Category: Fantasy

  • Learn to Spell Your Character Names

    Learn to Spell Your Character Names

    If you want your readers to have an easy time pronouncing the names in your story, then this is the article for you. In my experience, the best way to spell a character name you’ve invented is this: to spell the name so that it the reader understands how they should pronounce it.  This article will…

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  • Learn to Make Parchment in GIMP

    Learn to Make Parchment in GIMP

    For those of you interested in taking your finished map to the next level, I’ve written a detailed tutorial on how I make things look like parchment. This is the technique I used to make my website banner, among other things. I hope it proves useful to you.

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  • Resources for Fantasy Writers

    Resources for Fantasy Writers

    I’ve made a page with links to many of the resources I’ve created for other fantasy writers.  Among these, you’ll find books and articles on some aspects of fantasy writing that I once struggled with, including ways you can design maps or fictional languages for your world.  I hope that these resources will help you…

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  • New eBook on Fantasy Mapmaking

    New eBook on Fantasy Mapmaking

    If you’re writing a fantasy novel but don’t know how to draw the map, this is the book for you!  After more than a year of work, I’ve published a Kindle eBook called How to Make a Fantasy Map: A Writer’s Guide to Otherworldly Cartography. Learn how to roughen a simple shape into a fully-formed…

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  • Write the Sounds of Your Fictional Language

    Write the Sounds of Your Fictional Language

    My latest article will teach you the basics of how to use the International Phonetic Alphabet.  Geared towards fantasy writers who want to craft better names for their characters, this article covers the basic types of consonants and vowels, including places and manners of articulation for consonants and some of the more common vowel qualities.…

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  • Learn to Craft Character Names

    Learn to Craft Character Names

    For several years, hmturnbull.com was focused mainly on reviewing books, movies and television.  Since then, a number of things have changed in my life, and my goal of writing fiction has become more of a priority. For a long time, I’ve wanted to shift the focus of this website towards not only my own work,…

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  • Top 10 Worst Fantasy Stories 2019

    Top 10 Worst Fantasy Stories 2019

    This is the original version of an article that I’ve since updated.  I highly recommend you check out the up-to-date version, where I’ve added new entries and adjusted the order. It’s time to take a look at some fantasy stories: specifically the worst fantasy stories I know of. When J. R. R. Tolkien published The…

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  • Making a Fantasy Map: Text Labels

    Making a Fantasy Map: Text Labels

    If you want to learn how to make a map in more detail—or you’d like to make one but can’t due to Affinity’s pricetag—then take a look at my new eBook: How to Make a Fantasy Map: A Writer’s Guide to Otherworldly Cartography. You’ll learn more advanced techniques for making a fantasy map (including how…

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  • Making a Fantasy Map: Settlements

    Making a Fantasy Map: Settlements

    If you want to learn how to make a map in more detail—or you’d like to make one but can’t due to Affinity’s pricetag—then take a look at my new eBook: How to Make a Fantasy Map: A Writer’s Guide to Otherworldly Cartography. You’ll learn more advanced techniques for making a fantasy map (including how…

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  • Making a Fantasy Map: Forests

    Making a Fantasy Map: Forests

    If you want to learn how to make a map in more detail—or you’d like to make one but can’t due to Affinity’s pricetag—then take a look at my new eBook: How to Make a Fantasy Map: A Writer’s Guide to Otherworldly Cartography. You’ll learn more advanced techniques for making a fantasy map (including how…

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