I feel like writing a fantasy story may seem a little bit more complicated than it is made to seem to normal folks (and this is not to presume that if you’re unable to write or even fathom the idea of writing one that you are substandard). But once you start, you tend to realise, that a lot should be taken into consideration. You realise that this isn’t just something someone can devise in a spur of the moment (though there are such gifted people). There are various faculties you have to account for, even as you decide to write a fantasy novel just on the spot. Let’s say you just finished reading a good fantasy book that enthralled you into a world of magic and mayhem so convoluted you had to be amazed; the likes of: the Harry Potter series, or the Percy Jackson books, or even the famous Game of Thrones books series. Many people tend to feel this invigoration of instant passion. And it’s dismaying to say that only few people ever follow through with their ideas to the very end, giving up after just a few chapters.

My dreams of writing a legit fantasy story all began when I was just at the ripe age of six. My mom had just purchased a computer for me and my brother to play games on as well as for her office duties to use. Now, I don’t need to explain the obvious fact that when I was a kid, the internet and high-end computers (like the ones we have now) were a rarity. But Microsoft word wasn’t. And as a kid that loved watching the Harry Potter Christmas movie marathons (PS: I will forever consider J.K Rowling an omnipotent genius being), it always inspired me to write a fantasy epic of my own. Now granted at that age, most of my trials seemed to be cheap copies off the originals, my enthusiasm with the prospect kept showing up inexplicably at random moments (usually after watching epic fantasy movies). And usually, I would write maybe a paragraph in, up until a chapter or two, until I got to high school.

 And in high school, I sort of flourished. Originally, in our creative writing essays in primary school, I remember we were confined to specific styles of writing. You know, with the same phrases and similes and stylistic devices repeated and used by hundreds of thousands of students year in, year out. In high school, the teachers were different, they wanted you to tell a story. One that made sense. That entertained. That was a narrative and not some short-lived half-baked attempt at a retelling of a cliché. Of course, back then, writing fantasy narratives proved immensely challenging because well… examination markers were so biased against such for the commonality of a poor plot. And squeezing it all into two pages! Oi!

Anyway, now I can write. Well at least moderately well so. And here I will cascade my tips, maybe tricks, and definitely ideas on what makes (and also breaks) a good fantasy story.