This is a list of tropes and a rough guide to writing style to help with writers of fantasy. For writers, by writers. I think we know of the common traits of fantasy, and it would be nice to pool it all in to a single place to reference and get ideas from. I want this to be amended and added etc. by all you fine people here. I'm not interested in dictionary definitions, but what we know these entries to be from our experience.
This is a community thing and is not about revealing your 'secrets' to writing fantasy, but common patterns and 'known facts'. So, without further ado, here we go!
Fantasy Genres
Fairy-Tale
The fairy-tale is a very old style of fantasy, and it involved folklore and more often than not, morals. Although we can now classify the fairy-tale as a genre in its own right, when the fairy-tale was prominent, it was simply a 'tale'; derived from the oral tradition of folk tales.
Fairy-tales appeal to children as well as adults. The more 'cleaner' fairy tales were especially popular with children, due to them being able to identify the archetypical characters the tales usually employ. The darker and more gritty fairy-tales, due to the subject content, was more popular with a more mature audience.
Known Elements: folkloric characters (trolls, elves, fairies, giants, talking animals, witches), magic (enchantment/curse), Once upon a time.
Examples of Fairy-Tale: Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Hobbit
High Fantasy
A popular style of fantasy. High fantasy can also be called Epic Fantasy due to its usually grand scale of worlds and plots. It is set in constructed worlds and in making full use of the world the stories are set in, High Fantasy involves a great amount of detail describing the fictional history, races, languages and entities of the world.
The genre usually involves clear distinctions of good and evil, allowing moral battles to be played by representatives of each moral 'alignment'. The stories are often long and dense, involving a series of books and allowing the author to explore the themes he or she presents and to create a narrative in linking those themes. Most storylines involve either a single hero or a group of heroes who must defeat the rising evil of its day.
Known Elements: The Hero, Coming-of-age, magic, races (elves, dwarves, men, and various others), geography, history, wizards, good and evil, BBEG, Epic Battle.
Examples of High Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, The Mallorean, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dragonlance, The Icewind Dale Trilogy.
A List of Fantasy Tropes
Dragons
Magic
Elves
Dwarves
Men (in terms of race)
BBEG
Good vs Evil
Heroes and Anti-Heroes
Constructed World
Folklore
Quest
Anthropomorphism
Glossary of Terms
BBEG: Big Bad Evil Guy. A common acronym used in fantasy gaming to classify the overall villain of the fantasy story. Examples include Sauron (Lord of the Rings), Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter), and Takhisis (Dragonlance Chronicles).
Coming-of-Age: A common plotline in fantasy. The story starts off with the inexperienced hero having to go on a journey. Over the course of the journey, the hero is presented with many challenges the hero must overcome, and this leads to the hero growing in maturity and experience and where appropriate, learning about its past through legend, prophecy or the hero's mentor. By the end of the story, the hero becomes a leading figure and has reached a point where the hero has 'come of age', and this point signifies the time when the hero can finally defeat the BBEG. Examples include Garion from The Belgariad and Harry Potter.
Epic Battle: A large scale battle involving a great number of participants, types of troops and instruments of war. It is set over a large area, and can involve a siege, a final stand, a face off etc. The armies involved are actually groups of allied forces, either at the command of a single leader or an alliance of the leaders of the relevant forces, usually lead by The Hero. The battle is also of great importance to the story, the outcome of which deciding the plot of the story, especially if an Epic Battle is at the end of the fantasy story. Examples of Epic Battles are the final battle at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Battle of Pelennor Fields and the Battle of Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings, and the Battle of Icewind Dale in The Icewind Dale Trilogy.
Once upon a time: Unlike legends and epics that usually contain strong references to history, religion, actual places, and times, fantasy (usually fairy tale) is written 'once upon a time' rather than an actual time. Examples include Middle-earth, the majority of fairy-tales.
Hero, The: The main protagonist of the story. The Hero here is used as a blanket term involving one or more persons as the protagonist. In High Fantasy, the hero is on the side of good, upholding traditional morals and values, and if the hero is a group of heroes, these morals can be spread out among the group, with traits such as wisdom going to a mentor or wise old man, perseverance going to the coming-of-age person, loyalty going to another person etc. Examples include Garion, Drizzt, The Fellowship (in particular Frodo Baggins), Bilbo Baggins, and Heroes of the Lance from Dragonlance.
A Note on Writing Style
Fantasy is a genre where we can be grabbed by that which is fantastic and can be lost in the world. It is something that can be beautiful to read and to write, and thus the story's atmosphere and 'feel' is of great importance. Fantasy writing allows us to write with confidence very unusual and potentially surreal elements and portray them as real and normal. Here is an example of a piece of text for a prologue:
This text is bland and the use of 'show and tell' is too emphasised on 'tell'. For starters, "This tale deals with an important series of events.." should not have to include "important". Instead of saying that it is important, we should make it important.
More often than not, it is about affirming what you have in mind and it is about show, not tell. If something as "in darkness" as above, we should show that the land was in darkness, and why that is important.
Such attitudes can thus 'rev up' the atmosphere and pull you in easier.
NB: Please please PLEASE add to this, then we can add a new thread to put it all in there properly (like alphabetical order for example). I've got the ball rolling, and I'll be adding to it as and when. I think it would be nice to have this.
Archus
This is a community thing and is not about revealing your 'secrets' to writing fantasy, but common patterns and 'known facts'. So, without further ado, here we go!
Fantasy Genres
Fairy-Tale
The fairy-tale is a very old style of fantasy, and it involved folklore and more often than not, morals. Although we can now classify the fairy-tale as a genre in its own right, when the fairy-tale was prominent, it was simply a 'tale'; derived from the oral tradition of folk tales.
Fairy-tales appeal to children as well as adults. The more 'cleaner' fairy tales were especially popular with children, due to them being able to identify the archetypical characters the tales usually employ. The darker and more gritty fairy-tales, due to the subject content, was more popular with a more mature audience.
Known Elements: folkloric characters (trolls, elves, fairies, giants, talking animals, witches), magic (enchantment/curse), Once upon a time.
Examples of Fairy-Tale: Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Hobbit
High Fantasy
A popular style of fantasy. High fantasy can also be called Epic Fantasy due to its usually grand scale of worlds and plots. It is set in constructed worlds and in making full use of the world the stories are set in, High Fantasy involves a great amount of detail describing the fictional history, races, languages and entities of the world.
The genre usually involves clear distinctions of good and evil, allowing moral battles to be played by representatives of each moral 'alignment'. The stories are often long and dense, involving a series of books and allowing the author to explore the themes he or she presents and to create a narrative in linking those themes. Most storylines involve either a single hero or a group of heroes who must defeat the rising evil of its day.
Known Elements: The Hero, Coming-of-age, magic, races (elves, dwarves, men, and various others), geography, history, wizards, good and evil, BBEG, Epic Battle.
Examples of High Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, The Mallorean, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dragonlance, The Icewind Dale Trilogy.
A List of Fantasy Tropes
Dragons
Magic
Elves
Dwarves
Men (in terms of race)
BBEG
Good vs Evil
Heroes and Anti-Heroes
Constructed World
Folklore
Quest
Anthropomorphism
Glossary of Terms
BBEG: Big Bad Evil Guy. A common acronym used in fantasy gaming to classify the overall villain of the fantasy story. Examples include Sauron (Lord of the Rings), Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter), and Takhisis (Dragonlance Chronicles).
Coming-of-Age: A common plotline in fantasy. The story starts off with the inexperienced hero having to go on a journey. Over the course of the journey, the hero is presented with many challenges the hero must overcome, and this leads to the hero growing in maturity and experience and where appropriate, learning about its past through legend, prophecy or the hero's mentor. By the end of the story, the hero becomes a leading figure and has reached a point where the hero has 'come of age', and this point signifies the time when the hero can finally defeat the BBEG. Examples include Garion from The Belgariad and Harry Potter.
Epic Battle: A large scale battle involving a great number of participants, types of troops and instruments of war. It is set over a large area, and can involve a siege, a final stand, a face off etc. The armies involved are actually groups of allied forces, either at the command of a single leader or an alliance of the leaders of the relevant forces, usually lead by The Hero. The battle is also of great importance to the story, the outcome of which deciding the plot of the story, especially if an Epic Battle is at the end of the fantasy story. Examples of Epic Battles are the final battle at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Battle of Pelennor Fields and the Battle of Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings, and the Battle of Icewind Dale in The Icewind Dale Trilogy.
Once upon a time: Unlike legends and epics that usually contain strong references to history, religion, actual places, and times, fantasy (usually fairy tale) is written 'once upon a time' rather than an actual time. Examples include Middle-earth, the majority of fairy-tales.
Hero, The: The main protagonist of the story. The Hero here is used as a blanket term involving one or more persons as the protagonist. In High Fantasy, the hero is on the side of good, upholding traditional morals and values, and if the hero is a group of heroes, these morals can be spread out among the group, with traits such as wisdom going to a mentor or wise old man, perseverance going to the coming-of-age person, loyalty going to another person etc. Examples include Garion, Drizzt, The Fellowship (in particular Frodo Baggins), Bilbo Baggins, and Heroes of the Lance from Dragonlance.
A Note on Writing Style
Fantasy is a genre where we can be grabbed by that which is fantastic and can be lost in the world. It is something that can be beautiful to read and to write, and thus the story's atmosphere and 'feel' is of great importance. Fantasy writing allows us to write with confidence very unusual and potentially surreal elements and portray them as real and normal. Here is an example of a piece of text for a prologue:
This tale deals with an important series of events collectively known as The Restoration, and the persons of various peoples involved in shaping these events.
In the days of The Restoration, the world of Nestha had reached one thousand years of its Fourth Age. Traethar, a continent of Nestha and the land that this tale concerns, was in darkness. Civil war had erupted; there was a constant feud over the lands of the Empire, a constant shift in people’s loyalties and a constant exchange of blood.
[Copyright Michael King 2008]In the days of The Restoration, the world of Nestha had reached one thousand years of its Fourth Age. Traethar, a continent of Nestha and the land that this tale concerns, was in darkness. Civil war had erupted; there was a constant feud over the lands of the Empire, a constant shift in people’s loyalties and a constant exchange of blood.
This text is bland and the use of 'show and tell' is too emphasised on 'tell'. For starters, "This tale deals with an important series of events.." should not have to include "important". Instead of saying that it is important, we should make it important.
More often than not, it is about affirming what you have in mind and it is about show, not tell. If something as "in darkness" as above, we should show that the land was in darkness, and why that is important.
Such attitudes can thus 'rev up' the atmosphere and pull you in easier.
NB: Please please PLEASE add to this, then we can add a new thread to put it all in there properly (like alphabetical order for example). I've got the ball rolling, and I'll be adding to it as and when. I think it would be nice to have this.
Archus
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