In this article I will give you 10 tips for writing fantasy. The fantastic genre represents a large part of my life. I fell in love with literature, while reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (and waiting for my letter from Hogwarts). I have met friends thanks to a conversation about The Lord of the Rings. I have enjoyed every moment in which some paper friends like The Losers of That faced the monster. I’ve watched the sunrise and wondered if this would be the way it would look in Middle-earth. And what about tourism if you’ve read Terry Pratchett? And what about the chance of a role-playing game or life itself when you have been horrified and moved by the Red Wedding of A Song of Fire and Ice?
Fantasy is magic, but also fascination, enjoyment and the representation of how everything is possible in art.
Writing this genre is a liberation for me and an eternal game where I can create crystal castles that can fly anywhere. Often, however, the fearsome hurricane of deus ex machina or the storm of clichés could tear us apart. It has happened to me often and I want to give you a series of tips for writing fantasy that I have learned myself from all those fragile palaces that have fallen against the rocks.
I hope this decalogue works for you and allows you to go as far as magic, fantasy and dreams allow you.
1. Fantasy is a metaphor for reality
Despite the fact that many people think that the fantastic genre only implies escapism, in most of the great stories we find morals that can be transferred to our lives. The Lord of the Rings is not just about destroying the One Ring, it is also a story of friendship, power, hate, hope and overcoming. They are issues of our life. Ok, we don’t have elves and dwarves around us, but there are points that can be extrapolated. So live your life, don’t limit yourself, look for everything that can be looked for, learn, enjoy, cry, suffer, change, play, love, read, see, listen, breathe, dream, imagine… Many times, the advice for writing fantasy just tells you to write and live through the words, but life itself can often be a good story to turn into a fantastic work.
2. Read the great ones, also look for the rare ones
The fantastic genre has many masterful authors: Tolkien, Stephen King, C. S. Lewis, George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, J. K. Rowling, Ray Bradbury, Joe Abercrombie, Lovecraft… Sometimes it is difficult even to define which author has written fantasy or not, but you also get into pulp circles and other very interesting movements with people like Robert E. Howard. I am in favor of following this deepening and going to different authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Lord Dunsany, Terry Pratchett, Roger Zelazny, Michael Ende… Do not fear if you do not like one too much or have problems with them (for example, I like Patrick Rothfuss, but I deeply hate the end of The Name of the Wind and some of his opinions; Brandon Sanderson doesn’t quite dazzle me… and I don’t deny the greatness of both for their followers). Either way, it’s good to get to know your battle buddies and get a lot out of them, both what you’d like to be and what you wouldn’t.
3. Read everything, beyond the fantasy genre
And no, it does not contradict the previous epigraph. Let me explain: this tip for writing fantasy was also given by the writer Neil Gaiman in this video. He points out the importance of reading works of different kinds. Many times, when writing fantasy, it seems that you have to focus on certain authors and leave others aside. If you do this, you’ll probably only have one genre’s perspective and your prose will be limited, as will your imagination to some extent. On the other hand, if you draw from other fields such as the realistic novel, the detective genre or the drama, you could come to give it your own and different approach. For example, George R. R. Martin was inspired by the historical novel for A Song of Fire and Ice. And do you think that Tolkien was based on himself to write, without more? No, he read myths and brought to life the languages he created. Why not try to conceive one of these hybrids?
4. Destroy the clichés
One of the big problems with your first fantasy novel will be facing the temptation of the stereotype, which is still a repetitive refrain and, therefore, a comfortable zone from which you don’t have to leave. The bad guy, the good guy and the object of power? That is easy! You’ve already devoured millions of stories like this. A story without good or bad, with little magic? Hurm… There are already some… But why not look for something different, complicated as it is? Can you imagine starting a story with the triumph of evil and what comes next? Or a story where there is no evil? What if the bad guys are the elves and the good guys are the orcs? What if a magician starts giving magic to everyone around him in a city like Madrid? Fantasy is to propose the impossible, why follow the path already traced? Build your own!
5. Fantasy can be real and reality can be fantastic
Fantasy can be real and reality can be fantastic. In recent years, dark fantasy works have experienced a spectacular boom at the hands of authors such as George R. R. Martin or Joe Abercrombie. Don’t expect fairy tale stories with a happy ending, no. Expect betrayals, blood, death, blood, power and had I already said blood? It’s a fantastic world where there are dragons or elf ruins, but also slavery, tyrannical kings and the lack of a great Dark Lord… they are all vile. Don’t be afraid to write a story like that or the opposite if you wish, just like if instead of taking your adventure to a fantastic world you prefer to develop it in your own city. Urban fantasy consists of conceiving strange cultures and beings within our own world, providing a very interesting vision of what a city is and the people who inhabit it. Why not try this interesting subgenre? Why not narrate the fantastic as something real and the real as something fantastic?
