Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [fantasy]

Is the literary genre that deals with magic, magic creatures and imaginary worlds. This tag should be used for any questions relating to fantasy, including formatting, techniques and publishing.

Fantasy is a genre of , that mostly deals with magic, mystical powers, mythical or magic creatures (like Vampires or Dragons) and often plays in a mediveal-styled world.

Questions with this tag, should center around this theme, including , and questions.

Also you should state, in which phase of your story you are (e.g. or to improve the quality of the answers.

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Using real words from a foreign culture feels like 'Calling a rabbit a "smeerp"'

I'm working on a novel, that's set in pre-Islamic Persia, in the same general way that The Lord of the Rings is set in Britain. (Meaning, it's set in a world all its own, but there's this source of inspiration.) Here's my conundrum: the land is…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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Avoiding racist tropes in fantasy

I'm interested in starting a pleasure project: a fantasy story, along the lines of a witch delivering a prophecy to a king about a dangerous and deceitful foe who will overthrow him, and the king enlists three other witches to seek out and destroy…
user34214
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How to trick the reader into thinking they're following a redshirt instead of the protagonist?

I'm currently planning a "magical girl" story, and I thought of an interesting way to start it, rather than launching straight into the backstory. It opens with a woman in her mid-thirties, complete with ponytail of death, walking through a city…
F1Krazy
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I wrote a novel, now what?

I'm new here, so, please, bear with me. I had a look at previous answers to similar questions, but my case is (possibly) a bit different. I am not a professional writer, so I wrote this (long) novel for personal amusement. Important "detail": I'm…
ZioByte
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'The Chosen One' paradox

In many books novels or other forms of fictional writing, the reader is introduced to a so called 'chosen one'. This character or being is of higher power or in general, of different nature than other characters. To be more precise - my question is…
user32730
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How to make travel scenes interesting without adding needless plot diversions?

I have always had a problem with travel in my stories. Since I'm writing an epic fantasy novel, travel is a big theme as characters often have to move from where they are to where the plot dictates. However, one of the difficulties I have is that…
StrixVaria
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Is it bad if I don't like the "best" books in my chosen genre?

(This question is about reading but it pertains to writing as well). I write fantasy, and as a result, I've read a lot of fantasy books that are supposedly the "best," that are beloved by all fantasy fans ... except me. Some examples: Lord of the…
souzan
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Can I write a book of my D&D game?

I am a long time Dungeon Master of Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. My games run in a custom world of my own making. However, I utilise a lot of the traditional lore and races of D&D. I'm quite proud of one of my current storylines and have been…
linksassin
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Where to draw the line between fantasy and reality in a story?

I realize this question may sound broad or vague, so allow me to explain. I never knew much about combat or dealing with injuries until I started gathering research for a fantasy novel I'm planning to write, which will have a lot of action and…
Summer
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Should I use the words "pyromancy" and "necromancy" even if they don't mean what people think they do?

If you look up the exact definition for "pyromancy" or "necromancy" they refer to divination using fire and the dead, respectively. However, if you were to ask a layperson what those words mean, they would simply say "fire magic" and "death…
klippy
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How can I convince my reader that I will not use a certain trope?

Imagine a fantasy story in which there once was a very powerful evil divine being, but it was defeated long before the beginning of the story. For the story it is very important that it was defeated, and things would be really bad if it was still…
PoorYorick
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How much can a reader remember?

I've been writing some fantasy. Now, inevitably because its a big piece of fantasy, its all very involved with the world, culture, story and general bits. Personally, I'm really enjoying writing it. I have noticed that in a few fantasy novels I have…
Featherball
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Evil plans - how do you come up with interesting ones?

I just wrote a long way into a first draft for Nanowrimo before realizing my villain’s evil plan kinda wasn’t interesting at best (and at worst was something we’ve all seen a thousand times before). It’s a long story about the worldbuilding but it…
DanB
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How do I tell the reader that my character is autistic in Fantasy?

I am a woman with aspergers and writing an autistic character has always been close to my heart. Fiera Allas, a fantasy powerhouse with immense power and sword skills has always struck me as autistic (possibly because of how much of myself I put…
thelonelywriter
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How to tactfully inform readers of differences in the book world to the real world?

I want to write a fantasy novel, but there are a few issues that I have with the way that I should write it. One of my questions lies in the problem of how I, the narrator/book-writer, can inform my readers about my book world without stating it…
Drew Christensen
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