I Need Help With My Fantasy Stories setting?

Question

ok all I know is that i have my 4 characters and descriptions picked out i know there is going to be a dragon guards the whole shoot and shabang but what i cant figure out is what year place and all that stuff the story is going to have a gothic kind of feel to it any suggestions?

Answer 1

I think before picking out the characters, pick out a storyline. And then match them to the story.

Answer 2

Persi is right about research.
I wrote a sci-fi novel about an alien world, and I had to 'invent' a plausible history that goes back thousands of years for this alien world, and hundreds of years for a future Earth.
One of the first things I did was make, not a map, but a GLOBE of the alien world, so I could see how far apart cities are. This is work.

The characters have histories going back to when their grandparents first met--very little of which goes into the actual novel, but it lets me know the characters in detail while I'm writing about them.

Now, I don't have to think "what should he do at this point? What would he say, now?"
I already know, because I know the character.
If you do this sort of preparation, the setting will fall into place.

By the way, I hope you know how to use periods and commas, because there's no sign of it in your question.

Answer 3

Why not use a place your familiar with as a setting? Say your school at a different point in time. What would your neighborhood be like during the 1600 or without technology or the trappings of modern civilization.

Answer 4

This is all your research. Before you can begin to write about these characters, you need to know everything about the world they live in. Many people choose to write fantasy because they think it is easier. They don't have to do research. The truth is it is twice as hard. You have to create a whole new world. What do people eat there? What do they wear? How to they get around? What is their government? What is the terrain like? What is the climate like? Do the people look different from us? What is their language like? There are millions of questions to ask. Anne Mc Caffrey spent YEARS developing the planet Pern. If you are going to tell your readers about this other place, you have to know all about it. Tolkein drew maps. Anne Mc Caffrey did too. If this is a brand new world that only YOU know about, you have to tell us about it so we understand. That is why fantasy is twice as hard to do and do right.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 5

How about setting your novel in a different universe or galaxy which would give less limitations and you could even make up your own calendar