Ultimate Guide: How To Write A Fantasy Novel

The fantasy genre has seen a wide variety of fantasy authors contribute their own takes on how to write fantasy novels, some of whom you might want to take inspiration from:

• Classic epic fantasy: JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
• Unconventional feminist perspective on magic: Ursula K Le’Guin’s Tales from Earthsea.
• Sagas driven by political intrigue and betrayal: George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
• Rich worldbuilding featuring many cultures and characters: Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archives.
• Romantic stories for young adult readers: Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone.

Step 2: How to build your fantasy world (places, people, and culture)

Fantasy readers expect to get lost inside an immersive world - it’s a major part of what makes a book fantasy. This is why you need to take time with your worldbuilding and think carefully about how its different elements work together.
There are several important aspects of your world to consider when writing fantasy:

Geography and political structures

The layout of your world will be determined by the political structures that control it, as they decide the shape and size of its borders. The Story Engine Cartography Worldbuilding expansion offers some great ideas for how to structure your world’s geography.

Cultures and belief systems

Including different cultures and belief systems adds depth to your world, as well as different points of view and potential conflicts for your stories. The Story Engine Culture Keyholes Worldbuild Expansion is the ideal tool for brainstorming ideas for this.

Magic in society 

You need to decide how magical elements function in your world.  It’s also important to consider how magic operates within the different societies you create: is it readily used, or restricted, or even forbidden? Our own Peter Chiykowski wrote about this very topic for author CR Rowenson’s website!

How to build a fantasy world without info-dumping

When figuring out how to write a fantasy series, it can be tempting to throw every single idea into your unique world's melting pot. However, this can end up diluting the better ideas found in your world. You can sit down with The Story Engine: Deck of Worlds to figure out the best ideas for your world, and to focus on the ones you want to develop.

Another important thing to consider is how and when to communicate your worldbuilding. Rather than summarizing elements of your world in long paragraphs, consider writing how your characters interact with these aspects: whether they’re part of their upbringing, their everyday lives, or something completely alien to them. Try to understand when your worldbuilding elements are relevant to the story and your characters, and avoid burying the reader with unnecessary information.

How to create your characters and magic system 

These are the most important elements of almost every type of fantasy book: your characters form the emotional heart of your story, while the magic system makes for a major storytelling tool in your arsenal. Your characters and your magic system should both be driving along the events and themes of your fantasy elements from the very beginning.

How to create a magic system that you can track 

The best way you can create a magic system that you can track is to ensure that you establish clear core rules that your fantasy short story, novel, or series shouldn’t break (unless it’s part of a major plot twist). This is especially important for hard magic systems (ones with set rules) over soft ones (where rules are looser). Once you have your own rules in place, you can then decide how they fit into your world. In the words of Story Engine guest blog writer CR Rowenson: “magic can have a direct impact on the environment around it.”

How to create characters that fit your world 

Make your characters the center of your fantasy book ideas. How do their motivations and character arcs shape your worldbuilding, and how can you generate drama through their interactions and frictions with the world?

 

Direction on tying character goals to world and magic limitations

Character motivations are an essential element, and they should be driven by or clash with aspects of your world and magic system. The Story Engine Fantasy Story Prompts expansion is a fantastic tool for helping to find your characters’ motivations, and for figuring out their connections with your worldbuilding.

Step 4: How to devise plot points for your fantasy masterpiece (short stories, books, and series)

How you choose to pace your fantasy story depends on what your intentions and ambitions are. If you’re writing a short story, then the focus should be purely on the single story that you want to tell. A longer novel or series requires much more forethought on pacing your epic story. Ideally, you want your reader to feel satisfied after finishing your fantasy short story or novel, with a sense that the story and characters they were first introduced have undertaken some sort of hero's journey or arc by the end.

Plots that are driven by character motivations and arcs

Good fantasy stories aren’t just a series of events told to the reader. They’re storylines that are propelled by character development. The catalysts of your plotlines should be initiated by your characters taking action, possibly against some aspect of your fantasy world that they clash with or want to change.

Discovery writing versus structured plotting

Your approach to fantasy writing will depend on how you’re able to channel your creativity, and may shift over time. Sometimes, you write best when you have a more structured plot plan to follow, with all the major beats of your story already decided. Other times, you’ll do better when you let yourself write without any specific plans, just expressing whatever ideas come to mind.

Step 5: How to start the first draft of your fantasy story 

There are several ways you could start your fantasy story, whether through the perspective of a certain character or featuring a specific event. Either way, you’ll want your first few pages to set reader expectations, establish tone, and entice your audience to continue reading.

It’s a good idea to present just enough information in your opening to provide an intriguing mystery. You’ll also want to introduce the general tone of your book, while making sure that you don’t just dump a ton of lore straightaway.

Start small and build up

Learning how to start a fantasy story means deciding where the beginning is going to be. You’ll want to start writing from a point where you can easily introduce the world and its characters, before you begin ramping up. You can use The Story Engine’s Fantasy Story Prompts expansion to brainstorm ideas for character beginnings and their story catalyst moments.

Writing a fantasy short story 

Knowing how to write a fantasy short story requires a much tighter focus on a specific concept or idea - rather than a broader overview of the world you’ve created. This doesn’t mean that you can’t write freely without a structured plan, but there should be a certain purpose that you want to achieve with your writing.

Writing a longer fantasy story 

Knowing how to write a longer fantasy story requires being able to balance scale with telling a satisfying story. You’ll want to provide your readers with a level of complexity and breadth, but you don’t want to do this at the expense of a great story and relatable characters your readers can connect with.

The writing process

How you actually go about writing your fantasy book will depend on whether you respond better to writing in longer or shorter bursts. You might be the kind of creative who sets aside days to get lost in the creative process. Alternatively, you could prefer writing in-between other tasks, or jotting down ideas as-and-when they come to you. It might actually be best to try and do a mixture of these two approaches.

General tips for fantasy writers 

Have confidence in your ideas

Writing fantasy requires that you have confidence in your ideas. It’s sometimes easy to feel unsure about what you’re writing, especially if it leans into certain fantasy tropes, but it’s important to let yourself get swept up in your world and not get too self-conscious. 

Don’t be afraid to use fantasy writing prompts or idea generators

You don’t need to dream up absolutely every element of your fantasy novel. Some elements of your world can be inspired by real-world elements. Others can be created through the use of tools like name generators or The Story Engine Deck, whose prompt cards can be used as creative jumping off points for a wide range of things.

Seek criticism

Don’t be afraid of criticism. In fact, it could be the most useful tool for first time fantasy writers! Share your work with other writers, so you can collect a range of perspectives who can identify different strengths and weaknesses of your work.

Fantasy book ideas 

The Story Engine Deck is a creative writing tool that you can use to generate various ideas for your fantasy book.

To use The Story Engine Deck, take a handful of prompt cards from the box. These will come together to form possible concepts for your fantasy novel, as well as unforgettable characters, motivations, locations, and even descriptions.

You can then rotate each prompt card to choose which of the four words (or two hooks) you want to use to help form your idea, before combining them with any number of other prompt cards to expand it.

Then you can develop the idea you’ve generated using The Story Engine prompt cards through writing exercises, such as freely writing whatever thoughts come into your mind. 
Here are some examples of potential fantasy writing prompts:

• A draconian tactician wants to stop an enemy from reaching a bulwark, but it will cause a cataclysm.
• A blasphemous seer wants to imprison a dangerous spirit in a bulwark, but it will open old wounds.

The two character prompts can function independently, but they can also generate conflict for your story if two characters are interested in the same object!

Top fantasy writing tips according to Reddit

The Reddit community r/fantasywriters is somewhere you can find some very valuable information for learning how to write a fantasy book. Some of the users’ most worthwhile advice for fantasy writers includes:

• Don’t do too much worldbuilding before you have characters and a storyline in mind.
• Sometimes the best way to develop ideas is to daydream about them.
• While some tropes can be overdone, they can also be important signifiers of fantasy.
• Good stories should revolve around strong conflicts.
• Write the book you enjoy writing, not the book you think might perform well.
  

Do you need to think about publishing and packaging?

Yes, you might want to think about publishing and packaging when writing your own fantasy story.

There are various practical factors to consider for both the traditional and self-publishing routes, such as how to package your book (hardback, paperback, digital) and what you want on your front cover. What designs, photography, or artwork best convey the themes of your book?

Though it’s tempting to just edit the book yourself, there are freelance editors you can hire to look through your manuscript, as well as places like r/fantasywriters where you can share parts of your work for review.

The Advantages of Publishing Houses

Publication houses have their own editors whose job is to go through manuscripts and provide fantasy authors with their thoughts on how to improve their books. This is an important part of the writing process, and is a major advantage of being traditionally published.

Another advantage to publishing houses is that they will have resources, knowledge, and connections for getting books to print, promoting books, and getting books on to store shelves. The downside of working with publishing houses is having to compete with other authors sending their manuscripts in, having less creative control, and having to share your book’s earnings.

 The Advantages of Self Publishing

Self-publishing will allow you to have greater creative control, doesn’t require waiting to get accepted by a publishing house, and means you get to keep 100% of the profits from selling your book. You can self-publish through avenues like the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing program and IngramSpark.

FAQ: Fantasy writing questions people ask 

What is fantasy writing?

Fantasy writing is focused on high concept worlds, characters, and stories that are sometimes inspired by historical cultures and popular mythology, with the purpose of immersing its readers in an adventure completely divorced from reality.

What is a fantasy book?

Fantasy books can range in style, tone, theme, and complexity, depending on the subgenre and intended readership. While some fantasy books feature multi-layered plots following a large cast of characters, other fantasy books may contain a much simpler story focused on a single protagonist. Regardless, all fantasy books include at least some fantastical elements, whether supernatural, mythical, or magical.

How do I start a fantasy story without a prologue?

There are several ways you can start your first story other than a prologue, such as with a cold opening, or a normal day in your main character’s life. You can use tools like The Story Engine to help generate ways to start your own fantasy story.  

What’s the difference between writing a fantasy novel and writing a fantasy short story?

Besides the obvious difference in length, the major differences between writing a fantasy novel and writing a fantasy short story is in purpose and focus. While a novel will have a much broader approach to worldbuilding, story, and/or characters, a short story will need to be more focused on either a specific theme, character, storyline, or element of the world.

How do I know if my story is really fantasy?

Fantasy can encompass a very wide variety of approaches. This is not a question that’s worth worrying about too much, as it can limit your ideas and creative vision. Fantasy from bestselling authors isn't just dragons and swords, it’s so much more.

Conclusion 

Don’t be afraid to throw ideas out and rewrite elements or entire parts of your fantasy novel when it feels right to do so. Writing fantasy is a process that takes time and won’t be a simple linear experience. Instead, writing fantasy will sometimes feel like having to take several steps back, before you can make more progress. Don’t let this put you off. Instead, approach the writing process as a way of gaining new experience and knowledge, with the hope of having a fantasy book by the end.

Remember, there are lots of digital communities you can join or reach out to for help: The Story Engine, World Anvil, Writing Battle, r/writing, r/fantasy, r/fantasywriters, Mythic Scribes, and The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.