How to make your story’s empire feel real and threatening

Today on Fantasy Writing for Barbarians, we’re tackling a classic worldbuilding challenge: How do you create a dominant, world-spanning empire without making every villain feel the same?

Inspired by a prompt about structuring an overarching antagonist group, I break down why your empire needs layers of control, why real-life history—not just fiction—should guide your choices, and how to avoid the dreaded “this feels too much like One Piece” problem. Whether you’re designing a totalitarian world government or a fractured superpower, this episode will help you build a villainous force that’s both intimidating and narratively rich.

Email your own advice prompt to [email protected] or join our Discord and let us know what's on your mind. You can find the discussion prompt we referenced on the show right here.

Fantasy Writing for Barbarians‘ host is Jon Negroni, author of The Pixar Theory, Killerjoy, and more. Our producers are Natalia Emmons and Bridget Serdock. You can find all our episodes and various podcast app options here.

Intro music: "Adventures in Adventureland" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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