Fantasy How to Get Started

When writing fantasy the first thing to do is decide on the major quest and how it is to be resolved. The quest becomes the backbone of the plot arc and from this threat and resolution all the subplots and characters will revolve. Think of a double helix DNA strand and the writer has the general idea of how to intertwine a plot with characters and scenes. Nothing that happens in the novel should detract from the strand. All characters and sequences should lead toward the final lot arc climax and denouement. When looking over Lord of the Rings the reader can follow how each step along the journey gives a small clue or skill, the characters will need to over come the adversary.

How to Decide on a Quest The writer needs to have a quest that will capture the reader's interest. Ideas can come from natural threats, weather, plague, animals, bacteria, from other factions of civilization, from wars, magic, dark magic or mythical creatures. The threat could be caused by greed, lust for power, control or attempts at genocide. Natural disasters, volcano, drought, flood, lasting winter or endless summer, dieback in vegetation or in animal populations can be the reason for concern. Even an increasing number of predators with dire power could make a reasonable quest. The writer must take into account the need to resolve the threat. It is their responsibility to have an answer to the problem, that the hero or heroine will discover or learn. A magical solution might sound like an answer. Unless the hero spends the novel finding the knowledge or gems or whatever artifacts are needed to cast the magic, a sudden Spell to solve the threat is not satisfying to the readers.

Whatever the quest entails, the threat must be enough to involve the readers, and make them feel empathy for the hero and the people involved and in danger. The readers must be made to worry about what will happen, or else the reason for telling the story doesn't exist. For example in Lord or the Rings, the Ring is introduced early and the threat it brings is foreshadowed from the start. The idyllic community of the Hobbits is under threat and the reader is made to feel concern for the innocents whose life style is danger of being destroyed.

The Resolution Once the threat is becoming a reality, the solution can become part of the plot. From the first chapter, the readers need to know what the hero or heroine hopes to achieve. They may not initially be involved with the threat, but the threat must exist and become part of the story early in the piece. The plot will develop around the hero or heroine's journey whether their quest involves travel through a landscape or whether they are on a journey of discovery. Companions can become vital pieces to the resolution. Every scene should add some thread that can be recalled in the resolution. In Lord of the Rings, each of the main characters takes what they have learned into the climax. They each have something to offer and are in their own way, vital to the successful resolution of the threat.

Things to Do
Imagine a threat and a resolution.
Does it leave room for the hero's growth and character development?