If you’re a beginner trying to figure out how to write a fantasy novel, you’ve come to the right place.
When I first started writing fantasy, the types of questions that sent me into a spiral included (but were not limited to):
Do I build the world first? Draw a map? Create the primary characters? Figure out the plot? Design the magic system? Give up entirely?
Thankfully, after lots of research (and trial and error), I figured it out.
How to write a fantasy novel really comes down to nailing the premise of your story, knowing your subgenre + audience, building your core characters, (loosely) figuring out the main theme, worldbuilding the basics, designing your magic system, outlining your plot, drafting your story, revising it, and finally deciding how to publish it.
I cover all of that in-depth below.
Oh, and here's a free sample of my ebook on Fantasy Writing for Beginners if you want to take a look.
What is fantasy fiction?
Before I fully get into how to write a fantasy book, let’s first define the genre.
Fantasy fiction is fiction that breaks the rules of the real world but still needs rules of its own to make it feel plausible.
Most fantasy fiction involves some combination of:
- Worlds that don't exist (Middle-earth, Prythian, Westeros)
- Magic systems with their own logic
- Creatures, beings, or phenomena that don't exist in reality
- High-stakes conflict (political, religious, personal, apocalyptic)
That said, you don't need all of these. You just need something that transports readers somewhere they couldn't go otherwise.
What fantasy subgenre are you writing?
This is worth figuring out before you start writing fantasy, because the fantasy subgenre you choose shapes everything from pacing to tone to reader expectations, and even your word count (more on that in the FAQ).
Main fantasy subgenre list:
| Subgenre | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Epic fantasy | Large-scale conflicts, complex world politics, multiple POVs, super long books. | The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas |
| Romantasy | Romance is a major plot point, with a fantasy world, a prominent romantic arc, and high emotional stakes. | A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros |
| Dark fantasy | Morally gray characters, bleak or violent content, no easy answers. | The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins |
| Cozy fantasy | Low external stakes, high warmth, found family, no world-ending threat required. | Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune |
| Urban fantasy | The real world, but with magic layered on top. | Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas |
| Gothic fantasy | Atmosphere-heavy, eerie, often includes dark romance elements. | One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig, Phantasma by Kaylie Smith |
| YA fantasy | Protagonist is typically 14–18, with a coming-of-age arc and shorter length than adult fantasy. | The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo |
You can blend fantasy subgenres (like a YA fantasy can also be an urban fantasy). Most books do. But knowing your primary one saves you a lot of confusion about tone, scope and, most importantly, your audience.
How to write a fantasy novel in 10 steps
Below are my fantasy book writing tips with clear steps, examples, and prompts you can use as a guide when writing fantasy.
⚠️ If you’re more of a visual learner, see all of these steps laid out in an image here.
1. Start with a "what if"
This is how all good fantasy stories start. A simple yet highly intriguing question...
- What if the moon had always been a prison?
- What if the sun never set on a particular kingdom?
- What if your memories were all implanted?
That question is what I call your story heartbeat because it’s the central idea everything else pumps out of. Once you have that core premise figured out, ask yourself what it means for your world, your characters, and your plot.
2. Know your subgenre and audience
We already covered this above, but it’s worth repeating here as a step: before you build anything, get clear on who you're writing for.
Are you writing for adult readers or YA? Standalone or series? Do your readers want slow burn or fast pacing? Are they coming from BookTok romantasy or old-school epic fantasy forums?
This shapes your tone, your tropes, your chapter length, and your ending.
Hot tip: Read a handful of recent books in your subgenre before you start writing fantasy. It’ll help you understand what readers already expect so you can decide what to keep and what to subvert.
3. Define your core characters
Great worldbuilding with flat characters is still a bad book.
Your protagonist needs three things: a goal, a flaw, and something to lose.
And no, defeating the villain isn’t what I’m talking about.
The goal has to be something personal like proving they're worthy or protecting the one person who believed in them or reclaiming something (or someone) that was taken from them.
The flaw should interfere with the goal. An impulsive protagonist makes the wrong call at the worst moment. A protagonist paralyzed by shame hesitates when they need to act. Flaws drive the plot.
Example: Frodo isn't the strongest, smartest (sorry Frodo), or most powerful person in the Fellowship. He carries the Ring because he's resistant to corruption in a way that power-hungry characters aren't. His ordinariness is his qualification. That's a flaw-shaped-into-purpose.
👥 Use the free Notion Fantasy Character Template to map this out before you start writing fantasy.
4. Figure out your main theme
Most writers (myself included) figure out what their book is really about once we’re halfway through our draft.
But it helps to have a loose sense of it early on, even if it’ll shift somewhere down the line.
Common fantasy themes:
- Power and corruption
- Revenge and justice
- Good vs. evil (classic)
- Identity and belonging
- Love and betrayal
- Grief and survival
- Found family vs. blood family.
- Survival and resilience
Pick one idea that resonates with the story you want to write, and let that inform things like your characters’ decisions, your magic system's consequences, your ending, etc.
5. Worldbuild the basics
Worldbuilding is, in my opinion, one of the funnest parts of writing fantasy.
But you can easily get trapped in it and spend eight months worldbuilding without writing a single scene.
(Yes, this happened to me. Yes, this is a cautionary tale for all beginner fantasy writers).
Only build what you need to start writing, then build more as you go.
At minimum, sketch out:
- Geography (the shape of your world + the key locations your story will move through)
- Power structures (who's in charge and why + are there people who want to change that?)
- Culture and religion
- Magic (more on this next)
That's enough to begin. The rest you can figure out while writing.
✨ Before you build your world, I suggest reading this Ultimate Fantasy Worldbuilding Guide.
6. Design your magic system
You’re learning how to write fantasy. And since most fantasy novels come equipped with a magic system, it’s best to learn how to create a magic system yourself.
The questions that matter:
- Who can use magic, and how do they access it?
- What are the limits? What can it not do?
- What does it cost? Physical pain, memory, years off your life?
- How does it affect society?
Your magic system doesn't have to be insufferably elaborate (unless you want it to be), but it should connect to your story in a real way vs. just existing as a decorative element.
Example: In Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, magic is fueled by ingesting specific metals. It's rule-based, class-tied, and directly shapes the political conflict of the whole series. The magic is inseparable from the world and the plot.
P.S. If you’re not planning on having magic in your world, simply skip this part.
7. Outline your plot
Don’t let the word “outline” scare you here. I know a lot of fantasy writers are terrified of being boxed in, but hear me out.
If you’re writing a fantasy novel, you need to know, at minimum:
- What kicks the story off (inciting incident)
- What escalates the stakes through the middle
- What changes your character permanently
- How it ends
Beyond that, how detailed you get is up to you. Some writers are good with a beat sheet. Some need a scene-by-scene or chapter-by-chapter breakdown. Others just need five bullet points and they’re good to go.
All of these methods work, as long as your plot doesn’t implode halfway through.
💡For a full plotting breakdown, read my guide on How to Plot a Fantasy Novel
8. Write the messy first draft
The main rule of how to write a fantasy novel…
You have to start writing it. There's no other way through.
The first draft will be bad. That's fine. Your only job is to get the story down so you have something to fix.
Here are a few things that have helped me write my fantasy novel:
- Set a daily word count you can realistically hit
- Write at whatever time of day your brain is actually working (even if it’s 11PM)
- Use placeholders like [cool sword name] instead of stopping to worldbuild mid-draft
- Keep a "fix it later" list so you don't derail your sessions
- Write out of order if you're stuck (as in, write the scene you’re dying to write)
- Forgive the bad days where you only wrote 13 words and keep going
- Remember that nobody has to see the first draft but you
P.S. I wrote a post on fantasy writing motivation hacks (based on my own experience) if you need some inspiration.
9. Revise your draft with a plan
This is where your book starts feeling like a real book.
To make revisions easy, go with three passes, in this order:
- Big picture → Does the plot work? Do the character arcs land? Are there obvious holes?
- Scene level → Is each scene doing its job? Does it move the plot or reveal character?
- See this fantasy scene structure guide for a deeper dive
- Line edits → Prose, rhythm, word choice, cutting filler
For the line edit pass, specifically:
- Cut filler words: just, that, really, very… none of them are earning their spot
- Read dialogue out loud. You'll immediately hear what sounds wrong
- Vary sentence length, especially in action sequences
- Replace vague descriptions with specific ones
- Watch for passive voice ("the sword was dropped" → "she dropped the sword")
Once you've done two or three passes and you can't see the problems anymore, bring in a professional editor. Specifically one with fantasy experience because they'll catch worldbuilding inconsistencies that a general editor might miss.
Reedsy is a solid place to find them, though I found my developmental editor in this Reddit thread.
10. Decide how you're publishing it
Once you’re done writing a fantasy novel, there are two paths available to you:
Traditional publishing:
- Research agents who represent fantasy
- Write a query letter (Lauren Kay is genuinely great at breaking this down)
- Polish your first pages — that's what agents read first and most carefully
Self-publishing:
- Budget for editing (as mentioned earlier) and cover design. Both matter more than most first-time self-publishers expect
- Build your author platform and audience before you launch
- Don't rush. A good book with a rushed launch is a wasted opportunity.
Mistakes to avoid when writing a fantasy novel
Worldbuilding before you know the story. The 40-page history of the ancient dragon wars is fun to write. It's also useless if it's not tied to a character and a plot. Start with the story. Build the world around it.
Naming overload in chapter one. Five characters, three nations, two deities, and fictional food all in the first chapter means your reader is lost before they've had a chance to care about anything. Give your readers a chance to absorb everything slowly.
Breaking your own rules. If magic costs the user something in chapter three, it can't conveniently solve everything in chapter twenty. Internal consistency is what makes fantasy feel real. Keep a worldbuilding bible to keep track of everything in one place.
Flat characters. A protagonist who is powerful, noble, never makes mistakes, and is always right is boring. Give your characters contradictions. The "chosen one" is more interesting when they're angry about being chosen, or genuinely bad at it at first.
Exposition dumps. Trust readers to pick up context as they go (they're smart people). Here's a quick example from my own novel of what this looks like in practice: instead of writing "It was hot and the market was noisy and crowded," I wrote "The heat was a living thing. It pressed down on my shoulders as vendors shouted over one another, their voices grating like sandpaper against my ears." If you want to go deeper on this, check out my post on how to avoid info dumps in fantasy worldbuilding.
Writing resources worth knowing about
For writing and organizing:
- Scrivener — Good for managing large manuscripts with lots of moving parts (high learning curve and poor UI, though)
- ProWritingAid — Catches grammar, style, and readability issues
- Notion Worldbuilding & Story Planning System — Keeps your world, characters, magic, and plot in one place
My favourite YouTubers:
- ShaelinWrites — Character creation, plotting, writing consistency
- Jed Herne — Storytelling and worldbuilding
- Brandon Sanderson's BYU Lectures — Plot structure, pacing, magic systems (free and genuinely excellent)
- Abbie Emmons — Story structure and emotional depth
Writing communities:
FAQ about how to write a fantasy novel
How long should a fantasy novel be?
Adult epic fantasy is usually 100,000–120,000 words (sometimes more for established authors). Adult fantasy is 90,000–110,000 words. YA fantasy is 70,000–100,000 words. Romantasy and cozy fantasy are 80,000–100,000 words.
Do I need fantasy creatures in my fantasy novel?
No. Your story just needs to transport readers somewhere they couldn't go otherwise. The fantastical element can be a magic system, a different world, or a single impossible thing.
Do I need a prologue for my fantasy novel?
It can work, especially to hook readers or set up key backstory. But if it reads like an info-dump, skip it and start with chapter one.
Do I have to use fantasy tropes?
No. Classic tropes like "the chosen one" or "ancient prophecy" are starting points, not requirements. Subvert them, twist them, or ignore them entirely, but make sure whatever you're doing serves the story.
How do I get over writer's block?
There are several ways, but try writing the scene you're actually excited about, even if it's from chapter twelve and you're on chapter three. Progress doesn't have to be linear.
How do I write fantasy romance?
The romantic arc and the fantasy world need to be connected — the setting should shape the relationship, and the relationship should raise the plot stakes. For a full breakdown: how to write romantasy.
