How to make a book trailer for your fantasy novel
Plan a fantasy book trailer in under a minute: write the words first, set the mood, source images and music you have the rights to, and post the right format.
Build a world, one consequence at a time
Before drawing another kingdom on the map, follow one impossible idea into someone’s ordinary day.
Before you send your first fantasy story
A practical checklist for finding the right publication and keeping track of the work you send.
How to write a fantasy novel
A practical route from first idea to finished draft: start with a person and a problem, build only the world the story needs, and finish one book.
Magic system ideas with costs and limits
Twelve magic system ideas, each with a source, a cost and a limit, plus questions to turn any of them into a story.
A list of fantasy tropes, and how to use them
The common fantasy tropes, from the chosen one to the cozy inn, with what readers expect from each and a few ways to twist them.
Fantasy races: a guide to elves, dwarves, orcs and the peoples of fantasy
A guide to the classic fantasy races: elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, goblins, giants, fae and more. Where each comes from in folklore, how Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons shaped them, and how to write your own.
Fantasy creatures list: 60 mythical beasts and where they come from
A list of 60 fantasy creatures grouped by type, from dragons and griffins to kelpies, kitsune and the draugr, with the folklore each one comes from and how writers use them.
100 fantasy writing prompts that start with a problem
100 original fantasy writing prompts grouped by theme: magic with a cost, quests, monsters, courts, cozy fantasy, dark fantasy and first lines. Each one starts with a problem, not a setting.
How to write a villain readers remember
How to write a villain for a fantasy novel: give them a want, a reason and a method, tie them to your hero, show their competence early, and avoid the dark lord trap. With examples and a worksheet.
Name the world
Stuck on what to call a dragon, a wizard or the town at the edge of the map? Our fantasy name generators build names from curated syllables and real place-name elements, and explain what each one means.
A prompt for your next page
An ordinary chore becomes difficult because one rule of the world has changed. Write the scene through a character who has lived with that rule all their life. Let the reader learn through the things the character does. For a hundred more, each built around a problem, see our fantasy writing prompts.