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 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
This article is by Dan Berger. It’s strange to imagine today, but there was a time when the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was a matter very much in doubt. There were two primary reasons for this near tragedy. One was the scarcity of paper that plagued the United Kingdom in … Read more
This article is by Michael Cairns. Fantasy is an expansive genre in which the reader can be transported to far-off lands. Urban fantasy does something quite different, laying the fantastical world over the one in which we live. This can be a tricky thing to get right. Too much fantasy and the realism can be … Read more
Recently at Mythic Scribes, we’ve enjoyed some exceptional articles on world building. I have incorporated tips from several already, with noticeable improvements in my organization and productivity in this challenging craft. This process has also led me deeper into my worlds. In fact, lately I have been almost overwhelmed by all I have yet to … Read more
This article is by Katie Cross. It was so hot that summer, I would have preferred vomiting barbed wire to walking outside. The air was muggy and thick with humidity so high that a permanent haze settled in like a fog. I didn’t see my thermostat go below 80 degrees for far too long, even … Read more
When worldbuilding, writers tend to focus on topics such as magic systems, fantasy races, kingdoms, politics, and religions. These elements form the settings, the backdrops against which our stories take place. But consider your world. Not the world you’ve created, but the one you live in. What is important to you? What aspects of your … Read more
Every time I ask other fantasy writers a question about the worlds I create, one of them will inevitably respond, “What does this matter to your story?” That’s because many new writers, influenced by roleplaying games and the illustrations featured in our favorite fantasy novels, are prone to view worldbuilding as filling in the gaps … Read more
World-building is a topic that comes up often in fantasy writing circles. If you’re writing epic fantasy, most often it’s going to be in a world of your own creation. Even if you’re writing in our own world, if you have fantasy elements in your story (e.g., magic, mythical creatures, necromantic hamsters), then you have … Read more