fantasy-writing-prompts

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

Reading fantasy again, I've started thinking about how odd it is how in books like that, the non-human races invariably scoff at human frailty and vulnerability, even those that they'll call friends. Like that's mean?? Why would you be a dick to your friend who you know is not capable of as much as you are, and it's not their fault they were born like that. That's mean.

Like consider the opposite: Characters of non-human races treating their human companions like frail little old dogs. Worrying about small wounds being fatal - humans die of small injuries all the time - or being surprised that humans can actually eat salt, even if they can't stomach other spicy rocks. Being amazed that a human friend they haven't seen in 10 years still looks so young, they've hardly aged at all! And when the human tries to explain that they weren't going to just unexpectedly shrivel into a raisin in 10 years, the longer-lifespan friend dismisses this like no, he's seen it happen, you don't see a human for 10 or 20 years and they've shriveled in a blink.

Elves arguing with each other like "you can't take her out there, she will die!" and when the human gets there to ask what they're talking about, they explain to her that the journey will take them through a passage where it's going to be sunny out there. Humans burn in the sun. And she will have to clarify that no, actually, she'll be fine. They fight her about it, until she manages to convince them that it's not like vampires - humans only burn a little bit in the sun, not all the way through. She'll be fine if she just wears a hat.

Meanwhile dwarves are reluctant to allow humans in their mines and cities, not just out of being secretive, but because they know that you cannot bring humans underground, they will go insane if they go too long without seeing the sun. Nobody is entirely sure how long that is, but the general consensus is three days. One time a human tries to explain their dwarf companion that this is not true, there are humans that endure much longer darkness than that. As a matter of fact, in the furthest habited corners of the lands of the Northmen, the winter sun barely rises at all. Humans can survive three weeks of darkness, and not just once, but every single year.

"Then how do they sane?" Asks the dwarf, and just as he does, the conversation gets interrupted by the northland human, who had been eavesdropping, and turns to look at them with an unnerving glint in her colourless grey eyes, grinning while saying

"That's the neat part, we don't."

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

So you want to describe a room? I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert, and of course everybody has to find out what works for them, but here are some things that I personally have found helpful when writing descriptions for interiors. You may or may not find it useful, but I thought I'd share in case it could help.

The key question to ask is: What do you want the room to say about something?

Is it a character's personal space? Is it a room that serves a particular purpose? Do you need the setting to convey a particular mood or feeling? Rooms aren't just backdrop; they're an opportunity to build your world, set your scene, and/or develop your characters.

My OC who is an enthusiastic, scattered, impulsive fifteen-year-old girl who lives in a poorly-upkept country castle is going to have a dramatically different bedroom from, say, the OC who is a serious, driven, artistic twelve-year-old girl who lives in a middle-class townhouse in the city. The cluttered antique shop that's the setting of one of my weird short stories needs to convey a very different impression from the hospital waiting room in another such story. Even if your setting isn't anything visually impressive, even if it's the blandest office, that still says something about your world and characters.

Every room is saying something.

For practice, observe rooms in the real world and think about them.

What do these rooms contain? What does the design of a room and its contents say about the people who live there or who use it? How are public spaces different in appearance from private ones? How would a person whose room this is see it? What about a friend of that person? Or a stranger? How does perception of it change at different times of the day or in different states of upkeep?

Take my living room. Most of the mismatched furniture is secondhand, except for a few pieces, like the umbrella stand shaped like an umbrella, or the coffee table that resembles a trunk edged in metal and rivets. The coffee table is piled with papers and books and miscellaneous objects (including a never-used crossword puzzle mug, a turtle hand puppet, and a stray block). More piles of books and papers and comics crowd any flat surfaces. There are three tall bookshelves, crowded with books, sorted by genre and author, and a cabinet of DVDs, sorted by title. Throw blankets lie wadded on the couch until I bother to neatly fold them over the back of the armchair. Displays of decorative objects appear on top of the desk, the cabinet, and a side table. The walls are covered in art prints, mostly of my OCs, but also botanical designs, a poster of the entire text of a Shakespeare play, a couple of wreaths featuring berries, and a Bouguereau painting. The area rug badly needs vacuuming. Sometimes I let boxes pile up by the door instead of taking them out to the trash. There's a good-sized window, but not much natural light. The walls are painted a green-gray color that darkens the space--I didn't choose it. What could you infer about this room? My impression would be home and comfort, but you, who have (probably) never been there, might come to some other conclusions about the person who lives there and her tastes and habits.

The rooms that you write about may be nothing like ones you see in real life in terms of design and detail, but you can bring principles you've observed into just about any kind of setting.

Once you know what you want to convey through the description of the room, the next question is: How can you use imagery to craft this impression?

Sure, you can tell your readers that a room is messy or fancy or boring, but for a description that will pack a punch and stick out in your readers' minds, using imagery is helpful.

So try things like playing with color symbolism. Conside the condition of the room and the objects in it: old, new, tidy, messy, well-kept, neglected, etc. Notice the distinctive objects in it--or even lack of distinctive objects--and call attention to this. Things like the size of the space or the lighting (or lack thereof) can also be striking.

Make the details sensory for a stronger impression. Textures, smells, sounds, etc. But don't feel like you have to go overboard. Zero in on a few specific, impactful images and details. You don't need to describe everything in the room. Just what gets your point across and anything in the room that your characters will interact with or that will serve a purpose in the story. Keep your description proportionate to the room's significance in the story. You should aim for quality over quantity.

This is a description that I'm fairly satisfied with. It's the study of a king, as seen for the first time by a boy who is there because he is in trouble. I wanted to give an impression of wealth and splendor but also of coldness, distance, power, obsession with an appearance of flawlessness. I wanted the room to feel a bit off, a bit ominous. So I chose imagery that suggested the lifeness of a museum, with some classical influences. "White marble" is repeated for emphasis on uniformity. The textures are cold and hard, with an absence of the warmth and softness of textiles. And the final chess image positions the protagonist as a seemingly powerless player in a game he doesn't know the rules of.

It's a lengthier description because I needed to establish just how terrifying the room and the man in it are for the protagonist so that the reader, who is just meeting him, understands what kind of world he lives in and whom he's up against as he's about to have a difficult conversation.

He stood in a room of white marble beneath a high domed ceiling. Bookcases lined the walls, displaying books all the same size, bound identically in the deep blue and silver of the Liennese flag. White marble busts on Ionic pedestals peeked out from corners with pupilless stares. Tamett shuddered, half expecting them to quiz him in Greek with the voice of HRH’s tutor. A forest of blindingly white columns stretched toward the far end of the room. There, before a white marble fireplace, were chairs upholstered in studded navy leather, their unsociable slipperiness unrelieved by any cushion or rug. And beside the chairs, behind a fortress of a desk, awaited exactly the sort of man who would own such a room. The king glanced up from his papers and said, “Come in,” in a low voice that seemed to shake the very dome. Tamett inched across the rugless floor, studying its checkered pattern and wondering if the king had ever considered acquiring giant chessmen to match it.

A further way to describe a room is to let your characters interact with the space. What effect does it have on them? How do they move within it? Are they comfortable there or reluctant to engage and why? How do the contents of the room inform what the characters are doing and thinking about? If there's a couch and an armchair at a distance from it, and there are three people present, who gets the couch and who gets to be physically distanced from the others? How does a character deal with a room that's set up for someone else's convenience but doesn't work for them? If there's a mirror in the room, how does a character respond to it?--can't keep their eyes off it? ignores it? punches it? Etc. etc.

I don't know if this makes any sense, but these are the kinds of things I try to keep in mind for room descriptions. If I ever actually write.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

Really can't go wrong in fantasy with a giant skeleton being part of the environment. I'm talking colossal, part of the scenery bones.

Oh yes, let me wonder what the hell it is, how it died, how long it has been there. Let me walk on its ribs pathways, climb inside an eyesocket, look at where it fused with the nature around it.

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I loveee fantasy settings doing magical exhaustion:

burnt out pyromancers emitting steam and smoke

tired cryomancers shivering with visible foggy breath

weary necromancers looking ill and hearing voices

frazzled healers receiving the same cuts, bruises, and injuries of their patients

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

im a fucking sucker for the “character gets so badly injured that they can’t think clearly and start calling for help in a distressingly vulnerable way.” characters who start using nicknames for their friends they haven’t used since they were kids. characters who start begging for their brother they haven’t seen in years to be there. characters who would usually use their parents’ names or call them mother/father/etc crying out mama when they go down. u understand.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

Hot take: Actual literary analysis requires at least as much skill as writing itself, with less obvious measures of whether or not you’re shit at it, and nobody is allowed to do any more god damn litcrit until they learn what the terms “show, don’t tell” and “pacing” mean.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

lycanthropy is the best metaphor for the constant tug between “i’m not monstrous all the time so maybe i’m redeemable” and the cruel reminder that “just because my monstrosity isn’t visible doesn’t mean it’s not there”

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

Your friend always said “I’ll rest when I’m dead,” so much that it became his catchphrase. He says it again today when he came into work, going about his daily routine. This normally wouldn’t be concerning, if not for the fact that you attended his funeral two weeks ago.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

What are some chronic illnesses that can only occur in a fantasy setting?

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

Good Traits Gone Bad

Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:

1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others' emotions and gain an advantage.

2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.

3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character's ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.

4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.

5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character's courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.

6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it's detrimental.

7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.

8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character's protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.

9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character's selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.

10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character's commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.

These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.

Happy writing!

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

18th Century Writing Resources

Because I’ve had these in my bookmarks for a while and I thought it was high time I get a little more organized.

Makeup

Historically Accurate Marie Antoinette Makeup Tutorial

Hairstyles and Makeup

The “Toilette” in 18th Century England

Makeup and Lead Poisoning

Makeup in the 18th Century

Fashion

Glorious Historical Costuming Blog

Men’s Hats

18 Century Undergarments

More Clothes (Includes sections for men, women, and children)

Clothing of the Upper Class

Accessories

Wigs and Hats

Crime

Highly frequented locations

Highwaymen

Organized Crime

Rising Crime Rates

Pick-pocketing and Petty Theft

Counterfeiting

Smuggling

Gambling

Prostitution 

Punishments for Various Crimes

Crime and Punishment

Crime in Popular Culture

Children

Children’s Toys, Dolls, and Games

Children’s Education

Children’s Literature

Upper-class children: Girls, Boys

Lower-class children: Girls, Boys

Women

Female Journalism

Women Writers

Women’s Emotions

Life as a Woman Interactive Quiz

More on Life as a Woman

Gender Expectations

Motherhood

Rebellious Women (Info on pirates, entrepreneurs, writers, promiscuity, and the lives of black women)

Entertainment

Mass Entertainment

Tea Ceremonies and Porcelain

Blood Sports

Violence in 18th Century Entertainment (Public execution, cockfighting, boxing, etc.)

Masquerade Balls

Leisure Activities

Fairs

Theater Culture

More on Theater

Print Culture

Shopping

Food and Drink

Alcohol

Cultural Rules for Dining in England

A Three Course Dinner for Ten (Comes with recipes!)

1700s Food

Romance

Courtship

More on Courtship

Marriage (And Married Life)

England’s Gay Community (Site’s color scheme is pretty hideous; prepare for some eye bleeding)

The Gay Underworld (Molly houses and pickups)

Lesbianism

The Lower Class

Servant Life:

Female

Male

The Lady’s Maid Position

A Day in the Life of a Lady’s Maid

The Servant Hierarchy

Poverty and Crime

Vagabonds and Beggars

Misc.

18th Century Etiquette (Contains brief sections on behavior, fashion, theater, military, social hierarchy, and marriage)

English Social Structure

Mid 17th to Early 18th Century Aristocrats and Self Defense

Colonial Occupations

Hospitals

18th Century Language (Greetings, forms of address, etc)

Finances in England

Home Remedies

London’s Coffehouse Culture

More on Coffehouse Culture (Much more comprehensive)

18th Century Slang

The British Army

Carriages/Coaches

The East India Trading Company

Architecture

Money/Currency

Slavery

More on Slavery

Commerce

18th Century Duels

Morality in the 18th Century

Religious Satire

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

A huntress sculpture in the forest woven from willow branches

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

People, especially games, get eldritch madness wrong a lot and it’s really such a shame.

An ant doesn’t start babbling when they see a circuit board. They find it strange, to them it is a landscape of strange angles and humming monoliths. They may be scared, but that is not madness.

Madness comes when the ant, for a moment, can see as a human does.

It understands those markings are words, symbols with meaning, like a pheromone but infinitely more complex. It can travel unimaginable distances, to lands unlike anything it has seen before. It knows of mirth, embarrassment, love, concepts unimaginable before this moment, and then…

It’s an ant again.

Echoes of things it cannot comprehend swirl around its mind. It cannot make use of this knowledge, but it still remembers. How is it supposed to return to its life? The more the ant saw the harder it is for it to forget. It needs to see it again, understand again. It will do anything to show others, to show itself, nothing else in this tiny world matters.

This is madness.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

I really don’t dig the “a good ruler hates kingly pomp and would rather be laboring simply among the dirt and the chickens” trope. I don’t hate it as a character trait, but when every. single. sympathetic. ruler. in a work of fiction has it, my eyes start glazing over a touch.

Like you can have a good (even a humble) monarch whose comfortable with pomp and formality. It doesn’t have to be an ego trip, it can be a matter of accepting the dignity inherit in the office.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

Dialogue tips that actually work:

You are not writing a movie (ignore this if you are). The reader doesn't need to know every word the characters say for the duration of the story. Less is more.

Dialogue can happen within the prose. "And they awkwardky discussed the weather for five minutes" is way better than actually writing five pages of dialogue about the weather.

Balance your dialogues. Surprise yourself with a monosyllabic answe to a dialogue that's ten sentences long. Don't be afraid of letting your character use half a page for a reply or nothing at all!

Don't write accents phonetically, use slang and colloquialisms if needed.

Comma before "said" and no caps after "!?" unless it's an action tag. Study dialogue punctuation.

Learn the difference between action tags and dialogue tags. Then, use them interchangeably (or none at all).

Don't be afraid to use said. Use said if characters are just saying things, use another word if not. Simple. There's no need to use fancy synonyms unless absolutely necessary.

Not everyone talks the same way so it makes sense for your characters to use certain words more often than others. Think of someone who says "like" to start every sentence or someone who talks really slow. Be creative.

Use prose to slow down the pace during a conversation.

Skip prose to speed up the pace during a conversation.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

thinkin about the chosen one story told from the pov of the person standing next to them again. thinkin about the one who has to stand by and watch the chosen one become a weapon, a sacrifice, an offering to the machinations of plot and can do nothing but make sure they’re fed and rested and soothe them when they wake up screaming from nightmares. thinkin about the fierce devotion that has to exist to follow someone to the end of the world just so they don’t have to die alone. thinkin about the terror they’d feel every step of the journey knowing it’s not their place to change how the story plays out. thinkin thinkin thinkin.

[fantasy-writing-prompts]

details about ocs!

send an emoji/description of emoji to learn more about a writer's oc! many of these are taken from my munday asks meme, because i thought it would be fun to make a version for characters too! the prompts are categorized by emoji type and given descriptions in case anyone can't see the symbols. can be used for roleplayers and any general writers alike! for roleplayers, these can also be used for your interpretations of canon characters if you so desire as well!

𝐎𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐒. 💭 THOUGHT BALLOON — what is your oc's MBTI, enneagram, and/or other personality aspects (if known/interested in)? 🚗 CAR — does your oc have a driver's license? can they drive/operate any automobiles/machinery besides cars? ✈️ AIRPLANE — does your oc like traveling, or do they consider themselves a more homey person? 🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies? 💍 RING — does your oc have any piercings? do they want any (more) piercings? 🖊️ BALLPOINT PEN — does your oc have any tattoos? do they want any (more) tattoos? 📚 BOOKS — what level of education has your oc most recently completed/is currently in (GED, undergraduate, grad school, phd, etc)? 🎻 VIOLIN — does your oc play any instruments? what is their skill level (beginner/intermediate/advanced/virtuoso/etc)? 🩹 ADHESIVE BANDAGE — does your oc have any physical and/or mental disabilities? 🩸 DROP OF BLOOD — what is your oc's blood type?

𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐒. 🎶 MUSICAL NOTES — what type of music does your oc like? do they listen to music very often? 💯 HUNDRED POINTS SYMBOL — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know. 💤 SLEEPING SIGN — is your oc a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? how are their sleeping habits? 🔱 TRIDENT EMBLEM — can your oc swim? do they enjoy swimming? 🔺 RED TRIANGLE POINTED UP — does your oc know how to use any weapons? 🔶 LARGE ORANGE DIAMOND — does your oc know cpr? do they have any other medical expertise? 🚫 PROHIBITED — does your oc drink/smoke? do they do it regularly, or is it more on occasion or for special events?

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄. 🌈 RAINBOW — what is your oc's sexual orientation/gender identity? what pronouns do they use? 🎄 CHRISTMAS TREE — what is your oc's favorite holiday? 🐶 DOG FACE — does your oc have any pets? 🐈 CAT — does your oc prefer a wide circle of friends or a few close friends? 🐷 PIG FACE — what is your oc's favorite animal? 🐉 DRAGON — what is your oc's favorite mythical creature? 🍃 LEAVES FLUTTERING IN WIND — what is/was your oc's favorite subject in school? 🌴 PALM TREE — does your oc have a green thumb? do they enjoy gardening? 🍎 RED APPLE — where was your oc born? do they still live in/around their place of birth or do they live somewhere else? how do they feel about their birthplace?

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒. ❤️ RED HEART — what are three of your oc's positive traits? 🤍 WHITE HEART — what are three of your oc's neutral/questionable traits? 💔 BROKEN HEART — what are three of your oc's negative traits? 💘 HEART WITH ARROW — what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them? 🧡 ORANGE HEART — does your oc tend to prioritize family or friends? 💛 YELLOW HEART — how many languages does your oc speak? what language(s) are they learning, if any? 💚 GREEN HEART — does your oc prefer being inside or outside? 💙 BLUE HEART — does your oc have any cool/special powers and/or abilities? how are they with magic, if it exists in their world? 💜 PURPLE HEART — what is your oc's ancestry/genetic background? 🖤 BLACK HEART — has your oc killed or seriously wounded anyone before? have they broken someone's heart and/or broken someone's trust?

𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐒. 🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE — when is your oc's birthday? how old are they? what are their sun, moon, & rising signs (if known)? what about their tarot card, ruling planet, & ruling number (if known)? do they fit the typical traits of these sun, moon, & rising signs? 🍝 SPAGHETTI — what is/are your oc's favorite food(s)? 🍰 SHORTCAKE — what is/are your oc's favorite sweet(s)/dessert(s)? 🍦 SOFT ICE CREAM — what is/are your oc's favorite ice cream flavor(s)? 🍔 HAMBURGER — is your oc good at cooking? are they good at baking? which one do they prefer? 🥯 BAGEL — what does your oc's typical breakfast look like? do they usually eat breakfast? 🥪 SANDWICH — what does your oc's typical lunch look like? do they usually eat lunch? 🍛 CURRY AND RICE — what does your oc's typical dinner look like? do they usually eat dinner? 🍸 COCKTAIL GLASS — what is your oc's favorite alcoholic drink, if they can drink? ☕️ HOT BEVERAGE — does your oc prefer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, water, or some other drink? how do they like to take this drink (ex. coffee with milk, hot chocolate with whipped cream, a specific kind of tea, etc)?

𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄. 😊 SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES — what are your oc's career/general life desires? what do they want to get the most out of life? 😖 CONFOUNDED FACE — is your oc an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert? do they let people in easily, or are they more reserved? 🤔 THINKING FACE — what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms? 🧐 FACE WITH MONOCLE — is your oc more logical or emotional? 🤓 SMILING FACE WITH GLASSES — is your oc chatty or quiet? are they at ease in social situations, or are they more shy? 🤩 FACE WITH STARRY EYES — is your oc a planner, or are they more spontaneous in their actions? 😥 SAD BUT RELIEVED FACE — is your oc prone to getting stressed out, or is it easy for them to keep their cool? 😓 DOWNCAST FACE WITH SWEAT — is your oc open-minded or stubborn? are they inquisitive or do they prefer to keep to their bubble of knowledge? 😞 DISAPPOINTED FACE — does your oc attract others, or do they tend to be left alone? 🤒 FACE WITH THERMOMETER — does your oc get sick easily? 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 FAMILY WITH MOTHER, FATHER, SON AND DAUGHTER — how many people are in your oc's immediate family? how many people are in your oc's extended family? do they have aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc? who in their family are they closest with? are they close with their birth family, or do they have a found family?