How to Write a Story like Game of Thrones: Full Guide

One of the most popular fantasy series of all time has consistently been George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, which is better known by the TV adaptation series title, Game of Thrones. With its massive cast of engaging morally gray characters, intricate politics, noble intrigue, and intense violence and shocking twists, it’s sort of set a standard. ASOIF has almost become synonymous with being one of the first major works of grimdark or dark fantasy out there and there’s a reason why it’s resonated with so many people. Now, it’s very valid to want to write a story that has that engaging feel that Game of Thrones has without copying directly. So, in today’s post, I’ll be discussing how to write a story like Game of Thrones but in a way that stays true to yourself, maintains originality, and is simply inspired by GOT. 

Along the journey, I’ll be sure to point you in the direction of some great resources that can help you create your next amazing story. 

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👉 Ready to build your own sweeping fantasy world? Check out the Ultimate Guide to World Building (340 Pages) for everything you need to craft kingdoms, cultures, and maps.

How to Write a Book like Game of Thrones

1. Embrace Political Intrigue and Power Struggles

At the core of the story, Game of Thrones is all about power: Who holds it, who wants it, and what people will do to get and keep it. There’s an almost endless maneuvering of noble houses and factions that keeps the plot of the story unpredictable and intensely gripping. Martin doesn’t just present politics as a distant, background force in the world, but as a central and defining point. From family dinners to marriages and betrayals, drama is pretty much present in everything that happens in Game of Thrones. 

The lesson to draw from this is that you need to think about how you can sow drama in your own fantasy world. Think carefully about what factions and groups are operating throughout your story, such as noble houses, mercenary organizations, criminal groups, etc… You need to give each group things like competing interests, ancient grudges, and ambitions that will inevitably collide throughout the story. 

For example, something as small as a land dispute or an insult thrown at a feast could easily deteriorate from bad to worse and end in bloodshed. The politics of a dark fantasy story should never feel simple, but should instead feel like a treacherous storm. In order to keep your readers/viewers/players engaged the same way Game of Thrones does, you need to think about how each decision can create potential disaster. 

👉 To design political systems and kingdoms with depth, I recommend using the World Building Workbook. It includes entire sections that break down how to formulate different factions and political systems in your world. 

2. Develop Morally Complex Characters

One of the biggest appealing factors about Game of Thrones is definitely the cast of characters at its core. Think of characters like Tyrion Lannister, Cersei, Jon Snow, etc… The characters in Game of Thrones are not morally perfect and many of them are just downright terrible or at least very morally gray. Each character has some reason for acting the way that they do, even if their actions are negative, they may believe that they are righteous anyways. 

Achieving the same level of richness requires you to think about ways to make your characters contradict themselves and act in a way that is not morally perfect. You need to avoid making your characters purely good or purely evil, as that doesn’t allow for the same level of nuance that moral grayness does. 

There are many things that you can do in order to achieve this properly in your own story. Firstly, you want to allow your heroes to have weaknesses and provide for them chances to fail. You need to give your villains moments of humanity and you need to create powerful, compelling internal conflicts. There needs to be moments for your characters where their morals and their ways come into potential question in the moments that they are facing. Morally complex characters allow for your story to hit the same as Game of Thrones does for its fans. 

👉 Use the Complete Guide to Character Development to craft layered, dynamic characters who feel alive on the page.

3. Don’t Shy Away From Brutality and Consequences

One of the standout features of Game of Thrones is the fact that it doesn’t play it safe. There are plenty of shocking deaths throughout the series that made audiences drop their jaws because of how these things defied expectations. These moments work because the consequences actually feel real and there is a potential for every character to die at some point. This keeps stakes high and keeps readers alert. Survival is not guaranteed. 

However, do keep in mind the following: Brutality in a story doesn’t mean mindless, unneeded violence. What brutality in a story means is that you acknowledge that your choices have a weight to them. You can allow betrayal to destroy friendships and mistakes lead to character deaths. This unpredictability can keep the tension alive and remind your readers that nobody is safe throughout your story.

4. Add in History, Myth, and Lore

One of the best things about Game of Thrones is the world building and it’s part of the reason why readers and viewers loved it so much. A world feels truly alive when it has a past that stretches beyond the current story and feels like it could’ve genuinely existed throughout history. In Game of Thrones, you have histories of families like the Targaryens and you have legends of the Long Night and other similar elements that don’t just exist as filler. These stories and lores and histories are what allows for the plot to actually grow and make sense. 

When you craft your story, you want to think about the wars, plagues, revolutions, dynasties, conflicts and other factors that actually shaped your world. You want to let those echoes continue on in the present. A rebellion from a century ago might still shape the prejudices of people in the present day in your world. The impacts of a plague should still be felt decades later. Myth and lore can also help to deepen the atmosphere of your story and add layers and elements to current conflicts. 

World building and the factors that come along with world building are vitally important for crafting a story that’s like Game of Thrones. It’s also something that you should consider when you’re writing any sort of dark fantasy story. 

That’s why I recommend you pick up a copy of the Ultimate Guide to World-Building to help you create detailed histories and cultures that shape your story. It’s got tons of lessons that were made for all sorts of books and stories and games, but it’s perfect for writing an intense dark fantasy like Game of Thrones too. 

5. Balance the Mundane and the Magical

Magic and the ordinary should coexist in your story just as they do in stories like Game of Thrones. Sure, there’s magic, but it’s not a solution to every problem. Dragons are very cool, but they come with consequences and destruction. The White Walkers are terrifying because they are an enigma. Magic is dangerous and requires sacrifices and that’s what makes the supernatural and magical elements of a story like Game of Thrones resonate so much. 

In your own story, you don’t want to make magic feel too convenient if you’re trying to write a book like Game of Thrones. Instead, you want to make the magic feel dangerous, unpredictable, costly, and complex. Magic should alter the tone of the narrative when it appears and it should change the course of events in ways that feel irreversible. You want to treat magic as a force of nature and something that goes beyond full human control. 

I recommend you use the Magic System Builder Worksheet to design systems of magic that fit seamlessly into your world and actually come with stakes, history, and impacts. 

6. Craft Unforgettable Set Pieces

Every fan of Game of Thrones remembers the Red Wedding or the Battle of the Bastards. These were not just spectacles but were instead moments of irreversible transformation. The idea of writing and crafting an effective set piece is to combine suspense, emotion, and consequences and you need to think about how you can achieve all of this. 

There are a few techniques that you can use to do so. Firstly, you need to build tension long before the event actually occurs. Use tools like foreshadowing and drop hints throughout the earlier chapters. Characters should almost seem to ignore these signs until things are too late. You also want to try and deliver a shock to the readers, so don’t be too obvious with your foreshadowing. Additionally, these events need to carry consequences and ripple their effects over the rest of the story. Don’t just have them occur and then forget about them; there needs to be a real set of danger there.

7. Create Themes of Power, Family, and Legacy

One thing that really plays a big role in Game of Thrones is the idea of power, family, and legacy. There are always questions of loyalty, family, legacy, and corruption that run through the many arcs that exist throughout Game of Thrones. You have characters like Daenerys who has conflict over her destiny as a liberator versus her descent into tyranny. You also have characters like Jon Snow who grapples with questions about honor and survival. 

When you write your own story, you obviously aren’t just copying Game of Thrones, but you can take lessons from what characterization and themes exist in Game of Thrones. Think about the core themes of your story from even before you start writing. Are you exploring how love and loyalty will clash with ambition? Will you uncover the ideas of legacy and the price of obtaining it? 

The theme of your story needs to be present but it shouldn’t be something that you sort of reinforce constantly in a preaching way. You need to weave its impact into the narrative and plot. 

Conclusion

Writing a story that resonates like Game of Thrones isn’t simply about imitating the story. Rather, you need to think about weaving complexity, unpredictability, morality, humanity, and themes into your story and do it in a clever way. With layers in your own story, you actually can craft a great saga that grips your readers from beginning to end.  

But building a world this detailed requires the right tools. If you’re ready to bring your saga to life, these resources can help you take the next step:

The Ultimate Guide to World-Building (340 Pages) will guide you through designing kingdoms, cultures, and lore and literally everything else that matters to your world building process. The Complete Guide to Character Development will help you shape characters as unforgettable as Tyrion or Daenerys. And the Magic System Builder Worksheet will give you the framework to add balanced, powerful magic to your epic.

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