Though fantasy is part of the larger category of speculative fiction, it is a massive genre itself. Even within its own boundaries, there are subgenres that are largely different from one another. But understanding your subgenre is just as—if not more—important than understanding your larger genre. It is important with what you want to do with it. Do you want it whimsical and sappy? Dark and adult? Magical beyond belief? Or simply the tale of a hero?

High or epic: Fantasy are usually interchangeable terms to describe your traditional fantasy stories that are huge in scope. These fantasy stories can have complete worlds, religions, history, languages, races, and political systems, and usually involve large quests, a varied cast of characters, and are long. Very long. The current medieval fantasy novel, Hugo the BloodLess, I am writing is an "epic" thousands of pages that will be released some time next year, and is considered high fantasy, because thats my favorite subgenre in the subject.

Low/urban: Fantasy are other interchangeable terms, with urban fantasy becoming the more common term in recent years. Stories in this subgenre take place in the real world—or something very similar to our real world—but with fantasy elements incorporated. Often, but not always, our protagonist discovers this magical aspect of their world through their journey.

Paranormal romance: is a blend of low fantasy and romance. In most cases, the main romance arc of the story involves a human character and a supernatural character, with one or both coming to understand the other’s world. As with all romance, these stories need a happy ending.

Fantasy romance: combines high fantasy and romance. Unlike paranormal romance, these stories exist in a world entirely of your own creation, borrowing the vast worldbuilding of epic fantasy. Remember, romance is a core subplot of this subgenre, but it is still (usually epic) fantasy first and foremost.

Young adult fantasy: are two different subgenres marked by their target audience. Young adult fantasy will usually feature teenage protagonists ages from 12 to 17, set in another fantasy subgenre, while some fantasy will have children protagonists. Make sure your tone, theme, and pacing are all appropriate for the target audience.

Fairy tale: retellings are new takes on classic fairy tales. What if Sleeping Beauty could dreamwalk? What if the dwarves were protecting the outside world from Snow White? What if the tale of Pinicho or Bambi was changed and advanced? Put your own twist on an otherwise familiar fairy tale.

Historical fantasy: is a combination of historical fiction and fantasy, giving us an alternative form of real historical events… if there was magic, orcs, etc. In this subgenre, you must pay particular attention to details. Anyone who reads this subgenre is looking for accuracy (in the non-fantasy elements, of course). Depending on the setting and era, you set it in, whether its an alternate 17th century England with gold muskets or Scotland in the 1300s with dragons, you must account for accuracy. (You can find how to write historical fiction in my other blog post.)

Grimdark fantasy: takes epic fantasy and does away with all those uptight heroes and knights. Instead, this subgenre uses anti-heroes and characters with questionable morals to contrast the usual tropes of fantasy stories.

Dark fantasy: combines elements of horror with fantasy, bringing in horrifying creatures and a chilling atmosphere to unsettle the reader while providing that fantasy fix. It’s dark, gritty, and—in this author’s humble opinion—the best fantasy subgenre, other than medieval of course. Admittedly, I’m a tad biased (and I’ve been challenged by my friend Ace to a Minecraft competition, that he who claims the same about low fantasy.)

List of my inspirational authors:

• J.R.R. Tolkein
• V.E. Schwab
• Sarah J. Maas
• Neil Gaiman
• Tasha Suri
• Nalini Singh
• Joe Abercrombie
• Tomi Adeyemi
• R.A. Salvatore
• Zen Cho
• B.B. Alston
• N.K. Jemison
• Rebecca Roanhorse

Next, you need characters that exist in your freshly crafted world. Characters will help push your story forward and make the reader care about what’s going on in that world you worked so hard to develop.

Understand what makes a good character: While reading all those books by all those incredible fantasy authors, take notes on what makes characters stick with you, for both good and bad reasons. Understand character archetypes—which feel like they were made for the fantasy genre—and how you can use them to create instantly relatable and recognizable characters. Make their name unique. Make them seem real. Give them personality. Don't stick to cliches. The hero's silver spoon falls into their hands and they have granted power. It's overdone. Build it up from your creativity.

Your protagonist(s) and antagonist(s):

While it’s the entire ensemble of characters who will make your story memorable, your main characters are your salespeople. Who will be your hero and your villain? What relationship will they have? How will they push each other to change and grow? Even if they don’t know each other, these two characters should be like distorted reflections of one another. You can base them on yourself if you want. Bring in personal struggles you've dealt with in your life. I've based some of my characters on myself. It's not braggy. It makes you feel more attached to them, because you seem a small glimmer of yourself within them. What do they look like? Skinny or fat? Long hair or short? Tall and graceful or stubby and clumsy? Do they make a lot of mistakes or are a fast learner? Who are there friends? Do they help them or are they loners? What are they good at? Magic? Taming horses? Wood making or blacksmithing? Can they talk there way out of anything with charm? Are they terrible with love? Do they get angry a lot?

Plan your character arcs:

Every main and secondary character should have an arc of some kind. It’s how your characters face obstacles and change from them—whether by overcoming or failing the challenges presented—that will define your characters. How does the story influence them and how do they influence the story?

Make living, breathing characters. Boring, two-dimensional characters are about as much fun to read as eating plain iceberg lettuce. You want your readers to care about these characters, even the bad ones! So use these resources to take your character game to the next level

Your characters will be like guides through your fantasy world. It’s through their actions and journeys that you will immerse your reader in this strange, magical place you’ve created. So give them the time and attention they deserve.

Emotions is everything in your character. They are special. It is what makes us human. We feel, we think, we create.

1. Be specific with word choice.

When writing your first novel, it’s easy to fall into cliché when writing emotions. Even bestselling authors can fall into this trap. How many times have you read the phrase “a single tear fell down her cheek” or “his heart skipped a beat”? These clichés are such common ways to show emotion that they are almost meaningless. When describing character emotions, be as specific as possible in your word choice and body language. Make them feel anger. Make them feel doubt. Make them feel joy. Make them feel sad. Make them feel fear and anxiety. Make them feel love. Make them feel friendship and the close bond of brothers. Make them feel the call of adventure or the spark of a new creation or idea. Make them get into a rut or lose track of themselves. Make them feel art when they look at a painting or read a good book. Make them learn. Make them feel guilt. Make them feel revenge. Make them want to kill. Make them feel loss. Make them feel the taste of food or drink or the feel of riding a horse. The first time they saw a dog. Make it raw. Give it flare. Yeah, you get it haha.

2. Make sure readers identify with the protagonist.

Readers experience emotions through the eyes of the characters. That’s why it’s essential that your protagonist or main character be relatable and sympathetic. The more invested readers are in the character development, backstory, and plot points involving the protagonist, the more they’ll be able to identify with their own emotional experiences. That’s why writing your big emotional scene on page one isn’t as effective as waiting for the climax—the reader needs time to build a relationship with the main character. Get to know them.

3. Vary your descriptions.

When it comes to emotional writing, it’s not enough to simply relay the character’s emotions. Readers need to see the effect of the character’s emotions through their body language, facial expressions, and actions. In other words: show, don’t tell. Rather than simply telling us that a character is scared, illustrate the way their body tenses up with fear. Instead of stating that a character is sad, describe their trembling lips and watery eyes. By showing rather than telling, writers are better able to trigger readers’ emotions by allowing them to feel as though they are experiencing what the character is feeling.

4. Build up to intense emotions for greater impact.

In fiction writing, just like in real life, deep emotions are more memorable than shallow emotions. Unbridled joy is more impactful than fleeting happiness. Aching grief is more intense than minor disappointment. Readers are more likely to share in your main character’s emotional state if those feelings are strong and passionate. Fiction writers should strive to create scenarios in which their character feels an intense range of emotions. Just like we do in our day to day lives.

We have the stage. We have the cast. Now we need to know what the heck is going on.

Your fantasy story isn’t a story without a plot. And, with the fantasy genre, we can go real big with our plot. Real big.

Choose your conflict:

A story is nothing without conflict. This crucial story element pushes your protagonist into action, drives character arcs, and adds tension to your world. For your fantasy story, determine a primary external conflict that creates the inciting incident, then focus on internal conflicts and other external conflicts to keep the story moving. Do you have side quests they can go on? Was their family murdered in front of them? Did they have a failed marriage or lost a lot of coin? Is it for revenge? It's crucial.

Select a story structure:

Some writers cringe at the mention of the word “structure,” but every story has one… sorry. And every writer can benefit from understanding different story structures and the beats that go with them, even painters! Sorry bad joke. Some structures lend themselves to fantasy more than others; Tolkien, for example, used the Hero’s Journey when writing The Lord of the Rings. But you don't have to go down the same road. Pick something different. What have made my stories so interesting is I go for the odd route. I choose characters that are normal human beings: a sailor, farmer, carpenter, a painter, a writer or sculptor, and put a twist on it. Not every story has to be about a King or this epic badass. He or she can turn into a badass and start from nothing, but building that up will make the story my satisfying. Its hard in a fantasy story I know, because you have to account for anything and everything. You cannot leave loopholes or missing plot subjects. Unless its a book series. In a series you can leave questions unanswered but always make sure to cover it in later books or it will leave your readers pissed off. Trust me. I've been there.

Pick a point of view:

When it comes to the perspective or point of view (POV) your story is told from, you have a few options. But the most common in fantasy are third-person limited and first person. Both of these options have their own strengths, with the former allowing you to include details of your world that a first-person narrator wouldn’t know, and the latter providing more intimacy with your narrator. In either case, you can switch narrators in between scenes to help develop characters and your world (a common trait in fantasy novels).

Theme is tantamount:

Without a theme, your story is just a series of events. Theme adds meaning to your book, connecting readers to a human truth that you share through your characters’ actions. And, even though you’re writing a fantasy novel, your themes should be grounded in real life. Good vs. evil, misogyny , racism, hope, loss—your message takes the incredible and makes it resonate with your readers.

See, your story is more than just your plot. It’s the bigger narrative that runs much deeper than that. Use these elements to add depth to your fantasy story.

Weapons or tools that your character can use is paramount for your story. Do you want an ice sword? A flame axe? A box with magic locks? A shield that cannot break and made of glass and ruby? Not only will this make your story cool, but also provide depth to the makers and creators within your world. How are the weapons made? What ores and metals? What magical properties?

Your character is sprinting down a dark tunnel, footsteps crashing against the hard stone and echoing all around. The tunnel opens wide, a ledge rapidly approaches – this is the lair! Your character slides to a stop and sees… what? Something awe-inspiring? Something terrifying? Perhaps both? 

Fantasy creatures are nothing new. Monsters made from our imagination have been around as long as the humans who created them. 

When it comes to inspiration, the greatest place to start is in the past and studying the legends that have inspired many an iconic story and influenced human civilisations. Every country in the world has its own myths and legends, and in turn, its own fantastical beasts. There are many inspired by Greek, Norse or Egyptian mythology.

As we excitedly plunge into the vibrant ocean of fantasy creatures, we should take a step back and try to understand what they bring to our stories. 

Often a character’s interaction with a fantasy creature will form part of the plot. If we take the earlier example of the Hydra and Nemean Lion, Heracles daubs his arrows in the Hydra’s venomous blood and wears the impenetrable hide of the lion as a cloak. As you can imagine, both concepts have been used in numerous fantasy stories since. 

1. Combine More Than One Magical Element 

Let us take the story of the Nemean Lion mentioned earlier. The story uses a very real creature (a lion) but adds the small tweak of its golden fur being impenetrable.  

We can do the same thing. What if we take a boar, but say its tusks can conjure lightning? If we want whimsy, what if a character has to catch a quite ordinary-looking mouse, but this mouse weighs as much as an elephant? 

In a similar vein, many mythical creatures are mashups of two real creatures. The Chimera was depicted as a fire-breathing lion, with the head of a goat protruding from its back, and a venomous snake as its tail. What if we gave the horn of a rhino to a horse? What if we gave sharks wings? You get the picture…

2.You can make them human like or dangerous

Every creature you create is amazing. It could be an ice dragon or a type of Fae. It all depends on what you want. They can be humanoid and experience emotions that you character encounters or evil and animalistic in attacking you until you must fend for your life and kill it. Up to you.

3. Give Them A Home

Where does your monster live? In its own world? In ours? Or maybe both? Ask yourself what’s scarier, or a bigger challenge, for your characters. Having contrasting locations (much like foil characters) not only brings style to the story, but also provides parameters and boundaries for your creature. How the creature interacts with our own world will influence the plot, how it behaves, and ultimately how the hero will defeat it. 

4. Ask Yourself If The Creature Is Even Needed (Or If You’re Just Having Fun)

Is your creature simply another barrier in your hero’s quest? Are they an integral part of that world? Are they crucial to the plot? Perhaps they’re only there to deliver a message to your reader (or even character). 

Whatever their purpose, how and why you have created this fantastical being will change the attributes you give it and how/where it’s featured in your story. We all love a great monster, but a monster for a monster’s sake doesn’t make for a great story. In fact, it may do the opposite, and detract your reader so much from the main plot they stop caring about your hero altogether.

5. Use Nature To Inspire You

As the old adage goes, ‘fact can be scarier than fiction’. You don’t have to look far in the world of animals, plants and unusual habitats, to find inspiration. Mermaids have strong ties to manatees, vampires were inspired by bats, and even something as simple as Jaws, a shark that looks like a shark and acts like a shark but is just really big and really mean, was enough to make an entire generation scared of the water.  

Fascinating creatures exist all over our natural world, especially in the depths of the ocean or in uninhabitable rainforests. So get searching and add some of nature’s wonders to your own monsters. Does your dryad have leaves for antlers or wear a silver cape?

Things to Think of:

-What does it look like?

-Where does it come from?

-Strengths and Weaknesses?

-How large is it?

-How old is the creature?

-How does it interact with people?

-Name?

-Are they the hunter or the hunted?

Don't get me started on this topic but it's needed to be breached about. There is some belief that books should be censored. I disagree. It's your book. You have the right to make it however you want. Horrible and scary, light and hearty, rough and intense, mysterious and adventurous. You must think: Who will read it? Is your book for young or adult? If a young audience, stray away a tone of cursing, blood, and dark things. It's for a kid, make it for them. If adult, all ears. Make up your own swear words like craggermuffin or Lord and Lady, you can have blood or sex, depression, murder, whatever. Personally most of my novels are adult, with swear words, gore, mental illness, and dark topics. Because thats what I like to write. But do not be afraid to say whatever you are thinking into your story. It might impress somebody, you never know.

From the second you started thinking about your story, you’ve been putting this puzzle together. When you thought about your subgenre and what it entails, your mind started whirring with ideas. When you read books by your favorite fantasy authors, you started to generate more pieces that snapped together. Once you started building your world, those pieces became clearer and more appeared. And when you created those characters and worked more on your plot, those pieces fell into place, too.

Does that all sound familiar? It should. The minds and imagination of writers are wonderful things.

But that doesn’t mean that we’re done writing our fantasy story or that it will just magically come together. So here are some things to help finish your puzzle.

Write smaller pieces first:

Because writing a fantasy novel, especially one in a world completely of your own making, can be a massive task, it can be easier to write some short stories first. These stories never have to be published or read by anyone else, but they can do wonders to help your worldbuilding and character development.

Don’t forget about dialogue:

The tone and word choice of fantasy characters can run the whole gamut. Unfortunately, it’s easy for writers to fall into robotic, clunky writing to make it sound “medieval” in your fantasy setting. Just go with the flow and by making each of your characters unique in their communication. Don't make it feel scripted. Write words and speech as if they are real humans talking with each other.

Use a lot of detail:

 In general, fantasy stories include more detail than most other genres. It’s these details that can bring a new world to life or add a sense of magic to the seemingly normal. Too little detail, and your world won’t be enchanting (or horrifying). Too much, and it will be difficult to read. Make it serene. Make it beautiful. Make it magical. Perhaps describe a rain drop on a nobles boots to the lush green barely fields of your kingdoms name?

Remember the laws of your world:

Whether we’re talking about magic, physics, politics, or voyages, keep track of all the laws in your fantasy world. This might seem obvious, but it can get complicated keeping track of an entire world that only exists in your mind, and no one likes those wonky anachronisms in a fantasy book.

Avoid deus ex machina:

Literally translating to “god from the machine,” deus ex machina is a literary term referring to something new that comes out of nowhere, usually at the climax of a story, to get the characters out of an impossible situation. It’s lazy writing that usually renders conflict and character arcs meaningless, and is all too easy to do when you’re throwing magic left and right in your story. Make sure everything makes sense and is consistent in your fantasy story.

And Finally, ending: Make a gripping ending to it. Not ever ending has to be that everyone lives happily ever after and Oh my god we are getting married and having seven children and live in a little cottage on the hill!

Some endings can be sad. Some can be happy. Some can be bittersweet. Some can be realistic. Just think on it my good sir.

Get writing! Yeah, I’m going to be that guy. But the only way you can actually bring all these elements together is by writing. Get those words down. Finish a chapter. Set a goal and crush it.