How to Write Lyrics About Fantasy

You want to lure listeners into another world and make them feel like they lived there for three minutes and thirty seconds. Fantasy lyrics let you escape realism and serve myth, magic, and massive emotional payoffs. The trick is to build a world that is vivid without being a Wikipedia entry. This guide gives you a practical workflow to create fantasy songs that are cinematic, singable, and emotionally grounded so listeners can sing along while imagining dragons or neon moons or whatever weird obsession you cooked up.

This is written for artists who want to make bold, memorable songs fast. Expect step by step methods, concrete exercises, scenes you can steal, and a full FAQ. We explain any term or acronym so nothing gets you stuck. No academic fluff. Just actionable songwriting with a side of chaos and humor.

Why Fantasy Lyrics Work

Fantasy lyrics let you amplify emotion. When you replace a breakup with an exile from a silver city the feelings become bigger and less literal. Listeners bring their own memories into the metaphor. They can interpret a cast out hero as a real life breakup, a career failure, or a messy friendship. That elasticity is how songs scale from small rooms to festival stages.

Fantasy also gives you permission to use bold imagery. A comet can stand in for a bad decision. A cursed ring can be a toxic habit. When your metaphors are literally dangerous the emotional stakes feel real. The balance you need is to make those stakes feel personal so the listener knows what to root for.

Define the Core Promise

Before you design a castle or name a god, write one sentence that states the emotional promise of the song. The promise is what the listener will feel by the end. Keep it simple and specific.

Examples

• I escaped a kingdom that would not let me sing and I am learning to roar.
• I mourn a lover who turned into a map I cannot follow back.
• I bargained with a witch and lost more than my voice.

Turn that sentence into a short title. If it can be shouted in a coffee shop while feeling dramatic, it is likely strong enough for a chorus.

World Building in a Song

You have limited real estate inside a song. You cannot write the entire lore of a continent. You must pick two to four details that do heavy lifting. Think micro world building. Those details create the rules, stakes, and texture the listener needs to imagine the rest.

Pick clear sensory rules

Decide how the world feels through the senses. Is the sky audible? Does rain taste like memory? Choose rules that will recur across the song so the world becomes coherent without an encyclopedia entry.

Example rule set

• The moon speaks in fragments only at dawn.
• Silver rain erases names written on skin.
• People trade pieces of voice like currency.

Name one anchor object or place

Pick a single thing to repeat. An anchor can be a bridge, a crown, a lighthouse, a city gate. Repeat it in chorus and verse like a motif in film scoring. That repetition turns a line into a memory hook.

Set a clear cost

Make the stakes personal and costly. The fantasy is only cinematic if it matters. The cost can be losing a memory, waking with someone else in your body, exile, or a promise you cannot break. Cost connects the magic to an emotional center.

Point of View and Narrator Voice

Decide who is singing and how they perceive the world. First person creates intimacy. Second person pulls listeners into the role of protagonist. Third person can be mythic or epic. Pick a POV and stick with it unless you intentionally shift for effect.

Define voice with three details. For example voice traits might be salty, traumatized, and hopeful. Or scholarly, wistful, and snarky. Those traits determine word choice and rhythm.

Term explained: POV means point of view. It is the narrator perspective that decides what details are important and which inner thoughts get shared. POV shapes empathy.

Imagery That Feels Real

Fantasy succeeds when the imagery engages the senses in ways that map to human experience. Replace abstract emotion with tangible images that imply feeling.

Before: I feel lost without you.

After: The lantern I carry keeps going out when I whisper your name.

Use specific verbs and objects. A broken throne invites a different feeling than a shattered heart even if both show loss. Vivid detail helps listeners place themselves in your world.

Sensory checklist

• Vision. Colors, light sources, silhouettes.
• Sound. Names of instruments, voices, environmental noise.
• Smell. Smoke, salt, iron, boiled sugar.
• Taste. Bitter ash, honey, salt on lips.
• Touch. Textures underfoot, temperature, weight.

Metaphor and Symbol Use

Fantasy gives you license to invent metaphors that are literal inside your world. A crown could literally weigh three stones and make the wearer speak truth. Use metaphors so they communicate emotional truth as well as plot. Keep metaphors consistent. Changing metaphor logic mid song confuses the listener.

Types of metaphors that work

• Object as emotion. A rusted key for lost access to someone.
• Place as relationship. A walled city could be a closed off lover.
• Ritual as decision. Lighting a candle could mean choosing to leave.

Real life relatable scenario: Imagine you broke up and now every coffee shop table is your ex sending aggressive reminders. In a fantasy lyric that coffee shop can be a market square where shadows trade photographs. Same feeling. More spectacle.

Prosody and Rhyme For Fantasy Lyrics

Prosody means the relationship between word stresses and the beats of the music. It is crucial for singability. If a heavy word lands on a weak beat the line will feel off even if the sense is right. Always speak lines out loud and tap how they flow with the groove.

Rhyme can be lush or sparse depending on vibe. Modern fantasy songs often favor internal rhyme and slant rhyme because they feel less sing song and more cinematic. Use perfect rhymes for emotional climaxes where the listener needs closure.

Term explained: Slant rhyme means near rhyme. Example: moon and stone. They are not identical but they resonate together. Slant rhymes feel modern and keep language interesting.

Structure That Supports Story

You can tell a full arc inside a song by assigning each section a narrative function. Verses carry scenes. The pre chorus raises tension or reveals cost. The chorus gives the emotional truth or the promise. The bridge delivers a twist or a reveal that recontextualizes what came before.

Story structure example

• Verse one: Setup. Introduce the world and the anchor object.
• Pre chorus: Hint at cost. Increase the stakes.
• Chorus: Core promise and emotional payoff.
• Verse two: Complication. Show consequences or a second scene.
• Bridge: Reveal. New information that changes the meaning of the chorus.
• Final chorus: Re framed payoff with a new line or harmony added.

Keep choruses short and repeatable. Listeners should be able to text the chorus back to a friend after one listen.

Hooks and Chorus Craft

Your chorus is the emotional contract. In fantasy songs it should read like a spell or a vow. Use rhythm and vowel choices that are easy to sing. Open vowels like ah oh and ay are great for wide melodic notes. Consonant heavy lines can work in verses to create contrast.

Chorus recipe for fantasy

1. Start with the emotional promise sentence you wrote earlier.
2. Reduce it to one short memorable line that can be repeated.
3. Add one surprising concrete image in the second line to deepen the meaning.
4. Consider a small chant or motif that can sit under the chorus to make it sticky.

Example chorus seed

I will not bow to a crown of glass. I will not trade my voice for glass that sings with someone else inside.

Verses That Build Scenes

Verses are film strips. Each line can be a camera shot. Show actions. Use time crumbs. Avoid long blocks of exposition. Imagine your verse is a montage of three quick images that escalate mood.

Camera shot exercise. Read your verse and write down a camera shot for each line. If you cannot imagine a shot then the line is probably abstract and needs a concrete object.

Example verse

The market lights are closed and they hang keys like heavy fruit. I chew the metal and the taste is all your lies. My feet remember a road you burned for warmth.

Notice how each line implies a story without blunt explanation. The listener fills in the rest. That is the power of cinematic detail.

Bridge and Reveal

The bridge is your secret weapon. In fantasy songs use it to reveal a ritual, a bargain, or a hidden truth. The bridge should change the stakes and make the final chorus land with new color. Consider shifting POV, changing tense, or introducing a counter image.

Example bridge idea

A child trades the last coin for a lantern and the lantern shows not the road but the face of the city she left behind. The reveal reframes the previous scenes as exile rather than forgetfulness.

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Writers often make fantasy songs feel like a game of Clue. Do not dump lore. Do not explain the whole system. Resist the urge to show that you read a lot of fantasy. Your job is to communicate feeling through images.

• Problem: Over explanation. Fix: Cut any sentence that answers why the magic exists. Let consequences show it.
• Problem: Too many invented names. Fix: Use one or two proper names maximum. Names are heavy. Let one anchor name stand in for the whole culture.
• Problem: Vague metaphors. Fix: Swap abstractions for objects with action. Replace the phrase we are broken with an image of something broken.
• Problem: Unsingable syllable overload. Fix: Read out loud and shorten lines for vocal comfort.

Language and Diction Tips

Choose language that matches your world and your voice. If you sing as an exile choose rougher consonants and shorter words. If you sing as a sorcerer choose elongated vowels and archaic phrasing sparingly. Avoid silly faux archaic language. Words like thou and verily can feel campy unless you commit to that aesthetic and the music supports it.

Real life relatable scenario: If your friends text in memes and slang you probably do not sound like a Victorian. Match your lexicon to your audience. If you want Gen Z to feel the weight of a crown do not use a bunch of dusty thesaurus words. Use clean images that land emotionally.

Before and After Lines

Theme: Bargain with a witch for lost youth.

Before: I traded my youth to a witch and I regret it now.

After: I folded youth into a paper boat and watched the witch set it on a river made of names I do not know.

Theme: Exile from a city of light.

Before: They kicked me out of the city that never sleeps.

After: The city turned its lamps away. I walked the alleys with my pockets full of midnight.

Theme: A lost lover turned into an atlas.

Before: You became a map and I could not read you anymore.

After: You folded into paper and cities stitched your laugh across the margins. I keep tracing your coastline with a broken compass.

Melody and Lyric Relationship

Fantasy lyrics often benefit from melodic shapes that feel cinematic. Use wider intervals for lines that describe wonder. Use stepwise motion for lines that are mundane or grounded. Let the chorus open into a sustained vowel to allow the fantasy to bloom.

Practical tip. When you write the melody sing nonsense vowels first. Nonsense reveals a gesture that is comfortable to the voice. Then add your lyric and adjust for prosody. If a long word kills the melody replace it with a short image and reposition the long syllable on a sustained note.

Collaborating With Producers and Musicians

Explain your world clearly to collaborators. A one page mood board helps. Include three reference songs first two visual references and three single adjectives that capture mood. Communicate the textural ideas that matter most. For example you might say you want glass percussion like raindrops and a choir that sounds like distant bells. These are sound notes not instructions. Producers translate them into sonic reality.

Term explained: Mood board is a collection of images, sounds, and adjectives that communicate your vibe. It helps collaborators make fast creative decisions that align with your story.

Recording and Demo Tips

When demoing fantasy lyrics you want clarity not polish. Record a guide vocal that emphasizes storytelling. Use one or two ambient elements to suggest the world. A reverb that sounds like a cathedral or a subtle wind sample can do the job. Do not try to produce the entire fantasy. Let the arrangement imply space.

Quick checklist

• Lead vocal clear and present.
• One signature sound to imply world.
• Tempo and key locked for comfortable singing.
• A short one page lyric with camera shots and instruments notes for collaborators.

Exercises and Songwriting Prompts

Use these drills to generate material fast. Time yourself. Speed uncovers truth.

The Object Bargain

Pick an ordinary object near you. Imagine it has a price in this fantasy world. What would someone give to own it? Write four lines where each line increases the cost. Ten minutes.

The Rule Swap

Invent one rule for the world. For example everyone must speak the truth to cross bridges. Write a chorus that uses that rule as a metaphor for a personal boundary. Five minutes.

The Camera Pass

Write a verse then assign a camera shot to each line. If a line cannot be filmed rewrite it. Keep rewriting until the verse feels cinematic. Fifteen minutes.

The Betrayal List

List three small betrayals and one catastrophic betrayal. Turn one small betrayal into a chorus image and use the catastrophic betrayal as the bridge reveal. Twenty minutes.

Examples You Can Model

Song idea: A sailor who sold his shadow to chase a moon.

Verse: The harbor kept the last light in its teeth and I traded my footprint for a coin that hummed. The moon sent me love letters written on salt and I read them with my lips numb.

Pre chorus: I said yes into the dark and the dark gave me a map that led to you and nowhere else.

Chorus: I follow the moon across markets of glass. I follow the moon until it folds me like paper into a story you will never finish.

Bridge: The moon remembers my name but says it like a foreign language. It will not answer when I call it by the words I used to keep inside my pockets.

Publishing and Pitching Fantasy Songs

When you pitch to playlist curators or supervisors explain the theme in one line and include two reference songs and one mood adjective. Supervisors love crisp descriptions. For example say cinematic fantasy with intimate voice then name two tracks that capture arrangement and mood. Also include a lyric sheet that highlights the chorus and anchor image. Keep the pitch short because people reading it will be on a screen while walking between meetings or between classes.

How to Keep Fantasy Lyrics Relatable

Always anchor fantasy to human reality. A song about dragons should carry a human problem. Use small domestic images to tether cosmic ideas. The tension between the cosmic and the domestic is where listeners feel something specific.

Real life scenario. Think about being ghosted. That feeling of being erased is the same core feeling as a city that erases names with silver rain. If you show the empty coffee mug beside the erased name you have translated abstract pain into a scene people recognize.

Action Plan You Can Use Today

1. Write one sentence that states the song promise in plain speech. Make it emotional and specific.
2. Pick one anchor object and one sensory rule for your world. Limit yourself to two rules maximum.
3. Draft a chorus with the promise framed as a spell or vow. Keep it short and repeatable.
4. Draft verse one with three camera shots. Use the object twice across the song to create motif.
5. Write a bridge that reveals one new fact that changes how the chorus reads.
6. Record a demo vocal emphasizing storytelling. Add one ambient sound that suggests the world.
7. Play it for two listeners and ask one question. Which line did you see like a movie. Fix the song based on what they mention.

Fantasy Songwriting FAQ

What if my fantasy world feels too complicated for a three minute song

Keep it small. Pick one rule one anchor object and one central cost. Everything else is implied. A song is a window not a novel. Show enough to invite imagination and let listeners fill the rest.

How do I make invented words singable and not cringe

Limit invented words and use them as texture not explanation. Make sure the invented word has a clear vowel shape that the voice can hold. Repeat it so listeners learn it. If it sounds like a meme it will stay a meme. Make it feel like a name or a promise.

Can I write a fantasy song in second person

Yes. Second person pulls listeners into the role of the protagonist. It works well for songs that want to feel interactive. Use it when you want the audience to feel accused or invited. Be careful with extended direct address because it can feel theatrical if not grounded in small images.

Do I need to explain the rules of magic in the lyrics

No. Explain by showing consequences not by exposition. If a ring takes memory show someone who forgets something important rather than narrating how rings work. Listeners will infer rules from effect.

What production choices suit fantasy lyrics

Use space and texture to imply world. Reverb that sounds like caves or wide plate reverb that feels like a palace can do wonders. One signature sonic element like glass percussion or bowed saw can act as your world instrument. Keep the arrangement roomy so the lyrics read clearly.

How do I avoid clichés like dragons and wizards feeling lazy

Either reinvent the cliché with a fresh rule or use mundane analogues. If you must use dragons give them a new function or emotional logic. Or skip the cliché and invent something smaller and stranger that does the same emotional work.

What are quick exercises to get unstuck

Use the object bargain and camera pass. Time yourself. Shelter yourself from thinking about the entire world and focus on one concrete image. Speed forces choice and often surfaces the strongest idea.

Get Contact Details of Music Industry Gatekeepers

Looking for an A&R, Manager or Record Label to skyrocket your music career?

Don’t wait to be discovered, take full control of your music career. Get access to the contact details of the gatekeepers of the music industry. We're talking email addresses, contact numbers, social media...

Packed with contact details for over 3,000 of the top Music Managers, A&Rs, Booking Agents & Record Label Executives.

Get exclusive access today, take control of your music journey and skyrocket your music career.

Unlock Instant Access