History SoYouWantTo / WriteAHighFantasy

* Creator/DavidEddings's ''Literature/TheBelgariad''

* ''Literature/MaradoniaSaga''
* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfBloodAndStone''

* The Evil Overlord favors the EvilTowerOfOminousness, or TheEmpire.

* StandardFantasyRaces. Most Heroic Fantasies will [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces be stocked to the brim with non-human races]], but for the most part the classic [[HumansAreSpecial human]]-[[OurElvesAreDifferent elf]]-[[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarf]]-[[{{Hobbits}} hobbit]]/[[OurGnomesAreWeirder gnome]]-[[OurOrcsAreDifferent orc]]/[[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] quintet is the most common.\\

* Setting -- A world other than ours. It may have a nominal connection with present day Earth, such as being our remote past or future, but this plays no role in the plot. {{Mythopoeia}} is often put into play to define the very metaphysics of the world. Nevertheless it often resembles medieval Europe.

* Revolt! The Orcs and/or Beastmen are bloody sick of being herded off to die in their thousands, and it's time for a change! Who is this upstart champion of the downtrodden and musclebound? None other than your main character!

* Instead of the FarmBoy being a NiceGuy (or the fantastical equivalent of TheAllAmericanBoy), have him be a crass, brutish, LowerClassLout, and more akin to a barbarian that just so happens to own a farm. You can even make him a claymore-swinging ViolentGlaswegian! And as such, if said FarmBoy had been reading too many novels with EatTheRich as its motifs, make him develop an anger and hatred for "those pretentious {{Upper Class Twit}}s", and for an even better subversion, make the higher class ''actually nice'' even with all those snooty mannerisms and speech pattern.

* Instead of the FarmBoy being a NiceGuy (or the fantastical equivalent of TheAllAmericanBoy), have him be a crass, brutish, LowerClassLout, and more akin to a barbarian that just so happens to own a farm. You can even make him a claymore-swinging ViolentGlaswegian! And as such, if said FarmBoy had been reading too many novels with EatTheRich as its motifs, make him develop an anger and hatred for "those pretentious {{Upper Class Twit}}s", and for an even better subversion, make the higher class ''actually nice''.

* Instead of the FarmBoy being a nice guy, have him be a LowerClassLout, and more akin to a barbarian that just so happens to own a farm. You can even make him a claymore-swinging ViolentGlaswegian!

* Making [[PlanetOfHats Races of Hats]]. All too often fantasy setting have [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame all dwarves be gold-obsessed drunkards]], [[OurElvesAreDifferent all elves be stuck up snobs]], and all [[strike:Hobbits]] [[{{hobbits}} halflings]] be child-like or tricksters, and such. While Tolkien did show there were different kinds of people in each race [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]], others have copied these designs to the point where they have become cliche. Nowhere in nature is there an entire race of stuck up snobs (well, maybe [[CatsAreMean cats]]). This is easily avoided if you are making races from scratch, but if you are using mythical races, [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch showing races aren't all clones of one person]] (that is, unless they [[CloningBlues are all clones of one person]]) is a good idea.

You may want to also read SoYouWantTo/WriteAHeroicFantasy -- the lines between that subgenre and this one are not set in stone.

* SecretLegacy. The FarmBoy often turns out to have RoyalBlood and be the sole heir to the throne. Making it plausible that someone who's never been off the farm for his childhood can actually rule a kingdom is rather difficult.

* Good guys commonly go for TheGoodKingdom, TheLostWoods, and {{Arcadia}}.

* FiveRaces. Most Heroic Fantasies will [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces be stocked to the brim with non-human races]], but for the most part the classic [[HumansAreSpecial human]]-[[OurElvesAreDifferent elf]]-[[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarf]]-[[{{Hobbits}} hobbit]]/[[OurGnomesAreWeirder gnome]]-[[OurOrcsAreDifferent orc]]/[[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] quintet is the most common.\\

* A FiveManBand is the most common way to arrange the protagonists, oftentimes so that each member of the cast is one of the FiveRaces.

* Setting - A world other than ours. It may have a nominal connection with present day Earth, such as being our remote past or future, but this plays no role in the plot. {{Mythopoeia}} is often put into play to define the very metaphysics of the world. Nevertheless it often resembles medieval Europe.
* Scale - Epic. Power politics, wars, the death of nations, gods walking the earth, and the real threat of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt--which is why the genre is also known as ''epic'' fantasy.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo is the commonest reason why the FarmBoy has to succeed. Developing other reasons can work. Perhaps the littlest wizard has to do the job because all the more powerful ones were massacred.
** Perhaps being a hero helps pays the bills in your fantasy universe? It could be an interesting way to explore the moralities of the people who maintain such an occupation.

* FiveRaces. Most Heroic Fantasies will [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces be stocked to the brim with non-human races]], but for the most part the classic [[HumansAreSpecial human]]-[[OurElvesAreBetter elf]]-[[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarf]]-[[{{Hobbits}} hobbit]]/[[OurGnomesAreWeirder gnome]]-[[OurOrcsAreDifferent orc]]/[[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] quintet is the most common.\\

* Making [[PlanetOfHats Races of Hats]]. All too often fantasy setting have [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame all dwarves be gold-obsessed drunkards]], [[OurElvesAreBetter all elves be stuck up snobs]], and all [[strike:Hobbits]] [[{{hobbits}} halflings]] be child-like or tricksters, and such. While Tolkien did show there were different kinds of people in each race [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]], others have copied these designs to the point where they have become cliche. Nowhere in nature is there an entire race of stuck up snobs (well, maybe [[CatsAreMean cats]]). This is easily avoided if you are making races from scratch, but if you are using mythical races, [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch showing races aren't all clones of one person]] (that is, unless they [[CloningBlues are all clones of one person]]) is a good idea.

** To add to the above example try tackling the downside of elves being eternally beautiful; such as drawing a lot of unwanted attention.

* Revolt! the Orcs and/or Beastmen are bloody sick of being herded off to die in their thousands, and it's time for a change! Who is this upstart champion of the downtrodden and musclebound? None other than your main character!

* Functional magic items work well

* Making [[PlanetOfHats Races of Hats]]. All too often fantasy setting have [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame all dwarves be gold-obsessed drunkards]], [[OurElvesAreBetter all elves be stuck up snobs]], and all [[strike:Hobbits]] [[{{hobbits}} halflings]] be child-like or tricksters, and such. While [[LordOfTheRings Tolkien]] did show there were different kinds of people in each race [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]], others have copied these designs to the point where they have become cliche. Nowhere in nature is there an entire race of stuck up snobs (well, maybe [[CatsAreMean cats]]). This is easily avoided if you are making races from scratch, but if you are using mythical races, [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch showing races aren't all clones of one person]] (that is, unless they [[CloningBlues are all clones of one person]]) is a good idea.

*** One also must be careful of invoking [[SpaceJews unfortunate real-life racial imagery]] when deciding to go for an AlwaysChaoticEvil angle for an entire race of people; the ''other'' part of the discrediting noted above stems from the fact that in recent times there has been substantial criticism of seminal works like ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' from a civil rights perspective. All things considered, this is territory you likely want to ''avoid'', so stay conscious of it.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings ''

* Good guys commonly go for TheKingdom, TheLostWoods, and {{Arcadia}}.