Do your fantasy elements ever feel like an afterthought? Like they exist in the world because they're cool or convenient? You're not alone. It's a struggle to weave a magic system, worldbuilding, and/or supernatural elements into the heart of the plot.

In this episode of The Fiction Refinery Podcast, we'll explore the concept of a fantasy plot line. It's a layer of storytelling that makes your fantasy elements integral to your protagonist’s journey rather than decorative details.

Drawing inspiration from Secrets to Writing a Fantasy by Stanley and Cook, I'm sharing how I'm applying this idea to my own work-in-progress. I walk through my external plot versus fantasy plot and break down an example from Fourth Wing.

Whether your story features dragons, curses, or quiet elemental magic, you’ll come away with a clearer understanding of how to make the fantastical matter.

In this episode, I’m sharing how I started framing my antagonist and what I pulled from Rayne Hall’s book Writing About Villains. (It’s a quick, actionable read, and if you have Kindle Unlimited, it’s included there.)

Here’s what you’ll hear in today’s episode:

• Why I chose the Evil Overlord archetype as the foundation for my primary antagonist
• How a secondary antagonist (the fanatic) adds depth to the conflict
• Why I’m considering a tertiary antagonist for the romantic subplot
• How I’m thinking through goal, motivation, and stakes for my antagonist so he isn’t just evil for evil’s sake

This episode is all about creating a clear foundation—archetype, goal, motivation, and stakes—that I can build on once I move into the outlining stage.

📚 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Writing About Villains by Rayne Hall

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In the last episode, I shared the first 3 things I do before I even consider outlining. In today's episode, I'm sharing the next 3 things that I do (plus a bonus one).

These help me establish the foundation for my story, so that when I sit down to write, I know the essentials. This ensures I don't write an outline that I'm dissatisfied with 3 scenes into writing my first draft.

Today, I'll be sharing how I...

1. Choose the best answers to my many questions
2. Establish character arcs
3. Pick a theme
4. A fun bonus step that I've just started doing

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