r/fantasywriting

Hey guys I’m writing my first ever fantasy novel just getting into it does anyone have any tips on what’s a good way to start? I have a very rough idea on major plot points that I know are 100% going to happen but it’s just getting to those points that I’m struggling with atm

So I'm almost done with my frist draft of mu first ever full lenth novel. Its tentatively called Rekindle the Fire.

I trying to think ahead as I will soon begin work on draft II. What's the best way to build a community interested in the book and it's world. How would I go about posting that. Would anyone be able to give me some feedback?

I’m working on a book and wanted to get some feedback on a hypothetical metal I’ve developed called Leskium (historically known as "The Dark One’s Iron"). I wanted to create something that feels truly legendary but has a set of physical laws that make it a double-edged sword for the story.

The Origin:

It’s found at the bottom of the "Boiling Sea"—literally superheated water that kills anyone without specialised gear. Because you need Leskium gear to safely mine raw Leskium, the first people to harvest it died in droves. It’s a metal built on a blood price.

The Physics:

• Thermal Inverter: It conducts heat but stays cool to the touch. If it’s exposed to extreme freezing temperatures, it actually feels lukewarm.
• Hydro-Luminescence: The metal doesn't rust; it reacts with $H_2O$ to generate a brilliant white light. In a rainy battle, a soldier in this armour becomes a glowing beacon of light fueled by the water (or blood) hitting them.
• The Three-Heat Rule: This is the big one. It can only be heated three times and set once. And you need Drake's Breath to forge it.
  1. Heat 1: Melting the raw ore.
  2. Heat 2: Refining and shaping.
  3. Heat 3: The locking heat. Once it cools after the third heat, its molecular structure is permanent. You cannot reforge it. If you mess up the smithing, it's an indestructible piece of junk forever.

The Weakness (The "Oops" Factor):

It’s indestructible, never dents, and holds an edge forever... unless you use Drake's Breath. This special powder creates a heat so intense it’s "hotter than hot."

• If Leskium is hit with that level of heat after being set, it becomes incredibly brittle. In this state, it can be shattered like glass.
• If it absorbs too much heat without shattering, it hits a "Critical Overload" and flash-freezes the wearer instantly to reset its thermal balance.

The Vibe:

The nobility use it to be "invincible" tanks on the battlefield, but the commoners still call it the Dark One’s Iron because of the eerie glow and the way it refuses to break. And the fact that if it gets wet, you are basically a flashlight covered in blood, aka water.

Opinions:
So is this way to op or is it ok, and what tweaks does it need? Thanks ya'll. GBY❤😁

I was procrastinating my thesis so i fooled around with ideas until something actually caught my interest. But id like to know if this sort of story is interesting/good enough before i invest more in it.

Basically, i envisioned these 5 girls who attend different domains in the same uni. And so we have:

1. A forestry student - this girl loves nature to death but is incredibly scared of social interactions. Its fine though. She's got her plants and trees and stuff.

2. A culinary student - chillest person alive until she gets bored and creates chaos. She could not care less if a tornado came her way but God forbid she has nothing to occupy her time with to distract her from her thoughts.

3. A sports student - may drink with you, may use you for her bench press. Seriously though, she is a sweet girl who absolutely rocks her dresses and wears her muscles as jewelries.

4. An engineering student - her curiosity has no limits and neither do her obessions whenever she gets interested in something. She can buid a robot in a day but will spend the week before researching the materials because she found a fun fact about copper online.

5. A nursing student - she's smart enough to do good in her degree but not wise enough to find something to enjoy in life. She will most likely develop the best way to run a hospital before she actually smiles for a photo.

The "plot" (aka them becoming fairies) happens after an old magic tree picks them to reestablish the balance within it. The tree exists somewhere at the edge of the university's grounds and within it there is a whole magic ecosystem that is withering.

Now for the magic transformation sequence:

Our forestry girl's fairy form: her skin is made of bark and her wings of leves. (She likes to let birds make nests on her hair).

The culinary student is made of slime and can bend her body however she wants. (She likes to spend her time as a puddle).

The sports girl's skin has the armor of a bug's exoskeleton and the wings of a beetle. (She loves to see how much she can lift now).

The engineer girly is a robot. A literal robot with mechanical wings. (She loves to nibble at her limbs and new body, especially since she can actually alter it).

The nursing girl is an angel with glittery skin and fully white eyes. (She finds the slightest enjoyment in flying).

Now with thsi out of the way, i am thinking that this could be a "mission of the week" typa thing. I do believe it would fit decently. But then again, i always love my ideas, even when they may be the silliest/most boring things. So i would love some opinions.

Please be nice! I'm not sure if this is the right subreddit, so let me know if there's a better one to post this to.

I'm a romance/fantasy writer, and also a huge fan of alternative Japanese fashion. I've been thinking of writing a romance novel between a girl with a classic lolita/hime style (think of a playful take on Victorian fashion) and a guy with an ouji/prince style. Instead of an opposites attract thing, it's like two sides of a mirror finally meeting. I personally imagine them having a fairytale romance, even bringing back old courting rituals. Got any ideas? Would you read this? Let me know!

I was working a story where a ressurected hero ends up finding a palace full of computers. The concept of advanced technology isn't foriegn to him, but he's never actually encountered it himself. The computers end up changing how he sees his role in the world, and changes how he sees human freedom.

I was wondering if any other fantasy stories have explored this?

I had an idea for a fantasy book I wanted to write, inspired by my love for Pokémon and monsters. The book will be written in the form of a journal of a monster tamer adventurer, noting down the fantastic monsters of this world and showing a little bit of it. It's almost like a field guide, but it will have a plot and mystery that develops as the chapters progress. I'm thinking of almost a Dungeon Meshi or Witch Hat Atelier vibe.

I'm still an amateur as an author and I would love to write a book that makes the reader want to know more about the world and feel like they're there with the journal's author, so I wanted some writing tips for beginners that can help with immersion and capturing emotion in a story like this.

Hey everyone. I’m 15, and this is my first time ever trying to write a book. I’ve genuinely never written more than a few paragraphs before, so this whole thing is very new to me.

Right now I’m working on a psychological mystery story. I want it to feel tense, unsettling, and emotionally uncomfortable rather than just full of twists for the sake of twists. I’m especially interested in suspense, hidden meanings, unreliable characters, and scenes that slowly make the reader question what’s actually happening.

Since I’m a complete beginner, I’d really appreciate advice from writers or readers who enjoy psychological mysteries/thrillers. I’m trying to learn early so I don’t build bad habits while writing the story.

Some things I’d especially love help with:

\- Common mistakes beginner mystery writers make

\- How to keep suspense without revealing too much

\- How to foreshadow clues without making them obvious

\- Things that accidentally ruin tension or pacing

\- How to make dialogue feel natural and meaningful

\- Tips for writing disturbing or eerie scenes without overdoing them

\- Ways to keep readers curious enough to continue chapters

One thing I’m struggling with is balancing mystery and confusion. I want readers to feel intrigued, not lost. I also don’t want to “kill” the suspense by explaining things too early or adding twists that feel forced.

I’d honestly appreciate any feedback, warnings, writing tips, or even book recommendations that could help me improve. I know I’m very inexperienced, but I’m taking this seriously and really want to grow as a writer.

Thanks for reading.

i don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but if it isn’t maybe someone could point me in the right direction. i am planning a character who at birth was given/blessed by her parents to have a protector - unknowing by her. growing up, this guardian has visited her in her dreams and to her oblivion, protected her from harm throughout her life. he solely communicated through her dreams as she was a young child and as she’s gotten older, telepathically throughout her days. now at an adult age and facing true conflict in life, whether she is summoning him or he is physically starting to appear, he is showing up outside of her dreams. i have scrolled through races for days and cannot figure out what race to place the guardian as. for whatever reason i have imagined him as dark, almost a shadowy figure or maybe beastly. any ideas would be greatly appreciated and i will answer any questions anyone has if that’d be helpful. thanks in advance!

i would like to add in after a couple of concerned questions, he isn’t a million years older than her. nothing against anyone who writes that trope, but we’ve read it a million times and is only not creepy when you don’t think about it. he was born/created alongside or around the same time as her. so they grew up together. as a young girl she thought he was just a figment of her dreams because neither knew they could communicate outside of her slumber. as he aged and learned his own powers, he realized he could speak her awake and later learns he can step out into her physical realm alongside her. so no, not a creepy old beast who fell in love with a child. but a beast who grew up with her, and at first hated that he was bound to her because neither of them understood the pact placed upon them at birth, but fell in love with her for all the reasons we humans fall in love. the way someone’s eyes light up at the sunset, the way they stir their coffee three times, the way they laugh at dumb jokes.

(Repost since the original post was very vague)
Ive been working on this dark fantasy story for a while but recently I’ve been struggling on how i should go about writing a religious character arc for one of my main characters where the characters gains faith that he previously didn’t have.

I want the character arc and conversion to feel realistic and to actually mean something beyond the character just being religious for the sake of being religious , and I don’t want it to feel like I’m “forcing religions beliefs” on the reader.

The two reasons I want to add a religious character arc
1.The main inspiration for the character is actually a saint called Saint Moises the Ethiopian who was a bandit and band leader before he was a monk

2.I feel like it fits his character well since I wrote the story as just a long redemption story where he goes from being a nihilistic , earnest and rude person to a person who lives a life of regret for all he has done

I currently have 2 fairly complex magic systems in my story and I got inspired to make another one of sorts based around constructs and the various materials they can be made from. I can technically tack it onto one of my 2 current magic systems since they have similar roots but idk if I should since I don't want to overwhelm the reader or lore dump by having to explain a bunch of things frequently. Would 3 magic systems be too much or can I get away with it by keeping the new one simple?

So what makes these two so different than each other. Can there be a fantasy story with these two sub genres. Because I am really curious. I know that there are two different stories that makes the two sub genres like for example. Berserk by Kentaro Miura is a dark fantasy and Lord of the rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is high fantasy.

Can someone make a dark fantasy story and fuse it with high fantasy?

long post ahead…..

this is actually my first post and i just downloaded the app, i just want to share something and ask for your opinions regarding this.

so i keep having this dream of me having a child—a girl. the timeframe is different and the places are different, and the child keeps growing.

the first time i had a dream about this was last year, that was also the time im about to go to college and this happened before i was enrolled. i was pregnant in my dreams and my emotions are not of that content or relief nor happy—i was devastated, scared, and depressed because how can a girl who’s just starting her life become pregnant right? but moving on i kept that hidden from anyone aside from my boyfriend. the second time was when i was applying for a scholarship, tbh i was not actually trying to have a scholarship outside the school since im already a scholar inside school. it was also the first scholarship that ive applied that the government offered and five months later i got that result that i got accepted, i was really thrilled thinking of having so much luck or was it the first timers luck? days before i got that news, i had dreamed about being in a field full of flower holding a baby girl in my arms, she was no longer in my stomach but a baby who could crawl, so in that dream i put her down the field and she crawled while facing her back at me and then she started walking, she’s wearing a yellow sundress and a cap then she pause, the air suddenly got strong in my side but in her it was gentle and seconds later she looked back at me i jolted awake. i got waken up by my boyfriend’s call.

the third time was not so great, i was back in my hometown together with my bf, there was an occasion in our house. after eating, me and my bf have gone outside to walk and reminisce but then we have notice a commotion, there was a baby girl locked up in a cage by her father or so they told us, my mom caught up with us and told us that the reason that baby girl is locked up is because she’s a bad baby and she’s evil. i grow concern and curious at the same time so i dragged my bf towards the baby and then to our surprise she was not hostile at all to us, then i took her in my arms and she started crying—she can walk already—so she started crying and kept having a breakdown in my arms so i panicked and my bf scoped her from my arms and then she stopped, my bf cuddled her and soothed her then after sometime she looked at me and this time i can see her face but it’s quite blurry, she told my boyfriend; “daddy, bye-bye mommy” i was puzzled because why did this child called us mommy and daddy, she kept repeating that phrase and kept convincing my bf to say goodbye to me and i asked her “baby why bye-bye mommy?” she won’t answer me and just kept repeating it so i told her “no bye-bye mommy” and i woke up. it was strange, that happened this year that was february ig, but the thing is my bf’s older brother have flown to europe to work and told my bf that after a year or in December he will take my bf with him. so was that dream about my bf leaving the country? or do you guys think it’s something else entirely? btw i live in the philippines.

so now, the actual reason as why i have downloaded this app. the fourth time i have dreamt about her. i just woke up and this is still very fresh in my mind. so me and my bf was just chilling at our place—we were renting because im in college and he’s finding jobs. in my dream i was pregnant and then i had a baby girl through c-section, both our parents didn’t know and i was super scared like i can actually feel my emotions until now, i didn’t know where we got the money for hospitalization because i was in a private room and my bf while holding the baby told me he have handled it and then it suddenly shifted to us being in a condominium in the city and again he was holding the baby, we have a cat and two dogs, the cat is black and so is the other dog while one dog is white black mix. i was on a call with my parents, super exhausted and they were again celebrating something but i know it’s not me giving birth, so they didn’t know i am living with my bf and my bf kept telling me that the baby needs milk and i kept telling him to please be quiet for a while just until i was done with my call but then i fell asleep in my dream (frken weird actually cause wdym i fell asl while being asleep???) and then my bf woke me up by feeding our child milk in my breast so i took the baby and feed her, i was clumsy but the thing is that i can feel her actually sucking milk from me, and then i didn’t even notice it but she was already months old and i looked at her face she looked like a special kid and honestly i felt worried and then when i looked up at my bf the time suddenly changed once again and looking back at my child’s face it was normal and she’s already like 2 years old. so her face was finally vivid and i think i can actually draw her. the place was in a beach with my relatives but my parents is not around idk why but i saw my cousin there and my other cousin’s wife which was weird for me because she’s in japan working, so while feeding my baby i asked her, “how old were you again when you had a baby” she replied “16” and i said “actually i was thinking of giving my baby for an adoption” she said i will regret it and then the place shifted again and i was back in our condo my bf is preparing a food for me and i told him, he was hesitant but supportive and he said we will get her back once you’re ready then a woman appeared out of nowhere and i was about to ask her if she’s willing to adopt a child and it was raining, heavily raining. i was about to ask her but stopped because i thought about what my cousin’s wife told me and i grow hesitant looking at my child soaked in rain crying and i also cried then i woke up with the sound of my bf voice.

lastly, you may also notice how detailed it sounds but actually some parts are missing which i can’t remember but one thing i have noticed that all throughout my dreams, i was always hesitant.

i wanted to ask about what this dreams mean, just your opinions and i have actually tried searching about this and i just couldn’t comprehend if i believe what ai says. i hope this post will not be ignored, i really want some answers even just opinions. i also want to hear if other women out there also experienced something like this.

OCEANS OF TIME — PART I

As I fight through the burning heat, I make my way through the city of Oculus, capital of the Nephyrric Empire. I am not supposed to be here, I got lost on my way home. I am due in front of the Senate building, to meet a mage who will endow me with the ability to fly, so that I can find my way back to Aecryptia, the city where I belong.

As I push through crowds of people and tolerate the sweat pouring down my body, I take in the sandstone buildings, a lot of them with columns down their front, all the same color as the desert that surrounds us. A woman screams in the distance, followed by a rush of dozens of people as they run after a man. I see them knock him to the ground and thrash him, while a few of them take something from the man and hand it to the woman. Soon a couple of legionnaires, clad in metallic armor, beckon the crowd to relax, and take the man away. At least the people here are kindhearted.

As I approach the Senate building, I can't help but gawk at the square columns decorating its front. On the front steps of the colossal sandstone structure, a tall man, olive skin and a black beard, waits for me on the steps. I open my mouth to ask him,

“Are you sure we should be doing this right in front of a government building? —” he cuts me off with a raised hand.

“Mind your manners, young man, you are the one asking for an ability which we both know is punishable by death. Only those serving in the Legions or otherwise granted permission by the Senate are allowed the ability to fly, and invisibility is forbidden entirely.”

“So why are we doing this in front of—” he covers my mouth with his hand. Weirdo. I pray those hands don't have germs on them. 

“If I grant you the ability of flight anywhere else in the city, tripwires will activate,” he tells me sternly after lowering his hand.

“Oh,” I reply, dumbfounded. Idiot!

“Oh, indeed. Let's get this over with.” He takes out a pouch of salt from his pocket, and spills the contents onto his right hand before spitting into it and closing it into a fist. He then takes out the Al-Khaifus, the foundational text of all magic used throughout our empire, and orders me to place my hand on it. He starts circling his right fisted hand around the top of my body. 

“You will swear an oath, repeat after me,” he says, “I, Julius al Qadir…”

I repeat after him,

“Swear to use the abilities of flight and invisibility…”

Again I repeat,

“to the best of my judgement, on pain of damnation…”

Repeat.

“So may the Lord guide me…”

After the oath is complete, I feel a new ability, almost like having an extra limb. Two, actually.

“Thank you,” I say to him.

“Now go home. And remember, never disable your invisibility cloak while you are in flight. You will easily be seen and interdicted by the Sky Legions. And don't disappear and reappear in the middle of a crowd where everyone can see you. Hide somewhere so no one will notice. Unless you want us both to be crucified, you must take the utmost caution, and do not speak of this to anyone.”

“Understood.”

“Luck. Don't do anything stupid.” He touches my shoulder before making his way down the Senate steps. I follow him, and make my way to a latrine. After shutting the door for my privacy, I turn on my invisibility cloak. Soon, I lift off, and I am airborne.

A rush of air smothers my face as I fly fifty times faster than a person can run. I remember to use an ability that I do legally have, the windshield. I gape at the sight of Oculus retreating beneath me, all of its grand structures looking like toy blocks, and people looking like ants walking down the street. Soon I am beyond the city limits, flying over open desert.

After I arrive in Aecryptia four hours later, I make landfall somewhere in the bushes, before disabling my cloak and allowing myself to become visible again. As I walk down the streets and near my apartment, I see a young woman with flowing brown hair who looks oddly familiar. My best friend Asifa. I wait for her to get closer before running in front of her face and yelling,

“HEY!! —” Fear flickers in her eyes as she startles, and with lightning speed she whips out her dagger that all off-duty legionnaires carry hidden with them, stopping her dagger just before it slices through my neck. “Oh! It's you!” She laughs in relief, “you scared me!” She then pulls me into a hug. “I’m sorry,” she tells me over my shoulder, “I didn’t mean to almost decapitate you. But maybe next time don’t scare a girl you know is carrying a dagger with her?” she releases me and laughs again. She’s so adorable.

“So, where were you heading?” I smile back at her.

“I was just going to the bazaar to buy some produce for my family.”

“I am not in a hurry to get home, let me walk with you,” I tell her.

“Sure! So how come I haven’t seen you the last few days?” she asks me.

“I was in Jhazeerah to help negotiate a trade agreement between my dad’s small business and a distributor there, but then on the way back I got lost and ended up in Oculus.” Her mouth gapes wide open.

“The capital?”

“Yes! I was so dehydrated and exhausted, I couldn’t continue my journey without taking a small break…” we enter the bazaar as I continue telling her about how grand and impressive the capital city looked, and how kind the people appear to be. I admire the way she quickly picks groceries just like my mom; unlike me, where I can spend minutes just looking for the next item.

“So how long did it take you to get back here?” she asks me, as her hazel eyes soften. “You must’ve spent days walking through the desert, haven’t you? You should have told me, I am carrying water right here with me…”

“It’s okay,” I grin at her slyly, “let me get to that. So I didn’t want to take days to get back here since I already spent days going the wrong direction. So…” I motion for her to come closer and whisper into her ear, “Let me tell you a secret. I had a mage give me the ability to fly, and to cloak myself so no one would catch me.”

“You have my word, I won’t tell anyone.” She smirks at me, the way she always does when we share secrets.

“And guess where I went invisible,” I say after again leaning towards her ear, “The bathroom!” she giggles, before whispering to me,

“Alright, silly, but… on a more serious note, do remember that these are punishable by death. You can tell me, you can tell your parents and sister, but do not speak of this to anyone.”

“No, I won’t.” After she pays for her groceries, we walk the same direction home, my home being first along our path.

“Alright, I will go home and see my family now—do you want me to help you carry these groceries home?”

“No, it’s okay!” She says.

“Bye,” I give her another hug. “I’m so happy I saw you!”

“Love you! You should come sleep over soon! Then we can play some games!” She tells me before making her way home.

As I enter my home, I feel joy at seeing my parents and sister, but not that I have abilities for which I can be executed.

What website or app do y'all use when writing? I find word abismal and wanna swap to something that can make the process a whole lot easier. Any suggestions of what you guys use, ideally something free or at least cheep that can help a beginner out.

If I have to summarise most plotting problems I see in manuscripts, all come down to this:
Scenes with no consequence or safe consequence. And safe is exactly how your readers get bored instantly.

Most writers are protecting our characters without even knowing. When you break that, the plot might become much more interesting.

Here are a few things that hold a plot together:

1. Cause and effect: Can you trace back to why and how a particular thing in your novel happened? If your scenes can be removed without the core plot and tension of your manuscript remaining unchanged, then you have no need for that scene.

follow the chain of: Character makes a choice, mistake or is forced upon something, makes a decision, and faces the consequence of that decision.

Breaking this chain breaks the flow of the plot

2. Raise your stakes: If your stakes remain unchanged for the remainder of your manuscript from the introduction of your core conflict, then you have a manuscript readers will happily DNF (or finish with excruciating pain, we don't want that)

So each scene should do 2 of these things: Move the story forward, raise stakes or provide obstacles in the path.

3. Turning points: Break the belief of your characters. After they have believed in something so strongly without question, if that breaks, the tension immediately rises.

4. Avoid info-dumping in the middle: Almost every manuscript nails the starting and the climax, except the middle, where scenes are bloated and slow. Tightening the scenes, eliminating the scenes that do not either move a story forward, ground the reader before a shift, or increase tension, does not need to be present.

5. Emotional grounding: Even the amazing and most marvellous stories fall if you fail to ground your readers in your protagonist's emotion. This is what keeps the tears flowing down their faces!

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer in the comments or DMs

I got bored and picked up my mothers broken clock that I may have caused to have her tipped it over and it smacked her in the shin and she got pissed off at me and my dad put it aside as the clock part came off as they went somewhere i picked it up and came up with the name. Time keepers.

what are your own thoughts on this?