Short story structure has been around since the beginning of time. You can read short stories in the Bible and on cave walls. They all have the same structure; so don’t try to reinvent the wheel. The rules are very simple: comply to the form that sells, or you don’t sell.

An epic fantasy novel is an exploration of the big questions in life. You have a valuable point of view about these questions and there’s an audience out there that is willing to listen.

Here are some simple yet amazingly effective steps that will insure you start and finish your epic fantasy novel.

Rus­sell Ce­lyn Jones, author, Pro­fes­sor of Cre­ative Writ­ing and Di­rec­tor of the MA Pro­gramme at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Lon­don’s Birk­beck Col­lege advises writers on developing characters in your writing. Topics include: “building” a character, whether or not some characters write themselves, making characters believable, having too many or too few characters, basing characters on people you know, basing characters on yourself.

Don’t fall into the trap of writing a typical fantasy novel. Here are some tips that will help you write a fantasy novel that is different, new, and maybe even better.

You’re about to sign your first book deal, what happens next? Jonny Geller, Managing Director of Curtis Brown Books offers his advice on what questions you should ask, understanding the terms of the contract, discovering if your contract is negotiable and whether you need an agent to negotiate it for you, selling other rights to your book, and when can you expect to receive the money.

Alexandra Pringle, Editor in Chief of Bloomsbury.com, gives expert video advice on: What should I do if the publisher asks me to make revisions before they’ll accept my submission? I’ve been asked to make revisions – can I ask for development money? How long does it take to go from acceptance to publication? How will I be informed if I have been accepted? How do I accept an offer? and more…