The Joe Abercrombie Writing Style: 3 Key Tips for Writing a Fantasy Novel With Masterful Prose

3 Key Tips for Writing Great Fantasy Novel Prose Inspired by Joe Abercrombie

Today, I'm excited to dig into the intricacies of crafting a compelling fantasy novel by exploring some key tips inspired by Joe Abercrombie's renowned, raw, and dark fantasy writing style.

Abercrombie's name likely resonates with you if you are a devotee of the fantasy genre.

In this discussion, we'll use his novel, The Heroes, as a canvas to explore three essential elements of crafting impactful narrative prose.

The Heroes, set in Abercrombie's First Law universe, unfolds over three intense battle-filled days (technically five, considering the days before and after).

The novel is a whirlwind of blood, guts, and masterful action writing—a true testament to Abercrombie's prowess in the craft.

While Abercrombie's body of work is admirable, The Heroes stands out as a notable achievement in my mind. While The Blade Itself (the introduction to the First Law universe) was commendable, it didn't exhibit quite the same writing finesse.

What draws me in with Abercrombie is his evolution as a fantasy writer and his consistent improvement with each successive title. He invests significant effort across all levels of his writing, which is evident in his commitment to delivering an increasingly better reader experience.

Abercrombie excels in three distinct areas that are the focus of today's article: pacing, narrative, and rhythm. We will dissect these elements using excerpts from The Heroes as our examples.

Here's what we can glean from Abercrombie's approach:

1. Pacing: He masterfully controls the tempo, keeping readers on the edge of their seats throughout the novel.

2. Narrative: His storytelling skills weave smoothly between the different narrative forms, drawing readers deeper into the fictional world he meticulously constructs.

3. Rhythm: Abercrombie's prose flows beautifully, creating an immersive experience that precisely guides the reader over every phrase.

Abercrombie seamlessly integrates these elements into The Heroes, elevating the novel beyond the sum of its parts and igniting a visceral response in readers.

His approach offers invaluable insights for aspiring fantasy writers. So, let's get into the mysteries behind crafting long-lasting and resonating fantasy novels.

Contents:

• The Role of Pacing in Fantasy Storytelling

  • How to Write Pacing Like Abercrombie

  • Mastering Pacing in Fantasy Novels: Tips

• The Art of Narrative Flow

  • How to Write Narrative Types Like Abercrombie

  • Mastering Smooth Narrative Form in Fantasy Fiction: Tips

• Sculpting the Sound of Your Story Through Rhythm

  • How Abercrombie Utilizes Rhythm in His Fantasy Writing

  • Crafting Rhythm and Cadence in Fantasy Novels: Tips

• Final Words

The Role of Pacing in Fantasy Storytelling

Pacing, in its essence, dictates the speed at which your readers travel through your novel.

However, to say it is just about speed is an understatement. It is also about orchestrating the emotions you want to evoke at any given moment, manipulating breaths, and controlling your reader's heartbeat on command.

Think of it in terms of Macros and Micros: how it influences the overarching story and the minutiae of individual scenes, paragraphs, and sentences.

We will have to discuss the Macros of pacing another day because today, we are all about the micropacing of The Heroes.

Related Post >>> Why Show, Don't Tell Advice Might Be Holding You Back: Part 7 - Pacing & Rhythm

Micropacing employs emotion, tension, description, and imagery to modulate the tempo of a scene to match its action. In slower moments, descriptions elongate, dialogue diminishes, exposition flourishes, and emotionally charged language takes a back seat to depth.

Conversely, fast-paced scenes thrive on sharp dialogue, concise descriptions, emotionally resonant language, and minimal exposition.

The following is a snippet from one of the intense battle scenes in the book.

As you read, observe how Abercrombie manipulates sentence length, emotion, tension, and succinct descriptions to accelerate the pace as the action intensifies. The sentences become terse, propelling you through the chaos without missing a beat.

He saw a black weapon against bright sky, caught it on his own as it came down. Blades clashing, scraping, grunting in someone's face, looked like Jutlan but Jutlan was years in the ground. Staggering around off balance on the slope, fingers clutching. His knees burned, his lungs burned. Glean of Shivers' eye, battle smile creasing his ruined face. His axe split Jutlan's head open wide, dark pulp smeared down Craw's shield. Shoved him off, corpse tumbling through the grass. Father of Swords ripped armour beside him, bent mail rings flying, stinging the back of Craw's hand.

Clash and clatter, scrape and rattle, scream and hiss, thump, crack, men swearing and bellowing like animals at the slaughterhouse. Was Scorry singing? Something across Craw's cheek, in his eye, snatched his head away. Blood, blade, dirt, no way of knowing, lurched sideways as something came at him and he slid onto his elbow. Spear, snarling face with a birth-mark behind, spear jabbing, flapped it away clumsily with his shield, trying to scramble up. Scorry stuck the man in the shoulder and he fumbled his spear, wound welling."

—p. 109, The Heroes

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How to Write Pacing Like Abercrombie

In the above excerpt, notice how the sentences were short and to the point, with brief, sweeping declarations.

Towards the climax, descriptions evolve into single-word onomatopoeias, heightening the sense of urgency. While some sentences may stretch longer, the phrasing becomes more succinct, with half-stop commas punctuating the urgency.

Emotional language plays a pivotal role in pacing. Words like "snatched," "lurched," "slaughterhouse," and "fingers clutching" evoke visceral responses, intensifying the momentum.

It's not about simple emotions like sadness or anger but about evoking sensations that resonate deeply within the reader.

Abercrombie's stylistic choice adds another layer to the pacing.

The narrative adopts a hyper-realistic point of view, immersing readers in the sensory overload of a high-tension battle. This chaos amplifies the scene's pacing, drawing readers deeper into the fray.

It shows Abercrombie's mastery of pacing and ability to sustain tension throughout the narrative.

Image made with Leonardo.ai

Mastering Pacing in Fantasy Novels: Tips

Creating effective pacing in prose is crucial for maintaining reader engagement and driving the narrative forward.

Here are some additional tips to help you master the art of pacing:

Vary Sentence Length

Mix short and long sentences to create a dynamic rhythm. 

Short sentences can quicken the pace, while longer ones allow for deeper exploration of ideas and emotions. Experiment with sentence structure to match the intensity of your scenes.

Use Dialogue Wisely

Dialogue is an excellent tool for pacing. It adds immediacy and can break up exposition-heavy passages. 

Quick, snappy dialogue exchanges can inject energy into your narrative and keep readers invested.

Control Information Flow

Pace your story by controlling the flow of information. 

Avoid info-dumping large chunks of backstory or exposition, which can bog down the narrative. Instead, sprinkle essential details strategically throughout the story, revealing them at opportune moments to maintain suspense and intrigue.

Related Post >>> Crafting Engaging Fiction: Dumping Info-dumps

Create Tension and Conflict

Tension is a potent driver of pacing. 

Introduce obstacles, conflicts, and stakes that propel the story forward and keep readers invested in the outcome. 

Tension-filled moments can quicken the pace as characters confront challenges and make pivotal decisions because they are emotionally driven. 

Related Post >>> The Best Technique for Building Tension in a Story: Part 1

The Art of Narrative Flow

The term "narrative" encompasses a vast spectrum of fiction writing elements. It is the glue that holds together storylines, characters, settings, and the ebbs and flows of action and tension.

It's about crafting beginnings that enthrall, middles that keep attention, and endings that resonate.

In The Heroes, Abercrombie demonstrates mastery in weaving these narrative threads together by making conscious and deliberate decisions about the narrative types he uses to tell his story.

Related Posts

Why Show, Don't Tell Advice Might Be Holding You Back Series

• Part 4: Narrative Type—Dialogue 

• Part 5: Narrative Type—Dramatic Action 

• Part 6: Narrative Type—Exposition  

Specifically, I am talking about his ability to fluidly transition between various narrative forms, effortlessly traversing from external dialogue to internal musings and from dramatic action to insightful exposition.

Consider the following passage from the book, where the interplay between external and internal dialogues illuminates the character's depth.

Abercrombie eschews brevity, opting instead to divulge Gorst's inner turmoil, laying all bare for the reader to experience. This scene vividly depicts his resentment towards a less experienced counterpart.

Through internal dialogue juxtaposed with external expression, Abercrombie can give Gorst complexity and deepen the narrative.

Gorst led the way back down the crowded alleys. . . . He was disappointed. As so very often.

'Colonel Gorst, I need to thank you. That charge of yours saved my division.'

Perhaps it will also have saved my career. Your division can all drown if I can be the king's First Guard again. 'My motives were not selfless.'

'Whose are? It's the results that go down in history. Our reasons are written in smoke. And the fact is I nearly destroyed my division. My division.' Jalenhorm snorted bitterly. 'The one the king had most foolishly lent me. I tried to turn it down, you know.' It seems you did not try hard enough. 'But you know the king.' All too well. 'He has romantic notions about his old friends.' He has romantic notions about everything. 'No doubt I will be laughed at when I return home. Humiliated. Shunned.' Welcome to my life. 'Probably I deserve it.' Probably you do. I don't.

And yet, as Gorst frowned sideways at Jalenhorm's hanging head, hair plastered to his skull, a drop of rain clinging to the point of his nose, as thorough a picture of dejection as he could find without a mirror, he was swept up by a surprising wave of sympathy.

—p. 207-208, The Heroes

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How to Write Narrative Types Like Abercrombie

We will start by discussing the point of view. This passage could have been very short, and for most writers, it would have been. Jalenhorm could have said his piece, and Gorst's views, as POV, could have been summed up in a sentence.

Something like, "Gorst disguised his resentment as best he could, but blah blah."

Abercrombie, instead, uses these narrative techniques to breathe life into the characters and take readers on an emotional ride in real-time.

Each point of view is meticulously crafted, allowing readers to experience the characters' emotional evolution firsthand.

Abercrombie can create and maintain an intimate connection between fantasy readers and his characters through contrasts in internal and external dialogue, unique voices in description and exposition, and a conversational tone that fosters reader engagement.

Image made with Leonardo.ai

Mastering Smooth Narrative Form in Fantasy Fiction: Tips

Crafting a seamless narrative in a fantasy fiction novel requires some serious finesse and skill.

Drawing inspiration from what we have already discussed about Abercrombie's The Heroes, here are some tips for refining your narrative craft and honing in your prose:

Make Deliberate Choices as to What Form You Reveal Information Through

Many of us just write forward without thinking about how we tell our stories. We add dialogue when characters speak, narrative action when characters move, and exposition for almost everything else. 

Consider how these different aspects of narrative can interplay to reveal information to the reader more precisely.

Word Choice

Select words deliberately to convey precise meaning and evoke desired emotions. 

Choose vivid and evocative language that paints a vivid picture in the reader's mind and enhances the overall impact of your prose.

Dialogue Tags

Use dialogue tags sparingly and opt for simple attributions like "said" or "asked" to keep the focus on the dialogue itself, and how your characters are acting around that dialogue. 

Avoid overusing adverbs in dialogue tags, as they can detract from the natural flow of conversation.

Show, Don't Tell

Instead of explicitly stating information, show it through vivid descriptions, sensory details, and character actions. 

Allow readers to infer emotions, motivations, and relationships based on what they observe in the narrative.

Related Post >>> Why Show, Don't Tell Advice Might Be Holding You Back: Series Overview

Character Voice

Develop distinct voices for your characters through dialogue, internal monologue, and actions. But also consider your narrator's voice too, whoever that may be.

Related Post >>> 3 Ways to Ace Deep POV by Writing Better Narrators Instead

Each character should have a unique way of speaking and interacting with the world, adding depth and authenticity to your prose.

Sculpting the Sound of Your Story Through Rhythm

Finally, let's discuss the rhythmic heartbeat of prose, a subtle yet powerful tool that makes the words flow off the page with a pulse.

Rhythm draws your reader deeper into the narrative, but in a subliminal way that they don't even realize is happening.

In The Heroes, Abercrombie masterfully manipulates rhythm to infuse his prose with vitality and resonance.

Consider the following passage from the book: rhythm serves as a conduit for tempo and tension.

It's not just about the speed at which he is moving the story along (remember pacing), but it is about giving the narrative a melodic cadence to transform the mere words into something that builds emotion and imagery on a meta-level.

Beck hunched his shoulders and stared at the fire. Not much more'n a tangle of blackened sticks, a few embers in the flame, whipped, and snatched, and torn about, helpless in the wind. Burned out. Almost as burned out as he was. He'd clutched at that dream of being a hero so long that now it was naught but ashes he didn't know what he wanted. He sat there under fading stars named for great men, great battles and great deeds, and didn't know who he was.

—p. 410, The Heroes

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How Abercrombie Utilizes Rhythm in His Fantasy Writing

Rhythm, unlike pacing, is the melody that underpins storytelling.

The harmonious interplay of words and phrases elevates the prose beyond the conveyance of simple information or even abstractions. Think of rhythm as the pulse that your story beats at. It's beats per minute.

As the narrative pushes forward, the rhythm guides readers through peaks and valleys through emphasis and carefully placed stops and starts.

In the book excerpt above, Abercrombie used rhythm to create a tempo that propels the passage forward. His repetition of the word "great" acts as a beat, anchoring the reader's attention while the varying sentence lengths add depth and dynamism.

It's a deliberate placement of words within the sentence, where each syllable contributes to the overall rhythm of the passage.

Through carefully crafted cadences and inflections, Abercrombie effectively guides the reader to linger on words like "whipped, and snatched, and torn about"—images that evoke a sense of desperate turmoil within the POV character.

It's a testament to the power of rhythm in not only ensuring that the reader gets the image but that they get the image you want them to get when you want them to get it.

A few other tips and tricks attempt to do the same thing—urge the reader to absorb what you want them to—creating white space on the page is another such technique.

To learn more about that, go to the related post in the link below.

Related Post >>> Self-Editing Tips—The Power of Visual Breaks Part 1

With a solid rhythm, the words become more than just symbols for concepts but vessels for conveying raw emotion and human experience.

It is like your book's body language vs. spoken language.

Rhythm in fiction is very much like a musical composition. Every note and pause contributes to the overall "song" of your story.

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Crafting Rhythm and Cadence in Fantasy Novels: Tips

Developing the rhythm and cadence of your prose is essential for creating a captivating reading experience in fantasy novels.

Here are some invaluable tips to help you infuse your narrative with rhythm and cadence:

Study the Masters

Dive into fantasy novels by acclaimed authors known for their masterful use of rhythm and cadence, like Abercrombie. 

Analyze how they manipulate language and structure to create immersive and engaging prose.

Read Aloud

It will be helpful for you here to read your fiction out loud. 

Do so in a complete monotone, avoiding any inflection of the voice. 

If your story feels dry and lifeless, find places to add stops, starts, and repeating syllables to create dynamism.

Utilize Literary Devices

Incorporate literary devices such as alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia to add texture and depth to your prose. 

These devices can enhance the musicality of your writing and evoke specific moods or emotions in your readers.

Related Post >>> Why Show, Don't Tell Advice Might Be Holding You Back: Part 8 — Literary Devices

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Consider the Sound of Words

Please pay attention to the sound and texture of individual words as they contribute to the overall rhythm of your prose. 

Choose words that resonate with the tone and atmosphere of your story, and use them to create a symphony of sound on the page.

Create Patterns and Repetition

Experiment with patterns and repetition to create a sense of rhythm and continuity in your writing. 

Use recurring motifs, themes, and imagery to unify your narrative and reinforce key ideas throughout your novel.

Match Cadence to Tone

Adjust the cadence of your prose to match the tone and mood of each scene or chapter. Use shorter, staccato sentences for moments of action or suspense and longer, flowing sentences for moments of introspection or revelation.

(Staccato = Notes in music performed that are sharply detached from the others.)

Final Words

Crafting compelling prose in fantasy fiction demands that you pay attention to detail, are dedicated to the craft, and are willing to explore the often disregarded nuances of storytelling.

We all hear a lot about plot and character development, but there don't seem to be many people talking about how to put specific words on the page.

We can look to seasoned authors like Joe Abercrombie and others to teach us what bloggers and influencers will not.

With enough study, you can learn to hone your pacing, narrative flow, and rhythm skills.

You can claim your spot on the shelf beside the fantasy writing greats, but you must keep writing.

Are you making a fatal mistake in publishing the first book of your fantasy series?

You finished the first book in your series. Exciting, isn't it. But hold up! Don't press publish yet (or send it out to agents and publisher) until you read this. Because even though the first book is done, it might still be too soon.

Learn more in my article explaining why you should maybe hold off on publishing that first novel in your series.

Next: What's the Rush?