When I think about fantasy settings, I often notice that a lot of stories tend to stick to a few familiar environments: lush, forested areas filled with magical mushroom rings, castles, and cascading waterfalls; or barren, arid landscapes, like fields of volcanic slate and dusty deserts.
A mysterious stone building or castle amid a green deciduous forest with thick ferns and straight-trunked white pines.
And don’t get me wrong—I’m guilty of it too. I love trees, so naturally, a lot of my fantasy scenes unfold in expansive forests and arboreal cities. But there’s so much more possibility out there, and I often find myself dreaming of other ways to build settings that feel fresh, engaging, and utterly different.
I remember visiting the Baltimore Conservatory and being captivated by the wide range of plants there. Some of them looked almost alien—twisting, angular, bizarre shapes that seemed more at home on another planet than here on Earth. I couldn’t help but imagine that they were sentient, whispering secrets to each other when no one was looking.
I walked around that conservatory with potential stories spinning in my head about these plants as alien species, capable of thought and communication. But even outside of sci-fi, these plants could easily be the foundation for a unique fantasy landscape, something that’s different from what we typically see.
While my own fantasy writing isn’t always breaking new ground in this regard, I’ve started to collect ideas for creating settings that are more unexpected. Here are a few things I consider when crafting new and unique fantasy locations.
1. Make Things Big or Small
One way to immediately create a sense of wonder is by playing with scale.
Those giant desert plants at the conservatory—what if they were the size of a house? Or grew on stalks like trees, reaching toward the sky?
Or think of Gulliver in Lilliput!
What if my character encounters a tiny fairy who leads them to a vast ocean, only for it to turn out to be nothing more than a medium-sized cow pond?
.Shifting size and perspective can transform ordinary landscapes into something extraordinary.
2. Pull From the Real World
There’s no shortage of bizarre and stunning geography in our own world. Sometimes I look at photos of real places and think, “How is this not already in a fantasy novel?” Here are some real-world phenomena that could inspire amazing settings:
Rio Tinto, Spain: A river with bright red water due to its high acidity and iron content.
The Danakil Depression, Ethiopia: A surreal landscape of sulfur springs, lava lakes, and salt flats.
The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland: Thousands of interlocking basalt columns that look like stepping stones built by giants.
Socotra Island, Yemen: Home to dragon’s blood trees that look like giant umbrellas, with bright red sap that seems otherworldly.
The Fly Geyser, Nevada, USA: A multi-colored, constantly evolving geothermal geyser that looks like something out of a dream.
These places are proof that you don’t have to stretch too far to find inspiration. The real world is packed with strange, beautiful, and outright bizarre places that can be the jumping-off point for an incredible fantasy setting.
3. Flip Stuff Upside Down
One of my favorite tricks is to turn things upside down—both literally and figuratively.
Imagine if trees grew with their crowns on the ground and trunks in the sky, drawing water not from roots in the earth but from clouds above. Or what if the ocean floated overhead instead of lying on the ground, with fish swimming in the sky and ships sailing on air? You can take this concept and twist it in countless ways:
What if mountains hung down from the sky like stalactites?
Picture a city where people walk on the ceiling and gravity doesn’t pull the way we expect it to.
A waterfall that flows upward into the sky instead of down.
These shifts can disorient and excite the reader, giving them a world that’s truly unlike anything they’ve seen before.
4. Use Sensory Details in New Ways
When building fantasy settings, I always remind myself that sensory details don’t have to match our expectations.
Maybe the ocean smells like fresh-baked donuts instead of salty brine.
Flowers could smell like burnt rubber, water might always be warm, or rocks might feel like squishy stress balls underfoot.
These small tweaks can make the world feel vivid and alive, sparking the reader’s imagination in unexpected ways.
5. Connect Your Features
For me, creating unique settings is also about ensuring that each element of the landscape feels interconnected. A lava river might link a mountain to a lake, with strange plants growing along its molten banks.
A transport ship sitting in the Baltimore harbor with rays of sun cascading down from the clouds above.
I like to think about how people might navigate these extreme environments—maybe they’ve developed special boats to sail the lava, or suits to protect them from sulfuric steam. Maybe their species has evolved differently from a human, so they can bear the extremes in with a different level of tolerance.
It’s not just about the landscape itself but about how the terrain shapes the lives, cultures, and technologies of the people who inhabit it.
6. Keep Some Familiarity
Even when I’m creating something wild and new, I think it’s crucial to balance the strange with the familiar. Not everything needs to be unique; sometimes, a few touches of normalcy—a blue sky, ordinary rocks, or just plain grass—can help anchor the reader, allowing the truly imaginative aspects to stand out.
I want them to feel immersed in the world, not drowning in it.
It’s a balancing act, ensuring that the world feels immersive without becoming overwhelming.
7. Consider the Purpose of The Setting
Finally, I always keep in mind that not every scene needs to have a jaw-droppingly unique setting.
Sometimes, the plot, characters, or theme need to take center stage, and in those moments, a simple, relatable environment can be the best choice.
save the more elaborate settings for moments when I really want the reader to stop and savor the world.
So, whether I’m writing in a forest, a lava river, or an upside-down city, I’m always thinking about how to create a setting that’s not just a backdrop but an integral, exciting part of the story.
Fantasy worlds can be anything we want them to be, and I love exploring every strange, beautiful possibility.
Off the coast of Alaska, a single boat on a calm ocean with layers and layers of massive mountain ranges stretching into the distance. The sky is orange the landscape is dark gray, black, and blues.
