Of course, fantasy will play into Kandi’s works. Even her Biblical retellings have more of a fantasy feel than a real-life setting.

Fantasy-themed bio

Fantasy stories

Since childhood, Kandi J Wyatt enjoyed reading fantasy stories, but in her conservative home, things like Lord of the Rings or even Narnia were not encouraged. It wasn’t until her freshman year at college that she had the joy–and agony–of reading Tolkien’s classic and finished Fellowship of the Ring after the library had closed for the weekend! From Narnia and Middle Earth, she devoured any clean fantasy. She even started The Wheel of Time, but after about the tenth one set it aside. 

Unicorns were her favorite as a young girl, and the Lisa Frank sticker series gave her plenty to enjoy. As a young mom, dragons took over her fancy, with Saphira, Firedrake, and other young adult dragons topping the list.

Fantasy writing

In 2006, after reading Timothy Zahn’s Dragon and Soldier, book 2 of the Dragonback series, she saw the discussion questions at the back of the book and decided to try her hand at it. One of the questions was to find a place you knew well and write about it. At the time, her knight and her were clearing land to build a better house than the dilapidated one they were in. She had first-hand knowledge of old-growth forests with rhododendrons that had stumps large enough for firewood, and salal that was over six feet tall. Thus, Journey from Skioria was born. After it was finished, she went back to quilting and crocheting and left stories alone until a Christmas vacation in 2008.

While on vacation, her daughter jokingly said she was misnamed. Dawnya doesn’t like to get up in the morning. Kandi asked if she should be called Duskya instead. Later, while passing Three Mile Canyon in Eastern Oregon, she envisioned a dragon spraying fire down a boxed canyon like she’d seen in Arizona. She put that idea together with the name Duskya, as well as the scenes from her knight’s family ranch in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, and Dragon’s Future was born.

Those questions of “what if” still fuel her fantasy stories, and she still writes for her kids. The definition of her kids has expanded to include her students as well as her granddaughter.

World-Building

Much of fantasy is world-building. Kandi has the ability of creating worlds that people want to live in. She’ll share the techniques she uses to make her worlds come alive.

Teaching Unit

When Kandi first wrote Dragon’s Future, she was also teaching high school students to write a children’s story in Spanish. The unit she created was for a fantasy writing unit. She uses this unit every other year and offers it for others.

Fantasy Writing

The lessons from Kandi’s Fantasy Writing Unit can be incorporated into a webinar or seminar on writing fantasy for aspiring writers. Topics would include:

*World-building
*Character development
*Elements of Fantasy
*Illustrations
*Hero’s Round

General Writing

Kandi has worked with junior high and high school students to teach them to write. She can do the same for you. She’ll discuss:

*Character development
*World-building
*Value of an Editor
*The Publishing Process
*Basic Plot Structure