In this episode of Storyline Sessions, author and podcast host Michael Vadney talks about his debut nobledark fantasy novel Crownfall, writing multiple POVs, politics in fantasy, magic systems, his writing method and much more.

Find Michael here – https://michaelvadney.com/

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Timestamps:

00:00 – Start

00:51 – Conversation start

01:04 – What is nobledark – talking about genre

05:26 – Political fantasy

09:02 – Scope, perspective and single location stories

10:55 – Plotting stories and authors as D&D DMs

15:12 – Setting writing goals for yourself

17:54 – Staying confident and motivated

19:13 – Initial vision for Crownfall vs the final draft

22:10 – A system for writing multiple POVs

24:45 – Beta readers, writing groups and feedback

30:50 – Genre homework

34:14 – Project Arcanist

35:43 – Standalone vs series

38:31 – Writing to market

41:41 – How do you know when you’re done?

45:39 – Key takeaways after writing the debut

47:53 – Podcasting and importance of community

54:35 – Dealing with reading goals

58:02 – What does a magical engineer do?

01:02:05 – Two important things for a good magic system

01:06:05 – Influences that aren’t Sanderson, spice and old school fantasy

01:12:03 – Getting the right cover art

01:16:11 – Advice for other debut authors

01:17:54 – Outro