Fantasy Writing Prompts

Writing is a skill like any other. It requires a lot of practice. In the same way that someone who plays basketball has to go out to the basketball court to shoot hoops and do drills, fantasy writers practice by using writing prompts. I also find it’s nice to take a break from writing my book but still have something to work on.

I’m not a huge fan of the more limiting writing prompts that can be found online that tell you, “Your character is stuck in an enchanted forest with nothing but a sock and a dead cow.” Somehow you’re supposed use that to write something interesting that will help you improve your craft? I’d rather have more open-ended prompts that allow me to use my own imagination but that give me more of a focus on how to improve my writing skills.

Hopefully I’ve created a list of fantasy writing prompts that will help you (and me!) to improve your writing skills. The great thing about these is that you can reuse them over and over again just by changing the imaginative bits that you bring to the prompt.

Point of View Fantasy Writing Prompts

1. Write a journal entry or letter written from the point of view of a villain. Flesh out their plans and motivations. Maybe see if you can get them to convince the reader that they aren’t really the villain.
2. Write from the point of view of a character who holds a belief opposite of one that you hold dear. For instance, if you believe all stealing is wrong, write from the point of view of a character who thinks that stealing is right (at least under certain circumstances).
3. Write a list of terrible circumstances that your character might find themselves in (their mentor died, their magical abilities stopped working, the villain caught their girlfriend, there’s a bomb ticking down somewhere in the spaceship and no one knows where it is). Then write a short story where all of those terrible things happen at once. How does your character react? How do they solve the problems? When everything is going wrong, who does your character reveal themselves to be?
4. Write down something that you would never do (murder, kidnap someone, rob a bank). What circumstances would it take for you to do that thing? Write about a character in a similar situation.
5. Write the story of a powerful object (magical or technological) from the point of view of its creator, including the moral ambiguities and unintended consequences of its creation.
6. Write about an unlikely friendship between a human and monster, but from the monster’s point of view.
7. Write a short story using only dialogue. No dialogue tags allowed! See if you can make each voice distinct enough for the reader to understand what is going on.
8. Describe the aftermath of a magical disaster or apocalypse caused by a powerful hero fighting the villain. Write from the point of view of an innocent bystander who must rebuild their life from the ruins left behind after the epic confrontation.
9. Write half of a short story from the point of view of one character using only one- and two- syllable words. Then write the other half of the story from the point of view of another character using much longer words.
10. Write a story in the form of a newspaper article or police report.
11. Write a story as though it were a myth or legend written by a scholar.
12. Write a story as told by an old storyteller, including their changes in pitch, volume, facial expressions, and movements. Include the reactions of their audience.
13. Describe your hero from the point of view of a non-magic friend.

Fantasy Writing Prompts to Help Develop Your Prose

1. Describe a magical object using all five senses.
2. Describe a scene using descriptive language, similes and metaphors, alliteration, and onomatopoeia to evoke a specific mood.
3. Write a short story where the main character doesn’t go anywhere (maybe they’re stuck in a cell). All of the conflict in the story happens in their minds.
4. Describe a character without mentioning any of their physical features.
5. Write a short story about a character whose emotional reactions are at odds with what is happening to them. Use this to develop their character as well as suspense and intrigue.
6. Show, not tell: Write about your character going through something very emotional, but describe their emotions without naming them. For example, show their tears, their red nose, and their glare, instead of saying they were frustrated.

Pacing Fantasy Writing Prompts

1. Write a short scene describing an action-centered conflict. Use short sentences. Then rewrite the same scene but using long sentences. Reread both. Which one creates a sense of urgency?
2. Write about a character with a backstory but don’t explicitly tell that backstory. Drop clues through the character’s words and actions.
3. Write a scene in present tense, then rewrite the same scene in past tense. Reread both. Does one create a sense of immediacy? Or is it more a matter of personal preference?
4. Write a short story as a series of vignettes or snapshots that tell a unified story.
5. Write a sequence where a character has to navigate a dark, mysterious labyrinth, with the pacing fluctuating between tension-filled discovery that there’s a monster lurking in the maze and frantic escape from the monster.
6. Write about a race against time where the protagonist must prevent something terrible from happening, like the completion of a dark ritual or a spy’s bomb exploding and killing everyone on a space station.
7. Write a fast-paced adventure scene followed by a slower scene where the characters react to the previous scene.
8. Show, Don’t Tell version 2.0: Stopping to describe things grinds your narrative to a halt, which is something you don’t want to do in the middle of an action scene. Write a sequence where you set up the scene with descriptive language, then speed it up with action, then slow it down again at the end using “Show Don’t Tell” to show the impact of the action scene on your character.

Worldbuilding Writing Prompts

• 1. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Limit yourself to a single ability and then describe a normal day using that superpower. What would the advantages be? What would the disadvantages be? What could go wrong?

Conclusion

I hope this list of fantasy writing prompts proves useful to you in your writing journey! I’m excited to use these prompts myself to help hone my own writing skills.

Happy writing!

JLJ