You can always set your story right here on Earth. Not all fantasy writers, however, wish to create an entirely new world. ( Illustration by Josh Kirby) Set your story in an Earth-like place One big one? Discworld flies through space on the back of four elephants, who are themselves perched atop a giant turtle. Terry Pratchett's Discworld has many similarities with Earth, but a few major differences. You can make it as cool as you like think Discworld, Middle Earth, Zamonia, etc.
A strong starting point in order to define your world as “other” to our own is selecting your world’s name. This creative freedom is exciting, but it also requires a lot of world building work to invent a fleshed out and textured fantasy world. Feist’s Riftwar cycle are classic examples of “second world” fantasy: they were able to create worlds untethered by historical paths or laws, which gave them a lot of freedom of choice. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Raymond E.
Before you start work on your backstory, it’s essential to know which of these categories your story will fall under. Broadly speaking, the setting of your story will either be our own world, or an entirely fictional world - what’s known as “second world” fantasy.
