This article is by Selah Janel. If there’s one piece of advice I’ve heard from the time I was in high school until now, it’s “write what you know.” This used to bug me as a teen because I felt that my life hadn’t even started yet, so how was I supposed to write anything … Read more
This article is by Ashley Capes. The idea that magic in fiction might possess or need a ‘system’ was nonexistent to me when I first read my favourites as a boy in the early 1990s. Magic was but a component to the awe and wonder within the stories. I didn’t need to know how magic … Read more
While there is still some debate about whether it’s a legit sub-genre or not, grimdark has become part of the fantasy lexicon in recent years. I actually like a lot of the authors that some label as grimdark, so I’m a bit torn on if it’s a good or bad thing. The term can be … Read more
This article is by Matthew R. Bishop. In a recent article featured on Mythic Scribes, Christian Madera explored the strengths and limitations of “black and white” fantasy, while defending the rise of “grey” fantasy as something that can overcome the drawbacks of black and white. Let me clarify that I am an author of grey … Read more
This article is by Michael Cairns. For decades, the publishing industry has worked to ensure that every book that they publish can be marketed within a single genre. This is, up to a point, understandable. Publishing is a business, and the clearer the genre of a book, the easier it is to find the target … Read more
So, you’ve been busy writing, I see. That work in progress (WIP) is coming along pretty well. But you just don’t know how your audience will feel about it. Or perhaps you’re ready to throw a new element into your story, but you’re not certain that your world is ready for it. So, you pace … Read more
This article is by Anne Marie Gazzolo. It’s possible to build characters who achieve a secondary reality, and become people who live in their own right in our hearts and minds. It jars me every time someone says Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee are ‘characters.’ I want to shout, “They are not characters! They are … Read more
We’re excited to announce the publication of the Iron Pen Anthology: Volume 1. This is a collection of stories written by members of Mythic Scribes. Each of these stories was written for one of our Iron Pen contests, which challenge writers to come up with fantasy stories based on four prompts. This anthology features eight … Read more
This article is by Grace Robinson. People sometimes ask me how I come up with names for my fantasy stories – names of characters, as well as names of creatures, places, and things. I don’t have a standard formula for inventing names, but after doing some thinking, I realized that there are three main methods I … Read more
This article is by Walter Rhein. There is an inherent paradox in the phrase “focused ambiguity”. Yet the disconnect achieved by putting those two words together approximates the mental state necessary for writing good fantasy. One of the big mistakes a lot of new writers make in their world building is too much of a … Read more