Writing a bit of fantasy to pass the time? We’ve got a few tips on how to make the most of your fantasy characters – starting with physical appearance:
- Describe the physical characteristics like you would any character. They are meant to be unique in their own fashion and should be done with thorough detail. Don’t forget, they’re living in a very different world than us – as a human, the character may appear very out of place in a village of Elves or Dwarves, for example.
- What about that scar across the bridge of their nose? Or that burn which covers half of their torso? Sometimes having physical tags on a character can add more backstory to them. It gives them something to talk about with their newly found companions or old friends. Or it just adds more to their bad ass-ery.
- Let’s say you have a character who is a witch. Does this character have a wand? What kind of wand is it? Sometimes with a generic character build, your reader will find it boring to read: “She carried her wand on her belt like a fashion icon.” Of course, there must be something special about the wand. Maybe it’s a sharpened twig from the forest where her coven has survived? Any way, any generic characteristic of the character whether physical to their body or something like a wand – should be given its own description as well.
- Last but not least, make sure to give your character a standalone name. Something that rolls off the tongue nicely, makes the reader remember them, but also isn’t too much.
These are nice tips! I always find myself writing short fantasy stories while bored in class. Thank you
Of course! I practically do the same thing but I carry around a planner filled with notes on this urban fantasy idea I have had for the last year or so, haha! I am always prepared to learn more about creating my ideal fantasy world! 🙂
Any fantasy story that’s worth reading has more “world building” put into it than actual story writing 😂🤣
Truth!
Fantasy Fiction is my current project. I have notes, maps, character building tags, ideas, names, etc all over my little office space pinned to the walls. Before I started this story, I spent every reading moment available to me to read the “masters'” words. Tolkien, I think, was my favourite! Building a world can’t be done without every bit of advice & study… thanks for this Sarah!
The more detail, the better! I definitely see more writing advice for fantasy and sci-fi writers than any other genre writer! I’ll post all that I can to help you! 🙂 – Tania