How to Write a Fantasy Book Step-By-Step: A Full Guide

Writing a fantasy book is something that many new aspiring writers want to achieve. Fantasy is one of the most popular genres for a reason and it requires quite a lot of detailed work before the writing process even begins. You need to create a cast of characters, magical systems, worlds, etc… It seems overwhelming at first glance, but by breaking it down step by step, you can turn your dream of writing a fantasy novel into a finished manuscript. So, for today’s post, I’ll be breaking down how you can write a fantasy book step-by-step no matter what prior experience you have in writing books. 

Part of writing fantasy is to ensure that your world building makes sense and has a strong footing. Sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of everything in the world that we build, but a bit of an organized system and guidance can help you do just that. That’s why I created a totally free 10 question world building primer that can help you kickstart the process. Just sign up below to get it right away: 

If you’re ready to take your world building process to another level, then check out The Ultimate Guide to World Building. It’s a 340+ page workbook that includes everything you need to build the next best world possible. Check it out here → The Ultimate Guide to World Building

How to Write a Fantasy Book the Easy Way

Step 1: Develop Your Story Idea

The foundation of every fantasy novel is the idea that is going to be the central point of your story. Your first spark and idea don’t need to be fully fleshed out or perfect. The only thing it needs to be at this stage is inspiring enough to push you forward into the writing process. 

Think about things that you’ve read in the past or stories that you personally really enjoy. Think about what excites you the most in those stories and books and what sort of things you personally felt were lacking. You also want to think about what sort of vibe and atmosphere you’re going for in your fantasy story. There are some that are cozy fantasy stories and others that are on the other end of the spectrum like grimdark fantasy. Knowing what subgenre in fantasy you want is an important step as well. 

Don’t overthink this stuff. At this point, you just want to think through every possible idea you may have and try to pinpoint which is the one that fits your needs and ideas the best. 

Step 2: Build Your Fantasy World

The biggest defining element of fantasy as a genre has to be the process of world building. Readers who pick up fantasy sort of understand that even if the story takes place on Earth, it’s different enough that it cannot be truly recognized compared to the real world. Most often, you’ll notice writers choosing to create full worlds or second worlds by themselves in fantasy, which creates more room for interesting ideas and immersion. 

There’s a lot that goes into world building and you pretty much need to consider how everything works and how things will logically fit with each other. For instance, the geography and climate will impact the agricultural practices and thus impact the economic system of a country. These sorts of things are very important to consider, as they can make or break the believability of your fantasy world. 

Your world doesn’t need to be massive and insanely huge from the get-go. However, you should aim for consistency and logic. You can also think about the layering that will happen with your world. Even small details like a regional dish is enough to add richness to your world. 

I personally created an entire world building workbook called The Ultimate Guide to World Building, which was designed to help anyone at any stage in the world building process create an entire world from start to finish. Beyond that, you’ll also get to create a universe if you want too! But it covers pretty much every detail you can think of in 340+ pages. It’s a tool that I recommend especially if you’re writing a fantasy book. 

Step 3: Create Compelling Characters

The next step that you need to consider in the process of writing a fantasy book is to create compelling characters. Characters are what bring your fantasy world to life and they are the sort of lens that your readers are going to be exploring the plot and the world through. Readers will connect with the characters, making it super important to ensure that your characters are well-written. 

You want to give your characters goals, motivations, and drive. They need to have real stakes in connection to the plot. You also need to show their flaws, fears, and strengths. If they are too perfect or too flawed without any semblance of balance, it will throw your reader experience off. Your characters also need to grow and change. Basically, by the end of the story, your character needs to have genuinely shifted compared to the beginning in some capacity. 

I have a few tools that can help you create characters for your story. One of them is a Character Profile Worksheet that comes with three pages. It’s a Canva template, meaning that you can duplicate and edit it as you please. 

The other tool is a workbook called The Ultimate Guide to Character Creation. It helps you basically work through creating an entire character from start to finish and lets you slot that character in nicely with the story and world you’re creating. 

Step 4: Design a Magic System

Magic is pretty much a core element in fantasy. Whether the magic is subtle or powerful, it needs to feel consistent and impactful on the story and the world. Just throwing in a mention of a magic system isn’t enough to make your world feel whole and believable. This is something that matters a lot and is one part of the fantasy-writing process that I really emphasize aside from just general world building. 

You want to ask yourself what the rules of magic are in your world. Additionally, you want to think about its limitations and its costs. Beyond that, you need to actually logically fit it into the rest of the world. If your system is too over-powered, then that’s going to make your world feel less believable. If your system is too under-powered, then it’s going to make the magic feel like an afterthought. 

Magic needs to also play a role in the way your society is shaped. Magic in fantasy sometimes comes with things like hierarchies and restrictions. For example, maybe there is a clergy that rules on the legality of certain magical spells over others. Maybe there are strictly enforced laws on who is allowed to use magic or not. 

What’s important to keep in mind is that magic is interesting in fantasy when it creates challenges. It can’t solve everything. It needs limitations, consequences, and it needs to have an actual impact. 

There are a few tools that I created that can help you with your magic system. Aside from The Ultimate Guide to World Building, there is also a Magic System Builder Worksheet for use in Canva that you can edit and adjust. There is also a Magic Item Creation Workbook, which is a fun journal you can use to build magical items. 

Step 5: Craft Interesting Villains

The next thing that is important for many fantasy books is the presence of a memorable antagonist. Most often, this character is the villain. The protagonist can also be a villain though.

A villain needs to be more than just a one-dimensional obstacle that exists only to create an occasional problem for your main characters. Villains are often the most memorable characters in fantasy books. Think of Sauron from LOTR as a good example of this. 

You want to think about your villain’s characterization and their impact on the overall story. What drives your villain and why are they doing any of their actions? Why is the villain opposing your main character? Does the villain act as a foil for the main character or a pure oppositional force? Who even is the villain and why are they considered a villain?

Villains in fantasy can be corrupt leaders, close friends that betrayed the main characters, disgraced war heroes, etc… There’s a lot that goes into the process of creating a villain, and that’s why I recommend you check out this workbook I created. It’s called The Storycraft System to Creating Villains. It includes 120 pages and helps you work through the entire villain creation process from start to finish. 

Step 6: Create Mythical Creatures and Monsters

Another thing you need to think about when you write a fantasy book is the presence of mythical creatures and monsters. Oftentimes, you’ll see things like dragons and hydras in fantasy. You may even see orcs, trolls, witches, goblins, etc… However, you can also make up entirely original fantasy creatures for your world. I actually recommend you try your hand at making your own creatures! 

However, when you add/create creatures in a fantasy story, you want to think about the why behind it. What role exactly do these creatures play in the story and the world? Do they interact with humans? Are they a resource? Are they a threat? Do they have unique abilities? 

Creatures can also create challenges, become companions, and reflect the themes that you’re conveying in your book. 

I recommend you use my Monster Creator Builder Worksheet to help you with this step. It’s a fun activity you can try easily that helps walk you through the process of creating a creature and slotting it in logically with your world. 

There’s also a whole section in The Ultimate Guide to World Building that’s dedicated to creating creatures and defining flora and fauna in your world. 

Step 7: Outline Your Plot

Once you’ve laid out your world, your characters, and all the elements that you need to actually write your story, you’re ready to start shaping the book itself. Outlining the plot is a big thing that I think makes a difference in the overall writing process. 

I used to be more of a spontaneous writer or a pantser when I was younger. However, when I started outlining and creating a system for writing before I even typed up the first word in a draft, I found that the process was significantly easier and faster afterwards. 

You want to think about your story’s major beats and points of contention. You also want to think about the climax and the biggest moments that will test your main character. Furthermore, you want to add obstacles and build relationships. It’s easier to outline your story with all of these elements instead of jumping into your first draft.

Step 8: Write Your First Draft

The first draft is not your last draft, and you need to remember that when you’re writing. It’s fine to skip over things, breeze through descriptions, and write any ideas you have in the first draft. This is the time when you want to aim for progress and not perfection. 

It’s important to also stay consistent in this process. You want to set goals that are achievable for writing your first draft. You also want to make sure that you’re not jumping into editing as you’re writing. Editing your story while it’s still in the draft stage is the best way to lose momentum, so don’t do that. 

You also want to break your writing sessions down into manageable chunks so you can avoid burnout. It helps to have a target word count and then break that target word count down even further. 

My Sprint to a Novel in 30 Days Agenda and Workbook is a great resource if you’re aiming to write a first draft in just one month easily. It includes a mini novel-writing crash course in the beginning section and then lets you get writing exercises and trackers to help you stay on-target. 

Step 9: Revise and Edit

After your first draft has been completed, it’s time to turn your story into a polished manuscript. The first thing you need to do is start with big-picture edits. You want to think about the logical flow of your plot, if there are any plot holes, how characters change, etc… You also need to remember to watch your pacing and tonal consistency. 

After you’ve gone through the big picture edits, you want to then start on line edits. This is where you can tighten prose, cut filler, check grammar and spelling, and make sure your descriptions work nicely in the overall story. The second editing phase is pretty much where you add these more nitty gritty polishes. 

I recommend at this stage that you use a tool called ProWriting Aid. It gives you feedback on your manuscript, areas of improvement, and helps with grammar and editing. You can try it by clicking here. 

Conclusion

If you want to write a fantasy book, there are a lot of things that you need to consider and keep in mind. By breaking the process down into clear steps, you’ll find it’s much easier to actually confidently bring your story to life. Fantasy thrives on the ideas of wonder, but structure helps you to shape that creativity into a finished novel that your readers will love. 

If you want a quick reference to all of the tools I mentioned throughout this post, here they are linked below for your convenience: 

• The Ultimate Guide to World Building
• Character Profile Worksheet
• The Ultimate Guide to Character Development
• Magic System Builder Worksheet
• Magic Item Creation Workbook
• Monster Creator Builder Worksheet
• Storycraft System to Creating Villains
• Sprint to a Novel in 30 Days Guide.

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