What is the common narrative? The common narrative is the system of default characters and stories that a society tells. If you look at the preponderance of stories in a culture, you will usually find strong patterns about who is written about—whose stories are considered important enough to tell. In the western world, our common … Read more
Organized crime has become a mainstay in modern fiction. From suited-up dons to street thugs struggling to survive, criminal networks make for interesting stories. As writers and worldbuilders, how do we make organized criminal groups believable? Buckle up, because in this article I’ll tell you how. 1.Mafias and Gangs In the golden olden days, the … Read more
One of the first things I learned when I got into writing was that I was supposed to ask others to read my stories and give feedback on them. Apparently it wasn’t enough that I’d written something – others were supposed to give me their opinions on it and I might even have to [gasp] … Read more
This is another installment in my series, History for Fantasy Authors. There were scores of trades and crafts that organized into guilds. This is an essay about one of them, a guild that existed in Augsburg, Germany in the late Middle Ages. It’s not typical, and that’s part of why I think it’s worth examining. … Read more
There once lived a girl who wrote the best fantasy books in all the land. She was only twelve years old, having picked up a paper and pen to tell stories starting at age eight. She outsold all the big names in her genre, made millions of dollars, and never even went to college. She … Read more
As speculative fiction authors, writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror have the opportunity to create entirely new worlds for their readers. We can create new species, invent systems of magic, and imagine humanity traversing the galaxy. Yet very often these adventures exclude women. It is too often said that readers will reject women in … Read more
If you’ve been around people interested in the art of storytelling, chances are you’ve heard someone claim that characters need agency. If you’re anything like me you may have a vague impression that it’s about giving the character a reason of their own for doing things. That’s sort of correct. I’ll try and clear things … Read more
Everyone knows about the pirates of the Caribbean. Let’s talk about other pirates. Since I’m a medieval historian, I’ll stay firmly in the European world. Before we get started, a general comment: the lines between pirate, merchant, and rebel were blurry and ever-shifting. If you had a ship, it was sort of like having a … Read more
This article is by Jessica Wood. There are quite a few discussions about what makes a good writer, and they generally all come down to the same points; somebody who is hard working, perceptive, widely read, imaginative, and has close attention to detail. But what are the specific characteristics needed by a fantasy writer? What … Read more
Medieval money can be divided into two distinctly different types: the kind that existed and the kind that didn’t. Real money was currency, specifically coins of various qualities and weights. The other kind was called “money of account.” This was purely an accounting unit, used for large-scale transactions and never turned into a physical object. … Read more
