7 FIGURE FICTION: How to Use Universal Fantasy to SELL Your Books to ANYONE (Universal Fantasy™: Butter Up Your Writing)

I love the book, but now when i watch a movie or read a book, my mind stops and says thats a universal fantasy! Once you know a UF it you can't unsee it. I learned a lot. Great book.

7 Figure Fiction: How to Use Universal Fantasy to SELL Your Books to ANYONE by T. Taylor is a book on writing craft that answers the question of why some books sell when others flop: the answer being universal fantasy. The book’s aim is to help authors understand how to use universal fantasy in their writing to draw readers to their books, keep them hooked, and turn them into fans. I really enjoyed this! The author has an easy conversational style that made it fun to read. It was insightful, informative, and filled with examples (from popular books and movies) of universal fantasy in action. The author writes romance, so the book is heavily romance focused which made it perfect for me. Even so, the concepts still apply to other genres. I’m looking forward to identifying the universal fantasies in my writing and adding more, and I’m sure that I’ll refer back to this book as I do.

This was a great little book on an unexplored part of craft. It was easy to read and to understand the idea of universal fantasy through the examples it gave. It was, per the writer's own admission, romance heavy in almost all it's examples. I'm not a romance writer or reader, so that got a little dull for me, but you get the gist even if you're not into romance. The interesting thing is that she would present a romance-y universal fantasy--for example in Beauty and the Beast she talks about the "bully likes me" fantasy. This doesn't work for me on any level. I don't fantasize about that or pick books up for that reason, but interestingly, within that same scene in Beauty, the universal fantasy I see is the strong girl resisting the bully. She won't go to dinner with him (even though he wants her to--Ms. Taylor's fantasy). I realized that the best, most successful shows and books pack in the UFs so that different readers can grab what they like. Fascinating. Writers don't have to do this and can appeal to a more niche audience, but very strongly. Or, if it works, stack up the fantasies to draw as many readers as possible. This book is worth buying, reading, and learning from.

This is your opportunity to receive "the talk" from Theodora Taylor about how to write and market irresistible fiction that you will love writing and your readers will gobble right up! Many professional authors have paid hundreds and/or traveled miles to hear her speak, but you can curl up at home with this wonderful book and read it as many times as you want! I've read SO many books on craft and marketing that give you work to do that feels like WORK, or that isn't intuitive. This one is more of an invitation to joyfully open your eyes. After reading it you will want, no, NEED, to implement Universal Fantasy into your writing every day. (And if you were wondering, "Universal Fantasy" does not refer to the genre of the book - you can find "Universal Fantasy" in all genres!) Also, Theodora kindly uses examples from modern television/books and fairy tales to illustrate her points (so don't worry - you don't have to go stream Raging Bull or something to understand her references!)

I strongly recommend this book to any commercial fiction writer, regardless of genre. Ms. Taylor writes romance so, naturally, most of her examples focus on love stories, but she explains her core concep of "Universal Fantasy" in a way that makes it easily applicable to any type of story. (For example, I am working on an epic fantasy novel that has no romance, yet I have already figured out some ways to cover my story and characters in more BUTTER!)

This book helped me understand why certain things in storytelling work better than others. It’s a super fun read while being honest and informative. I highly recommend this resource for anyone interested in romance AND in identifying what makes a story *universally* APPEALING.

This is the first time I’ve been immediately moved to purchase a book once the sample ended! First of all, I just wanna be besties with Theodora. The AUDACITY she has just existing out there in the world, in all her fixer-upper glory! Hashtag: instafan. As in, I’m loading up my kindle with her entire body of work rn. Now that I see UF, I can’t unsee it. It just makes so much sense! I can’t wait to dive back into writing my book with this new lens to look through. And I’m very much looking forward to the upcoming workbook.

I really love any writing guide with advice that is widely applicable and this one really delivers. While it's aimed at romance writers it does a great job of identifying broad categories of reader appeal (the Universal Fantasy elements) and being able to see them explained so clearly makes them easy to identify in other genres and types of media. I like that the author does not pretend this is the only method of writing--but I am definitely going to use this when I start revisions on my own book very soon! The tone of the book is friendly and upbeat. I think the observations in this book are spot-on assessments of what is so appealing about certain kinds of pop media.