Fantasy writing prompts can open a new world to you as a writer. But when you sit down to write a fantasy story, it can be easy to get overwhelmed!

With the fantasy genre, the potential for conflict and world ending threats can come from anywhere—magical creatures, an unfamiliar city or world, an evil sorcerer. These prompts will help you write about the fantasy world and before you know it, your protagonist will be well on their way to find the magic item they need to defeat the villain.

Fantasy is a genre that combines an epic adventure with magic and imaginative world-building. Here are 14 fantasy writing prompts to begin your own fantasy story! 

Magical Weapon and Armor Prompts

1. A magical sword is discovered in a burned down castle, long since pillaged. When it is picked up, the owner is suddenly bent on revenge and renounces everything to stop those that decimated the castle.

2. A deadly dagger is found next to two dead bodies. The dagger will exude whatever poison the user wants it to have—to kill quick and painlessly or put undue suffering on its victim. An assassin’s guild leader will stop at nothing to retrieve the item.

3. A shield will reflect back on its wielder’s enemy and show them their greatest fear. A group of templars are searching for the shield and are burning down villages in their wake searching for this supposed evil item.

4. A set of bone armor will grant the wearer invulnerability but only at the cost of eventually losing their humanity. A warrior wears the armor to save her kingdom, but slowly starts to be corrupted by its evil influence and curse.

Fantasy Hero Prompts

5. A young stable boy saves a wise and old wizard’s life by calming his horse. The wizard in exchange adopts the boy to train him in magic, only to find that the boy is deeply talented in a forbidden magic, necromancy, the magic to control and summon the dead.

6. A girl is accidentally separated from her family while traveling through the forest and stumbles upon a druid ritual. The Goddess of Nature smiles on the young girl and the ritual imbues her with druidic power. She has to decide whether to serve the Goddess or return to her family.

7. A young wizard attending a magical academy finds that underneath the school dark experiments on the enemy’s children have been taking place for centuries. The lessons from the experiments are considered research and approved by everyone for the advancement of magic and scholarly pursuits. The student has to decide whether to rescue them or let them continue.

8. A dwarven village loses their silver mine in a collapse and now a young dwarf has to brave the mountains to find a silver mine and a place to call home. He makes various friends, but also deadly enemies as he traverses lands forbidden to dwarves.

Magical Location Prompts

9. The silver island floats around the land and with a telescope, one can see a small city with winged creatures flying around.

10. There is a door that rests in the ground the size of sleeping dragon. It’s gold and black and cannot be scratched or pried open. Some say it is the door to the underworld and that the key is out there somewhere.

11. In the marshlands, a small brook flows that is said to cure any illness if one can find it, but many look like it and from them flow deadly poison. Many make their voyage to find the brook, bringing their severely ill loved ones, but few figure out the riddle to find it.

Magical School Prompts

12. A boy attends a magic school where his father once worked. His father was murdered at the school and kept magic away from his son as long as he could. Now he’s trying to learn magic and solve his murder.

13. A magical school during the gilded age only allows men inside, until it is discovered that women are not only smuggling out books, but artifacts as well. One of the wizards decides to find the women and train them while keeping his actions secret.

14. A young man in LA with alcoholism is recruited into a halfway house only to discover they can all do magic—and so can he. He finds out that Alcoholic Anonymous is designed to find others with magic abilities since addiction and magic go hand in hand.

Now you try!

Whatever magical world you create, use these prompts to play while you practice. Fantasy is about tapping into your imagination. Have some fun!