The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Fantasy (No Dragons Required)

The doors of the tavern fling open, and a half-orc wielding a great mace lumbers in. An elven ranger follows him like a shadow, observing the room from below her lowered cloak, then finally points to an empty table at the very side of the room.

As they start making their way toward the secluded corner, a pale youth in robes that appear too long—causing him to trip occasionally—follows suit, while a gnome with sparkling eyes appears at the doorway, his fingers running like crazed spiders over the strings of the lute in his hands.

“All the way there?” he says with apparent disappointment. “No one’s going to hear me play there!”

Whether this fictional scene sounds like the beginning of a D&D adventure or a complete cliché, you’ve got it right. It is.

Writing fantasy gives us a freedom that’s not as abundant in books set in the real world. We can create any landscape our mind’s eye can conjure, spice up our characters with whatever features we want, mix in otherworldly races and creatures, and make magic the strongest force in nature. But should we? Can fantasy still be fantasy without mixing every possible race into an adventuring party or making room for the occasional monster?

The Ingredients of the Spell

To answer this question, we need to first define what fantasy is. According to Gemini, it’s a genre of literature that involves elements of magic, supernatural phenomena, or otherworldly settings. Additional research revealed the following:

1. Otherworldly settings — fantasy is often set in a world different from our own.

2. Mythical creatures — fantasy often depicts creatures and people that don’t walk our ordinary plane of existence.

3. Supernatural powers — fantasy often bestows magical gifts on certain characters, or makes magic possible in the world where the story is set.

But does that mean that in order for the novel you’re writing to be called fantasy, you must check all those boxes and weave all the elements mentioned above into your book? Not necessarily.

Think of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (I know you’re thinking Game of Thrones, but that just tells me you’re not a true nerd, since that’s the name of the first book and the TV series, not the book series). You might recall that while magic and mythical beings are included (though not in great abundance), Westeros is inhabited by no one other than ordinary people. No elves, dwarves, or goblins.

Other stories might be set in our everyday, most realistic world, while following characters with special abilities and still be worthy of the Fantasy label.

But if magic, a fantastical landscape, or magical creatures aren’t all mandatory for the book you’re writing to be considered fantasy, what is? Because if there are no other races than humans, no mythical creatures, no magic, and it’s downtown Toronto instead of some made-up land, it’s not really fantasy, right?

Otherworldly Setting

One of the most common elements found in fantasy is a magical, faraway setting. While fantasy can take place in the real world, adding a secret and mysterious layer to it, it most often takes place somewhere entirely different.

This land doesn’t have to resemble ancient Europe or lack technology, but it has to be different from our own. Different can mean that the laws of physics work differently there, that its nature is nothing we’ve ever heard of (like purple trees and oceans of goo), or that the societies there evolved in different ways than us, creating unique social structures, customs, and beliefs (like worshipping bunnies, living in trees, or burping instead of saying “good morning”).

If your fantasy novel is set in a fantastical, unique world, it might mean you don’t necessarily need to involve magic or creatures other than humans and the animals we’re already familiar with to call it fantasy. The world itself already sets it apart from the realistic.

Mythical Creatures

Whether they’re civilized elves and dwarves existing alongside (though not in perfect neighborly relations with) humans, or perhaps monsters like dragons, orcs, sea beasts, or huge burrowing rabbit-snakes that roam the wild, they’re creatures the likes of which we’ve (unfortunately) never seen on Earth. This is another element that is common to fantasy.

It doesn’t have to be the classical dragons or elves. You could invent your own humanoid races (like bunny-people) and define their relationship with neighboring humans, or create other fantastical beasts that terrorize the land (or just live their lives, not bothering anyone even if they look terrifying).

When adding mythical creatures to your book, it will feel fantastical even if it’s set in a small town in Arizona. No mystical lands required.

Supernatural Powers

This is not an example I like to use freely, and not just because the author of the books I’m about to mention stole some concepts from one of my favorite authors of all time (those chained-up books are not your invention, lady), but also because placing it under the Fantasy umbrella is like calling a tender baby tiger a fearsome predator. The potential is there, but it needs to grow up.

So with a heavy heart, I’ll say it. Harry Foxing Potter. That annoying kid (and how anyone is meant to relate to that character is beyond me, or how realistic is it that social services didn’t get involved in that whole living-under-the-stairs situation) lived in the ordinary world where the most fantastical creature he ever encountered was an owl. Granted, that changed later, but the premise of the entire piece of work was that he was magically gifted.

“You’re a wizard, you male version of Cinderella,” someone told him, and that was the whole shebang.

You might write about a Tim Horton’s employee, leading a most ordinary life in (you guessed it) downtown Toronto, trying to get by. But if said employee can turn standard bean-juice into fairy dust or can turn invisible on command to steal doughnuts from the kitchen on his way home—you’re in fantasy territory.

Of course, classic fantasy fans (myself included) would appreciate it greatly if, after the exposition where we learn about that Tim’s employee and their unique gifts, they find a lovely little portal to a magical, foreign land where there are no smartphones and dragons roam the sky.

But you don’t have to.

It’s already fantasy of a sort since you’ve depicted something unusual, out of this world and, well, fantastical.

Conclusion

So if you’re tired of fantasy clichés, remember that you don’t have to use them all. You can create a unique work of fantasy that doesn’t involve dragons, elves, and dwarves, isn’t set in ancient Europe, and doesn’t rely on magic available to the masses—or even the chosen few.

You can still stick to one (or more) of the three pillars of fantasy, or create something else that clearly sets your story apart from the ordinary, but you don’t have to check off every box.

The most important thing is that you let your imagination loose, sprinkle your writing with the unordinary and the supernatural, and give your readers an escape from everything they already know about our world.