Putting the Fact in Fantasy

Expert Advice to Bring Authenticity to Your Fantasy Writing

By: Dan Koboldt, Scott Lynch

Narrated by: Eunice Wong

Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

A collection of essays from historians, linguists, martial artists, and other experts to help you write more compelling fantasy by getting the facts right

Whether it's correctly naming the parts of a horse, knowing how lords and ladies address one another, or building a realistic fantasy army, getting the details right takes fantasy writing to the next level. Featuring some of the most popular articles from Dan Koboldt’s Fact in Fantasy blog as well as several never-before-seen essays, this book gives aspiring and established fantasy writers alike an essential foundation to the fascinating history and cultures of our own world, which serve as a jumping-off point for more inspired and convincing fantasy.

©2022 Dan Koboldt and Scott Lynch (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Worldbuilding, Academic Style

What is an archaeologist? What is a linguist? Young readers, for whom these questions may be relevant, will find this book provides a very high-level overview of the realities and importance of these and other academic professions, as given by, well, academics in those professions. The dryness of the delivery may be off-putting to such readers, but should a middle-schooler be writing a novel with an archaeologist or linguist as the protagonist, the essays in this book on those topics may be relevant.

Most of the rest of the book reads like an annotated bibliography of, again, academic and fictional works currently in vogue in universities. General advice on writing links these references together, with some comments on race, class, pandemics, culture, and politics. One curious exception to the studied correctness of the authors would be in the highlighting and praise given to J.K. Rowling. One suspects that those essays would be written differently or not at all in 2023.

One of the J.K. Rowling discourses does, however, illustrate a problem with the book. The cleverness and originality of Rowling in inventing the Horcrux is extolled. The author of this essay seems to be unaware that the Horcrux is, essentially, a renamed phylactery as functionally described in Dungeons & Dragons, predating Rowling’s work by decades. Several essays in this book do little more than abjure readers to know about what they write, so that they do not get caught out by such mistakes, and yet the book falls prey to the same.

As this example shows, the book is rooted in Academia, more so than fantasy or tabletop roleplaying games. Even the handful of fiction authors who contributed to the volume have an academic perspective. Most writers or game designers older than 21 may have already considered the topics covered here, and, quite possibly, in greater depth than this book. Such readers should save their time.

The book could be useful to those completely new to worldbuilding, who may need reminding that even fantasy cities (likely) need a water supply and sanitation. The reading list given would also serve well as a primer for any high school student hoping to study one of the social sciences in college. Well, except for the J.K. Rowling bit. They might want to skip that.

good research starters

the book has a number of short articles on topics of interest to fantasy writers. they won't tell you everything, but give you good questions to kickstart your research