I have made quite a bit of progress on my fantasy novel in the last few days. I am about 8% into the actual writing, but that should from now on go faster.
A lot of my time was spent on researching map design and book formatting, so it would look great in print and on various devices like tablets and e-readers. It was a lot to take in.
Map Design for authors
Most fantasy books have maps. Some have great maps, some have basic maps. Think of Tolkien's Middle Earth maps and George R.R. Martin's Westeros map. These maps are not only useful for readers. They are a great tool for authors themselves. If you know what your world looks like, you can avoid mistakes like making a hike last two days if the distance could actually be walked in half a day.
Creating a map for your story also helps you with getting more ideas about who lives in your world, what it is focused on, which challenges there are based on the landscape, etc. I first thought I'd only make a basic map by hand and then pay a professional to make a nice-looking map. Fortunately, I did some research and came across useful software that enabled me to make my own maps that actually look quite good. I was impressed by myself. But creating the maps also helped me see some flaws in my world creation and helped me to adjust them. It's an awesome tool.
If you want to play around with making maps, I'd recommend
Inkarnate - Create Fantasy Maps Online. You can do a lot for free, so it's perfect if you just want to play around a little.
If you want to use more features, pricing starts at $5 per month, or $25 for a whole year. I am currently using the monthly plan, but will probably change to the yearly one, because it's worth it if you plan to write more than one fantasy novel which will need more than one map.
There are other websites and software around, but I found Inkarnate to be the best option for fantasy books. If you know anything better, let me know. I am always keen on learning more!
Getting book formatting right
After my experience with the formatting problem for my author ebook (the publisher somehow changed stuff and it ended up looking totally different from what I sent in), I did some research into formatting because I'll probably end up doing more things independently, so there are fewer chances of something going wrong because of some publisher's automated system.
After reading up on correct formatting, and playing around in Microsoft Word, I just wasn't quite happy with how complex things can become when you look at things like different types of margins (i.e. normal margins and gutters, which aren't the same on each page). I was aware of novel writing software, but I never liked Scrivener, and though I do have a paid-for copy of the Novel Factory, I also wasn't quite happy with writing in it.
I had never heard of Atticus before, but it seemed like a good option. I wasn't too sure about spending the money on it, but I told myself "Look, it'll save you time and trouble. And it'll make your life easier. Plus, you need to take writing seriously." So I did spend the money and didn't regret it. Atticus makes it so easy to see how your novel will look like on different devices and in print. PLUS, you can choose from a few themes that really look nice. So I'm happy, and there's also a goal tracker, so you see whether you hit your writing goals every day.
The links I am providing here are NOT affiliate links. I won't earn anything if you decide to use any of the software I just recommend. I am only interested in letting other writers know what worked for me.
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