Yes, we know, everyone has their own process and there’s no one route to creating an effective story but we wanted to share some important points to keep in mind both before and as you begin writing your book.

Fantasy is a vast genre that includes several sub-genres that can turn a book from one about elves and war to humans in a magical school. There are endless possibilities when you’re developing a fantasy novel but there are still some key areas that you need to have fleshed out before your story really comes alive.

Figure out your world

In a fantasy novel, your world is the most important thing that you should be developing. An underdeveloped world will lead to a book filled with plotholes and can even cause the story to feel flat and unconvincing.

If you are writing a pure fantasy book, you probably won’t get away with any tricks to cover for unrealized parts of your world. If you are writing in a sub-genre like romance fantasy, sometimes you can get away with having romance elements cover the parts of your story where worldbuilding might otherwise be the main focus.

Developing your world doesn’t just mean crafting the places that are important to your story. It also means thinking of things like religion, magic systems, species, cultures, government, etc. All of these contribute to how the world functions and how the characters might react to in certain situations.

Define your characters

While your world is important, your characters will drive the story. If you create memorable characters who have their own personalities, your readers will connect with them and your book. This means that they need to be more than just a name and a hair color on the page.

Characters aren’t just descriptions. They are filled with complex elements and backstories that drive the choices they make and affect the relationships they form. While a fantasy book wouldn’t be fantasy without a developed world, a good novel wouldn’t exist without characters that the readers connect with in some way.

There’s no one way to make a set of characters so don’t think all of your characters have to be likable or that you can only have one villain. Make them best fit the story and try your best to create main characters that aren’t one-dimensional.

Did you know? StudioLink is a great place to share exclusive content like character profiles and details about your world.

Lay out the important points of the book

Whether you’re a pantser (someone who doesn’t plan out the plot prior to writing) or a planner, having an idea of where you want your story to go is always a good idea. You don’t have to overdo it with sticky notes and pages of research and background but knowing the key points of your story can help you understand the pacing your book needs to have.

It can be as simple as a document with bullet points that lay out things like your conflict, climax, and resolution.

Research any already created fantasy elements

This will probably be the most laborious part of writing a fantasy novel.

Fantasy elements that have already been created such as places, creatures, or people, should be researched. Even if you are trying to ‘make them your own’ by changing specific things about them, you still need to understand what exactly you are changing.

For example, the latest hot thing has been faeries. Most people think of them as cute cherub-type creatures but in modern books, especially romance fantasy novels, they are quite the opposite.

Writing a book can be a daunting process but there are always important things to keep in mind for every genre. Fantasy is, arguably, one of the most difficult because of the level of world-building that is required to even make the story possible.

If you’ve finished your manuscript but don’t want to go through the hassle of self-publishing, you can reach out to our team to see if we’re currently accepting submissions.