Questions

I have a good story line and everything but I just don’t know how to put a world together. Do you go really outlandish or try to keep it as simple as possible?
- Too Cool For Me

Have you ever wanted to write fantasy, but perhaps did not know where to begin? Then this is the article for you. By the time you finish reading, you will know enough to write your first fantasy story.

Writing fantasy is making an impractical idea into a reality in the mind of your reader. It is using your imagination to find its deepest creative power. It is the ability to visualize things and places you have never seen. What a vast and exciting realm that opens!

Begin by freeing your mind of everything that is real and tangible. Escape this world of gravity and float beyond the ties of places and time. What do you see? Purple beings with six snouts and wings? A planet completely engulfed in water with underworld cities? An atmosphere where the inhabitants breathe gas and explode when they reach maturity? Fantasy is the place of no bounds, no limits - the place where anything is possible.

When you get your first vision of a new world or new life, go to the next step. What characters are in this world? What problems do they encounter? How will they solve the problems?

Remember that your characters must be three-dimensional, even in fantasy. You must have a physical description in mind. How do they typically act and what is out of the ordinary for them?

How do they communicate? How do they move from place to place? Do they fly? Slither? Swim? Waddle? Can they function on their own, or are they dependent on something else for life? Are your characters supposed to be royalty? Are they prisoners? Are they heading up a revolution? How intelligent are they? Do you want to involve some kind of magic? Is it a story of good versus evil? You must know all of this before you can advance your plot.

Take the time to write down fifty things about each of two main characters and the world they live in. What do the inhabitants eat? What things are unacceptable in their world? What is their vocation?

Now decide what your overall story is about - not just the middle conflict scene. The middle climactic scene is called the plot. The meaning in the overall story is the theme, so what will your theme be? Slithering lizards battling dinosaurs over human prey? Colliding worlds that give birth to a new planet?

When you have answered all of these questions to your own satisfaction, begin writing the middle conflict scene of the story. Next, write the ending. (You need not connect them just yet.) By that time you will know what needs to be in the beginning of the story to round it out fully. Develop that last. And finally, connect the three scenes.

This is called the DeBowen system of developing a story and it’s very easy. If you will write your story in this order, everything will fall into place naturally, and that which you have only imagined will become a reality.


- Deborah Owen

I’m finishing up a short, fantasy story with an evil elf queen, sprites with bite and a talking frog. The story runs 8-10,000 words. It’s kicky, suspenseful, snarky and fun. There is no explicit sex in this story, but some playful nudity. There is no graphic violence but plenty of page turning action. Where should I submit this story?
- CommanderCrusty

Uhm, like one of those fairy tale like romances. =D Anyone know any? Or anything close to it? Maybe vice versa, a story of a prince and someone? xD
- Yuuki

For those of you who have read Tamora Pierce, I want a similar setting to her Tortall stories.
For those who have read tamora pierce, I would like a simliar setting to her tortall world, probably in far south like her short story “Student of Ostriches” with magic ect. (but not called ‘the Gift’, that’s been used far too much)
- Mari

What is the name of this fantasy/SF short story?
I think I read it in an anthology of 1930s SF. The book was edited by Isaac Asimov. The story was a tale of a society where a ruler was reincarnated by artificial means, and some political ne’er do wells speeded up the process to their advantage. In the end the bad guy was relegated to a wheel of torture which would perpetually keep him alive, but torture him. The person had created it himself, not knowing the ruler was on to him. The book was stolen & I can’t find the story. It is an anthology ABOUT the 30’s “Golden Age” or “Before the Golden Age”. I think it is a 50s or 60s publishing date. The author of the story is one of the big names. I thought it was wheel of god, but I looked at that story and that is not it. Close though.
NOT … wasn’t by Asimov, and was written in the 30’s.
It may have been one of the “Mammoth Book” Series or “Golden Age” I am sure that it was edited and introduction by Isaac Asimov (as if that narrows it any)& remember the story well. Any sites with synopsis or plots of 30s science fiction?
I got all three volumes of the “Before the Golden Age” series. Maybe it was in the Mammoth Series of the Golden Age?? it hasd also been published in “Astounding”
- nanlwart

I’m a teenager, and I’m planning on writing a novel. Trouble is, I currently have writer’s block. I’m trying fantasy fiction first, but no unicorns and other uber cliche “fantasy” stuff. Any ideas?
- lolwut

I don’t really want to do anything that’s been overdone and I don’t want to do anything that might be too cheesy. I want something that involves realism but includes aspects of fantasy. Help? Thanks!
- whitless

I’m particularly interested in writing fantasy fiction since young, and I’m totally engrossed in fantasy books, like Paolini’s, Rowling’s and Diana Wayne Jones. But to you, what is necessary to train myself in writing a good fantasy story?
- Leone

Does the name Andrinus (Andra-nuss) sound like a good, masculine name for the main character of a fantasy story I am writing?
- Neaphus