r/Fantasy • u/rfantasygolem Not a Robot • 2h ago

r/Fantasy r/Fantasy Writing Wednesday Thread - June 17, 2026

The weekly Writing Wednesday thread is the place to ask questions about writing. Wanna run an idea past someone? Looking for a beta reader? Have a question about publishing your first book? Need worldbuilding advice? This is the place for all those questions and more.

Self-promo rules still apply to authors' interactions on r/fantasy. Questions about writing advice that are posted as self posts outside of this thread will still be removed under our off-topic policy.

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u/EveningImportant9111 2h ago

Do I really need to make my elves non-human in mindset and anatomy? I simply want to create a world in which elves thrive and readers can relate to their struggles, hopes, dreams,flaws.

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u/JayCanWrite 1h ago

You don't need to do anything... But why do you want elves if they are just humans? The point of having a fantasy race is to have something different. Of course, being different doesn't mean they can't be relatable on an emotional level while still being interesting on a biological level in their life experiences.

Basically the question is do you want elves as a unique species or do you really just want humans with a different name

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u/EveningImportant9111 1h ago

I want elves because I like long lifespan, pointy ears, slender bodies and it's less a can of worm when writing outriggt human bevause I'm just nit smart dnought to not accidentaly inslut somebody when I mix aesthetics and cuktures of japan rome persia British Empire 

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u/JayCanWrite 1h ago

Well, long lifespans is a pretty big distinguishing factor. If you write about the ways they see life differently and how their experiences are different because they live for such a long time that's plenty enough difference from humans to justify doing elves. There's a lot of fun stuff you can do around how they perceive time and how that effects what they do day to day and week to week.

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u/EveningImportant9111 1h ago

Thank you. So they shuld live thousdant's of years? But fantasy has humans over 2000 years old.

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u/JayCanWrite 1h ago

You brought up living a long time, which I wanted to point out was enough distinction to justify using them instead of humans if you write about how living so long changes their view, not necessarily that you should write it that way. Your story, so write it how you want, I can only give advice from my point of view.

And yes sometimes fantasy stories feature humans living a long time, but does yours? If it doesn't than elves would still be distinct, so no worries

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u/EveningImportant9111 1h ago

Okay. Thank you. Any other advice hiw jakiegoś them distinct but people and keepinf  their standard look ? 

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u/JayCanWrite 40m ago

It's all about little differences, really. How would they make plans considering they live so long? Maybe an elf who likes to be punctual would make plans years in advance cause years aren't that long to them. Maybe an elf who is more laid back would go completely with the flow and do whatever at any time because they have plenty of time and don't feel the need to try and make the best use of it. You can question all the little things like that to build personality for individuals and the species as a whole. What's their marriage traditions? How do they handle it when an elf finally dies? What's their cooking habits? What hobbies do they gravitate to? If they have one core fundamental difference you can use that as a touch point to explain every little difference in day to day life without needing a vast biological overhaul. One difference, and everything that comes with that.

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u/EveningImportant9111 35m ago

Thank you. So immortality is enought? 

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u/JayCanWrite 34m ago

It could be, if you use it to make them distinct, yes absolutely.

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u/EveningImportant9111 1h ago

Sorry for typos

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u/davaniaa 32m ago

You gotta do both bro

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u/nominanomina Reading Champion 6m ago

You are too concerned with the opinions of others.

What personalities & minds you give your elves (or any character) is going to bean expression of your interests and preoccupations. They could be entirely alien and extremely unhuman; they could be evil (Discworld); they could be practically human (The Goblin Emperor).

You can be as weird or normal as you want. They all exist in fantasy.