fantasy writing sites

Writing a fantasy novel: 34 must-visit websites

Writing a fantasy novel involves many considerations: Worldbuilding, avoiding clichés of the genre, using popular elements such as magic originally and more. These 34 must-visit fantasy writing resources will help you with every aspect from creating fantasy maps to naming your fantasy characters.

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Writing a fantasy novel involves many considerations: Worldbuilding, avoiding clichés of the genre, using popular elements such as magic originally and more. These 34 must-visit fantasy writing resources will help you with every aspect from creating fantasy maps to naming your fantasy characters.

General advice on worldbuilding

Many fantasy writers working on their first (or even second or third) novels struggle with worldbuilding. If you’re wondering how to create a believable fantasy world, one that avoids clichés and provides readers with enough detail to keep them enthralled, these links and resources provide excellent advice:

The Worldbuilding Stack Exchange is a website similar to Quora (where users ask the community questions and the most helpful replies are upvoted). Yet the focus of the website is on worldbuilding for fiction writers. Writers share and get knowledge about culture, science and other real-world elements that go into fantasy and science fiction.

World Building Academy , a site that has the tagline ‘create worlds, change lives’, provides plenty of helpful worldbuilding advice.

In this post for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Patricia C. Wrede lists useful questions you should ask yourself while planning and fleshing out your fictional fantasy world. Wrede’s questions cover important elements such as history, climate and the inhabitants of your fantasy universe.

James Whitbrook at Io9 shares advice on overdone clichés of fantasy writing to avoid in your worldbuilding.

Chuck Wendig’s ’25 things you should know about worldbuilding’ contains great tips. Here’s one: ‘Don’t  describe every family crest, guild sigil, hairstyle, nipple clamp, or blade of grass in the world.’ It’s good advice to make sure your worldbuilding serves your story rather than brings in irrelevant information.

In this interview , fantasy and SF writer Laurence MacNaughton did for MileHiCon in Colorado, the writer shares some useful fantasy worldbuilding advice. His cardinal rule? ‘If you make something up, it needs to play directly into the story.’ This is a point both he and Wendig emphasize.

In this essay , one of the great masters of fantasy and science fiction shares insights into writing believable fantasy worlds. Ursula le Guin, famous author of the Earthsea Trilogy, says ‘Fantasy, which creates a world, must be strictly coherent to its own terms, or it loses all plausibility. The rules that govern how things work in the imagined world cannot be changed during the story.’

Margaret Atwood shares some insights into how she creates fictional worlds in this blog post by Joe Berkowitz. Her insights relate to her speculative fiction, but also apply to fantasy writing. She suggests, for example, that you can borrow animal or human behaviours in the real world and use them slightly altered to form the basis of another world, its people and fictional creatures.

In The Paris Review’s short memorial piece on the passing of Sir Terry Pratchett, the literary journal shares some of his best advice for worldbuilding effectively. One piece of advice: Don’t be overwrought in your inventions. As Pratchett says: ‘It only takes a tweak to make the whole world new.’

What’s in a name? Create imaginative names for your fantasy world

Your fantasy characters might have names typical of a town or nation in your fantasy world (for example the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings have names such as Frodo and Bilbo and Sam while the elves have more regal names such as Arwen). They might have common names we find in everyday life if your fantasy world exists in parallel to our own. Examples: Harry Potter, Lucy and Susan in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books. Whether you want to give your characters mythical or everyday names, these resources will help you:

‘What’s in a Name?’ is an A to Z of names in J.K. Rowling’s  Harry Potter  fantasy series and their origins. Rowling is a master of creating memorable names, and this will give you some insight into how you can find inspiration for your own fantasy characters’ names.

If you want to find fantasy names for characters or mythical creatures quickly, Fantasy Name Generators offers tools to find names for classic fantasy races such as dwarves and elves as well as generators for place names. Need a Germanic dwarf name or a mythical-sounding name for a dragon or other fantastical creature? Find an exact match or use the results as  phonetic guidelines for creating your own.

Make sure that your chosen names don’t have unwanted connotations. This guide over at Obsidian Bookshelf provides a number of useful pointers on naming characters in fantasy writing.

In this article from 2010 , Imogen Russell Williams provides sound advice on naming characters. Says Williams, ‘Names with too evident meanings, which alert you early to a character’s nature à la Dickens, are a mixed blessing — it’s hard to take someone seriously if he’s called Mr Badcrook.’

Andre Cruz offers practical tips on choosing characters’ names that could apply to any genre, not only fantasy protagonists or villains. One suggestion: write down any important themes in your book and then use a baby name website to see if you can find any first names that carry relevant (but subtle) connotations. The name ‘Judith’, for example, derives from Hebrew and means ‘she will be praised’ – a fitting name for triumphant heroine.

Writing a fantasy world: Physical details

The physical details of your fictional fantasy world are important for creating an immersive sense of place different from the reader’s own. Think of the greenness of the shire compared to the desolate, post-industrial wasteland where Sauron resides in The Lord of the Rings . Thinking about the physical details of your world means thinking not only about the layout of the land but how the land itself looks and works. This includes landscape, fauna and flora as well as geography – where is each setting in your story in relation to other towns or lands?

Let fantasy landscapes inspire you : Deviant Art, the online community of artists, has many beautiful fantasy landscape images that can help you imagine own settings. Simply looking through fantastical images and noting down any geological or visual elements you like can help you form a clearer idea of your fantasy novel’s locations.

Something as small as having a definite sense of climate can make your fantasy world real. For example, in a tropical climate temperatures are hotter and there is more humidity. If your fantasy world is a lush tropical region, this will affect how characters dress, where they build their lodgings and more.

Michael James Liljenberg discusses the geological and botanical side of creating a fantasy or SF world. As he says ‘the physical world you build for your story will affect the civilizations and characters in both subtle and dramatic ways’. He includes a useful bullet list of questions to ask yourself when creating a fantasy map.

Speaking of maps, the David Rumsey Cartography Associates’ map collection includes over 30 000 images of historical maps. These maps can provide inspiration for map illustrations that give readers an immediate feel for your fantasy world. With this online tool, you can even overlay historical maps and contemporary ones to see how geology, borders and land features have shifted.

Writing a fantasy novel: Government

Decide how social structure and governance in your fantasy world will work. Kingdoms featuring monarchies are one of the most popular forms of social order in fantasy writing (as in George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series). You might want to take another approach if you’d like your novel to be particularly original. Rationality Wiki explains each type of government, and many descriptions link to pages that give more detailed history and explanations, type by type.

In his piece ‘Worldbuilding: Creating Fictional Cultures’ , fantasy author J.S. Morin shares some useful tips on creating society and culture for your fantasy fiction. Morin suggests ‘loosely basing your government on something that has been tried out on Earth (successfully or not)’. This will help you avoid over-complicating the politics of your world with a whole new system invented from scratch.

Fantasy and SF writer Jill Williamson lists and describes the many types of government you can use for your fantasy writing. She asks useful questions you can ask of your world : ‘Who controls the food and water? The weapons? If there is a disease, who controls the medicine?’

Creating your fantasy culture

Creating whole new cultures for your fantasy story can be tricky. Madeleine Bauman’s blog post looks at Greek mythology and how different Gods had different associations and purposes. Reading stories from ancient global mythologies can give you a good idea of how to invent your own belief system when you start writing a fantasy novel.

This concise document outlines the basic structure of cultural practices – for example, cultural practices are things that ‘represent the knowledge of what to do and where’ for a particular culture. Etiquette around eating or sharing food or following a particular rite of passage for coming of age are all cultural practices. If your fantasy world shows different peoples living in different geographic regions, think about how their cultural practices might differ and what implications this might have for tension or story development.

Alyssa Hollingsworth shares ten useful questions to ask about your fantasy world’s culture . How do you make your world seem as real as our own. Our world that has seen many changing tides of events? As Hollingsworth puts it, ask yourself: ‘How did this culture come into being? How has it changed between then and the start of the novel?’

Mind your language: Creating other words 

Many fantasy writers have added to the richness of their novels by inventing languages that are specific to particular tribes or nationalities. A group in your fantasy novel might have particular idioms or proverbs, or styles of greeting. These resources will help you think about language in your fantasy writing and how you can use it to add a sense of era or to underline important aspects of your fantasy culture (for example, a warrior-like people might have a very different way of greeting one another to a more peaceful civilization). Here are some useful resources for using language creatively:

Roberta Osborn provides detailed advice on using fictional languages in fantasy writing. Her advice includes keeping a list of all the words you invent so you can remember spellings and keep track on how many you’ve used and their meanings. She also recommends making your made-up words resemble as much as possible words with similar meanings in real-world language, so that the sound fits the sense to readers’ ears. Avoid ‘blorpspargs’ and ‘glipflorps’ (unless parodying technical language or word invention in your genre).

If you want to get technical and make up an entire language of your own, the Language Construction Kit is a useful free resource. Do keep in mind that you mustn’t let the fun of invention distract you from getting stuck into actually writing and finishing your novel .

Creating fantasy animals

Besides the people that populate your fantasy world, you might want to include fantastical creatures that add biodiversity (and a dose of magic or exoticism). Remember that many mythical creatures are clichés. Dragons feature in many fantasy worlds. Think about how you can make fantasy creatures your own. For example, in the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling has a dragon guard the vault of a powerful family in the wizard bank Gringotts, combining an ancient mythical creature with a modern setting in an original manner.

This list of mythical creatures can inspire you. It provides explanations on the origins and history of many magical or otherworldly creatures.

Springhole offers useful tips on writing fantasy fiction that includes animals . One tip: ask yourself what environmental and ecological impact your creature might make.

Another website that lists and describes mythical creatures lets you sort creatures by appearance (size and similarity to real-world animals), as well as culture of origin (such as Greek or Mayan).

Ashley Lange at Elfwood provides a handy guide to creating realistic fantasy animals and creatures. One useful tip: Identify your non-human fantasy species’ purpose (do your animals serve as guides/guardians/environmental hazards/food sources or any combination of the above?)

Resources for (re)inventing magic for your fantasy novel

Mages, witches, wizards and more: Magic has been a core feature of many famous fantasy novels. In C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, a child puts a magical ring on her finger and finds herself in a wood between worlds. In the Lord of the Rings the wizard Gandalf carries a staff that he uses to channel his magical powers. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books update the wands and wizards format, splicing spells and incantations with a modern-day, non-magical world. These resources give advice on how to write fantasy fiction that uses some form of magic:

Magic in your fantasy fiction should follow a system that obeys its own internal logic.  This impressive table by Io9 describes the workings of magic systems in over 20 famous novels and series. This can provide helpful inspiration when you create your own magic system.

Philip Martin’s guide to using magic in your fantasy story includes helpful tips such as making sure that your magic system explicitly drives the action of your story. This will make sure your magic doesn’t distract from your novel’s key themes and events.

Writer Holly Lisle wrote this practical list of tips for writing magic into your fantasy novel. One good piece of advice: Don’t make it too easy. Another: Everything comes from something – your magic system will be harder to believe if it’s too convenient and doesn’t have explicable origins.

What resources have you found helpful in writing fantasy fiction? Share any relevant and helpful ones in the comments.

Images from here and here

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• Tags Article round-up , fantasy writing , writing resources

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

17 replies on “Writing a fantasy novel: 34 must-visit websites”

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing 10 Questions to Ask When You Create a Fictional Culture.

Thank you! It’s a pleasure, Alyssa. Always good to find practical writing advice being shared.

Bookmarking for later! Love the lists of resources you periodically post. Incredibly helpful.

Thanks, Ben! Glad you find some use in them 🙂

This is exactly what I was looking for 🙂 I came up with a story about a King and a girl from a village and suddenly I find myself structuring the whole world around them. Thanks for putting all these resources together!

It’s a pleasure, Liz! Really glad you found this helpful. Do join our ‘fantasy writers’ group on Now Novel if you’d like to get writing feedback from some other fantasy enthusiasts. Best of luck with the book, too.

I still think this is one of the best tools to help you avoid falling into the same old tropes and clichés. http://www.rinkworks.com/fnovel/

‘Do you not realize how much gold actually weighs?’ Thanks for this, will share on Twitter.

Hi Bridget! Great list of resources.

Hi Martin – fantastic post. Will share it on social.

Thanks so much, Bridget!

Thank you very much!

My pleasure, Andrew. Glad you found some utility here.

Great post, thanks. I will also like to recommend the Worldbuilding Magazine, it has become an awesome resource.

This article is very useful. It’s really helpful for me! Thank you for sharing this information.

Thank you so much for your article) So much useful information I haven’t seen! This is truly epic. Let me make a small contribution too, please: 1) for a name to be meaningful and still have a natural sound, you can look up the meanings of real names (the biggest library with meanings of each here https://babynames.com/ ) Sometimes I take any real name and change a few letters (e.g. from Adélie to Akmélie). 2) but sometimes I use the generator https://instausername.com/character-name-generator – it has an interesting feature that it uses artificial intelligence and sometimes the names are very exciting. 3) I always try to make a drawing or at least the avatar to complete the character, because the visual part is very important and can help the reader better recognize the hero. If you are also bad at drawing it would probably be helpful https://charactercreator.org/

Thanks again for your article! Now my stories will be better

Hi Bridget, thank you for reading our blog and for your very helpful additions! Good luck with your next story.

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3 Useful Websites for Fantasy Writers

Hello again!

It’s been a while. I’ve started writing a bunch of blog posts this month, but true to my writer’s nature, I can’t seem to finish any of them. Right now, I can’t seem to get past the writer’s block. Ugh.

In the meantime, here are three writing websites that I find to be very helpful, especially for fantasy writers.

1. Mythical Creatures (http://www.mythcreatures.co.uk/index.asp)

This website is an online guide to all kinds of mythical creatures.

The creatures are organized by size and category, and a brief description about each one.

The only problem I have with this site is that the descriptions are brief, and they don’t include any images or artwork.

However, this site is very useful when I’m trying to learn about mythical creatures that I didn’t know existed. I can click through the categories until I find something that strikes my fancy, and then I can find anything else I need (like reference pictures) from Google.

Here’s the link to the site, if you want to check it out: http://www.mythcreatures.co.uk/index.asp

2. Character Generator (https://www.character-generator.org.uk/)

Oh ho ho, what have we here? Another online generator that is completely free and easy to use? Don’t mind if I do.

This site is a great resource when I’m completely stuck on a story. It lets you generate characters, with as much input as you want. You can control their age, name, and sex, or you can let the website generate something completely random.

My favorite generator on here is the Character Profile generator. It gives me a short biography of the character, some basic information, physical appearance (and a list of words to describe it), personality (and a list of words to describe it), employment history, and political views.

You can either choose to publish the generated character (which makes it available for everyone to see), or discard it. I recommend copy and pasting the character’s information into a Word document, and then discarding the generated profile.

They also have a quick character profile generator, which I use pretty often. It works well if you need a minor character, or if you want to expand on the generated character with your own ideas.

Here’s the link to try it out for yourself: https://www.character-generator.org.uk/

3. World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Prompts (https://www.worldanvil.com/worldbuilding-prompts)

World Anvil is one of the most popular sites to build and keep track of your fantasy world, for gaming or writing.

However, I don’t have much experience with this site, except for their worldbuilding prompts.

These worldbuilding prompts are so helpful when I’m trying to discover more about my fantasy world. Sometimes, if I sit down with a worldbuilding checklist, I feel overwhelmed. It feels like I’m filling out paperwork.

World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Prompts are super helpful to me, because they keep the worldbuilding process interesting.

If you use their site, you can keep your answers to the prompts in your worldbuilding kit. If you don’t use the site, you can always just write your answers in a Google Doc.

Here’s the link for the prompts: https://www.worldanvil.com/worldbuilding-prompts

Have you tried any of these websites before? Do you like using them?

That’s all I have for today, but thanks for tuning in. I hope these websites are helpful for you.

I’ll be back soon with a new blog post. (As soon as I defeat the writer’s block, that is.) See you next time!

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2 thoughts on “ 3 Useful Websites for Fantasy Writers ”

Oooo I’m actually working on a lot of world building stuff right now, and world anvil looks super helpful! Thanks!

Yay! Hope it’s helpful for you. I haven’t really used the rest of their site, besides the prompts list, but their tools are recommended to me all the time!

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October 2023 monthly writing challenge results.

• Writing Challenges

Here are the results of the October (scary story) challenge. There were only three entries, but the standard was consistently high, and there were relatively small margins between the scores for all three. We have a winner, though, so congratulations on winning against strong opposition.

1st place: The Blackstar by Arisillion

2nd place: The Farm by snowmooneclipse

November 2023 Monthly Flash Challenge

Please click "Read more" below for the topic and complete rules. Failure to follow the rules will lead to disqualification, whether you read the rules or not. Please also follow the story-posting guidelines, which can be found in the FAQ.

Welcome to the November challenge. It's become a tradition, since so many people are busy with NaNoWriMo, for the November challenge to be for flash stories, to make it easier to fit in. The are various definitions of flash fiction out there, but ours is a story between 100 and 1000 words.

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September 2023 Monthly Writing Challenge results

Some high-scoring stories in this challenge, so congratulations to everyone, especially the winner.

1st place: To Kirlatha by Ron Donderevo

2nd place: Jen's Journey by Kukana

3rd place: Travellers by Arisillion

Members choice: Ascension by dms95

October Monthly Writing Challenge

August 2023 monthly writing challenge results.

Here are the results of the August challenge. Again, not a large field, but a good quality and competition for places was quite close. Congratulations.

1st place: Sometimes It Snows by Ron Donderevo

2nd place: Stormbringer by Matt Hansen

3rd place: Sancy, leave Mr. Tonye's yard alone by Ibiapuye

September Monthly Writing Challenge

July 2023 monthly writing challenge results.

Here are the results for the July challenge - just four entries, but a good standard. The competition for the places was quite tight, but we have a clear winner. Congratulations to everyone.

1st place: Paved With Good Intentions by Ron Donderevo

2nd place: Just a Stone by Matt Hansen

3rd place: Naughty kids by Ibiapuye

August 2023 Monthly Writing Challenge

Welcome to the August challenge (posted a few hours early, as tomorrow's going to be very busy). Since it's the "hot topic" (very appropriately) at the moment, the challenge this month is to write a story about extreme weather.

June 2023 Monthly Writing Challenge results

Like last month, a small field, but no worse in quality for that. Congratulations on entering great stories.

1st place: Always Throw One Back by Ron Donderevo

2nd place: Oyibo pepper by Ibiapuye

July 2023 Monthly Writing Challenge

The prompt for this month's challenge arose from a rather silly discussion in the forum, and it's to write a story about a supernatural being looking for and/or finding a job.

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12 Fantasy Author Websites That Take Your Breath Away and Why

Building websites for fantasy authors is my thing right now. There’s a special place in my heart for the genius of someone who can create entire worlds of outlandish creatures and cultures and make them feel real. It gives me a lot of pleasure to create an online home for an author who does this and makes it feel like an extension of their world on the internet.

I’ve been searching for inspiration on which fantasy authors out there have truly epic author websites and I’ve realized there just aren’t any good posts on this.

So I decided to create my own.

Disclaimer: Two of these sites below are my agency’s own creations so, of course, I’m biased in this regard. I wouldn’t honestly add them if I didn’t think they were excellent. A guy can love his own work though right?

Here are my Top 12 Breathtaking Fantasy Author Websites:

(in no particular order)

Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse

Well Balanced Design and Illustration  

A lesson in branding consistency and skillful design. The typography in the book titles and visual style are carried throughout the website giving it a professional and unified feel. It feels like Leigh’s world. You’ve arrived right there and nowhere else. The use of strong contrast against the black background also keeps you focused on the beautiful book covers. The lettering is easy to read despite white writing on pitch black. Let me tell you, as a designer, this is not that easy to do. A well-chosen font with the right weight and size makes this possible.

The beautiful thing about this site is that it uses just the right balance of text and images and everything in the design contributes to the look and feel of the “Grishaverse”.

She features a gorgeous fantasy map of her world, along with character illustrations, glossaries, an FAQ, and even quizzes to give visitors a lot to do and explore. Someone arriving here who’s interested in these books or already a fan is really getting a lot of value in their visit.

The site has a tasteful balance of illustrated and digital elements, which are combined so well one almost wouldn’t even notice unless you thought about it.

The only unfortunate drawback of this website is that it hasn’t been optimized for loading quickly. On a slower connection, one has to wait as the larger images appear on the screen. This is a real shame as it detracts somewhat from an otherwise beautiful site. The images of the books in particular have been uploaded in a far larger file size than is necessary for high-quality viewing. It’s so easy to change that, as a web designer, I wish her web designer simply went the extra mile and took 5 minutes to make this right. 

This type of delay is especially noticeable on mobile devices. I counted 15 seconds for the homepage to load on my phone on a 4G connection. Leigh is no doubt losing mobile website visitors through this point alone.

Further contributing to this is the lack of a secure connection certificate (http instead of https). You can tell this by the lack of a padlock or ”not secure” label in the web browser. This also doesn’t help site speed, since sites without secure certificates automatically load slower because of the type of connection non-secure websites use. Of course, on top of this, the site isn’t encrypted, so it’s more open to hacking.

This aside, her author website is incredibly well-designed and beautiful to look at. It’s easy to navigate and read and offers visitors a real experience of Leigh’s world. I’m a huge fan of this site.

Henry Hneff

Goblin Workshop Online

If ever one could imagine finding themselves in a goblin workshop on the World Wide Web, I think this fantasy author website is it. From the logo, excellently tasteful color scheme, and consistent use of fonts, Henry’s website is a design masterpiece.

The composition of the illustrations, placement of elements throughout the site, and use of contrast between the elements to give just the right weighting to more important elements of the page, like the series name or the book itself, are all beautifully done.

What makes Henry especially interesting as a fantasy author is that he’s also a highly competent illustrator. I get the feeling he had a large hand in the creative direction of the site. It feels like an artist’s work as much as a web designer’s.

Showcasing this differentiator as an illustrator/author are some beautiful time-lapse videos of his illustration process. This gives one that sought-after behind-the-scenes look at the creation of his world. It’s fan-gold! Even though I’d never heard of him till I found his site, after viewing these videos I have a lot of respect for him as an illustrator and artist. I’m sure this respect must be even stronger in his more dedicated fans.

Another thing that put this site right up there for me was the use of video on the opening page. There is a trailer for his Imperium book series! In an online world that loves video, I couldn’t think of a more engaging way to keep new visitors interested. The video is beautifully professionally animated, complete with a compelling voice-over and soundtrack. It’s extremely impressive.

I could go on and on about how much I love this site. There is a huge wealth of fan resources to explore. There’s clearly a lot more planned for it as well with many “coming soon” notices on several sections and pages. I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.

Melissa McPhail

Fan-love Central

Okay, full disclaimer here, I’m a little biased about this fantasy author website. We built it. I won’t tell you how great I think it is because well, that just seems like bragging. We do happen to enjoy our own work quite a lot though.

What I will tell you are the features we built into it that we think make it work. Then you can decide for yourself what you think of it.

Rich, aesthetic visuals meet you as soon as you arrive. Her books are presented boldly and tastefully in a revolving splash banner as soon as you enter giving you immediate access to explore each further on their own pages.

Melissa’s gorgeous cover artwork  is used throughout the site to give it a feel in harmony with her branding. Typography is consistent with her book covers so the site feels like an extension of her world and her books. Her cover artwork colors are also carried throughout the site: Dark tones with dramatic contrasts, with a rich teal-blue accent color.

The site is clearly made for her fans. I know this because this is what Melissa lives for. I can personally attest to the deep love she has for her fans. Her blog posts, often with close to 200 in-depth comments are evidence of this. Also, the depth with which she engages in her replies sometimes paragraphs long, shows how much she cares about really engaging with her readers.

We carried this fan-love ethic through into her site in general. We produced 3 painstakingly, detailed, digitally painted world maps across 3 different continents of her series’ world. The maps can be downloaded directly from the website, giving even more value to her fans and visitors.

We also created several interesting fan resource pages to house important world lore, glossaries, and character information.

And of course, we made it incredibly easy for readers and fans to join her email list and connect to her on socials with email signups and social links on virtually every page. We also added a pop-up offering a special quote anthology from her books displaying once a day to new users. This all paid off. Signups instantly shot up to several times the rate they were on her previous website and continued at this rate months later.

All in all, we’re really proud of this fantasy author website as you can tell. We did everything we could to carry through Melissa’s branding used in her books and her general aesthetic preferences.

If you’d like to know more about the design process, we’ve written a full case study on this website .

Susan Dennard

Tasteful Personal Branding

What I really like about Susan’s site is the unique branding throughout the site. It’s elegant and different. The subtle underwater ocean graphic is used on every page to bring texture and interest to the site. I also like how Susan’s symbol has become the playful bright red little octopus. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with her genre, but who cares? Creativity doesn’t always need to be rational. Aesthetically it acts as an accent color and a kind of guide, to draw your attention through the site.

This creative, unique branding for her site is a clever solution for a fantasy author website that features several different series each with its own branding. The branding feels more like Susan’s style than any one of her books or series. It feels like an extension of her personality, something we might not otherwise see from a style more centered on her work.

Dark and Gritty

What I love about this site is the simple, punchy color scheme and style used throughout the site. It feels dark and gritty. You can tell you’ve arrived somewhere unique, with its own distinct online personality.

A slider banner greets you as you arrive showcasing Fonda’s books with invitations to learn more about each.

Apart from the cool style the website is essentially quite simple, leaning on the edgy backgrounds to create interest. Little imagery is needed past the already established gritty look and feel.

This simplicity of design gets the job done well though and for that reason, I’ve included it in this list.

Trang Thanh Tran

Moody sophistication

Trang keeps her website simplistic, gracing the tops and bottoms with lovely artwork.

This allows her unique book covers to stand out and grab attention – and wow are they fascinating to look at.

Although the website can give off a spooky vibe, you feel a personalization with it too. Trang has up playlists for her books, a FAQ page where she even pronounces her name in an audio log, and more stuff for users to discover.

We really admire her for adding a commissioned art section on her fantasy author website. She shares art that she’s found on various platforms that are inspired by her work and inspire her further in her writing.

She has built a community and continues to embrace it in every facet of this website.

Modern, Professional

We really enjoyed designing this fantasy author website for T.A. White.

We wanted to go for a sleek design that surprised the user as they browsed the website. We did this through simple white space paired with interesting background images that complement their respective sections.

T.A. White gives her fans unseen stories in the form of deleted scenes from her books. She knows how to keep her fans happy!

Karuna Riazi

Contemporary

Karuna’s website opens up with a welcome screen that is so beautiful!

Once you click welcome, you enter her whole website. It actually greets you with a ‘Hello’ which feels very well, welcoming.

It uses white space well to let the content and artwork pop. The art and the content have space to breathe bringing the user a sense of calmness.

Navigation is a journey with this one. It’s easy to find content, but it takes a few more clicks than necessary to finally get to it. Otherwise, this website is pretty satisfying to look at.

This fantasy author website represents the genre and the author herself in a unique way that we haven’t seen too often. There’s just a soft nature that is felt throughout the pages that makes this website stand out.

Rick Riordan

A Literal Story Line

I’m not usually a fan of sites that don’t use the full width of the screen. It just seems like a wasted opportunity.

In Rick’s site, however, I’ll forgive this somewhat dated look. The homepage has a very engaging animated storyline as you move down the page. I mean a literal story line . It’s such a fun touch that you can’t help but keep scrolling down the page through the gorgeously rendered artwork of his various series.

The same device is used on the series pages as well. It’s the line that ties the website together essentially.

Rick (or the Disney marketing team which seems to be behind the website), has identified teachers and parents as a prime target audience. To provide maximum value and engagement for this audience, the website has a huge wealth of resources.

The style and design of Rick’s site are essentially quite simple and a little bit old school (not using the whole screen for example) but I think it works. In a website, clarity is extremely important. When visitors aren’t confused, find exactly what they expect to find, and find it quickly, it makes for a great user experience. Rick’s site does this excellently.

Top this off with the simple fact that it just has such a ton of content and value for every type of visitor, and I think this is a great fantasy author website in general.

Davis Ashura

Rich Imagery and Contrast

Another one of our own fantasy author websites. Davis’s audiobook series is his most popular, best-selling item. We showcased this front and center with an immediate link to learn more and purchase. Next, we featured all of his books across his 2 series with short blurbs and links to their own in-depth book pages also with links to purchase of course.

As with Melissa McPhail’s site, we added visual book graphic links to his books in the top menu. We wanted to draw the viewer to these pages more than anything else. Visuals of already beautifully designed books are an easy way to do this.

Davis’s About page is really one of my favorite parts of the site. We made it seem like he was standing in front of a dramatic landscape with a just noticeable dragon flying past in the background. A fancy scroll effect makes it seem like he’s in the foreground and gives this page a dynamic, alive feeling.

We really went to town to make his world maps page amazing. His maps are fully zoomable and scrollable, just like Google Maps are! So readers can intimately study the details of his world and easily track the journeys taken by his characters.

One of Davis’s main objectives was to increase fan engagement. To achieve this we added email sign-up forms on virtually every page. To entice signups further we added the first 6 chapters of his eBook and the first 4 chapters of his audiobook for the first book in his first series. This is really the perfect first offering because if they’re hooked after this they become book buyers and readers. This is easily encouraged with automated follow-up emails to subscribers making it easy to do precisely that.

One thing you can’t see on this author website is how much we beefed it up under the hood compared to the previous website he had. This website literally loads SIX times faster, giving a much more pleasurable user experience. This was a critical upgrade for him because, let’s be honest, who hangs around waiting for things to load these days?

Want to read more? We’ve published a full case study of Davis Ashura’s site here .

Gregory Kontaxis

A Greek Beast

We built this Epic Fantasy author website for Gregory – emphasis on the epic.

The intro image feels like you’ve stumbled onto an enchanting cave, begging to be explored – this will be super engaging for fantasy fans.

The mystical atmosphere is supported by moody backgrounds and elements that suit this genre perfectly.

The reader magnet at the top left can’t be missed and the wording, ‘Free Novella’ makes it so enticing – because who wouldn’t want a free book?

But our favorite part of this website is the ability to change the language to Greek. See below!

By clicking the Greece Flag at the top right, the site is transformed. Greek lettering and a stunning variation of the feature book’s cover now appear.

The author’s background and branding are prioritized here. And it’s done in style.

Fantastical, Unique

This is another Rocket Expansion fantasy author website for our list!

The introductory background video screams fantasy, letting users know exactly what they’re in for.

The pops of purples in greens in headings and backgrounds really set the atmosphere for the website while letting the content shine proudly.

A particularly fun section would be the characters page. It’s so unique to have well known characters from Kate’s books tell you about themselves from their perspective. Fans will love to see these characters in a different format, while others will be tempted to become readers.

I’ve tried to showcase a few different approaches to an awesome fantasy author website. A gorgeous, engaging website is a huge opportunity to differentiate yourself as something special and out of the ordinary. It’s an asset that can keep promoting you and positioning you as a credible, desirable source well into the future.

If you don’t already have a breath-taking author website, consider getting a hand from a professional web design agency. If you like our work, we’d be happy to help you with this.

• What did you think of my top fantasy author website choices?
• Are there any fantasy author websites you think should be on this list that aren’t?

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Author of THE ELEVENTH TRADE

10 Writing Resources: Fantasy

My first golden rule of fantasy: The more real you want it to be, the more solid details you should use. I don’t mean like “the blue door that was chipped around the handle except for where it wasn’t chipped, aka everywhere else, and also it smelled like smoke.” Not overwhelming, unnecessary details. But details that make the fantastical tangible. One example: In my manuscript, each magician has a sort of smell when they perform magic (sage, wood smoke, that sort of thing), often which correlates to something in their history.

Clear as mud?

And here are some great resources to check out:

1. Writing a fantasy novel: 34 must-visit websites

Writing a fantasy novel involves many considerations: Worldbuilding, avoiding clichés of the genre , using popular elements such as magic originally and more. These 34 must-visit fantasy writing resources will help you with every aspect from creating fantasy maps to naming your fantasy characters.

2. The Cultural Iceberg

The culture or cultures you grow up in affect your deepest attitudes and beliefs, giving you your sense of what’s good or right, what feels comfortable, what behavior is acceptable, and conversely what’s not. What other people see may be only those things “on the surface” — for example, the way you talk or act, what you eat and how you dress.

3. Crafting Plausible Maps

Building a map for a fantasy setting involves a lot of details – most of them fun! Art styles, fonts, and icons need to be chosen. But some mapping concerns go beyond mere aesthetics. If you’re building a sizable chunk of continent on an Earth-like world ,  you’re going to need to keep geology in mind.

4. Writing Things: How Drawing House Maps Can Help Your Writing

You know at the beginning of some books, there are maps of the particular world, or area in the world. These are really helpful with introducing one to the book’s geography and if the book is centered around a fictional world, or a real world place. They’re kinda like road maps, but for a story. I love drawing these maps for different stories of mine.

5. Land Travel Before Engines

Many fantasy stories involve traveling from one city to another, often in worlds without engine technology. Before cars and trains, traveling over land was exhausting and dangerous. The logistics of a trip were completely different from today. Here’s what you should know before your characters wander through an enchanted forest or sneak into enemy territory.

6. Research is the Spice of Life

It doesn’t matter what genre of fiction you write, chances are you will have to research at least a few details throughout the course of writing your novel. It can be time consuming, and the material you find can be overwhelming. Worse, when the details you uncover are used inexpertly, it can bog down your writing.

7. The Half-Blood Prince Guide to Question Arcs

A question arc in your novel can help build suspense (a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, accompanied by apprehension or anxiety). The desire to know the answers to riddles or mysteries will keep many readers hooked. Let’s look at how a question arc captivates readers in Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince .

8. Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 50: Info Dumps

On its most fundamental level, a novel is nothing more or less than the dissemination of information. As such, the writer who understands exactly how and where to share information is a writer who understands the most fundamental skill of storytelling.

That’s why info dumps are such a big, bad deal. They’re peanut butter in the delicate gears of your story’s machinery. They’re clunky, awkward, and they gum up the works — sometimes fatally.

9. The Rules of Magic, According to the Greatest Fantasy Sagas of All Time

Magic is mysterious and ancient, and its workings are often beyond the understanding of mere mortals. But that doesn’t mean that magic doesn’t have rules.

Art by Donato

10. The Initial Steps of Worldbuilding: Architect, Gardener, Tourist

Listening to the news in the real world – that horrid place where dragons are small and kept in vivaria and pixie is just a kind of haircut – it is very apparent that life is a very complicated place. Anything from the politics between two warring countries, down to a neighbourly dispute on a single street, the world we live in is complicated, intertwined and gorgeously abundant with issue. So, when you sit down ready to begin that next big fantasy epic – like I decided to do about a year ago – how do you make sure that your disputes between elves and goblins are as interesting and in depth as reality itself. In another sense, how do you make your world feel real, when it is populated with the exact opposite?

Stuff I’ve written:

• 10 Questions to Ask When You Create a Fictional Culture
• Questions for Worldbuilding

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— under construction —

As I am working on a fantasy novel, I would like to share some links which may come in handy for other fantasy writers.

General Fantasy Writing Websites

Elfwood Tutorials : a site that provides useful articles to assist you with learning the craft of fantasy writing, from general writing techniques to creating characters and fantasy worlds.  Read my blog post about this site .

Fantasy Fiction Factor (the online magazine for fantasy writers) – has a lot of excellent resources dedicated to fantasy writing, including articles, a free fantasy name generator, a fantasy book store and information about fantasy writing courses.

SFF.net – a general Sci-Fi and Fantasy resources website that gets you in touch with other fantasy writers’ blogs, book recommendations, writing workshops, newsgroups etc.

WritingWorld.com : a collection of articles on various topics dedicated to Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Inspired Author : a fantastic website with dozens of articles about fantasy writing from published fantasy authors.  Really worth a look.

Limyaael’s Fantasy Rants – a fabulous journal where Limyaael rants about things that annoy him in fantasy novels.

NEW! How to Write a Fantasy Novel – somehow my blog was linked to this extremely useful, one stop shop for fantasy writers.  Check it out!

Fantasy World Building

General – read my blog post on this topic

‘Creating a Realistic Fantasy World’ by Penny Ehrenkranz which explains things much better than I do.

Comprehensive Q&A from the SFWA on Fantasy Worldbuilding by Patricia C Wrede.

Article from SFWA on Building New Worlds by Stephen Baxter.

Magical World Builder by Stephanie Cottrell Bryant.

The world building page from the excellent Elfwood Tutorials by Michael James Liljenberg.

From the master herself, Creating the Fantasy World by Sara Douglass.

A couple of articles on fantasy world building from Fantasy Fiction Factor (the online magazine for fantasy writers) – World Building for Science Fiction and Fantasy by Tina Morgan and World Building 101 by Lee Masterston

A fabulous introductory article called How to Create Fantasy Worlds from One of Us creative writing website, including a special discussion forum on the topic.  Read my blog post about this .

Other links: Fantasy Worldbuilding Resources site (including recommended books); World Builder Resources , which has a ridiculous amount of links on building your world – definitely work a visit.

Creating Fantasy Maps – read my blog post on this topic

Fantasy Mapmaking 101 provides a crash course to fantasy cartography – for those who like to draw their maps by hand.

Peter’s Guide to Map Creation – Peter teaches how to create fantasy world maps by hand with computer enhancements.

AutoREALM is a free program which helps map drawing novices create professional-looking maps.  Check out the tutorials at the website to get the hang of it.

Keeping the Fantasy World realistic – read my blog post on this topic

Starting point: Creating a Realistic Fantasy World by Penny Ehrenkranz and Suspending Disbelief by Dr Vicki Hinze

Horses: The Care and Feeding of Fictional Horses by Mary K Wilson and Using Horses in Fiction by Tina Morgan

Medieval demographics: Medieval Demographics Made Easy – Numbers for Fantasy Worlds

Battles/armies: The Numberless Hordes: Keeping Your Fantasy Armies a Little Less Fantastic by John Savage

Plumbing: theplumber.com

Magic: What is Magic Realism, Really? by Bruce Holland Rogers; What’s the Magic Word: Defining the Sources, Effects and Costs of Magic by Lital Talmor and Creating Believable Magic by Tina Morgan

Fantasy Names – see my blog post on this.

“What’s in a Name” by Moira Allen

Elinor Lipman entitled “The Writing Life”

Fantasy Name Generators

Fantasy Name Generator by Samuel Stoddard – a very advanced generator which gives you options of serious names, fun names and specialised names.

Behind the Name’s Random Name Generator – awesome website that can generate names from dozens of languages, including historical and biblical ones, as well as specialised names such as Witch and even Transformer!

The Everchanging Book of Names – a program you have to download (for free) and is extremely useful (I plan to use this to come up with better names myself), and can name not only characters but also things such as fabrics and horses.

Historical Name Generator: 16th Century Irish and Scottish Gaelic Names – for those that like old-sounding Gaelic names.

Chris Pound’s Language Machines – another fantastic name generator for not only characters but creatures and spells, and are specifically categorised.

Cult of Squid’s Random Name Generator – pick a template (cultural, geographical, and others) then use it to generate names of peole, places and ideas – very useful, especially if you want a good name for a geographical location that sounds cool.

Yafnag (Yet Another Fantasy Name Generator) – self-explanatory.  The good thing with this one is you can generate lots of names at once to pick from and you can pick the desired lengths of names.

Random Name Generator – this uses data from the US census to generate random names, and you can even pick the level of obscurity!  Good for those that want to come up with names that reflect the real world (though sometimes it makes you wonder…).

Seventh Sanctum – not just fantasy names, but a whole load of different types of generators – eg martial arts moves, weapons, swords, magic.  Really worth a visit.  I will be when fixing up my first draft.

The Elvish Name Generator – for those that like Elvish names.  Also has a separate Hobbit Name Generator .  Enter real names and it generates your Elvish or Hobbit name.

Fairy Name Generator – similar to the above one for Elvish and Hobbit names.

The Pagan Name Generator – for lovers of Pagan names.

Other resources

Behind the Name – the eptymology and history of first names – a website with loads of information about the source and meanings of names from dozens of cultures and in mythology.  For people who want to get a little more in-depth knowledge about the names they are choosing.

Baby Names – more of a general website but can be beneficial in coming up with more ordinary names and finding out which baby names are and have been popular.  The Baby Name Network is a similar site with similar features.

Celtic Name Meanings – thousands of Celtic names and what they mean.

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Online – a tool which helps you find geographic names around the world.

Medieval Names Archive – a website with tons of information about medieval names that will take a while to navigate, but could be worth it if your fantasy world is medieval in nature.

Fantasy Cliches – see my blog post on this subject.

The Grand List of Fantasy Cliches by Kathy Pulver and J. S. Burke

The Not So Grand List of Overused Fantasy Cliches by Amethyst Angel

See also Risus Fantasy Cliches

The Fantasy Cliche Meter – fill out the form and see just how cliched your fantasy character is.

Writing Action Sequences – see my blog post on this.

S B ‘Kinko’ Husley’s fabulous article entitled “Writing Action” – takes you through a step-by-step example of editing a sequence to boost the pace of the action.

“Description, Dialogue, and Action” by Jessica Barnes

“Writing action sequences” by Elsa Neal – a simple and general article with some pointers.

“Action sequences” from the blog Lorem Ipsum by Jed Hartman – in particular I found the first comment below the article to be of interest.

“How Do You Write Action Scenes?” from Ginny Wiehardt’s Fiction Writing Blog – some colourful suggestions for, especially for sci-fi/fantasy.

Absolute Write Water Cooler : a writers’ forum which has a special section dedicated to fantasy/sci-fi.  Read my blog post about this site .

One of Us creative writing  website’s Creating Fantasy Worlds Forum .

Other Sites/Articles

How to write fantasy that will absolutely slay the editors : a satirical article on exactly what not to do in writing a fantasy story/novel.

Getting Started in Fantasy Writing by Sandra C Durham – a newcomer’s guide.

Interview with Philip Pullman , author of His Dark Materials Trilogy – provides some interesting insights into how he created his worlds and his approach to writing.

Advice to aspiring writers from fantasy/science fiction writer Jeffrey A Carver which provides some handy tips for new fantasy/sci-fi writers.

— more to come —

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Comments ».

So are you going to post any teasers?

I’m guessing there will be swords – lots of swords…

I was wondering if you had any websites that give you a list of “fantasy-esque” clothing?

Like detailed descriptions of tunics, armor, cloaks, etc.

I’m an illustrator — sometimes creating fantasy covers for self-publishing authors (my clients HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Delirium Books, Ballistic Media, American Media, Fort Ross, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and others).

That said, I suspect you and your readers would find my gallery of cover illustrations — some as yet unpublished — of interest: http://duncanlong.com/fantasy_book_illustrations.html

–Duncan Long =====================

Wow, I like one stop shopping sites. Thanks!!

Thanks for the posts and for the links that you included they were really good. Thanks !

[…] this also introduced me to another fantasy writer, so I kind of explored the whole blog. I like the Fantasy Writing Resource page and I’m wondering if we writers should all do something similar – a page of links […]

how are youHave you heard of this place: mcsweeneys.net? two people have directed me to it, apparently its an independent publish house/creative writing magazine founded by Dave Eggers full of lots of funny, irreverant writing.

Speaking of writing, how’s the novel coming along? I know you have your exams and all but I was wondering if you had make any progress or if blogging still truncating it. I’ve written 20 more pages of mine though I haven’t written a single word in two weeks and blogging its (partly) to blame for that.

hey, I think I have heard of McSweeneys, but having just checked it out, I can’t say I’ve been there before…thanks for the tip, it looks like a good one.

the novel…well, blogging is truncating it…but I don’t think blogging is at fault. it’s me being lazy and procrastinating! I want to do it but I’m afraid to do it. not sure if that even makes sense….

Iam searching google, and I find your blog again. Would you tell me about tips writing blog. As newbie Iam very like your blog.

thanks alot

Awesome! Bookmarked this page!

Thx for a great post and links, lots to keep me busy

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Just Publishing Advice For Writers and Authors

Free self-publishing advice, how to guides and tips

Ten Helpful Fantasy Writing Tools For New Paranormal Authors

Are you ready to start writing a fantasy novel? Well, nothing is stopping you with these free fantasy writing tools.

It is a fantastic writing genre because you can let your imagination run totally free.

Another good reason is that fantasy stories are very popular with readers, especially young adults.

If you are eager and ready to go, you will need some apps to help you. Here are some of the essential fantasy writing tools to help you write an epic fantasy.

Creating your fantasy world

World-building is at the essence of fantasy literature. It applies to all fantasy genres, including sci-fi, paranormal, and urban fantasy.

Very often, world-building is at the heart of a book series. So getting it right is crucial.

You can read well-known authors of fantasy books. Try Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and Jonathan Strange to see how they do it.

You need to create a fictional world that is realistic, believable, and at the same time, logical.

When you create your characters, they will need to fit within the context, geography, and culture.

Your imagination is at the heart of writing a fantasy novel.

But you have to bring all your ideas together to create a fantasy story that readers will find believable.

The best way to collect your ideas, and find new ones, is to use the best writing tools you can find.

Luckily for you, most of them are free.

10 Fantasy writing tools

1. your writing software.

The very first thing you should do is forget about using a word processor like Microsoft Word.

It is not up to all the tasks you will need to work with when you write your fantasy book.

You need to keep track of events, facts, relationships, locations, and the profiles of your characters .

This is why you should consider using one of the many free book writing software programs that you can find now.

You can look at Novlr, Shaxpir, yWriter, or the Reedsy book editor, which are free to use.

Or you might consider Scrivener.

It is not free but is one of the most popular programs for authors.

These programs and online apps will give you many more writing tools than what a word processor can offer you.

All of them will help you write a better story.

A mind mapping tool is a terrific way to bring your ideas together when you are outlining your story.

Coggle is the perfect tool for this and has a free version that works perfectly for authors.

You get three private diagrams with the free version, and you can download them in pdf or an image.

3. Deviant Art

When you want to visualize your fantasy world, Deviant Art is the perfect site for you.

You can search for images from thousands of talented artists.

There is a special section for characters and settings. It is perfect for writers to browse through fictional worlds and paranormal characters.

As a bonus, you might also find an artist who can help you design your book cover.

4. World Building

World Anvil is a great site and free resource for fantasy and paranormal authors.

With the free version, you get 25 world-building templates to get you started on your new fantasy novel.

It covers so many facets, including maps, buildings, languages, spells, and myths & legends.

The interactive maps are one of the most popular features of the site.

Take a look and see if it’s the perfect fit for you and your writing.

5. Pomodoro Timers

When you write, there will be times when the words fail to arrive.

It’s not necessarily writer’s block . It could be that you are tired and have been pushing yourself too hard.

A lot of writers use Pomodoro Timers to help overcome the problem.

With this app, you can set your writing time with breaks to keep yourself fresh and improve your writing productivity.

6. Plot Generator

If you are stumped for ideas for your plot, an online generation can sometimes help.

One of the best is the Reedsy Plot Generator . It claims to have one million plot combinations, so you should have no trouble finding one that suits you.

Then you can modify or change the idea to suit your story and your fantasy world.

You can also find a book title and character name generator from the same site.

7. Reverse Dictionary

Sometimes, you know you need a better word to express yourself perfectly. You can try a thesaurus, and even then, often, it doesn’t help you.

Well, you can try a reverse dictionary .

All you need to do is enter a phrase, and it will give you a lot of word suggestions.

It’s a handy little tool. You supply the definition, and the app gives you lots of words you can use.

8. Hemingway

Yes, it’s an app every writer uses. So it’s not going to help your fantasy creation.

But it will help you tidy up your writing as you go.

The Hemingway app is not suitable for a long manuscript. But it is extremely useful for doing a quick check of your daily writing output.

All you need to do is paste your text.

The app will immediately highlight your passive voice sentences and any overuse of adverbs. Then you can quickly correct your drafts.

9. Cliché Finder

Every writer falls into the trap of using overused expressions.

Cliché Finder can help you avoid the trap. It can quickly locate redundant expressions in your text.

Then you can get on with re-writing some expressions to improve your text.

It’s not fancy, but it does exactly what it says it can do.

10. Checking your manuscript

Writing a book is one thing.

But making sure that your writing is up to standard before you publish is another thing altogether.

The best way to polish your writing is to use a top-quality online writing checker.

From my experience, the best tool to use is Prowritingaid .

The one significant advantage for fantasy authors is that it has a custom dictionary.

This is a must for fantasy writing because you can add your specialized vocabulary for your places and character names.

There is a free version. But the modestly priced premium version comes with over twenty reports. With these, you can analyze your writing in so many ways.

You might not write the next Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, or Harry Potter.

But you have so many fantasy writing tools available now to help you write a fantasy novel.

Above all else, it will be your imagination that wins the day.

Fantasy writing is special.

But it is the one genre of fiction that needs an incredible amount of detail and planning.

When you read Patrick Rothfuss, Susanna Clarke, or Brandon Sanderson, you will know how much attention to detail you need.

The fantasy writing tools and apps in this article will help you.

But at the end of the day, it is about what is in your mind.

Then it is a matter of how you can find the right words to tell your story to readers.

Related reading: How To Use Google Reverse Image Search To Your Advantage

• ← Fiction Character Profile Template With A Free PDF Example
• Blond Or Blonde? Why Do We Use These Two Different Words? →

Derek Haines

A Cambridge CELTA English teacher and author with a passion for writing and all forms of publishing. My days are spent writing and blogging, as well as testing and taming new technology. More about Derek

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Best Sci-fi and Fantasy Websites to Check Out

If you’re new to sci-fi or fantasy (or even new to this blog !), there are plenty of outlets to get to know the genres a bit better. If you want to write in these genres, some of these offer great info about what it means to be a science fiction or fantasy writer as well. Here are a bunch of science fiction and fantasy blog and website recommendations. I hope to guest post for some of these in the future!

Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations

This blog has TV and film reviews in the science fiction genre and different book reviews, including works by women. They also separate novels and short stories by topic such as immortality. So if you’re interested in all different kinds of sci-fi, check out this blog. You can find the blog here .

Science Meets Fiction

This blog was created by Alex R. Howe, part time science fiction writer and astrophysicist. This blog has a bunch of info about science fiction, science, and more. Howe has also posted some of his short stories on there as well. You can find this blog here .

Classics of Science Fiction

This is another fellow WordPress blog that I follow! It’s dedicated to science fiction that’s been written in its earlier days, specifically short fiction in magazines and more. They also write essays/look for guest posts about science fiction and science itself. You can find their website and follow them here .

Besides publishing fiction books like some others on this list, they also have science fiction and fantasy news on the latest entertainment and tons of book clubs/podcasts and audio on Sir Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, and more. They also post updates on books in sci-fi and fantasy that were recently published by indie publishers. You can find their website here . Interested and sending in your own book? Find their guidelines here .

If you have a few science fiction or fantasy publications, under your belt, you need to know about this association. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has a lot of great information for writers that you can access even if you’re not a member. (You can apply for membership here , though). One of the biggest things SFWA does is keep you updated on major sci-fi and fantasy awards such as Hugo or Nebula. You can find the website here .

The SF Gateway

They publish sci-fi, fantasy, crime, and horror series and books under Hachette UK. They also have a link to The Gollancz Emporium, which also publishes books. You can sign up for their newsletter to get news about new books and classics here . You can find both of their websites here .

Locus Online

You might have heard of Locus Magazine, the science fiction and fantasy lit journal. (You can find more about that magazine here , and also check out more magazines in one of my posts here ). Locus Online is kind of like this magazine plus a bunch of sci-fi, fantasy, horror news and more. They have author interviews, book reviews, award applications, and tons more. You can find their website here .

Want to know more? My website is now COMPLETE, and you can find it  here ! You can find me in Ariel Chart, The Cedarville Review, Nailpolish Stories, Bluepepper, 50 Word Stories, The Aurora Journal, Writing in a Woman’s Voice, The Drabble, Anti-heroin Chic, Art of Autism, Your Daily Poem, Sanctuary Magazine, Six Sentences, Paragraph Planet, A Story in 100 Words, Five Fleas, and Sledgehammer Lit. You can now also find my FREE microchap at Origami Poems Project, which I am also offering  here .

And here’s Foster Your Writing  official page  on Facebook!

I am also a writer for Coffee House Writers! You can find my work under “Emma Foster” on their  website .

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