Finding the fantasy well a bit dry this week? Try these prompts to get the magick bubbling again.
Photo by Cederic X on Unsplash
by: E.B. Johnson
Being a fantasy writer is no small feat. From magick systems to worlds-unseen, there?s a whole host of creative juice that goes into crafting the perfect epic. If you?re finding the fantasy well running a bit dry this week, try these prompts to get that creativity bubbling again. From romantic castles in far away lands to brutal dungeons in the heart of lost hell-scapes ? there?s something here for every fantasy-lover that fancies themselves a wielder of the pen.
The best fantasy writing prompts to get you going this week.
These prompts range from plot to descriptions to vague bits of story and inspirational one liners. Mix and match or hatchet them into a new version all your own. The prompts contained here are yours to do with what you will. Remember: there?s no rules when it comes to fantasy.
1. A re-acquaintance
An elderly woman lives a life of quiet and peace, but everything changes when a friendly acquaintance re-enters her life, causing chaos and hectic disarray. The acquaintance claims the old woman is in danger from a killer who is lurking nearby, but she remains suspicious. Eventually she gives in to the acquaintance?s offer to protect her, but she soon comes to realize that curiosity can be a very dangerous thing.
2. The slip-up
A woman arrives at a hospital, asking for the name of a strange man. She claims she is looking for the truth, but her actions say otherwise as she finds the man she?s looking for and makes an even stranger proposal.
3. Peasants? Revolt
A peasant girl (who appears to be neither good nor evil) starts to believe that a divine figure is sending her visions. Her beliefs escalate and she soon comes to believe that the deity is calling on her to lead an army to victory. She agrees to do it, but her motives soon become muddied as her conflicting nature takes over.
4. Indiana phones
When a wealthy philanthropist crash lands in a magical city-state, he struggles to adapt to their strange language and customs. As he learns to adjust to his new life, he continues his work as he looks for a way to get back home to the family he left behind. Tragedy strikes, however, when he dies and his diary (and research) is lost. The story comes to a climax as an avid adventurer finds the diary and the sinister truth the philanthropist was hiding all along.
5. The duchess
Renatta, a duchess in a surreal dimension, finds herself in danger after the telling of a particularly damning lie. The villain of the story is particularly heinous, and haunts her overwhelmingly through the tale, culminating in one final showdown and a defeat that takes many forms.
6. The artifact
Two unlikely students become friends at an ancient boarding school secreted away in the mountains of a mystical country. One of the students is a rabble-rouser while the other is a high-achiever. Their friendship is put to the test in their final year of school, however, when the recovering of a magical artifact pits the two friends against one another.
7. An un-payable debt
A prophet who is not what he seems finds himself in debt to an adventurer with a nasty side. The story starts in a land devoid of magic but escalates into a magical showdown that threatens to tear the world apart.
8. At the end of the world
?I was always that girl,? she said sadly, closing her eyes a little. ?I was always that girl and you will love me at the end like you loved me at the beginning.? He shook his head, but she only continued to look at him. Then she jumped?
9. The slaughter
The time had come to slaughter the knights, but Sheller found that he couldn?t do it. He hated the king for asking him, and he hated himself for everything he had done in the name of the man who now polished the throne Rathgar had once proudly sat on. He couldn?t kill the night. Ailphissa wouldn?t want it. But she wasn?t here and there was no more waiting that could be done. It was time to slaughter the knights, but he didn?t have it him anymore?
10. Live together, die alone
She had never dealt with a curse before, but she knew well enough how it would go. She braced herself for the prick of the knife and didn?t cry out when the blood began to flow. All along she had lived for authority, but now she was going to die for faith. It seemed fitting really. There was no other way it could have gone?
11. The murder manifestos
This is a story about hate, about inequality. Above all else, it?s a story about mass murder, though?and that?s a story you should never forget.
12. New religions
The man had sullied himself, and his religion, but there was still forgiveness that could be sought. She looked down at him and let her hatred wash over him freely. It was the year of redemption, but it would also be the year of reeducation. The war was here. Only a few of them would survive it.
13. Witches of Westwood
I was born in a home like anyone else, but my life ended in a place that was neither here nor there. I never wanted to be a witch, but I wasn?t given a choice. The truth, after all, is never how we see it?
14. Mother
He thought the child had been buried ? and buried well ? but here he was and here she was too. Everything happened for a reason, but Marcus couldn?t figure out the reason behind this latest revelation. He put his head in his hands and let the rage flow. This was the worst possible thing that could happen at the worst possible time.
15. Alternate realties
He wasn?t important, but the shards had chosen to reveal themselves to him nonetheless. Aranna couldn?t deny the power that had been granted to him, and she couldn?t deny her jealousy, but there was something else that was bothering her too and she couldn?t quite put her finger on it?
Putting it all together?
Whether you?re into epic fantasy or a blend between alternate histories and steampunk realities rendered by tech and futures-past, the only way you can craft that story that?s tumbling around in your head is to write it. Get inspired again with these great writing prompts and don?t forget to share you stories with me on Twitter.
There?s endless worlds of fantasy just waiting out there for you to explore. Grab them by the tail and give us stories that terrify us, delight us and bring us back, begging for more. The world is waiting for your story. Give it to them. No one can write it but you.
