How to Write an Epic Fantasy Universe
It’s tough to know what readers really want when we’re creating an epic fantasy universe.
What do they want from characters? What do they want to see in the universe? How do we make it obvious that is a big amazing place but hone in on the specific details that matter the most?
At least two races in conflict.
Readers want to see conflict. In an epic fantasy, they want to see huge conflict.
They want to see 2-5 different races at odds with each other.
This makes the world or worlds seem massive and gives the story major conflict for interest, tension, and intrigue.
For whatever reasons there needs to be peace and war.
Maybe two races have peace treaties while others are at war? Maybe one is trying to conquer the others and the others have to ban together to stop the one?
A well-established system of power in the universe.
Decide early on what the “power” or “magic” will be in the universe.
Will they have machines? Will they have some people with powers or magic? Will they have relics that possess the power?
Establish your means of power in the world and don’t cheat the system.
It makes readers and viewers roll their eyes when a system is set up but then broken many times along the way. It’s okay to introduce new relics and gizmos and gadgets, but say you have a moment where characters state-specific principles, “we can’t do that, or else blank will happen!”
If they ever have to resort to doing “that thing” or breaking the rules it has to lead to struggle, tension, and consequences. It cannot be easy for them to just break the rules of the system and get away with it, or makes the system look pointless in the readers’ eyes. (Leading to eye rolls and facepalms. Whatever you do, don’t make them facepalm.) 🤦♂️
Intriguing landscapes.
Even though we don’t want 5 pages of endless descriptions. Readers do want epic descriptions along the journey so they can be in and see the world.
They want to imagine it.
Work on describing things in a way that is easy to imagine, but not overdone.
We don’t have to describe every little detail but just enough to give them a good picture to see.
A history.
Most worlds don’t pop up out of nowhere. They have a history and you should give it to your reader over time with your story.
Don’t just rely on the prologue for this. Give them cool historical facts along the way like you would to a friend about your life.
You mostly wouldn’t sit down and tell someone everything about your life in one sitting.
Something might come up. You’re watching a tv show together and the main character wins a swimming championship. You might say, “did you know I was on the swim team? Have you done any sports?”
In a similar way, your character might hear of an ancient relic on their way through an intergalactic market. “This relic has been passed down from Ebuntu to Ebuntu of the Zele bloodline for ten thousand years until one foolish Ebuntu sold it for riches beyond imagination. He was cursed at that moment and lost many years of life and wasted his riches.”
In something like this, we are introduced to the relic, but also some of its history. Another way to do it would be to send the character to get it without any background knowledge at first, but a secondary character that is introduced later might say something like, “What is it and why do you want it so badly?”
When we give history on little things in the world histories should lead the reader to bigger discoveries of the larger histories of the world and maybe the universe.
The main character might say at first, “It’s a family heirloom.” And then later, “Okay! It’s not just any heirloom. It has the power to blank.”
Greater beings.
Most fantasy worlds come with beings that are more godlike than just regular humanoids.
This is a good strategy to incorporate in your epic fantasy. You could make it beings that interact heavily with the worlds or they could be creatures spoken about as if they haven’t been seen or heard from in eons.
Make the characters hear about them and nobody has seen one in a long time but our main character is about to have an untimely visit?
Major wars.
It doesn’t have to be in book one, but we want this. We want a major giant conflict.
And one easy and understandable way to get it is through wars.
Wars are believable. We don’t question wars, but we do want to know why they are happening. This makes for desirable conflict within your books. Wars answer many of the “why questions.”
Why are we here? Why are the characters in such a hurry? What bad things could happen if they don’t accomplish their goals?
And it leads to many obstacles that are just natural to war.
Final thoughts
Epic fantasy readers want:
- Large fantastic worlds
- Fun histories for the world and objects in the world
- Multiple races
- Wars and conflict
- Descriptions to imagine the world
- Greater beings for the background
If you can find creative ways to bring all these elements together they will make for great story fodder for any epic fantasy novel.
Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
How to Write an Epic Fantasy Universe
Enjoying How to Write an Epic Fantasy Universe? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
That’s all for now.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
Resources:
How to Start a Blog in 11 Simple Easy Steps in 2020
How to Write a Book: 32 Tips | Your MASSIVE Guide How to Write a Book
This post:
How to Write an Epic Fantasy Universe
Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
Make sure your posts are readable. Use this readability score check
Want to check out a writer’s community to test your writing and get feedback?
Check out these FREE trial resources from Amazon for when you work from home (or are stuck at home 🙂 ) As an Amazon associate, if you do sign up or buy anything using Amazon links from our site we make a commission at no extra cost to you.
Free Prime Membership Trial:
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
Try Prime Discounted (Free Trial)
How to Write an Epic Fantasy Universe
Enjoying How to Write an Epic Fantasy Universe? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
We hope you enjoyed: How to Write an Epic Fantasy Universe!
Can You Become a Successful Self Publisher Today Without a Website? I’ve seen this question before and thought it could Read more
5 Tips How to Make Editing More Enjoyable Editing can be a very dull process. At times, it can seem Read more
Can I Make My Story Setting in a Place I Have Not Been? You might be feeling trepidation about where Read more
How to Write for Yourself | Is it Odd to Just Write for Yourself? Some people are out there writing Read more
