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Got told my fantasy prompts were too generic, so I started adding real city vibes
A beta reader said my prompts like 'a wizard's quest' felt bland and could be set anywhere. Now I always include a specific place, like a wizard hunting for a lost spellbook in the flooded subway tunnels under Savannah. What's one small detail you add to make a setting feel real?
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king.aaron10d ago
Honestly, I find those tiny historical details kind of lazy. It's like a cheap stamp to say "old place here." A date carved in a brick doesn't make me feel the city. It just makes me think about the guy who carved it. Why not describe the smell of wet limestone in those Savannah tunnels, or how the wizard's light reflects off a current of muddy water? Those sensory things pull me in way more than a random year on a wall.
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johnson.faith10d ago
My uncle used to work for the city water department in St. Louis. He'd tell stories about the old brick sewer lines, some with dates from the 1880s carved right into the arch. I always picture something like that, a date or a builder's mark scratched into the foundation of a castle wall. It's not part of the plot, it's just there, worn down but still visible. That kind of thing makes a place feel lived in and old.
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