This genre takes you into fantastical worlds, introduces you to magical creatures, foreign politics and wars - whatever you can only imagine.
Fantasy is one of the genres that require a lot of world building (and more advanced one as well). If you're going to write in that genre, make sure to make detailed notes of the world you'll be writing about. After all, you want it to feel like one that could really exist somewhere far from here.
Pay special attention to politics, magic systems and what elements differentiate this world from normal Earth.
Feel free to check out my “World building questionnaire” or any of the other posts under "world building".
Fantasy is, unfortunately, already so famous it's easy to fall into cliches or unintentionally copy an already existing idea.
That's why, the biggest advice I have for writing good fantasy is to READ a lot of it.
It gives you a wider understanding of which tropes are overused, which ideas aren't original anymore and which resolutions may not be surprising anymore.
LOW FANTASY
Low fantasy stories are placed in real-world, where magical elements happen. The amount of magic present is usually smaller than in the high fantasy, and it's usually not among the most important elements in the story.
HIGH FANTASY
High fantasy has its own reality (or multiple of them). The amount of magic present is usually higher than in the low fantasy. The world of high fantasy is usually more complex and can have nothing to do with what we know from Earth.
Subgenres:
Dark fantasy
• fantasy that incorporates disturbing, frightening themes; often elements like gore, suffering, evil
Magical realism
• grounded in the real world, includes magical elements, characters, and events
• magical realism stories don’t often delve into the magical occurrences because they are accepted and part of this world
Sword and sorcery
• sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures
• biggest focus is on personal battles
Fable
• a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral
Examples of the fantasy tropes (from tvtropes.org):
Animorphism: Characters turn into animals, whether due to a superpower, or as the result of a curse
Bad Boss: Kings, queens, ogres, and witches don't need you to work for them to assign you the Impossible Task, but it seems to encourage them
Cosmic Motifs: characters in fairy tales may be identified as special or magical by an astral birthmark, such as the Sun, the moon or a star on their foreheads
Hitchhiker Heroes: A hero goes on a quest, initially alone, and gradually gains allies along the way
Year Outside, Hour Inside: The passage of time is very relative when dealing with Fairyland
romance • science fiction • horror • adventure • mystery • slice-of-life • historical fiction • folklore • inspirational • western • thriller
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