Fantasy is one of those genres where you can kind of do whatever you want.

You can build a world from scratch, make up your own rules, throw in magic, monsters, all of it. And readers are usually fine with it, as long as it holds together.

But that’s also what makes it hard to start. So you bounce between ideas. Or keep tweaking the setup. Or try to come up with something better before you even start.

That’s where writing prompts help.

Below, you’ll find a mix of fantasy writing prompts across different styles and subgenres. And if you’re not sure what to do with them once you pick one, we’ll get into that too.

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What most fantasy stories have in common

Before we get into the prompts, it helps to have a rough idea of what fantasy stories tend to include. Not in a strict, rule-based way, but just the patterns you’ll see over and over again once you start paying attention.

Most fantasy stories include some form of magic, and in a lot of cases there’s at least some kind of system behind it, even if the reader only sees part of it. They also tend to take place in a world that’s clearly not our own, with different rules, histories, and structures, but still consistent enough that it feels believable once you’re in it.

On top of that, there’s usually some kind of high-stakes conflict driving everything forward, along with a level of world-building that goes deeper than just the surface details.

But the magic and the setting aren’t really what make a story work on their own. The books people actually remember still get the fundamentals right, just like any other genre. You’ve got characters who feel real, a clear theme running underneath the story, something the reader can connect to, dialogue that serves a purpose, and pacing that keeps things moving toward an ending that feels earned.

At the same time, there are certain ideas and setups that show up again and again in fantasy. Not because you have to use them, but because they give you something solid to build around and readers recognize them right away.

You’ll see things like a chosen one, a powerful villain behind everything, good versus evil, some kind of magic system, a mentor figure, familiar fantasy races, older or medieval-style settings, magical weapons or artifacts, taverns or inns as meeting places, dragons, quests, magical schools, portals to other worlds, old myths that turn out to be true, or even a hidden magical world inside the real one.

You don’t need all of that, and most stories only use a handful of those elements.

A lot depends on the kind of fantasy you’re writing, since something like urban fantasy leans on very different conventions than epic fantasy. But if you want a better sense of what shows up most often, it helps to look at what’s already working.

Spend a little time browsing Amazon categories, click into a few books, and you’ll start to see the patterns pretty quickly.

So, with that groundwork laid, let’s get into the prompts.

Fantasy writing prompts by type

I grouped these as best I could so you’re not just staring at one long list. There’s still some overlap, but this should make it easier to find something close to what you’re in the mood for.

What to do with a prompt once you pick one

A lot of writers treat prompts like instructions, so they try to build an entire story around the exact idea they picked. And that’s usually where things stall out, because the prompt was never meant to carry all that weight on its own.

It’s better to treat it as a starting point and nothing more. Something to react to. Something to push on a little until it turns into something that actually feels like yours. That can mean changing the perspective, shifting the setting, or pulling one small piece out of the idea and building around that instead.

Sometimes it just means asking a few basic questions and seeing where they lead. Who is this really about? What’s the problem? Why does it matter right now instead of later?

You can also combine prompts if one on its own feels a little thin. That tends to work better than trying to force a single idea into something bigger than it wants to be. And in a lot of cases, the best thing you can do is start smaller than you think. Don’t worry about the full plot or the entire world right away. Just write a scene. See how the character reacts. Let the situation play out a bit and figure out what’s interesting once you’re already in it.

Some ideas won’t go anywhere. That’s part of the process. But every once in a while, one of them will open up more than you expected, and that’s usually the one worth sticking with.

Before you run with one of these ideas

By now, you’ve probably got a few prompts that stand out. Maybe one or two that feel like they could turn into something bigger.

Before you go all in on one of them, it’s worth taking a minute to see what’s already out there.

Fantasy is a crowded genre, and even strong ideas can struggle if they don’t line up with what readers are actually looking for. That doesn’t mean you have to chase trends, but it helps to know what space you’re stepping into.

This is where Publisher Rocket can be useful.

It pulls data directly from Amazon, so you can get a sense of what people are searching for, what kinds of books are doing well, and how competitive certain niches are. It also helps with things like keywords, categories, and ads if you get to that point later.

You don’t need to go deep with it right away. Even a quick look can tell you a lot about whether your idea fits into an existing market or if you’ll need to position it a little differently.