I recently saw a comment on a writing community post arguing that the majority of its members wrote fantasy because it was the easiest genre to write. Another commenter suggested fantasy doesn’t require as much research as other genres because you can make everything up. Additionally, someone else added that fantasy doesn’t demand anything from the writer other than what they can think up, implying it was an easy thing to do.

Easy? Let me just stop for a moment, sip some Old Pulteney, and calmly breathe until the indignation stops coursing through my veins. Not one part of writing epic fantasy has been easy for me. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it. I love it! (Obviously.) However, easy is not at all how I would describe the process. It’s hard work. As a matter of fact, I’d say it’s one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done.

One of the examples in the thread was that with a fantasy book you can just make the map up, but with a WWII novel, for example, you’ve got to know the details otherwise you’ll lose your credibility because everyone has access to global history. Well, let me inform those of you who don’t write fantasy, that when you make up your own map, it falls on you to make it believable. That means researching topography, biomes, climates, etc. I can assure you, through firsthand experience, that it takes quite a lot of research. How did a character get from Point A to Point B? You have to figure out distances and travel times which include on foot, horseback, or, in the case of many fantasy novels, dragonwing. I have spent countless hours on my own maps. I even have an entire excel sheet dedicated to travel times using various modes of transportation just so I can keep track of it all, because I can’t go to Google Maps or history books like a WWII novelist can.

Yes, with fantasy, you get to make everything up, and that is part of the fun. But that also means you have to figure everything out on your own. How does the magic system work and how does it affect the characters? What does the planet look like and what new people and cultures are there? What languages do they speak? What religions are there? What kingdoms? What governments? Now imagine that with each of those items, you’ve got to figure out how they function and fit into the plot. The WWII novelist doesn’t have to make up languages or any of those items. They already exist! It’s like taking an open book exam. You’ve got the internet cheat sheet right in front of you. Not so for a fantasy writer. We have to do it all on our own. I’m not saying writing a fantasy novel is more difficult than writing a WWII novel, I’m saying they both pose their own challenges. A WWII novel relies on facts, whereas a fantasy novel relies on creativity.

I know that not everyone is like me when it comes to writing fantasy. Most authors within the genre don’t choose to study HEMA in order to learn what it’s really like to swordfight. And I’m guessing there aren’t many of us out there who have engineered a tent that can withstand blizzard conditions because that’s a key moment in their book (I seriously want to patent my design because it’s just that awesome). As it happens, I read the writing community thread right after I finished a massive project where I built a calendar device for my epic fantasy series for no other reason other than to make sure I was describing something to the readers that would actually work in real life. (Also, I have my own working world calendar now and that’s pretty badass.)

I tend to go down those rabbit holes because I thoroughly enjoy them, and I think the experiences enhance my writing and world building. But I’ve read plenty of enjoyable fantasy books written by authors who I know have never picked up a sword, and yet they’ve written scenes like they were born holding one. Are there horribly written fantasy novels out there? Absolutely. But bad apple books can be found in every genre, not just fantasy. In my opinion, however, no other genre requires such a high level of creative imagination from the author. Why are there so many fantasy writers out there? Because humans are naturally creative beings, and for those inspired to write, nothing is as challenging as imagining new worlds and all of the intricate details that come with them.

Writing good fantasy is far from easy.