How to Write Fantasy

by Greg Strandberg

  Here’s a bit of what I did to define my fantasy world’s details:

  Provinces

  – Laojing

  – The capital of the empire, Fujing, is located in Laojing province

  – The city is situated on the northeast corner of the lake Kumou and to the east of the small forest of Kumori.

  – Situated in the northeast of the continent, this province sees hot summers and very cold winters.

  – The northern half of the province is covered in tundra, icy much of the year.

  – The southern half is covered in plains, with a sizable desert, the Shamo Desert, in the southeastern most section, and a small forest, the Shamo Forest, in the middle of these plains.

  – Pu’lao

  – Pu’lao is also to the north, but doesn’t suffer severe winters like Laojing.

  – The capital city of Xi’lao is situated in the southeast of the province.

  – It lies on the southwest shore of the lake Pulong, and on the southern edge of the immense bamboo forest called Bailochia Forest.

  – The majority of the province is covered in a dense bamboo forest called Bailochia Forest, a large portion providing building materials for the region.

  – In the south of the province is a large freshwater lake, Bailou Lake, which produces a river, called Baishur River, running to the northern ocean.

  The rest of the province is covered in grasslands, with some mountains in the west.

  – Pudong

  – Pudong covers nearly the entire southern half of the continent.

  – The capital city, Bidong, lies in the north central part of the province, next to the saltwater lake called Shuiyan Lake.

  – A river runs from Shuiyan Lake, the Yanshou River, through the Shannan Mountains and the Shanbu Jungle to the Hai’an Sea to the south.

  – The river from Kumou Lake in Laojing Province has a river, the Kumshou River, which joins the Yanshou River to the Hai’an Sea. Where this river meets with the river from Shuiyan Lake before the mountains, the water becomes fresh enough to be drinkable.

  – It is the larges of the provinces, but also the most inhospitable.

  – A large desert, the Dashao Desert, covers the entire western-central portion of the province.

  – To the east of the desert rise large mountains, named the Shannan Mountains, which are treacherous to travel. A dense jungle, the Tsonglin Jungle, runs through the base of these mountains.

  – A large tract of grassland lies in the far southeast of the province

  23: The History

  I love history. I have a degree in it and write about it on this site all the time. It’s no wonder then that I also chose to create a historically-rich fantasy world.

  My goal with The Jongurian Mission and the rest of the trilogy was to create a fantasy novel with political thriller characteristics. Think more ‘Game of Thrones’ fantasy but without all the sex. Instead there’d be lots of court intrigue, nobles stabbing each other in the back, and shifting alliances that could turn on a dime.

  To create such a fantasy world I first had to create a history for that world. After all, my whole story revolved around events that happened in the past. It was the impetus that the people needed to get the action going in the story. And all of the characters had different motivations based on their past experiences.

  To capture those past experiences I first had to define them in a detailed and historical outline. Really what it became was a short novella on this world I wanted to create. And when you think about it, a dozen or more pages wasn’t much compared to a trilogy of more than 400,000 words.

  And I think this outline can really help some fantasy authors out there. I know from my analytics report that a lot of people read the fantasy articles on this site. This one is more than 4,000 words, so hopefully you can find some ideas to make your fantasy world’s history better.

  Below is what I did to create my fantasy world’s history:

  History

  East

  – Jonguria’s history is one of political organization which stretches much further into the past than that of Adjuria

  – While Adjuria has historically been a group of contending fiefdoms battling for supremacy of the region with each other, Jonguria has enjoyed relative peace under a unified central government

  – Traditionally, Jonguria has been unified over the whole continent, with a strong central government, usually located in the north, and special administrative regions set up to better locally administer government to the different areas

  – For most of its long history, the capital city has been in the province of Laojing

  – During much of the history there have been 4 administrative regions to ease the task of governing

  – These are Laojing in the northeast, Pu’lao in the northwest, Pudong in the south, and Ximen in the far west along the land bridge to Adjuria

  – The central government is located in Laojing and has as its head an emperor who rules for life.

  – The title of emperor will pass down to the eldest son upon the emperor’s death

  – This system has worked well for generations, although at some points in the history different families have successfully claimed the imperial throne.

  – The current imperial family has ruled for 136 years.

  – They came to power after a peasant uprising following several years of devastating floods which left the majority of peasants without homes or land to cultivate.

  – Because of the inaction of the then ruling emperor, a well-to-do peasant family was able to marshal the forces of the discontented into a sizable military force, invading Laojing

  – The emperor was bloodily disposed, and the peasant family took hold of the government. Many years of prosperity followed.

  – A devastating war between East and West occurred 78 years ago

  – This war was fought when provinces in Adjuria decided to expand their territory past Ithmia and into Ximen.

  – Several bloody battles were fought along the Isthmus, with no clear gains on either side.

  – After 10 years a peace was established

  – Terms of the peace specified that travel would be greatly restricted to those of Adjuria wishing to travel in Jonguria

  – Trade, which had been plentiful before the war, was seriously curtailed.

  – Only two trade avenues were allowed to remain open.

  – One for sea shipments to the island of Nanbo along the southern coast of Pudong

  – The other was a land route through the Isthmus into a treaty city in Ximen

  – Trade would be one-way, as in Adjuria would bring the goods on their ships and caravans, and Jonguria would then load those empty vessels with return goods.

  – Jonguria prohibited all of its people from going to Adjuria upon pain of death

  – Following the East-West war, there were devastating earthquakes in the province of Pudong and horrendous forest fires in Pu’lao

  – The emperor soon found opposition to his rule, as the peasants viewed natural disasters as a sign that the emperor was losing his mandate to rule.

  – Several peasant uprisings occurred in these provinces, but were ruthlessly put down by the emperor with a great loss of life to the peasants.

  – An uneasy peace was established, but many peasants were left with bitter memories.

  – Rebel groups formed out of the discontented peasants, and secured bases of power in all 4 provinces. They would usually employ hit-and-run tactics to disrupt the imperial government, but didn’t have the strength for an all-out rebellion

  – It was evident the imperial family would have to rule with an iron fist to stay in power

  24: The Timeline

  Well, over the past few chapters we’ve seen how you can go from the kernel of an idea to a full-fledged fantasy novel. This final post will deal with your fantasy novel’s timeline, something that isn’t critical, but which can prove to be quite helpful.

&nb
sp; Why Should My Fantasy Novel Have a Timeline?

  I wrote The Jongurian Mission and the next two volumes in the series over the course of a year. That was a short enough span of time that I could keep just about everything fresh in my head. Still, there were times when I found myself forgetting when events had taken place in my fantasy world’s past. This made it frustrating at times to move forward.

  Here are a few reasons why you should have a fantasy novel timeline:

  – Dialogue: Most of the time when I was writing dialogue I’d reference things that happened in my world’s past. Characters would be talking, and they’d say something like “…the Civil War five years ago.” While editing, I’d sometimes see the Civil War as happening ten years ago, maybe even twenty! I was forgetting details, and that’s when I could go back to the timeline and get the correct number.

  – Appearance: Most of my characters had a rich history, and they did things in the past that were talked of still. Sometimes they’d have scars from battles or even deep psychological wounds. Putting those injuries into context was always easier with a timeline. I could say something like “the scar stretched across Mito’s throat when he talked. Even though it’d been there for ten years the sight still wasn’t any easier to look at while Halam ate.”

  – Context: When your fantasy novel has a timeline you really have a rich context for your story. You’ll also be able to see where your current writing will fit into that timeline, and how it’ll look. You really need to think of your world as a real place, and with historians that’ll be studying your characters’ actions well into that world’s future. In that regard you’re just taking care of this small section, and you want it to be accurate.

  Here is what I did with my fantasy novel’s timeline:

  Jonguria Timeline

  655 – Current Imperial family comes to power

  690 – East-West War begins

  700 – East-West War ends

  705 – Earthquakes in Pudong and fires in Pu’lao

  720 – Current year

  Adjuria Timeline

  650 – King of Culdovia dies

  651 – Regidia allies with Holstein, Myrmido, and Plainitia

  651 – Regidian noble made king

  652 – The royal court moved to Regidia

  653 – Holstein mining rights diminished, those of Myrmido increased

  654 – Taxes on Plainitian grain increased, those of Tillatia lowered

  656 –

  – Regidia sends army into Montino to increase mining in province

  – Montino repels army, sends own troops into Regidia

  – Regidia agrees to rescind claims to throne, restore Culdovian line

  657 –

  – Regidia makes military pact with Myrmido

  – Myrmido invades Montino, but also attack Holstein

  – Myrmido army defeated, Montino launches own attack

  – Plainitia aids Montino attack, also sends troops into Regidia

  Culdovia sends troops into Regidia

  658 –

  – Myrmido and Regidia lay down arms, begin peace talks

  – All province attend royal court in Culdovia to discuss terms

  659 –

  – Court agrees to split Myrmido and Plainitia provinces in half

  – Holstein province to be split into three provinces

  – Culdovia split in half, made into Culdovia and Duldovia

  – Regidian rights at court eliminated, lead noble exiled to Desolatia

  660 – Lesser noble from Culdovia appointed regent until new king decided upon

  665 – Noble with ties in Culdovia and new province of Mercentia made king

  690 – East-West War Begins

  700 – East-West War Ends

  708 – The year the Culdovian King died

  709 – The royal court moved to Regidia

  710 – Holstein mining rights infringed upon

  711 – Plainitian taxes raised

  713 – Regidia sends troops into Montino, Civil War begins

  714 – Civil War ends with Regidia and Myrmido laying down arms

  715 –

  – Conspiring provinces split apart, now 14 provinces.

  – Regidian noble exiled.

  – Culdovian appointed to rule

  720 – Current year

  East-West War Timeline

  685 – Sheffield resources dry-up, shipments to Jonguria lessen

  686 – Trade goods sought by Adjuria drastically lessen in quantity

  686 – Adjurians expel Jongurians from medical schools.

  Jongurians expel Adjurians from military academies

  687 – Jongurians accuse Adjurians of diplomatic espionage and execute diplomat

  Adjuria and Jonguria expel all foreigners from their countries

  689 – Sinking of Adjurian and Jongurian fishing ships

  690 – East-West War Begins

  – 690 – Adjurian army lands at Baishur River

  – 690 – Fadurk fortified

  – 691 – Bindao falls to Adjurian army

  – 691 – Jongurian navy attacks Adjurians on Baishur River from sea

  – 691 – Jongurian armies move south to lay siege to Bindao

  – 692 – Jongurian army lands in Ithmian province in Adjuria

  – 692 – Jongurian army attacks Adjurians on Baishur River from land

  – 692 – Jongurian army captures Fadurk

  – 693 – Adjurian armies retake Fadurk, Jongurians entrench near coast

  – 694 – Stalemate sets in

  – 699 – Adjurian forces send armies overland and by sea to Waigo

  – 699 – Adjurian armies defeated in attack on Waigo, retreat

  – 700 – Adjurians sue for peace, terms are agreed upon at Nanbo Island

  700 – Peace established

  25: The Religion

  Nearly all fantasy worlds have them: different religions or belief systems. Religion in fantasy novels really makes the world richer, more unique, and a much greater joy for your readers.

  Most Common Religions in Fantasy Novels

  That said, coming up with a religion for fantasy novels is a bit difficult. The way I see it you have 3 main options for religion in a fantasy novel:

  – Western: By this I mean something based on the Judeo-Christian religion. That would probably be something with one main god-like figure that governs over the world, and is responsible for its creation.

  – Eastern: By this I mean just about everything in the modern world that isn’t from the Judeo-Christian religion. You really have to think of Asian religions, perhaps Confucianism, Daoism, Taoism, Buddhism, and many more. These types of religions for your fantasy world will be more like belief systems than anything.

  – Other: Alright, this is pretty broad, but what I’m getting at is anything that you create yourself. This will be an original religion or belief system for your fantasy world. Oftentimes it’ll be based on elements from the other two types, but just as often it’ll be completely different.

  Defining Your Fantasy World’s Religion

  Let me tell you straight up that I did not include a religion in my fantasy novel, The Jongurian Mission. I wanted to, and had one planned out, but when I got around to writing I just decided to leave it out. You can see the outline of it below if you’re looking for pointers on how to write religion for your fantasy world.

  What I tried to do was have a dualistic religious system for my fantasy world that reflected the East/West setting I’d already developed. I had a few different categories to help me with that:

  – Deities: I decided to have four main deities in my fantasy novel. Two were good and two were bad. Each of them had temples and followers. Each deity would also be represented by an avatar or likeness that walked on Pelios, or my fantasy world.

  – Blessings: I thought it would be fun to have blessings. These would be things that characters said in the dialogue when good things happened.

 
– Curses: While blessings are fun, they’re just not as much fun as curses. That was probably the original idea behind my putting religion in a fantasy novel.

  Here is what I did in defining my fantasy novel’s religion:

  Religion

  In Adjuria many of the old religions have died out over time.

  – Hundreds of years ago people were more inclined to worship spirits of nature, such as those believed to inhabit forests, rivers, lakes and the like.

  – There is still some of this amongst the more uneducated and nomadic peoples

  Today there are four main deities or gods

  Light

  – This would be the god of the day, or the sun. It is thought of and represented as a female goddess.

  – She is presented as good and beneficial

  – Travelers, soldiers, and peasants all view her favorably and invoke her help.

  – Temples exist in most of the major cities

  Blessings – phrases to seek favor

  Light’s eye on you

  Light be with you

  Warmest Light

  Curses – phrases to show contempt

  Light burn you

  Light blinded

  Light’s soul

  Dark

  – This is the god of the night, or the dark. It is thought of and represented as a male god.

  – He is represented as evil and harmful.

  – Thieves and other nefarious characters view him favorably

  – Temples exist in the seedier parts of major cities and some remote rural areas and forests

  Blessings