Most important element on a fantasy story?

[erintesden]

I'm starting to write a fantasy story and wish to know what are the things I should worry about thr world-building.

For now, I have defined some or the races and places that will appear, how the religions work, and a bit about the magic systems. What else do you think I should consider important?

[ninjashira]

You should definitely watch Brandon Sanderson's lectures on world building. The man is brilliant at it, and his lecture covers much more and in more depth than any response here on the forum could give you.

[cherrystark]

I think it's important to remember that there are different types of fantasy stories, that aren't all based in fictional countries. My story has a fantasy element but it's more "realistic" fantasy. There's also fantasy worlds that parallel ours like in Harry Potter.

For world-building in general, I recommend starting small and working big. There is "culture" linked with everything we do as people. So a small farming town's culture would be different than a neighborhood in the big city. It has saved me a ton of headache thinking on a smaller scale and building from there. It'll also help readers grasp your world too. Readers hate info dumps. I've read some stories where they do an excellent job explaining the magic systems and world in the first few chapters but by chapter 50, I'd forgotten all of their explaining and got confused

[MasterValkyrie]

One piece of advice I always give is to take your time with power scaling. If you are creating a story with a lot of fight scenes and different characters, power scaling is one of the most important things. Poor power scaling can lead to a bunch of plot holes down the line as your main characters become stronger, both mentally and physically. Just look at Bleach. I love the show, but even Bleach fans can admit that the Soul Society Arc was horrible. Not because of the story, but because of the of the power levels that the characters were depicted at (primarily the Captains). Having such strong characters whose trained for thousands of years be defeated by a kid with a month's worth of fighting skills is just unbelievable. Because of this, it's crazy how these characters were able to do the things they were able to do later in the story. Bleach isn't the only victim of this. One Piece with Crocodile, MHA with Stain, Solo Leveling, Girls of the Wild's, etc.

[Inspector_Spinda]

One thing I don't think people mention enough is researching the origins of common fantasy elements. Lots of things we assume about fantasy actually have roots in relatively modern history and if we research how they were presented before that or even the real life inspirations, we can present them in a unique way that adds flavor to our story.

[therosesword]

Depends on the fantasy you're dealing with. Is it more "Indian in the Cupboard" or Harry Dresden or something more like Lord of the Rings?

Not knowing what kind of research you've done please excuse me as I mean no insult, but you might want to check out some books on writing fantasy or there is an online master class about it. Have you written anything fantasy-wise before? Have you read a lot (from classics like Elric of Melnibone to more recent Harry Potter or even Septimus Heap)

There are tons of great books and videos out there about writing fantasy. You'll get tons of great information from the people here, but getting snippets of information (or finely tuned paragraphs) isn't enough, you really need to do your research.

Again, if you have been doing research I apologize if I have erred on the side of caution by suggesting you go (you haven't left us any information along those lines.)

Septimus Heap

Elric of Melniboné

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-writing-fantasy

[nathanKmcwilliams]

@therosesword holy crap! I always wondered what this song referenced but was always too lazy to look it up! Thank you for mentioning Melnibone!

[therosesword]

Elric is my FAVORITE character _EVER

Every now and then an announcement is made that a TV show or a film will be made and those of us who are Elricians get all excited, only to have our hopes dashed anyway. I go to bed licking my wounds and saying something comforting like... oh well, they'd only cast Tom Cruise in the role and get it all wrong... sigh, sob, snork, sob sob

ooooohhhh, I've never heard this. Squeeeeeeee.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Lol! That's how I felt after watching Peter Jackson's ahem...interpretation of The Hobbit. He. BUTCHERED IT.

Anyways, maybe give that song a listen. It's a Symphonic Power Metal gem, and has a beautiful run time of 13 minutes. It's a masterpiece. (Actually, Dark Moor's entire first 5 albums are what I consider to be complete masterpieces)

[therosesword]

I'm listening now. I'm not a metalhead but there is a lot that I do like so far this is.... this is... omg... this IS Elric.

Have you read the books?

[nathanKmcwilliams]

No I haven't. I will soon though. I always wondered who they were referencing. And they've got another song called The Bane of Daninsky which is based on a series of Spanish werewolf movies.

Dark Moor generally uses literature/classical music as basis for their music. Including The Count of Monte Cristo, and Mozart's Dies Irae.

[therosesword]

Well, dang it, guess who I'm researching today. Thank you. I think you'll like Elric. His sword is Stormbringer (sucks souls)

Here's a quick note from Wikipedia: Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. Created by the forces of Chaos, it is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes carved deep into its blade. It is wielded by the doomed albino emperor Elric of Melniboné.

oh and we are way off track of the original question.... lol, i think we need to get a room.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

That sounds epic. I need to read these books ASAP. Ill drop some of my favorite Dark Moor songs in my music thread if you want to hear them.

[ratscout]

What's the role of sex in the society? Are men and women expected to perform different roles, or are there no expectations? Is it different for different cultures in the story?

[erintesden]

Thank you a lot for the recommendations!

Don't worry about assuming stuff, the truth is that writing is a hobby of mine but I still have TOO much to learn! And save for Harry Potter and Percy Jackson I'm new to fantasy, so Im had of any help I can receive!

[Llyrel]

Eeeeep, another Elric fan, yay!
Speaking of metal songs about Elric, @nathanKmcwilliams, Blind Guardian's Tanelorn is also inspired by the Elric saga

Now, as far as the topic goes... there are already a lot of amazing sugestions here! I definitely recommend checking out Sanderson's lectures, but yep, definitely keep in mind that "fantasy" is a very broad genre, so a lot depends on what you're trying to do. A high fantasy setting (basically what you have in Lotr: fictional world with fictional creatures) is gonna require a LOT more planning, since you basically have to create an entire universe from scratch... but that doesn't mean that a low fantasy (aka, a fantasy set in our own universe with only a bunch of fantasy elements) doesn't require any sort of work either: since you're bringing fantasy elements to the mix, you still need to think how to make them fit the universe of your choice! I definitely recommend reading more fantasy books/watching movies/series/cartoons/reading comics of the genre you're interested in... and also why not, search on Youtube for videos that analyze your favorite fantasy works to help you figure out how they work exactly. This guy seems to do just that (also, another huge favorite of mine would be this dude: yes, his videos are sarcastic and things he says should be taken with a grain of salt, but they also offer some interesting food for thought when it comes to worldbuilding )

[nickolaidas]

Refrain from shoving lore and exposition down the readers' throats all the time, and you'll be fine.

It's best to introduce lore bit by bit, and in a way that it is shown, rather than told. Many world builders use a 'clueless' character to make the questions the readers want to make when they see something lore-related and aren't sure what the deal is in that part of the story.

[therosesword]

@Llyrel Cry for Tanelorn... oooohhhhh that was... yes.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

@Llyrel nice! I love that song. Blind Guardian is so good.

[therosesword]

Seeing as what you've read is more in the modern vein, you might want to check out Roger Zelazny's Amber series. Elric of Melinbone might be wrong at this point.

The Chronicles of Amber

This link gives you a lot of information about the series and it's content.