When writing fantasy, the only limit is your imagination. Absolutely anything is possible and you can completely reinvent the rules. Despite this creative freedom (or perhaps because of it), there are still days when writer’s block will strike. But don’t fret. It’s on days like these that creative writing prompts can help you find the writing inspiration to pull you through. 

Writing prompts are little story starters or challenges that give you a place to start from. Consider them additional fuel to take you from a blank page into a piece of writing you’re happy with. Some writers like to use them as little warm-up exercises, whereas other writers use them to help generate plot ideas for their work-in-progress.  

We’ve chosen 20 of our favourite fantasy writing prompts from Daily Prompt. The great thing about fantasy writing is that it can easily be combined with other genres to give a more fantastical element to romance, horror, or action, for instance.  

Grab your favourite hot beverage, sit down at your desk, and get inspired by the prompts below. 

Dystopian Fantasy Writing Prompts

1. Write about a typical day in a world where happiness has been outlawed – Think about how and why this world would operate, and consider a character’s daily life here. 

2. In the future, every human is genetically engineered to be useful to the world in some way – Write about a character who despises what they were designed for.  

3. In a densely overcrowded world where physical contact is almost constant, your main character finds space to be alone – You could include this scene in a story, write a poem about how the character feels, or even feature this idea as a smaller part of a broader story. 

New World Fantasy Writing Prompts

1. Write a story about a community living underground that makes its first contact with the world above – You could focus on the community and why they’re there, or consider what it would be like for two cultures to collide like this.

2. You recieve a letter from a parallel world, addressed to your parallel self. It seems they are in danger, and you must help them. 

3. Your grandfather was a quiet man who lived in a cabin in a nearby forest. A day after his funeral you discover that you’ve inherited the cabin and have become the new leader of an entire settlement of fairy-like creatures who now consider you their king.  

Fantasy Writing Prompts with Magic or Special Powers

1. As the only person in your town without a magical ability, you’re constantly having to find ways to convince people that you do, for fear of them finding out.

2. Write a story about someone who works as a janitor for a company that hires superheroes – Think about what kinds of messes might they be asked to clean up, or what they overhear as they do their job. 

3. You were kicked out of Werewolf School for refusing to take your first human bite. You have to find a way to get re-accepted without breaking your oath not to eat humans.  

Sci-Fi Fantasy Writing Prompts

1. You accidentally stumbled through a wormhole that led you to another dimension… but you didn’t even realise until things started to get very strange – Begin this sci-fi story in a world that seems familiar, but gradually becomes less and less normal.  “The reason that I was banned from interstellar travel is a rather amusing story – well, it’s amusing if you’re anyone but me.” – Tell the tale of how this character lost their privilege of space travel. One day you cut yourself deeply, but instead of flesh and blood, you see wires – Continue the story 

Miscellaneous Fantasy Writing Prompts

Write a fantasy story based around the last message you sent to a friend – The Fantasy genre typically contains magic, supernatural or mythological elements. All the villagers are terrified of the creature in the forest, but one day a curious child decides to investigate, and surprises everyone with what they find – Continue this story… Your protagonist discovers they possess a very special necklace which allows them to get anything they want. Except, as they find out later, there are some pretty big ramifications of doing so. You start dating someone and things start to get serious with your new lover. Before you take it to the next level, you need to reveal to them that you’re not really human at all.  

Character-Building Fantasy Writing Prompts

A struggling author’s work suddenly takes a much darker turn – is it newly realised creativity, or an underlying evil? – Use this character and circumstance to explore the theme of where creative ideas come from. A character from an old novel wakes up in your spare room. You must help them adjust by guiding them through 21st century life – How will you help them to navigate this world?You are a child’s imaginary friend, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be… – Write the story from this imaginary point of view. Take a mythical creature that’s generally considered evil and show the kind side of their personality. Are they really evil? Are they misunderstood? What is the real them like? How to take your fantasy writing prompts to the next levelOnce you’ve written your piece, why not get some extra ideas for how to improve? You can get brand new prompts every day with Daily Prompt. By sharing it in the app you can get more reads and ask our community for feedback.