writing a fantasy story grade 4

• Writing Prompts

70+ Fantasy Writing Prompts (+ Free Printable)

Every writer has moments when their mind goes blank . It can be frustrating and annoying when you really want to write something, but just don’t know where to start. That’s where writing prompts come in handy. Since it is J.K Rowling’s birthday in July, I figured what better way to celebrate her birthday than writing your own fantasy stories . These 70+ fantasy writing prompts for kids are an amazing source of inspiration! Most of these fantasy writing prompts relate to magic and wizardry.  Aparecium – turn that blank page into an unforgettable story!

You might also be interested in these 48 Harry Potter Writing Prompts or this list of 56 myth ideas and prompts .

Random Fantasy Prompt Generator

For more writing ideas, check out this list of 56 Dystopian writing prompts .

• Download your free 25+ fantasy writing prompts printable.

Dark Fantasy Writing Prompts

Sci-fi fantasy prompts, fantasy prompts about dragons, epic fantasy prompts, urban fantasy prompts, modern fantasy prompts, medieval fantasy ideas, animal fantasy prompts, low fantasy prompts, fantasy story starters, how to use these fantasy writing prompts:.

70+ Fantasy Writing Prompts For Kids:

If you need inspiration for character names, see our list of fantasy characters (everything from humans to dragons and unicorns). Without further ado, here are our fantasy writing prompts:

• Your father is an evil sorcerer, you must stop him before he kills all humans.
• As you walk through a dark forest, trees whisper warnings “turn away now!” (Check out this magical forest name generator for forest name ideas.)
• You want to attend the best magic school in all of Macbury, but have no magical powers.
• You have been cursed to never speak again by an evil witch. If you need a name for your evil witch, take a look at our awesome witch name generator .
• You return from school one day to find a mysterious package in your room with an owl-shaped logo on it.
• You are the only witch in a religious neighbourhood. Everyone blames you for their misfortunes.
• The evil witch has stolen all your powers turning you into a human.

• A boy helps out an old lady, in return, he is given magical powers. Instead of using his powers for good, he uses it to destroy the world.
• Your Grandad is the owner of an old antique shop. One day while helping your Grandad you discover a strange book called “The Guide to All Evil.”
• For years you have been spending your Saturday evening in a library, every week you see the same old man sitting in the corner. One night you decide to speak to him…
• One night you are dragged into your favourite RPG computer game, where you play a knight trying to save the land Tribula from the evil powers of the dark king.

• You find a magical map in your attic. The map shows the location of a moving target. One day that target appears in your back yard.
• You have the ability to raise the dead for a few minutes and have spent the past few years hunting for the monsters that killed your parents.
• You were the personal assistant to a crazy, old wizard who has now passed away. Before his passing, he told you to hide a mysterious bag.
• You find a spellbook which gives you specific instructions on how to cast a body-swapping spell.
• You are a storyteller. One day you realise that the stories you’ve been telling are true and you have the ability to control the lives of others.
• You work part-time as a vet. One dark night, while you are closing your shop, a crazy woman barges past the doors with a strange creature in her arms.

• A war has been raging between the witches of the West and the witches of the East for over 100 years.
• You are preparing for the annual top magicians competition. For the past 5 years in a row, you were voted wizard of the year. However this year there’s a new wizard in town threatening your title.
• You are a young wizard on a school trip learning about the different magical beings that inhabit the swamps. While there you notice one by one, your fellow students start disappearing.
• You are troublesome child, everyone including your parents and teachers have had enough of your behaviour. You find that the witches are the only ones that will take you in and take care of you.
• You have been marked with the scar of deceit. On your 18 th Birthday, you will be summoned to the underworld.

Download your free 25+ fantasy writing prompts printable .

Dark fantasy is a combination of fantasy and horror. It’s filled with horrific creatures, nightmares and dark magic with deadly consequences. Here are some dark fantasy writing prompts to inspire you:

• After reading a forbidden book, the most horrific and disgusting creatures from hell crossover to Earth. 

• After the death of her mother, Beth turns to dark magic to resurrect the dead.
• The toys you broke and abandoned come alive and go on a killing spree.
• Were you seeing ghosts or were you dead?
• Crystal was one of the most powerful witches of all-time. She defeated many evil warlocks and villains. But now she’s locked up in a mental institution. Is she really a witch or is she just crazy?

Sci-fi fantasy or science fantasy is the combination of science and fantasy elements. It takes something logical and scientific and then adds in some fantasy elements like magic or mythical creatures. 

• After a discovery of a new planet, scientists and astronauts have to battle a mysterious race of aliens in space. For more Outerspace inspiration, check out our space writing prompts .
• Rumours of the loch ness monster, lead you and your team to discover a new island with mythical creatures. 
• Scientists accidentally create a vaccine which gives humans super strength, along with other traits. 

• Is magic real or just an illusion? Tell the story of an amateur party magician that becomes the world’s greatest sorcerer. His simple party tricks soon grow into magical abilities set out to destroy the world.

For more science fiction ideas, check out our mega list of 110 sci-fi writing prompts and story ideas .

When you think of a traditional fantasy story, dragons are one the most common fantasy elements people include. Dragons can be the centre of a storyline or just some background characters causing havoc. Here are some Fantasy prompts about dragons. You might also want to check out our awesome dragon name generator :

• There are so many dragons out there with their own powers. Fire dragons are the most popular breed, but there’s also ice, electricity, wind, earth and many others. Imagine that you’re a young dragon with no powers. Write a story of how you discovered your abilities.

• In a war between dragons and humans, one dragon chooses to side with the humans. Write a fantasy war story about this dragon. 
• Not all dragons are huge fire breathers with wings. Some are the size of flies. They fly around whispering strange things into the ears of humans. And if they manage to get inside of you, you’ll slowly start turning into a huge, horrendous dragon based on your personality.
• Dragons rule the world and humans are their slaves. You work as a slave for the oldest, most legendary dragon in the land. Write a story from the point of view of this slave and how you manage to escape the prison you’re locked up in.
• You find a dragon egg in your backyard. After a while, it starts cracking and out comes a baby dragon. What will happen next?

See our post on 68+ dragon story ideas for some more inspiration.

Epic fantasy is also known as high-fantasy. This is when your story includes huge fantasy elements, such as a whole new world and new species of humans or creatures. The key to epic fantasy is that your storyline should impact the entire world with huge consequences. 

• In the fantasy world of Gidor, giants treat humans like their pets. They teach humans to do tricks, sit, play and even enter them in competitions. It’s the annual top human competition, where giants from all over the kingdom compete in a series of events to prove their human is the best. 
• Aqurilla is a world where 94% of the world is underwater. Merpeople or mermaids and mermen are the main race in this world. The 6% that is actual land is filled with a small population of trolls that hunt merpeople. 
• Ants the size of buses. Elephants the size of marbles. The fastest creatures in the world are snails. And the slowest are cheetahs. The kingdom of Htrae is very twisted indeed, for any normal human anyway. Imagine life if everything was the opposite.
• An evil sorcerer has found a way to drain the magical abilities of all the top witches and wizards in the world, turning them into mortals. Write from the perspective of this evil sorcerer. 
• Someone has unlocked the eye of Maldor, the dragon of pure darkness. Opening the world up to darkness and demons. You have to find a way to destroy the eye of Maldor before it’s too late.

Urban fantasy are fantasy stories which are set in heavily populated areas or in the city. They combine old-school fantasy elements with a modern or urban twist. Here are some cool urban fantasy prompts to get you started:

• An office worker learns that her boss is an evil sorcerer who has made his money by playing sneaking tricks on important people.
• A homeless person finds a magical orb in a dumpster behind a Chinese restaurant. When he rubs the orb, he can see the future. 
• Charlotte, a mortal girl with no magical abilities falls in love with a magical elve.
• Humans and monsters work together in the city of Belcraz. It’s complete harmony. Both races accept each other for their differences. Until one day, a secret underground group stirs up trouble.
• Struggling to find a job and to get her life back on track, Mildrid resorts to dark magic to cheat her way through life. 

Modern or contemporary fantasy are fantasy stories set in the present time. Take some ancient elements or beliefs from hundreds or thousands of years ago and then apply them to the current timezone. Here are modern fantasy prompts to help you out:

• Fairytale creatures start coming to life and wandering around your city. Not all of these fairytale characters have good intentions.
• Different universes begin to collide when an evil sorcerer escapes his realm and appears in your home. 
• A songwriter uses an ancient spellbook as inspiration for her next single. Her song, based on an old fear spell, becomes a number one hit. Soon enough, anyone listening to her song starts to lose their minds, as fear takes over. 
• You get a mysterious email from the Dark Magicians League to join them this Saturday at a dinner party for new recruits. Excited by this invite, you take up the offer with deadly consequences,
• Magixie is a new social media platform, where people show off their magical abilities and learn how to grow their powers. Jealous of the magical abilities of other witches and wizards on the platform, you plan to use the platform to steal their magical abilities.

Medieval fantasy is all about knights, wizards, dragons and princesses. Think of the knights of the round table, kings ruling kingdoms, assassins trying to steal the throne and fire-breathing dragons. Here are some medieval fantasy ideas:

• Everyone made fun of Yagul the Jester until one day he summoned a fire-breathing dragon to attack the kingdom.
• Rorik was the King’s top knight. He has fought for the kingdom in many battles and won. However, secretly he is working on a plan to kill the king and take his throne. 
• Tired of being a poor maiden, Yvanna trains to be a secret assassin. In disguise, she manages to steal thousands in gold. For her final act, she will poison the king.
• The king of Thahold has made a new rule: Anyone who practices witchcraft and wizardry will be beheaded. Unknowingly the king is being brainwashed by an evil sorcerer, who wants to be the only powerful magician left in the kingdom.

Animal stories are always heartfelt. Combine them with fantasy elements and you have yourself a heartfelt and exciting story to grip your readers. Here are some exciting animal fantasy prompts to get you started:

• Some say that cats have nine lives, but it looks like your cat has a million lives! Nothing, not even old age can kill it. 
• Isabella is a mute. While she can’t speak to humans, she can easily communicate with animals. Her magical ability means that she can have real conversations with animals and control them.
• There’s rumour of a dark horse named Sybris appearing in the woods when the full moon is out. If you are able to tame this horse, you will gain its ability to curse people with their own fears.
• A black cat befriends a hellhound and together they cause chaos around town. It’s all up to an old wizard’s wise old owl to save the town.
• At birth, every human is given a special animal that will act as their guardian. At age 18, the animal is allowed to retire, while their human slowly morphs into a guardian animal to protect other humans.

Low fantasy is when fantasy events happen in a real or normal world. Normally the main characters will all be normal humans (with no powers or magical abilities) and then suddenly something magical happens to them. Here are some low fantasy prompts to inspire you:

• Michael learns that his great grandfather was an ultimate wizard and that he has inherited some of his magical abilities. 
• Your pet dog digs up a strange treasure chest in your backyard. Inside the treasure chest is the most beautiful necklace you’ve ever seen. When you wear this necklace you are able to control the earth with your mind.
• On a deep-sea expedition, something goes terribly wrong and you are lost at sea. Thankfully a mermaid-like creature saves you from the deep waters.
• For years there’s been a legend of a witch living deep in the forest. You and your friends decide to go and check if this legend is true.
• After a near-death experience, you are able to communicate with the dead. 

Here are some exciting fantasy story starters to help you with your writing:

• The door creaked open and out jumped…
• I never thought I would end up here. In this strange place.
• “Abra Kadabra, turn this stick into a flying broom! Oh, why won’t it work!”, shrieked Annabelle.
• There was never a dull moment in Alecbra. Everyone was special in their own way.
• A beastly shadow covered the floor, as Michael lay there paralyzed.
• She felt the fire in her veins. It was all becoming too much. She could no longer tame the beast.

For more inspiration, check out this list of over 150 story starters .

Looking for more fantasy writing prompts? Check out our book 1,000+ Fantasy Writing Prompts + Free Plot Generator . This book is the ultimate collection of fantasy prompts organised by 20 sub-genres of fantasy. From epic tales to contemporary fantasy ideas, you’ll find it all in our book:

Sit down and write for 10 or 20 minutes straight for a prompt of your choosing. You can even aim to write a short paragraph for all of these fantasy prompts. Pace yourself by doing one prompt a day. If you are struggling to write more about a prompt, then you can use the 5 W’s and 1 H technique (What, why, where, when, who and how). Ask yourself, when did this event happen or why did it happen? For example for prompt 1, you see a large opening in the tree. Think about who was present at the time you saw this, what day was it and how did you feel in this exact moment? Hopefully, the  5 W’s and 1 H technique will help you to expand your story and even motivate you to finish your story!

And if you need more inspiration, take a look at this awesome fantasy book title generator .

For more writing prompts, visit our writing prompts page. Have these fantasy writing prompts inspired you to write your own story? Join our website and write a story online to share with your friends!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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Monday, February 1, 2016

6 no-fail lessons to teach students how to write fantasy.

Lesson One: Create a Magical World

Lesson two: describing the magical world, lesson three: the characters, lesson four: the hero's quest, lesson five: magic.

Lesson Six: The Hook

Time to write, fantasy books for upper elementary:.

Fantasy Story Starters

If you would like to read my other post that focuses on using magic in writing, check out:  .

Fantasy Writing Unit of Study

Help guide your students through the fantasy writing process with this fantasy writing unit of study.

This is another free writing unit of study from The Curriculum Corner!

Add this fantasy writing unit of study to your writing studies during the school year.

So many students have a great imagination.  They are excited to attempt fantasy pieces of writing. What we find they often lack is a problem and a solution.

We have created this unit of study to help your students write a complete fantasy story. These free writing lessons are geared towards second and third grade students.

For this writing unit, we do not have children begin writing fantasy stories right away.  We first build a good foundation.

This unit is newly updated to include additional resources. Also, you will not find a PDF of the lessons as described in this post. This is great for those teachers who like to print out a copy for future years.

How should I begin my unit of study?

As always we begin our writing unit of study with a day or two of noticings..

We pull together our favorite fantasy books in the classroom.  We introduce the idea of a fantasy book by reading aloud an example. 

One of our favorites is a book from The Magic Treehouse series.  Students enjoy these and they contain many elements of a fantasy.  As we read aloud, we bring up the idea of reality versus fantasy.

Within the download we have created you will find a Mentor Texts chart. Record the books you use as mentor texts for this unit on this page. Along with the title, write down the location of the book. This will make it easier to find the books you used next year!

What are noticings?

To begin noticings, we partner up students and give them each a book or two that is a good example of a fantasy book.  We hand students a few post it notes and give them a chance to search for features of a fantasy text. 

Remember, this is before we have created an anchor chart so some answers may be true and some may not be.  This is ok…both will give you more to discuss when you pull back together as a class. 

As students complete their noticings, make sure you filter around to talk with the kids about what they are noticing.  This activity may last 20 minutes or it may take an hour – it depends on your students.  When you feel like most groups are finished, pull back together as a class.

We have included a noticings page you may use if you would like your students to record their observations.

Anchor Charts  

When you pull back together, create an anchor chart that includes the aspects of a fantasy story that you have found.  We have created printable and colorful samples you might choose to use.  We have also created a reality anchor chart if your students need a visual to help them compare.

There is a T-chart students can use to record the differences they find between fantasy and reality.

Within the resources, you will find graphic organizers designed for you to give to students along with a fantasy and a reality book.  

Students look for the differences and fill out the graphic organizer in order to show their understanding.

Fantasy and Reality Sort For an easy literacy center, you will find a card sort for students to sort the events between fantasy and reality.

There is also a blank page so that students can create their own events as an extension. Simply print and laminate the blank page and students can use a vis-a-vis marker.

Introducing Fantasy Characters 

You can choose any favorite book with characters that are not real for this mini-lesson. 

One of our favorites is Click Clack Moo.  We like it because it is a familiar text with many examples of what characters can do that are not real. 

After reading aloud the story, talk about what makes the characters fantasy characters. Responses should refer to the human-like actions of the animals.

Introducing Fantasy Settings 

Again, this lesson can be completed with any fantasy book with a good example of an imaginary world. 

After reading the book, discuss the fantasy setting.  Have students share how they know the setting is imaginary.

Problem & Solution

This is often the most difficult part for students to include in their fantasy writing. 

Students tend to have a problem, but forget to include a solution. 

Or, the story created is a list of events without a problem to solve. 

For this reason, this is a good topic to focus on for more than one day. 

After a read aloud, we like to have students complete a story map or a simple graphic organizer like this one:  Problem & Solution.  

We like to follow the whole group lesson up with an independent practice the following day.

Starting a Story

You will find pages with ten cards on each. One has labels for characters and the other for settings. These can be printed on card stock and laminated for future use. There is also an additional blank page.

Have students choose one of each card. You might place them in a basket and have students pick without looking. Or, you can allow children to choose the cards that interest them the most.

Children will then take their two cards and complete the Starting a Story page.

These pages can be completed in small groups or as a literacy center activity.

Have students save their pages in their writing folders. These can then be used as story starters later on.

Planning Your Writing

Model for students how to create a fantasy planner for their books. 

Use one of our Fantasy Writing Planners and have children plan their own stories. 

Remind students that it is ok to use a familiar character or setting from a favorite book. Their job is to create a new story using that character or setting.

Create a Magical World This graphic organizer can be used at any point in this unit to get your students thinking about their setting.

Fantastic Words This simple anchor chart of words might be used as a word wall or simply a tool to get your students thinking about possibilities.

Includes two graphic organizers for students who want to make a list of words they will use in their writing.

Working on Capitalization

In order to help students become better writers, we like to include a grammar focus in each unit.  

We have included an anchor chart and checklists for students to use when checking for correct capitalization.

Of course, it is always best to first talk about and practice this skill in a mini-lesson. Then review as needed.

If there are other grammar skills you find students need practice with, review in small groups or with a whole class mini-lesson if needed.

Celebration

Every publishing should end with a celebration to recognize your students’ writing growth!  We have included colorful certificates and dedication bookplates for books.

You can download this free writing unit here:

Writing Download

We have also pulled all of the lesson plans above into a PDF. You can download this here:

Lesson Plan Download

Looking for other free writing resources? You might like these:

Thank you to PrettyGrafik for the always cute clip art!

Looking for some mentor texts to fill your basket? Take a look at some we’ve found: (contains affiliate links)

As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!

You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Tuesday 26th of October 2021

Thank you so much, this is so helpful in planning my fantasy writing unit with my second graders!

Planning a Dynamic Writing Workshop - The Curriculum Corner 123

Sunday 24th of June 2018

[…] Fantasy Writing […]

Fantasy & Reality Card Sort - The Curriculum Corner 123

Friday 11th of May 2018

[…] Fantasy Writing Unit of Study […]

Thursday 3rd of December 2015

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