How to Write a Medieval Fantasy Book the Right Way

Medieval fantasy is a genre of fantasy that has been beloved for a long time. However, its popularity has also made it quite “oversaturated” in a way. Often, we associate things like castles, swords, kings, knights, magic, dragons, prophecies, etc… with medieval fantasy. However, what tends to occur with this subgenre of fantasy is that it feel more like Lord of the Rings rather than something truly medieval. Additionally, not all medieval stories are just Arthurian in style. So, for today’s post, I’ll be going into how you can write a medieval fantasy that goes for accuracy over simple style the right way. 

I’ve been writing fantasy and sci-fi for a long time (check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga) and I find that one of the most challenging things to get started with for most writers is the idea of world building. World building is a complicated and intensive subject that involves lots of bits and pieces. It’s also something that I focus on frequently on my blog and in my guides. So, if you want to get started with world building, grab a free copy of my 10-question world building primer. It’s completely free and it’ll help you properly position yourself when it comes to critically thinking about how you want to start and expand your world. 

What does “Medieval” Really Mean?

Before writing anything down, it’s important to understand that medieval fantasy is not just an aesthetic. It is a social, political, and economic framework inspired by pre-industrial, medieval societies. This framework creates limitations that shape every aspect of life in your story. To put it a bit simply, this means:

• Power is centralized and inherited (feudal lords, kings, peasantry, etc…)
• Travel is slow, dangerous, and expensive
• Information spreads slowly
• Living standards do not meet modern expectations

Your world doesn’t even need to mirror medieval Europe. There are plenty of medieval societies throughout history. It’s the era of time that matters. However, it still needs to follow similar constraints. There will be disparities in the economic situation of people, there will be consequences for the peasants, there is more likely than not going to be siege warfare. 

Ask yourself how hard life is for the average person in your world. Ask how often people die from preventable causes, how much power they realistically have, and how afraid they are of authority. That answer should influence your world building and story-telling decisions.

Focus on Power First, Not Magic

One of the biggest mistakes new fantasy writers make is starting with magic systems instead of power structures. Although magic is extremely important to the fantasy genre, it’s not the only aspect of it that matters in the long-run. It also may or may not be the major thing that influences your story. Even in a case where magic is a big deal, there’s likely going to be a power structure behind it propping up why it’s a big deal. 

In medieval fantasy, magic does not exist in a vacuum. It interacts with authority, religion, warfare, class, and tradition. Before deciding how magic works, you should have a clear understanding of:

• Who rules the land
• How that rule is enforced
• Who benefits from the system
• Who is oppressed or excluded by it

Is the kingdom ruled by divine right, military conquest, or inherited bloodlines? Are laws enforced through fear, faith, or sheer violence? Are wizards and witches controlled by the crown? Are magic-users feared by the public, or worshiped as holy figures? Once power is defined, magic naturally finds its place within that hierarchy. 

Build a Believable Medieval Society

A strong medieval fantasy world feels like it existed long before the story began and will continue long after it ends. To achieve this, you need to understand how daily life functions for people who are not at the center of the plot.

Think carefully about things like:

• Food production and seasonal scarcity
• Social classes and the difficulty of moving between them
• Religion, superstition, and fear of divine punishment
• Law, punishment, and who the law actually protects

Most people in medieval-inspired settings are not warriors or mages. They are farmers, laborers, merchants, servants, guards, and soldiers who just want to live out their lives normally. Their routines, fears, and options in life ground your world far more effectively than elaborate lore.

If your protagonist walks through a village, that village should have a reason for existing. It might exist because of a trade route, fertile land, a nearby mine, a military outpost, or a religious site. Nothing should feel decorative or placed there purely for atmosphere.

This is where world building properly becomes very important. World building allows for you to take your idea from a concept and create a practical universe that your characters can live and thrive in. It’s very important for fantasy and is one of the most important first-steps in writing fantasy. That’s where my best-selling Ultimate Guide to World Building can help you out. It’s over 300 pages and includes tons of practical tips, tricks, instructional guides, guided questions, and more to help you get started right away! 

Choose a Focused Conflict

Medieval fantasy thrives on contained, personal conflict rather than immediate world-ending stakes. You can pick the latter, but you’ll be dipping more into epic fantasy with a medieval flair to it. 

Instead of threatening the entire realm from page one, consider conflicts that feel authentic to medieval societies, such as:

• A succession dispute within a ruling house
• Religious schisms and accusations of heresy
• Noble families competing for influence
• Border wars, famine, or resource shortages

These types of conflicts allow tension to escalate naturally and give characters time to react, adapt, and make mistakes. 

Create Characters Shaped by Their World

Characters in medieval fantasy should think and behave like people raised under rigid hierarchies and limited freedom. A peasant does not casually insult a noble without fear. A noble does not fully understand hunger the same way a farmer does. A knight is shaped by duty, honor, and reputation. A priest is shaped by fear of divine judgment and social condemnation.

Ask yourself:

• What does this character believe is normal?
• What do they fear losing the most?
• What rules have they internalized without question?

Even rebellious characters are defined by the system they are rebelling against. Their defiance only matters because the world pushes back, punishes them, or threatens to break them. 

Creating characters is an important part of the writing process. This is precisely why I created this Ultimate Character Creation Guide and Workbook. It’s a 150+ page workbook designed to help you go from concept to a “living” character for any story you may be writing. It’s packed full of writer-proven tips and is one of my best-selling guides! Check it out today → The Ultimate Character Creation Guide.

Make Magic Fit Your World

Magic systems are very important to fantasy as a genre. However, magic feels more powerful in your story when it’s limited, costly, or misunderstood. In a medieval fantasy story, magic shouldn’t just exist for the sake of existing. Magic needs to: 

• Have cultural and political consequences
• Carry social, physical, or spiritual cost
• Be feared, restricted, regulated, or misused

If magic solves every problem easily, it removes tension and undermines the setting. Consider how magic is learned, who controls access to it, and what happens when it is abused or exposed.

You can grab a copy of my Magic System Builder Canva Template to help flesh your whole magic system out and slot it nicely in with your world. 

Let History Shape the Present

Your world should have a history that impacts its present.

Things like past wars, failed dynasties, religious purges, plagues, and betrayals should still influence the present. Borders and traditions and ideals need to exist for a reason. 

You do not need to explain all of this directly on the page. You as the writer however do need to understand it well enough that characters behave as if it matters. If you have two characters from opposing countries, then the background of this opposition needs to be something clear to you as the writer. You don’t need to break things down into entire chapters, as that would be more info-dumping, but you need to know how things are impacted in your story. 

For example, a character can do something like reference an old war from many years past or a religious schism. Just a single sentence will give the reader the idea that there is depth in your story and world. 

How to Write a Medieval Fantasy Book the Right Way

Writing medieval fantasy successfully is not about copying tropes or checking genre boxes. You need to respect your world’s internal logic and stick to something that makes sense for both you and the readers. So, here is a step-by-step breakdown on how to write medieval fantasy books the right way. 

Step 1: Define the Power Structure

The first thing that you need to do is to define your world’s power structure. Think about who’s in charge, how they’re in charge, and how their rule stays afloat. If your story’s world has a monarchy, think about why this particular monarch is in place and why someone else might not be. 

A common power-structure in medieval Europe and medieval Japan was known as feudalism. Below is an infographic based on medieval Europe’s feudal system: 

Step 2: Establish Social Constraints

Determine what people can and cannot realistically do based on class, gender, religion, wealth, and geography. Social constraints are a big part of what defines the medieval world. This sort of constraint also can help to drive the main conflict of your story!

Step 3: Ground the World in Daily Life

Design food systems, settlements, labor, and trade routes before focusing on epic battles or magical spectacles. You want your world to feel like it was actually lived-in and not just an aesthetic. When your character grows up in a village, what defines that village? What defines your character’s role in said village? 

Step 4: Introduce Conflict at a Human Scale

Start with tension that feels local, personal, or political rather than apocalyptic. For instance, maybe there are rising tensions between the feudal lord in an area and the people that work his land. Maybe this spreads enough to get the king involved. Maybe a civil war breaks out. These sorts of smaller conflicts can snowball into larger ones. And then maybe you reveal that the person behind the conflict was an ancient magus or something like that. This way, you give readers room to understand your world and then introduce them to the “fantasy” elements of it. 

Step 5: Build Characters From the Inside Out

Characters are vital. You need to think about what they feel internally and not just what affects them externally. Your character will have fears, beliefs, instincts, motivations, goals, etc… These things should be influenced by the medieval fantasy world around them. For example, maybe your character is a young apprentice and wants to go to the capital of his kingdom so that he can learn magic swordsmanship. Maybe society is against this because of his social standing. Maybe someone decides to take him in, but this someone is a villain all along and this presents a moral quandary for the main character. 

Step 6: Layer in Magic Carefully

Magic needs to be more than just a piece in your story. You want to ensure that magic exists in your world in the way that it makes the most sense. If your world requires magic for its building purposes, then magic needs to be persistent in it. For example, in the book The Will of the Many, the magic system of Will powers everything from construction to war. It impacts things without being constantly in your face as the reader. Will is basically a tool to the world, similar to how a hammer would be a tool in ours. 

Step 7: Let History Linger and Impact Your Story

History matters to your story’s present just as much as it shaped its past. History needs to be present in your world. If there was a terrible war a few years ago, that war will still have lasting scars on your world today. If there was a schism in the religious power, then that schism would impact society today. History doesn’t just vanish in the background, so take note of this and be sure to focus hard on the world building of your story to make sense of this part. 

Conclusion

Writing a medieval fantasy book the right way means slowing down and thinking structurally rather than just cosmetically/aesthetically. If you build the foundation of your story correctly, the fantasy will hold its weight against the medieval component. Be sure to also do some good research into the medieval world and don’t just create castles for the sake of adding castles. You need to have an understanding on what the medieval world is and what it really meant. It wasn’t all just doom and gloom!

Don’t forget to grab a copy of my ten-question world building primer. It’s totally free!

Be sure to also pick up my Ultimate Guide to World Building to get started on your dream fantasy story today! It’s got over 340 pages full of intensive instruction, guided worksheets, and plenty of proven, proper tips for writing amazing books that need plenty of world building → The Ultimate Guide to World Building. 

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