associated deity is Orí.
Tider - The Maji of Water
Tiders of the Omi Clan can manipulate water and ice, moving and shaping its natural form. Their associated deity is Yemoja.
Burner - The Maji of Fire
A Burner, the Maji of the Iná, can summon and control the element of fire. Their associated deity is Sàngó.
Winder - The Maji of Air
Hailing from the Aféfé clan, Winders can control the air and change the course of the wind. Their associated deity is Ayao.
Grounder and Welder - The Majis of Iron and Earth
These connected Aiye clan Maji can manipulate the earth's natural resources. A Grounder can shape and change the land, and a Welder can bend and contort metals. Their associated deity is Ògún.
Lighter - The Maji of Darkness and Light
Lighters, the Maji of the Ìmólè clan, can summon darkness and invoke the light. Their associated deity is Ochumare.
Cancer and Healer - The Maji of Health and Disease
These Ìwòsàn clan's Maji can manipulate the health of the human body, the Cancer can inflict sickness or disease, and the Healer can provide healing. Their associated deity is Babalúayé.
Seer - The Maji of Time
The Seer of the Aríran clan can summon memories from the past and see into the future. Their associated deity is Orúnmila.
Tamer - The Maji of Animals
Tamers, the Maji of the Eranko clan, can control and transform animals. Their associated deity is Oxosi.
The world of David Eddings' books series the Belgariad and Mallorean was set in the following world.
I read the books back during the 1990s and to be honest I am tempted to read them over again. However if I did so I seem to recall that David Eddings wrote his books in the PRESENT tense. I find reading in the present tense to be really annoying most of the time. It isn't so bad for action scenes, but when it comes to regular scenes and descriptions it is very annoying to read.
Plus we are talking about 10 books, 2 series of 5 books each, all written in the present tense. That is a big commitment if you hate reading books written in the present tense.
Don't get me wrong, I remember enjoying the book series, but I am not sure I could commit to reading it over again knowing it is written in such a manner.
Awhile back I made up the following list of Advertising Rates for Nerdovore.com, but I am not sure how committed I am to these prices:
Sponsored Guest Post with Images/Links: $30 USD.
Excerpt from one of your books with Images/Links: $30 USD.
Promo Page for Your Books with Images/Links: $30 USD.
Side Bar Link Text Ad: $30 USD per year.
Side Bar Banner Advertising: $50 USD per year. (Limit of 3 customers.)
Premium Banner Advertising: $70 USD per year. (Limit of 1 customer for this slot.)
Honestly... If someone approached me wanting to advertise on Nerdovore they should just make me an offer and see if I accept it.
Just tell me what you want to do in terms of advertising, make me an offer in USD, and either I accept your offer or I refuse it. (If your offer isn't worth my time then it is a guarantee that I will refuse it. I won't even answer your email if your offer is too low.)
Also don't even think to waste my time by asking for free links. I will just delete your email.
Also whatever you are advertising needs to be family friendly and on topic for the types of things I talk about on Nerdovore.
Email charlesmoffat@charlesmoffat.com to inquire about advertising on Nerdovore.com.
★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★
Free Book Reviews for Fantasy Books
I also want to note that I don't charge for book reviews, but it is a case wherein I only read fantasy books, only those fantasy books I am interested in, and I never post a review if I end up hating your book. Call it the trade off for never giving out negative reviews, it means that if I didn't like your book then there is no review at all.
Also I don't do rush orders for book reviews. I take my time reading a book and I have a giant stack of books waiting to be reviewed. You will have to wait your turn like everyone else.
But on the plus side I also do Fantasy Unboxing Videos via my YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/CharlesMoffatToronto so anyone who wants a book review actually gets at least 1 or 2 videos about their book: An Unboxing Video + Book Review (if I like their book). I have also started doing combination videos wherein I mention other people's books for comparison purposes, so it also possible a person's book will be plugged multiple times in other videos.
Likewise any books I unbox will often end up on my Twitter and Instagram accounts in various photographs.
This is your standard (often stereotypical) hero who fulfills a Main Character role, and they embody attributes many people aspire to like courage, a sense of honour, benevolence, kindness, etc. The character doesn't have to be perfect however, they could be a "Fallen Hero" like Thorin Oakenshield who aspires to heroic ideals, succumbs to greed, and then later redeems himself.
2. The Protagonist Anti-Hero
This is a Main Character who is not your standard hero and does not fit neatly into the standard hero role. Eg. If all of the Harry Potter books were written from the perspective of Severus Snape, then Snape would be an Anti-Hero.
3. The Antagonist (Villain)
Villains don't have to be stereotypical or humanoid. Sauron, Voldemort, Darth Vader, etc are certainly good examples, but they could also be monstrous like the dragon Smaug or any of the massive sharks from the Jaws franchise.
4. The Deuteragonist
The Deuteragonist is often called a Secondary Character. They often fulfill the role of sidekicks, squires. They're not a Main Character, but they're more of a Side Character. Eg. Ron and Hermione, Samwise, Podrick Payne, etc.
5. The Tertiary or Tritagonist
The Tritagonist is a minor character who only makes brief appearances in the plot and fulfills relatively minor roles. They're not villains, but they could be servants, friends, allies to the main character. They could even be neutral. Eg. The goblin bankers in Harry Potter, the elf Elrond in Lord of the Rings, or Barristan Selmy in Game of Thrones.
6. The Paramour or Damsel in Distress
The lover (or presumed lover) of the Main Character could be a damsel in distress character, but he/she could also be a variation of the Femme Fatale. Whatever their role in the plot they are the paramour of the MC. Eg. Ygritte in Game of Thrones, Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter, Arwen in Game of Thrones, etc.
7. The Confidant
Confidants are often best friends or mentors for the MC. They might be someone the MC feels comfortable talking to and asking questions. They could also simultaneously be Secondary Characters or Tertiary.
8. The Foil / Rival
Not the villain, but certainly a rival that the MC doesn't get along with. Their methods often differ dramatically from the MC and reveals more about the MC's sense of fair play, honour, good sportsmanship, etc. Eg. Draco Malfoy.
9. The Dynamic or Rounded Character
This character is well-rounded and ever changing. They learn things, they evolve over time. They could be the MC or a secondary character, or even a tertiary.
10. The Stereotypical Stock Character
The fool, the mentor, the sage, the wise leader, the priest, etc.
11. The Symbolic Character
This is a character who represents a specific ideal such as hope or courage, but could also be something loftier like representing a godly power. Eg. Aslan in Chronicles of Narnia.
12. The Extras / Static Characters
These are simply background characters who don't even have a name. They don't really change and don't feel any larger roles. They often don't even talk. Eg. "Red Shirts" in Star Trek, Stormtroopers in Star Wars, random orcs in Lord of the Rings, random students in Hogwarts, etc. Often they're just there to be scared and run away, or to stand there and die.
I have often doing a collaboration with another author or several fantasy authors.
The trick I think is to find other fantasy authors with similar styles and figuring out how to split the profits from said venture...
With traditional publishing the matter of splitting profits is handled by the publisher and all authors are treated equally.
With Amazon Publishing and similar methods of self-publishing there is a problem however. There currently is no way to split sales between multiple authors, and likewise they have to split up the responsibilities of marketing/etc.
However I think I have come up several possible solutions:
SOLUTION #1: The Simultaneous Trilogy
Imagine that you have three authors who want to write a trilogy together, within the same shared setting. For simplicity's sake let's say all of the action in the stories takes place in a single city (eg. New York).
Each author could, in theory, write their books simultaneously and release all three books on the same date: February 2nd 2022 or something like that.
The books in question could take place in a specific order, or they could all have their events happening simultaneously. The characters of each book could be separate but their stories interconnected in some manner etc.
Likewise each author would responsible for marketing their own books, but would also be able to mention the other books from the series.
It also doesn't have to be a trilogy. It could be a duology of two books or a plethora of writers all writing in the same world. (Similar to the Thieves World anthology series, but without it being an anthology.) In theory 20 or more authors could all publish their books within the shared world at the same time, setting their own prices, using the same logo, book cover layout template, etc.
As a result each author is responsible for their own work, their own
marketing, and reaps their own profits within the Amazon system.
SOLUTION #2: An Open Collaboration
An Open Collaboration would involve one author (or several authors) getting the ball rolling by writing one book and putting it on Amazon, and opening it up for other authors to add their own works in the world. Any author could, without even needing permission, publish their own work set within the world, reusing the logos, branding, etc created by the first author(s) who has created the world and allowed other writers to publish within the world they created.
Again, each author joining the Open Collaboration would be responsible for writing and marketing their own work, but would benefit from being part of a newly established world.
For example H. P. Lovecraft implored other writers to create new literary works based on his Cthulhu creation (which is also currently in the public domain), because he wanted other writers to add more to the story. However the phrase "Call of Cthulhu" is copyrighted by a roleplaying game company, so that specific phrase cannot be used in either books or marketing, asides from Lovecraft's book "The Call of Cthulhu". Otherwise any books that people publish within the Cthulhu world is effectively part of his Open Collaboration.
Thus if someone wanted to they could join Lovecraft's Open Collaboration, or they could start their own open collaboration based on their own world and hope other writers join them.
SOLUTION #3: Shared Amazon Account
This really only works if the authors are very close (like a married couple, close friends, etc) and they agree to collaborate on one or more books and share the same Amazon account, receive royalties via the same joint bank account, etc.
If the two or more authors don't really trust each other I don't see this working. Not without getting a lawyer or a middle man involved.
SOLUTION #4: Collaborate, but Buy The Publication Rights
So this option means the author is taking a financial risk that the book will sell. They hire a fellow fantasy writer to collaborate with, similar to hiring a ghostwriter, and then pay the author for the publication rights to the work produced during the collaboration. The hired author gets paid for their work, still gets their name on the book cover (unlike a ghostwriter who doesn't even get mentioned), and goes on their merry way knowing they've already been paid for their work.
The author who bought the collaboration is then responsible for the remaining writing, all the marketing, and collects all the profits.
SOLUTION #5: Collaborate with a Dead Author
This is a bit more of an unusual idea, but let's run with this...
Find a book that you as an author like which is now in the Public Domain (eg. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald recently became Public Domain as of January 1st 2021) and then co-write a book with the dead author.
Because the book is in the Public Domain you don't have to pay anyone for the rights or worry about splitting the profits.
What is more there are many other books already in this field of Public Domain Collaborations, so it isn't like you're the first person to do this. Every year on January 1st more novels are getting added to the list of Public Domain books. Any number of authors seeking to co-write a book can simply choose an author who has been dead for a very long time and co-write a book with them*.
* It is generally accepted that you are changing a significant part of the book compared to the original book. The characters, the overall plot, the themes, etc will likely be changed significantly, although certain aspects of the book will stay the same.
So which is best?
Hmm. There is no best. There are pros and cons to each of these options.
Can you co-write a book with Jane Austen? Absolutely. Would you really want to? Speaking for myself, no. Not my type of thing.
Some options require more planning, or possibly the expectation that other authors will follow suit, but there is no guarantee than any of these options will be successful in getting readers.
Execution is another factor. What if your writing style and other writer(s) don't have matching literary styles? It might end up being a wasted effort.
You really would need to find a living author who has a similar style and writes similar things, or you are better off just doing your own thing.
Going the traditional publishing route is also always an option, although that has its own set of pros and cons for two authors who want to collaborate.
