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A fantasy novel with a lame setting is like a rock song played on kazoo
It takes time, patience, skill, and perhaps even a little advice
Here are five ways to make your fantasy book's setting unforgettable and a few fantasy setting examples
If you snap a picture of said house and it fits within the frame, the viewer gets
Now imagine a second photograph of the same house, only this time we zoom in
Since we can't see where it ends, we're likely to perceive the house as enormous
If every corner of our world appears on the page, it makes the world feel smaller to
However, if our setting stretches off the page and into our periphery, it feels vast, expansive, and
So for the sake of realism, we should do our best to emulate this effect in our
Perhaps the most famous example is his mention of Queen Berúthiel and her many cats
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn remarks: "[Gandalf] is surer of finding the way home in
" Of course, if you've read LOTR, you know that the Queen and her cats never appear—or
This technique is effective because Tolkien hints at the world outside the confines of the page without
If you extract your story and drop it into another setting, it should fundamentally change that story
This novel features two major settings: London and London Below
Part of what makes these settings so powerful is their importance to the story
Real locations from London are converted into distorted reflections in London Below
In the main character's case, they literally become invisible
It's a story that truly can't take place anywhere (neverwhere?) else
The cool thing about fantasy, particularly epic fantasy, is its limitlessness
Which means you need not necessarily pack your entire setting into one volume
In his first entry, Gardens of the Moon, Erikson covers events set on the continent of Genabackis
Within this continent, we visit all manner of vibrant locations, including Pale, Darujhistan, and the various subsettings
In later volumes, Erikson shows us even more cities and continents, ones that were only mentioned in
Characters should only explore a setting if it moves the story forward
Therefore, if you're imagining a setting that you really want to show the readers, sometimes it's best
Fantasy book settings come alive when they feature brilliant names
Calling a forest a Forest isn't enough—fantasy settings are best when thought and care are poured
Rowling is famous for her meticulousness when it comes to naming conventions, often going so far as
"Forbidden Forest" conjures to mind a gloomy, twisted, ominous wall of trees, doesn't it? With just two
As fantasy writers, we sometimes feel the need to be too creative
Especially when it comes to alternate-world fantasy, we make the mistake of believing our settings must be
Martin's Westeros, the principal setting of his masterful Game of Thrones series, is a perfect example
Look even closer and you'll find some striking similarities between Martin's world and our own
Drawing inspiration from what you're familiar is one way how to create a realistic fantasy world
You'll remember it as the behemoth structure built to keep wildlings and White Walkers out of the
Hadrian's wall was a defensive fortification built by the Roman Empire to keep out people they didn't
Even though Westeros is an alternate world, our real life surroundings still influence it
How can we apply this principle to our own writing? It's simple: If you need help describing
For instance, let's say you want to write about a fantasy world that's mostly covered in water
(Kevin Costner's Waterworld could also work, though I'd advise against emulating the film's economics
Great fantasy settings do more than just provide ground to walk on; they challenge our characters, help
So take the time to develop the setting for your next fantasy book