Don't Talk. Fight for Your Life!

Robert E. Howard's Lessons for Writing Epic Fantasy

Robert E. Howard is the master of in medias res. No information dumps. Action immediately engages the reader. Sparse details emerge later, only as needed, and never at the expense of momentum.

Howard’s Conan stories appeared in the classic pulp magazine Weird Tales. Between the years 1932-36, Conan the thief, Conan the king, or Conan the pirate thrilled Howard’s fans. No chronological order explained the erudite Cimmerian’s life path or long winded travel logs of the Hyborian Age. Instead, Howard’s stories began with action and danger.

The Frost Giant’s Daughter begins in the aftermath of a bloody battle. Conan is tormented by the enchanting specter of a beautiful woman made of flaming ice. Why the battle was fought is not explained with footnotes or pages of political turmoil. Instead, Conan pursues the spirit across snow clad hills.

The Scarlet Citadel begins with the betrayal of Conan the King. His army routed, Conan is paralyzed by a sorcerer and cast into a prison filled with extraterrestrial creatures. No words are wasted on intergalactic travel. And the sorcerer’s spell? Juices from a purple lotus. That’s all the reader needs because Conan’s life depends on finding a way out of the dungeon.

In Queen of the Black Coast, a horseback Conan is pursued by a militia armed with swords and shaking their fists. What happened? For now, all we need to know is Conan needs to escape. His mare leaps from the pier onto the deck of a departing a galley bound for the city of Cush. Story underway!

Howard did not omit world building from his stories. Political disputes and cultures are revealed, but only in brief snippets and always in support of character. In the Tower of the Elephant, we learn Zamorians wear “daggers at their girdles and guile in their hearts.” That’s enough because Conan is in a den of thieves.

Once again, Conan is a king in The Phoenix on the Sword. How did he depose the former king and take his place? Conan “tore the crown from his gory head and set it” on his own.

Howard wrote short stories. But his prose would elevate the plodding style of today’s popular fantasy writers.

Here are five lessons for epic fantasy story-telling I learned by reading Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories:

1. Introductions are unnecessary. Start in the middle with the story and action underway. In medias res!

2. Momentum keeps readers turning pages. The secrets of an evil sorcerer are best revealed during the deadly escape from his nightmarish dungeon.

3. Character first, last, and always. No world building for the sake of world building. The world is seen and judged through the eyes of Conan’s and others. Spoken views give us greater character depth and breathe life into their world. Exposition without opinion is boring.

4. World building comes later, and only in small doses. No long histories or complex treatises on how sorcery works.

5. Trust your reader. The world and initial story circumstances need no immediate explanation. It is enough to know that the world is in motion.

Conan lived in a dangerous, ancient world filled with action. Readers should, too.