Inspiring Your Fantasy Worlds

Unusual places can inspire fantasy stories. I like collecting images of actual places that are so amazing they look like something out of a novel. In general, I’m fascinated by landscapes and architecture from around the world. I’d like to do more traveling one day.  Here are some images to inspire your world building or to simply enjoy.

Portland Japanese Garden

Marble Caves of Patagonia Chile

This looks like something straight out of a fantasy novel. I can imagine someone riding horseback across that path. 

Mont Saint-Michel, Island in France

I’m thinking an ancient tribunal meets. I can image people standing in the archways, shouting at each other. Or, someone standing at the top looking down sees colored smoke racing through each arch as though it has a mind of its own. Even better, some ancient evil rests at the bottom of this well.  

The Iniciatic Well, Quinta da Regaleira, Sintra, Portugal

I don’t know if this is an actual place, but I’ve used it in one of my stories.

The arches below inspired a structure in Chains of the Sciell. It’s Heaven’s Gate in the novel. It’s the Stonehenge of my world. No one know what it was used for. Without giving too much away, Heaven’s Gate is a portal. It sits in a forest just like the one in the image above.

San Galgano, Italy