How to Build a Fantasy World That Actually Feels Real
A lot of people think world building starts with maps, kingdoms, and magic systems. But here’s the truth I’ve learned after years of writing fantasy: what makes a world feel real isn’t the geography, it’s the emotion behind it.
You can sketch every city and design a dozen cool creatures, but if your world doesn’t carry emotional truth, readers won’t care. The stories that stay with us don’t just transport us somewhere else, they make us feel something about our own world.
Start with Feelings, Not Facts
When I started building The Leunam Tales, I wasn’t thinking about rules of magic or royal bloodlines. I was thinking about loss, grief, and hope. I wanted to understand how people heal, how they transform after pain. So the world grew out of those feelings.
The forest in The Leunam Tales isn’t just scenery. It represents life, death, and renewal. Every root and branch holds memory. That emotional layer makes the world feel alive in a way that maps alone never could.
If you’re creating your own story, start from what hurts or fascinates you. Build your magic, your kingdoms, and your creatures around those emotions. A spell that hides pain, a river that remembers voices, a city built on forgetting, those details stick because they mean something.
Let the World Mirror the Character
A world that feels real changes with the people inside it. When a character grows, the world should reflect that.
Think of how seasons shift when someone’s heart opens, or how light behaves differently when a hero accepts loss. These aren’t just metaphors, they make readers feel like the world has a pulse.
In The Leunam Tales, when August returns from death, even the air feels different. The wind hums with something new. That change is small, but it tells you the world is alive, responding to what he’s becoming.
Make the Magic Emotional
Every fantasy story has some form of magic, but the best ones make that magic personal. Magic isn’t just about power; it’s about meaning.
Ask yourself what your magic reveals about your characters. Maybe it shows what they fear most, or what they still hope for.
In my books, the Crystal of Desires shows the deepest longing of whoever holds it. It’s not about control or destruction, it’s about truth. When magic exposes emotion, it becomes unforgettable.
Fantasy as a Mirror of Real Life
The reason people love fantasy isn’t because it’s far from reality. It’s because it reflects reality in a way we can finally face it.
When we watch a character lose everything and still find light, we remember that we can too. When they walk through darkness and return changed, we see our own resilience reflected back at us.
That’s what great world building does. It gives shape to emotions we can’t always name in real life.
Final Thoughts
So if you’re writing fantasy, or even just reading it, look for the feeling beneath the world. Don’t worry about getting every detail perfect. Ask yourself what truth the world is trying to tell.
That’s how you build something that lasts.
The Leunam Tales was born from that question, and two books later, the world of Aveluzeen still surprises me. If you’d like to explore it, start with the Leunam box set of two books. You’ll find a bit of your own heart there too.