Fantasy Character Groups Made Simple with Ezra Barany

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Quote by Ezra Barany from Fantasy Character Groups Made Simple with Ezra Barany

Fantasy Character Groups Made Simple with Ezra Barany – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 148

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“The really cool thing about character groups is if you’re making worlds, let’s talk about the situations where worlds are in demand in genre, and that would be fantasy. If you’re making a world like that, it’s good to get a whole bunch of different character groups.” – Ezra Barany

In this episode of How To Write the Future podcast, titled “Fantasy Character Groups Made Simple with Ezra Barany” host Beth Barany hands the mic over to her husband and fellow author Ezra Barany where he shares an introduction to creating character groups in fantasy words, exploring creating a religion and politics, giving you creative freedom in your story world. Beth Barany also shares a few of the ways she can help you with your world building from taking part in a free story success clinic to appearing on the show.

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RESOURCES 

GET HELP WITH YOUR WORLD BUILDING – START HERE

Free World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/world-building-resources/

Sign up for the 30-minute Story Success Clinic with Beth Barany: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/story-success-clinic/

Get support for your fiction writing by a novelist and writing teacher and coach. Schedule an exploratory call here and see if Beth can support you today: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/discovery-call/

About the How To Write the Future podcast 

The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

This podcast is for you if you have questions like:

– How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?

– How do I figure out what’s not working if my story feels flat?

– How do I make my story more interesting and alive?

This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

ABOUT EZRA BARANY 

Image of Ezra Barany

Ezra Barany loves riveting readers with thrillers, but by order of the Department of Motor Vehicles he must place a warning on every book cover, “Do not read while driving.” His first two books in The Torah Codes series were award-winning international bestsellers. The second two books in the 4-book series wowed readers too! In his free time, he has eye-opening discussions on the art of writing novels with his wife and book coach Beth Barany. A high school physics teacher, Ezra lives in Oakland with his beloved wife and two cats working on the next book in The Torah Codes series. Ezra, not the cats. For a free short story in The Torah Codes series, “The Mourner’s Kaddish,” do please go to http://www.thetorahcodes.com/

Transcript for Fantasy Character Groups Made Simple with Ezra Barany

Hey everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write The Future Podcast. I am a science fiction and fantasy writer, writing teacher, creativity coach, podcaster, obviously, and filmmaker. I’m also married to another writer. so I have a special episode for you today. My husband, Ezra Barany, is going to talk to you about character groups.

All right. Take it away, Ez.

[00:27] Introduction to Character Groups 

And action. 

Hi, I am Ezra Barany. I’ve been Ezra Barany all my life. I’m going to talk to you about character groups, which is a whole group of characters. 

[00:41] Creating Worlds with Character Groups 

The really cool thing about character groups is if you’re making worlds, let’s talk about the situations where worlds are in demand in genre, and that would be fantasy.

If you’re making a world like that, it’s good to get a whole bunch of different character groups. 

On our planet Earth, we have the different religious groups, the different political groups, the different trades. So by making a new world, you can make your new religions, you can make your new political groups. And then the fun part is knowing who your protagonist belongs to and is most affiliated with, and what character group they feel affiliated with and are most against. 

[01:29] Book Recommendations for Character Development

So there’s a book somewhere around here. It’s on your left. On my left. Ah. There’s a book called Elmhurst. It’s got milk, but there’s also a book called You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Story. 

And from this book, I found a way to come up with all these different character groups for my story. 

For example, he suggests nine, I believe. It’s been a while since I read the book. I created a nine. And I divided each set of three into three different categories. 

[02:07] Categories of Character Groups

Three is a very big thing for me at least. 

So one category of three groups is those groups that honor the soul and spirit. 

Another category of my three groups is those that honor a good lifestyle.

And the last category of three groups is those that honor physical needs. 

[02:29] Character Groups Honoring Soul and Spirit 

Looking at the first character group, those that honor the soul and spirit, I created the Knights of Sulva and I thought of the Templars. So these are people who are knights. They wield swords and shields, and they will kill anyone who doesn’t believe in the same thing they believe in. Alright.

And then I have the order of the Andle Amulet, and their only job is to protect this amulet that keeps their planet whole, complete. And then I have the Catalox and I was inspired by the Catholics, and they believe in one God, one Lord.

Those are the three who are focused on their spirituality, their connection to the soul and spirit. 

[03:18] Character Groups Honoring a Good Lifestyle 

The next are those that honor a good lifestyle. I have the Interdicts, those who worship the Sucubi and incubi and are just focused on their dreams, making their lives happy.

And then we have the Clan of the Shapeshifters, those who are just werewolves wanting to live their lives and not be disturbed by those who hate them for who they are. 

Then we have the craft guilds and shopkeepers. This includes the blacksmiths, the alchemists, the doctors. Those were the ones who honor a good lifestyle.

[03:58] Character Groups Honoring Physical Needs 

And the last was those who honor physical needs. So these I had bunched up into the Soleililists, those who honor the urges that has been granted to them. So they, they see eating and sleeping as not sins, but as a gift provided by the universe or their almighty. So they celebrate that. 

And then you have the Guild of Thieves and their motto is “Together for ourselves.” Their goal is to just steal and practice hedonism, drink, and wear jewelry. 

And then we have the Fantasy Fellowship, and their goal is to explore all their physical needs, as taboo as that might be.

[04:45] Dividing Character Groups into Subcategories

After having divided up these three categories into three different groups each, 

I then look at each group, and I won’t go into each one, but in each group, I divide them up intostatus kind of thing. 

So the Knights of Silva– in other situations you have the ranks of Grand Commander, commander Officer Chevalier, and here I’ve divided them up into the Rain Squadron, the Sun Squadron, the Earth Squadron, the Moon Squadron.

And then for the order of the Andel Amulet, I’ve divided them up into Warrior, Archer, Scout, Cavalry. 

And then for the Catalox, divided them up into the pope- like leader. And then we have the cardinal, the archbishop, the bishop and priest, and the followers. But I’ve named them differently based off of chess. So we have the Rook, the Arch castle, the castle, and then you have the followers who are called pawns. 

[05:47] Assigning Colors and Symbols to Groups 

After dividing each group into these different statuses and squadrons or whatever classes you want to put them in, I give them a different color and a different symbol. 

For example, in the Knights of Sulva, the Rain Squadron, their color is dark blue and their symbol is a raindrop.

The Sun Squadron, their color is yellow and their symbol is a sun. For the Order of the Amulet, their color is a light blue wool clothing, and they have a sword on each shoulder. That’s their symbol of their light blue cape. The archer, their color is green and their symbol is a bow and arrow on each shoulder.

[06:30] Conclusion and World-Building Tips

So these are ways that you can intricately create different groups, get a feel for what each group’s mission statement is, and what their goals and dreams are. And once you have that, you can divvy up within the category the different classes or organizations, or status or ranks within the group and find those connections. Maybe there’s trouble within the ranks of one specific group. Play with that. And it’s a great way to build your world.

[07:07] Want more world building help?

So that’s it for this week on How to Write the Future Podcast. 

If you have questions about your world building, then I wanna let you know of a few ways that you could get help.

One of them is you can check out our World Building Workbook for Fiction Writers. It’s a free guide that you can download and answer the questions and work through it to think through your story’s world.

Now another way that you can get support is you can be a guest on my podcast in my Story Success Clinic. I will coach you and help you on air. We record it and then I put it onto the podcast and we take some time and look at your work together and I give you some coaching. So that is another way that you could get help with your world building.

A third way is if you have your manuscript finished. If your first draft is completely done, then you can check out our group coaching program for genre novelists, specifically science fiction and fantasy novelists. 

Now I also want to point out another resource that includes world building questions as well as a whole bunch of other things to help you write your story.

And that’s called Plan Your Novel Like a Pro. This is a book that I co-wrote with Ezra, and it has everything that you need to help you think through your story idea so that you end up with a plan or an outline so you can write your book. Be sure to check out the link for this book in our show description or show notes and everything I’ve mentioned here, you can also find all the links for those in our show notes. 

Now, for any reason, if you have any other questions, just go ahead and email me. It’s very easy to do. You can see the contact information on the socials and if you’re very adventurous, you know what? You could even leave me a voicemail. That would be awesome.

Alright, everyone. Write long and prosper. 

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ABOUT BETH BARANY 

Image of Beth Barany

Beth Barany teaches science fiction and fantasy novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor. She’s an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and runs the podcast, “How To Write The Future.”

Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites: 

Author site /  Coaching site / School of Fiction / Writer’s Fun Zone blog

CONNECT 

Contact Beth: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#tve-jump-185b4422580

Email: beth@bethbarany.com

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CREDITS

C 2025 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

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