How to Write Your First Fantasy Novel

Many people are passionate about fantasy novels. Such stories expand our imagination, excite our emotions, and take us to a journey we have never been before. Fantastic fiction is everywhere in pop culture. With this unpredictable genre, many modern authors like George R. R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie, and Scott Lynch continue to stretch, overturn, and interpret the plots to attain exciting punchlines.

However, creating a unique and convincing fantasy story is complicated. You should realize that you are creating an entirely new world with original characters, personified things and ideas, in which people should believe. This process requires thorough consideration and planning. To establish an imaginary world, you must create characters that will captivate and engage the audience.

Although fantasy stories take place in fictional world, they still have certain rules. The genre fantasy is divided into plenty of subgenres where high fantasy is the thing which writers and readers admire the most. It is not enough to include magical objects and characters in the plot. The author’s main aim is to subvert the readers’ expectations and make him/her perceive the world as an entirely different place.

If you are interested in how to write a fantasy novel, you must let loose your imagination. This article provides some tips that are designed to assist you in composing a fascinating story.

Tips to Write a Fascinating Story

Study the Useful Insights of the Genre

Certainly, reading is essential if you want to become a good writer. This should be your first step to get into the fantasy fiction world. It is necessary for you to get a clear understanding of the elements that make fantasy novels different. It is also important to read extensively, as this will help you examine the specific features of the genre. Here are some pieces of advice:

• Examine the ways different writers create complex and immersive universes. Compare the examples from various fictional plots. For instance, think how differs the peaceful village from “The Lord of the Rings” from Mordor.
• Study the ways the writers develop the characters. If you want your first fantasy novel to be well-written, you should observe everything in other authors’ characters, from their demeanor to their quirks and vexes. Note the ways they go through all the challenges.
• Compare the internal logic of every imaginary world. What’s great in fantasy novels is that they never bind their readers’ thinking. Even some minor events in the plot always have certain logic. Every magic system has its own rules to follow. If you try to create your own magical world, you should examine the internal logic of any other fictional world.

Thus, on the first stage of creating a fantasy novel, you have to learn to think beyond the boundaries of the real world. Now, your aim is to study the approach of the best fictional authors. Examine the ways they manage difficulties in fantasy writing process. It is very important to read a lot until you have an idea on how to create a convincing fictional world. Not only will it improve your writing skills but also help you create good outlines for your stories.

Explore Various Ideas

To learn how to write fantasy stories it is important to explore some exciting fantasy novel ideas. Some of the most known fantasy novels were only able to persuade readers because they contained original ideas. This genre has a great opportunity for exploring creative freedom. A huge number of young-adult fantasy stories, over the last time, have significantly explored the boundaries of science-fiction and reality. The main aim of this was creating something that will help the readers escape the present and run into the imaginary world.

Therefore, to create a fictional universe, you must develop unique and fascinating ideas – particularly for the setting. Actually, you can find inspiration anywhere, for example:

• Watch a documentary on Animal Planet, which may trigger an idea to create an imaginary world for animals and other fantastic creatures
• Explore unusual settings and observe exceptional things
• Read top fantastic fiction series and compare settings while making notes of some interesting elements which make them unique
• Make sure to jot down all your ideas, including minute details such as weather, housing, and scenery to have a clearer picture of your fantasy universe.

Describe Your Imaginary World

Every good writer has his own tips for writing a fantasy novel and uses them to make the readers see the fantasy world through his/her eyes. Thus, if you want your novel to be more realistic, you should pay special attention to the description of the settings’ and the characters’ physical features.

Make sure you already have a clear vision of your fantasy world so that you are able to describe it in detail. Depict physical features of the countryside, universe, or even a teeny hut, where your story takes place. Make every effort to provide your reader with the ability to picture the environment of the characters. Here are some ways to practice this:

1. Start observing and depicting everything that is going on around you by using descriptive language. Describe everything, including feelings, smells, and looks. Connect all these scenes while illustrating them on the paper.
2. Use this same strategy to describe your imaginary world. Describe plants, their appearance, colors, and smell. Describe the environment, weather, sounds, and so on. Add some contrasts to the atmosphere to enhance your readers’ perception.
3. The most critical thing is describing your characters’ appearance, details which make them different so that your readers are able to create their pictures in mind.

Map out Your Story

By drawing a map with the story, you make it easier to write understandable fantasy novels. For this reason, many known writers practice this to incline their audience artistically. If it seems to you that it will help the readers understand the complex set of your story, you should draw it. Furthermore, include some significant landmarks and mark seas and rivers. It would be also great if you create symbols that will indicate cities and towns.

Set the Time Frame

It is one more important part of your story. It should be set in a specific timeframe as the story’s characters and setting greatly depend on the timeframe. For example, stories that are set in future mostly revolve around technological achievements. If the novel describes a specific historical era, the timeframe might represent a primitive society. Therefore, keep it in mind while looking for ideas to write a fantasy novel.

1. Look through many ideas of timeframe and learn the ways various writers incorporate it into their stories’ themes. If you are going to write a futuristic story, it might be useful to do some research into the technology. It will help you do some assumes about the changes in human life, as well as get a better image of your characters and settings.
2. If your story takes place in the ancient world, you should get sufficient information about past cultures and traditions. To write the most realistic novel, include the details which will portray the timeframe in your plot, like traveling, cultures, and ancient people’s appearance.

Make Social Conventions

Different social classes and lifestyles are inherent to our society. To write a fantasy novel step by step, make sure to include certain rituals and customs.

• One of the options is incorporating various aspects of the actual social conventions. Do the characters of your story have any festivals? How do they mark death? Think over these or similar ideas so that your audience is able to relate to them.
• One more great way to come up with some ideas of new social conventions is researching different cultures. Many writers borrow certain ideas of rituals from older cultures.

Make an Outline of the Story

As soon as you decide on the topic, plot, and other important aspects, you are strongly encouraged to write down the outline in the sequence. Draft an outline before you start writing. It will provide you an opportunity to analyze all the twists and turns of the plot. Besides, it is very convenient to create headings and divide the story into the chapters on this stage. The best way to structure the novel is by dividing it into three main phases: beginning, the body, and climax. Additionally, you can compile the events by describing the course of actions, turning points, conflicts, and resolution.

Final Phase

Now, it is about time you edited your novel. Go back and make final changes if needed. It is best told be great if you ask for feedback of an experienced writer or publisher to improve your novel before publishing it.

In general, creating a fantasy story is mostly about playing with your imagination. Good luck to you with writing an original and fascinating fictional story.

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